The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Ring
Feeling pressure to prepare kids for standardized tests, some preschools make academics their first priority. Proponents applaud this early preparation, but others worry that it comes at the expense of preschool's original purpose: socialization. Those opposed to an academic focus say preschool should return to being a place where a child's only job is to play. What do you think should be the goal of preschool? We want to know!
Should preschool emphasize socialization, or academics?
Socialization. Preschoolers are under pressure to learn too much, too soon. Playing well with other children should be the main focus at this age.
59% (73 votes)
Academics. Learning core academic skills should be the priority. It will prepare children to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.
1% (1 vote)
Both. Socialization and academics are equally important, and schools should find the right balance to promote both.
40% (49 votes)
None of the above. (Comment below.)
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 123
Best age for starting preschool
Submitted by christine lowell, mass. (not verified) on April 5, 2008 - 07:46.
Darned if you do, darned if you don't. is transition from 2 half days to 5 (6 hr days) days too much for a child who will just turn 4 this oct.
Special Needs Preschool teacher
Submitted by Brandy B (not verified) on March 24, 2008 - 16:41.
I am a special needs preschool teacher. I educate my students using a floor time methodology. I utilize both academics and socialization in my lesson plans. I don't necessarily teach at a table and chairs. I engage my students on their level and with the toys that they have chosen. If they pick up a yellow car, we talk about the noises that the car makes, it's color how many stripes or wheels and any other information I can think of. I can talk about that one car and make our conversation completely relevant. It's a matter of thinking outside of the box and getting away from workbooks and teacher testing materials.
Pre-k kids
Submitted by A. Gordon (not verified) on March 5, 2008 - 13:20.
I think we should take Finland--a country with one of the highest literacy rates in the world--as our model. Kids there don't start formal reading instruction until age 6. They have physical activity (playtime!) after 45 minutes of instruction. Americans want longer and longer days for schoolchildren, and want academic benchmarks met earlier. Let's have rich, creative, imaginative environments for our youngest students--not more drill on academics.
Kids aren't meant to sit and listen all day
Submitted by Sue Fleming (not verified) on March 20, 2008 - 19:47.
I agree with you completely. I teach first grade and we are expected to teach Language Arts for 2 1/2 hours a day. I find many days we stop and take a break to sing or move around somehow. Kids are not meant to sit and listen all day.
Pre-school education
Submitted by Cathy (not verified) on February 22, 2008 - 12:31.
I live in Maryland and have worked in public schools since 1976.
As a librarian (31st year) who works with children grades Pre-K to 12 I've always been afraid of what would happen when mainstream public educators got their hands on four year olds in a full day setting.
I have been a participant in such a setting for three years now and I am thankful that I sacrificed to send my own child to a Montessori school for two years after Kindergarten. He played in day care, imagine that!!!
While the particular children we have are learning much more than they would at home, they are still pushed into too much academic instruction and not enough imaginative play. Our children often have no particular bed times at home, yet we allow them just 45 minutes of rest in school. Every day I see four year olds sitting "criss cross" sound asleep because the program has no time for personal differences and 45 minutes is what they are allotted. That is just one problem of many.
Many studies show that the brain needs sleep to grow and learn well.
Also, our pre-k teachers tell me they are glad I do "fun" literature activities with the children such as creative dramatics. Their curriculum does not allow time for such things.
As a contrast, my own son's Montessori school class cooked an entire Thanksgiving lunch for parents including roasting a turkey, picking the meat off the bones and making home made noodles for soup. He could handle a kife, set a table and read chapter books by age 6. In fact he spent a whole day reading his first chapter book at school with no interruptions. He also was allowed to fall asleep on a bean bag if he wasn't feeling too well. Life skills along with much exposure to nature, music, play, rest, snacks and good stories should be the back bone of pre-K and Kindergarten classes.
Don't get me started on medicated little boys who could focus if they weren't so exhausted and hyper-stimulated.
I hope I live close enough to my future grandchildren to "home-school" them at age four.
I want them to have a childhood.
Preschool
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 19, 2008 - 06:32.
The best socialization and academic enrichment for preschoolers is to be in a home environment where someone who loves them is involving them in the everyday life and tasks of the home. Going to the grocery store, playing on the kitchen floor, visiting the library, napping and interacting with mom or another loving caregiver who actually pays attention to the child does more for a child's future idependence and love of learning than being hustled off to school at increasingly earlier ages.
I think preschool in general
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 15, 2008 - 20:27.
I think preschool in general is completely overrated. It reminds me of when American cheese came out, it was supposed to be so much better than aged cheese and everyone believed it. There was a time before preschool, a time when kids stayed with their own mothers and went to play groups and classes and the park and lived carefree lives. Now, they come out of the comfort of the womb and before they can even hold their heads up we are trying to teach them the ABC's and to count and all kinds of nonsense.
Countless studies have shown that a child who learns to read at 3 when compared to a child who learns to read at 6 are in the same place by the time they are both 9. The main difference is that children who learn to read at 3 are more likely to feel "burnt out" on education earlier in life.
Think about it. As a society we are pushing our kids to be more and independent, but then when they get into middle school and high school we wonder why they won't share their lives with us. Teen sex has skyrockets, actually, I should say pre-teen sex. Kids are angry and they lack moral fiber. They spend all day thinking about Britney Spears and American Idol. If you can, (and not everyone can) keep your children close to you. What they need to learn about the world, they can learn from you when you decide that they are ready. Socialization is code for "letting society determine what your children will value and cherish." It is overrated.
Social Skills are attractive
Submitted by S.Steelman (not verified) on February 15, 2008 - 19:36.
Age appropriate social skills make young children attractive to one another. They enable children to interact effectively. They learn how to cope with their peers and develop critical competencies that enhance their ability to learn.
Socialization/Academics
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 15, 2008 - 11:27.
As a K/1 teacher I believe the emphasis of early education should be placed on socialization and appropriate behaviors. It is so hard to teach academics to children who do not wait to speak until they are called on or feel free to interrupt other children or adults, who call other students names and laugh at things said, who can not share manipulatives because they are use to having their own or do not want to use community crayons because they do not like to share. The expectation of what is to be taught academically is massive at the K/1 level that we do not have time to teach these important socialization skills. If they have not learned them before Kindergarten the kindergarten teacher does not have time to back track and teach those rules. We are too busy teaching the alphabet, letter sounds, sight words, writing, counting, math concepts and early reading skills. I believe that in a preschool environment the socialization skills should be the priority and while teaching those you can introduce early literacy and math concepts without making them the focus of the program.
I am a pre-k teacher, who
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 23, 2008 - 18:13.
I am a pre-k teacher, who happens to also be a licensed elementary teacher. I LOVE teaching pre-k. I am in total agreement with you. I try very hard to get in a good mix of active/ hands-on work with quiet "reading" times mixed in. Some children need the extra time to learn when to be still and listen.
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