Here is a quote from the article: "Kindergarten can technically be taught during a half day but the subjects should be taught in a 60-minute block."
Ok, so Kindergarten is basically comprised of 5-6 year olds. 60 minute blocks of time per subject? Really? The rest of the article spoke of percentage increases of time spent per subject as compared to now, technology and something about how less discipline would be needed. Really? I know college students who get bored after 30 minutes in class. To top it off, they are using a lottery to see which kids get in this program the first year because there is not enough money yet for all the kids to benefit from a 60 minute per subject, full-time, less disciplined day. So not only are they telling us how wonderful this new program is but, they are also making it seem all the more appealing by dangling this carrot in front of us and then telling us only some will get it, and some will be forced to go back to mediocre half day-which last year was just wonderful (if you asked them last year I'm sure).
Thirty something years ago in Kindergarten we learned A is for apple and played Farmer in the Dell and Jump Rope. In first grade we were putting sentences together-the famous first readers with the red cover and then the blue cover and then the yellow cover (see spot run) and we kept advancing to the next book as we became more fluent. We came home and our moms were waiting for us, we played the afternoon away (isn't play what children's work really is?) Unfortunately, there is little time for imagination and spontaneous made up games now, it is all arranged and organized.
These children are missing creativity, allowance to think outside the box, to not only look at an inkblot and make up a story about it but to also make the inkblot themselves. Were studies done when Abe Lincoln lived in his log cabin and learned from books just by reading them? Alexander Graham Bell may not have had the insight to create not only the telephone but he also improved the phonograph and helped improve breeding practices for sheep, among other things. If he were forced into 60 minute blocks of predetermined time as a youth we may be still talking through tin cans.
It is said this full day program is progress. Is it? It is a springboard. It won't be long before preschool (now many are called learning centers) is only full time and it will start at an earlier and earlier age, AND it will be mandatory. We have fallen in to the system. It has come in and slowly consumed us. If we are not watching, if we don't stay aware and in control of our lives and our families it will take over, it has already started.
Something to think about...
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