Is childhood a lost concept? Have we decided to treat five year olds like little adults? Reader Denis Ian reacts to the post about a child’s first day in kindergarten, which was spent taking assessments, not playing or socializing. Taking assessments:
I find it harder and harder to repeat myself when I bump into tales like this.
I sort of cringe myself into almost-anger because what we all see before us is so macabre and so twisted. And it reappears week after week after week.
In this case, which is hardly unique, a child’s first several moments in school … her first actual memories perhaps! … are of evaluations, testing, and assessments. This sounds awfully army-ish to me … and not very school-ish at all.
But the essential question … the one that should be asked first … is very simple: Who thinks this is a good idea? Who thinks 60 month-old children should be queued up like draft inductees and then sized up like petite soldiers on their way to the proving ground of the classroom? I hate that forced gulp of adult air. Why? Why do that to a child?
Will these experts step forward and explain themselves to all of us who seem to think that such stuff is abusive and asinine and beyond reasonable? And do it all in human terms … in words we understand. And we’ll talk likewise.
Where are they? I seldom hear their voices. And if I do, I rush to their credentials, and guess what? I am almost always presented with the same disturbing information … that these new Know-It-Alls have zero classroom experience beyond visitor status.
But somehow, some way … through this warped reform … these classroom allergic gurus hold sway over a generation of new learners … that would be YOUR children … proposing logic-defying curriculum alterations and procedures that every classroom teacher knows to be worthless … and even damaging.
And still it goes on and on and on. In fact, it gets worse … because these new Socrates of education are ever more emboldened, and to cement their early assertions, they rummage their own empty heads for more educational absurdity which spews out at volcanic speed. And there are always some political schlubs right there to crown these dopes as the new geniuses of education … and then give them warping power beyond belief.
Can you see why I cringe? Why so many of you cringe? Here you are … in the moment of one of life’s great moments … your child’s first day of school. The camera is charged, they clothes are extra-neat, the essential paraphernalia is stylishly arrayed from lunch box to pencil case … and you now realize you are escorting your youngster … that child you love more than life … to boot camp. So, we all cringe some more. And lots of you probably cry, too.
I would cry. A lot. And I am not given to that sort of soft stuff. But I know how my children were once stitched to my heart and my soul when they were tiny human beings … and it doesn’t take great effort to recapture that moment in time.
All cringing aside … when do we stop begging and imploring educational officials and politicians to STOP! To treat our children like … like children?
When do they hear us rather than the goofy gurus? When do they realize that we’re not so goddamned consumed with data and test scores and rankings and such? That we’re more concerned with smiles and joy and refrigerator art?
When does that happen? When do we all get our balance back? And when does childhood make a comeback.
I can’t believe I typed that last sentence. I’m cringing again.
Denis Ian
and yet, hmm, the newly nominated sec of ed sends his own kids to a Montessori, based entirely on play, yet has claimed that is “irrelevant.” to how other people’s kids should be tortured.
Denis, this has been my mantra since the early 80s. And it’s only gotten worse in the last decade. I too cringe – and cry. I do not NOT want this for my grandchildren!
The “when” is only going to come when they fear us more than they desire more money and power. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to create that fear. The robber barons gave in to the New Deal because they feared Communism. The racists gave into the Civil Rights Movement because they feared protests and bodies in the streets (and the international images of how those bodies were treated. What will it take this time?
Spot on, Dienne.
Dienne-
We have a small start with Opt Out, but stops much too short. We need to convince parents to Opt Out of one-size-fits-all standards and Opt In to learner-centered education that addresses the development of the whole child, not just the mind. Why must we go outside public education to find this? Why does the DOE continue to push policies that restrict, rather than facilitate, the development of the individual? The tipping point is coming…we just have to keep stirring the pot!
I have this saved on my phone to refer to from time to time:
(from New Yorker magazine, November 2-8, by Lisa Miller)
“It’s not zipping up their coats and sending them to school that makes kids successful. It’s what they learn when they get there.”
Common sense thinking, yes? (In such short supply in this whole crazy time we find ourselves in…)
“In an educational age of “readiness” and “achievement,” could school get so rigorous that it would undermine its own effectiveness? That is the semi-existential question posed by the study, since here, it seemed, pre-K was not only not a sound investment but also an impecunious one. ” another great line from Miller’s article
Excellent post! Thank you.
The loss will be hard to assess for years to come. But we may be the first generation in history to ignore the role of early childhood play.
Democracy rests on play–I’d argue–which requires extending its tenure in our life, and preserving it for ever in fact, much less cutting off its roots.
Deb
This is the beginning of brainwashing our young to serve the wealthy.
A Utah bill which, if passed, would require pre and post testing (probably standardized testing) for Kindergarten. Read about half-way down the article, where it says, “Kindergarten Readiness.”
Oops! Forgot to add the link to the article: http://www.standard.net/Education/2016/02/16/Preschool-and-kindergarten-hot-topics-on-the-Utah-hill.html
I work in Troy New York. Our assistant superintendent believes kindergarteners should not play at all in school. That they can “do that at home”. They need more “rigor”. 👎
Buy a ticket for the assistant principle to see Michael Moore’s new movie, “Where to Invade Next”. Moore will set him/her straight with evidence from around the world.
I live in Troy New York. Our assistant superintendent believes kindergarteners should not play at all in school. That they can “do that at home”. They need more “rigor”. 👎
The only hope for education is to return the responsibility of education to educators without making education a political football. We need to end the test and punish regime and the corporate assault on public schools. Otherwise, public schools feel the need to compete to do more sooner. The problem is that it is not in the best interest of young learners when we push down the curriculum.
They are a political football for two reasons: (1) ideology and (2) money. From an ideological point of view, there are powerful groups at war with public unions (including teachers unions) and the entire concept of public spending (the less, the better) and public benefits. The only way to stop this part of the argument is to develop clearer, louder, more compelling voices in favor of the benefits of publicly funded and provided services — such as education. Parents and taxpayers need to stop buying into the false arguments of poor teachers, poor schools, and the myth that the private charter sector provides better education (it doesn’t) with no downside (there are many).
The harder issue is the 2nd one. Schools have become political footballs because they are a source of money that for- profit charter entities can tap into to become fabulously wealthy. The ONLY thing that will fix this is laws that require sufficient public oversight and accountability for private schools financed with public funds (i.e. — charters), that the lure of quick, easy profits for little work and shoddy product are removed from the equation. Given Citizens United and the wealth and organization of the powers arrayed against us, we have our work cut out for us.
How can we continue hearing this when others are saying they have cut the amount of tests being given to children? This sickens me to hear five year olds are being treated like guinea pigs. Thank you Denis for shedding light on the test taking frenzy still going on. Moratorium? Where? Certainly not here.
Thank you for writing such a heartfelt and poignant piece. It makes my heart bleed. I remember my first day of kindergarten. It was filled with play – a chest of stuffed animals, over-sized colorful magnetized letters, crayons, snack outdoor time in the school yard and telling the teacher what I liked about the day in one on one time before my mom took me home! That was SO MANY YEARS AGO. It is painful to think that a child’s first day now involves STRESS. Teachers are mandated reporters for suspected child abuse. Why can we not report those who mandate stressful and useless testing on whole school districts in the name of equally useless data collection on our young school children!!!!
Michael Moore’s new movie makes the compelling case for play in schools. And, the Finnish minister of education, rejects standardized testing, during Moore’s interview with her. Bill Gates should watch the movie and learn something.
Moore also interviews a prosecutor in Iceland, who was assisted by a U.S. prosecutor in bringing cases against the bank officials responsible for Iceland’s financial crisis. It’s a shame that the U.S. DOJ’s interest in prosecution is limited to people like Aaron Schwartz and, the teachers in Atlanta.
“Where to Invade Next” is an important film that all should watch.
” I know how my children were once stitched to my heart and my soul when they were tiny human beings …”
This post speaks to everyone who has nurtured one of these tiny humans. It should go viral.
Beautiful quote. Gates and his co-conspirators may or may not see their own children in that light but, they sure as h_ll, don’t t value other people’s children.
Holy cow, this really touched my heart. I feel like we Americans are so focused on forcing developmental milestones on children that we don’t really give them a chance to be children. I think this is especially dangerous in literacy and literacy training because cramming something down a child’s throat will not make them a lover of reading or a lifelong learner. I recently read a book on French parenting {Brining Up Bebe} and while I don’t believe everything the author stated, I do believe that the French resistance to forcing a child to sit still and drill, drill, drill has a lot to do with their high graduation rates, literacy rates, and their low instance of ADD/ADHD and depression amongst school-age children. I have personally always felt a deep connection to the Montessori method, especially when it concerns literacy. Literacy and education in general should be about exploring exciting new things, not cramming for an assessment created by non-educators.
Please share. Everyone is going to be blindsided!
Here are the bills going through this session.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/1365
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/1714
“I am going to be blunt here. If parents don’t wake up and take a stand right now, this year, we will only have ourselves to blame. Ask yourself this. How do you see education in four to six years? I can promise you it won’t be the friendly teacher driven classrooms we are seeing today. Changes are being made from the top down right now as you are reading this, and it isn’t pretty. It is called Competency Based Education (also known as Competency Based Learning, Outcome Based Education, Personalized Learning, and Performance Based Education to name a few).”
https://unitedforflchildren.com/2016/02/18/competency-based-education/
Reblogged this on "…but I'm not the only one…" and commented:
Thank you Denis Ian.
This is a good way to think about the current state of our Education system, an excellent sentiment for your Parenting toolbox, and a notion to carry with you to the Voting Booth!
Unfortunately, Denis Ian uses “childhood innocence” as a bizarre argument as to why schools should NOT teach tolerance of other person’s ideas.
(Note: apparently if you disagree with his views he’ll simply delete your comments 🙂