"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Children should not be allowed to behave like children

Testing will finally put an end to all the kindergarten tomfoolery.
Published in the Statesman Journal (Oregon), Sept 17, 2013

It's wonderful to know that children in Oregon will be tested on a uniform test just after starting kindergarten ("Oregon kindergartners tested to help gauge first steps in school," Sept 9).
Testing at the beginning of kindergarten testing will ensure that preschools will take firm steps to make sure that children are ready for the rigors of kindergarten, as well as encourage parents to follow strict, sequential standards in teaching their toddlers to count and develop pre-phonics skills to prepare them for preschool.

The unfortunate tendency of children to want to play and enjoy themselves must stop, despite the claims of mushy-minded "experts" who claim that play improves "social and emotional development," whatever that is.

Children should not be allowed to behave like children.

Stephen Krashen
President, Kindergarten Kalculus Association
Author of "Phonemic awareness training for prelinguistic children: Do we need prenatal PA?" Reading Improvement 35: 167-171, 1998

original article: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20130909/NEWS/309090003/?nclick_check=1
This letter posted at: http://tinyurl.com/mcry2ss

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