I remember in about 2nd or 3rd grade playing "homework" with my BFF at the time. Because we didn't have homework. Or at least none that was what we thought of as homework. Sure, memorizing words for a spelling test, or reading a book, or bringing in something for show-and-tell, but not real get-graded-and-assessed-on assignments.
Last Sunday's NYT magazine had a short article emphasizing how much has changed:
"A survey of 254 teachers in New York and Los Angeles the group commissioned found that kindergartners spent two to three hours a day being instructed and tested in reading and math. They spent less than 30 minutes playing."
Huh.
5 comments:
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Even 5 years ago, kids in PPS schools weren't expected to have to know how to read by the end of K. Nowadays, that is the goal given to every K teacher so there is a huge push. Regardless of whether or not the kid is ready.
hmph.
Isn't kindergarten only 3-4 hours long? In the first grade I remember sitting in the reading nook and getting to play records. There was a lot of singing and crayon work. I guess we have the No Child Left Behind clusterf*#% to thank for this disaster of a school day schedule.
My friend's son who is in kindergarten at a PDX charter school has homework. Last week he had to learn the difference between and put in a sentence words like "threw" and "through." He's five freaking years old!
I have an opposite viewpoint. Probably because I am a product of readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmatics in kindergarten. Kindergarten is school to me, and they're there for what, 3-4 hours? The kids have play time the rest of the day. It's a weird concept to me to send your kids to school for more play time. Hopefully they are teaching them to read and write and do math in fun ways (like teacher Suzie in Sid the Science Kid). But free play? I'd be pissed if I sent my kids to school and they had free play for anything outside of recess.
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