KIPP Pre-Ks With 8-9 Hour Days

KIPP's segregated charter reform schools are widely known for their 10 hour days, plus 2 hours of homework each night.  With tons of federal cash soon up for grabs for those who promise to replace the effect of poverty with cultural and character sterilization programs, KIPP has plans to take the lead in the 3-4 year old market.  

KIPP would like to start with kids before age 3, but there is no money provided for that. Yet.  Instead, for now they must settle to begin their cultish interventions where the federal money trail begins, and to move it forward, so that by the time children enter kindergarten, they know that school is about total compliance, tracking the teacher, chanting, masking any weakness, and walking silently in single file.

A clip from an interview with KIPP's Michael Cordell:

What is it about early-childhood interventions that create improved performance over time?

You walk into so many KIPP classrooms, and it's pretty amazing. You see the kids there working and happy. They have been taught to work hard, and they have been taught to value their opinion and their story. So a lot of it is love of learning. A lot of it is socialization, how to have self-control. One of the big things we are doing now is looking at how we teach kids how to plan their play, to really understand how to set goals and plan, even starting with kids at 3 or 4.

You read that right: setting goals and learning to plan their play.  And of course, to learn the rules, since behavior is as important or more important than any academic focus:

Academics is one of the keys. It's not the key. It's really getting kids to love learning, to know the rules of school, to be ready for school, to allow their teachers to go on and not be disruptive.