Comments on: All Day Kindergarten — Good for kids? http://adammclane.com/2008/04/27/all-day-kindergarten-good-for-kids/ Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:22:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Andrea http://adammclane.com/2008/04/27/all-day-kindergarten-good-for-kids/#comment-2004 Andrea Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:57:37 +0000 http://adammclane.com/2008/04/27/all-day-kindergarten-good-for-kids/#comment-2004 My mom (a teacher) and I just talked about this yesterday. She said that putting kids in school before they are 7 (the age at which they are developmentally able to sit in a classroom and be taught) is at best, useless, and at worst, harmful. It interferes with their development, since young kids (especially boys) need the freedom to run around and explore and hang out with Mom before they can sit in a classroom and do structured activities. And, it makes them dislike school early on. Also a problem is teaching kids too much, too early. They're teaching reading in kindergarten! And 1st grade used to be creative and fun, but now it's math worksheets and reading groups. They sit in a chair all day listening to lessons - hardly the best environment to encourage an energetic, creative young child. My mom (a teacher) and I just talked about this yesterday. She said that putting kids in school before they are 7 (the age at which they are developmentally able to sit in a classroom and be taught) is at best, useless, and at worst, harmful. It interferes with their development, since young kids (especially boys) need the freedom to run around and explore and hang out with Mom before they can sit in a classroom and do structured activities. And, it makes them dislike school early on.

Also a problem is teaching kids too much, too early. They’re teaching reading in kindergarten! And 1st grade used to be creative and fun, but now it’s math worksheets and reading groups. They sit in a chair all day listening to lessons - hardly the best environment to encourage an energetic, creative young child.

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