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

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Kindergarten prep?


Sent to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 12, 2012
Kindergarten is not school. It is supposed to help children transition from home to school and prepare them socially for school. If kindergarten prep camps (“School camps in St. Louis area aim to give incoming kindergartners a leg up,” July 12) are necessary to prepare children for kindergarten, what is kindergarten for?
Will we soon see camps to prepare children for kindergarten prep camps?

Stephen Krashen

Original article: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/school-camps-aim-to-give-incoming-kindergartners-a-leg-up/article_3dc0b0b4-9063-5755-9261-90cf94269b23.html#ixzz20TASRh3z
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:25 AM

    I first knew something strange was going on in education when President Bush I said we were going to get all kids "Ready to Learn" by 2000. I knew this was nonsense because young kids are already great learners.

    It took me awhile to figure out that this rhetoric only made sense in a world of educational assembly lines in which you are "preparing" children for a given station on the assembly line. Since I regularly work with wide age ranges of kids all together (4-10 anyone?), it's clear that if you have to sweat "being ready" as much as they are, it's a very narrow and assembly line approach.

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  2. Anonymous12:14 PM

    There has always been prep for everything growingup;ITBS test, writing tests,the ACT and SAT, so why not let out future ge a little prep time in themselves. Kindergarden prep will help the child in the long run i feel.I say that because, the first few weeks of a child actually attending a new school they're jsut becoming adjusted and not actually getting their full lesson of what is being taught. So when i have children and have the actual opportunity to give them a "leg up" and push them ahead i will, because there is no harm in being ahead of the curvein the long run

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  3. Anonymous12:33 PM

    kindergarten is already the preparation so you dont need a redundant prep. your home is suppose to be the kindergarten prep, then kindergarten, then school. some places have pre-k and that should in itself be the kindergarten prep

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  4. Unknown2:20 AM

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    ReplyDelete

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