- Victor Hugo
This weekend a friend stopped by, was complaining about the daycare/nursery school not doing enough "teaching" letting the kids dictate what they wanted to do everyday. The teacher wasn't forcing words on them and letters and all that.
And it came up - that it was relating in his mind directly between those who could read early and would be fast tracked on up from kindergarten and those who didn't and that would automatically be the scarlet letter for them. Marked for life, disadvantaging them from potential privelages. Commenting in the same discussion was the increasing class separation (class as in upper, middle, lower) and that it was education more than money. I call BS on that. Its pretty damn close to money. Anyway, yes the separation is important. But learning to read in pre-school or 1st grade or 2nd grade may change your elementary school education but it doesn't mean you're gonna grow up to be a slow witted pot-smoking hippie switching majors from pottery to dance to drumming to ...
Yeah, i was reading in preschool. I went through the whole montesori over develop the brain early, creating less socially functional adults who can't relate interpersonally. Let the kids grow and form social abilities, form healthy social patterns and behavior that will make them a success down the road. Reading a book all day will, yes, in general give you more knowledge. Sitting and practicing an instrument for 4 hours a day when you are 5 and 6 years old will more or less make you a child prodigy... but taking the opportunity to develop the intangibles, the social skills, the networking, the sharing, the working together, the flat out playing and interacting with other human beings - those skills aren't graded, those skills need to be developed. BUT... not just randomly. With supervision, care, specific toys, colors, environments and all that. Teach them, yes by all means. Song, art, games... we don't start teaching adults the most complicated concepts first do we? Is the first math class calculus? Let them develop and master the speaking language and verbal sentences and all that completely before they are forced into the written form.
Yes - everyone's brains are wired differently (fortunately). Some are much higher math, others much higher readers, some read really well but test horrible in the verbal side... Choices are tough. But at least being conscious of them and being concerned is better than assuming that the kid is doing well. Yes he might be right in being concerned. But.
Waldorf. Gotta say, the more i run into situations like this, and the more i learn and understand (been aware of it and the benefits for a LONG time - aware and understanding are different states though), the more it makes sense.
Give this PDF a read... that is if you are concerned about educating your children or are involved in the education of the next generation...
A basic tenet of scientific observation is that
the phenomenon that is being observed is not
affected or in any way changed by either the
process of observation or the observer. In
many cases, however, the reverse is not true. Often, when
studying natural phenomena, the observer is profoundly
affected. Whether gazing into a night sky to watch meteor
showers occurring light years away, or sitting in the garden to detect the
lemony scent an evening primrose releases at the moment its petals unfurl in
the twilight, we humans have a propensity to be deeply moved by witnessing
such seemingly magical events in nature – sometimes to the extent it changes
the course of our lives.
They seem magical. But aren't. But the magical nature of discovery captures our imagination and fuels the desire to learn more.
alright - i'm gonna put away this spool of thought for a different day...
McMaster-Carr totally rocks. I've got the stuff i needed HERE and NOW and i ordered it late yesterday. How about that. Damn fine service and wicked awesome stuff in their catalog... hours of fun turning page after page - and the cool thing is - the online catalog is identical to the old skool paper one...
I've got a bit to go to get my ass in gear on the bike... why is it getting the flu seems to knock ya back a long way... more than just taking a few days off (it is a rhetorical question - lots of good reasons why)...
anyway
respect
G
1 comment:
Except they don't sell to the public. Now I know who to call.
I forget who said it, but why is that people who think more funding for public education won't improve it always seem to send their kids to expensive private schools? The money seems to be doing something there...
If your kids want money for books, magazines, anything readable, just buy it for them, no matter what it is. Everything else will take care of itself.
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