Let children be children:

[LWolf]

Is your 5-year-old stressed out?

<snip>

I was watching one of my second-grade girls try unsuccessfully to tie her shoes the other day, and I thought, "This is a person who is supposed to be learning plural possessives?" I think not.

We've just finished test time again in the schools of California. The mad frenzy of testing infects everyone from second grade through high school. Because of the rigors and threats of No Child Left Behind, schools are desperate to increase their scores. As the requirements become more stringent, we have completely lost sight of the children taking these tests.

For 30 years as a teacher of primary kids, I have operated on the Any Fool Can See principle. And any fool can see that the spread between what is developmentally appropriate for 7- and 8-year-old children and what is demanded of them on these tests is widening. A lot of what used to be in the first-grade curriculum is now taught in kindergarten. Is your 5-year-old stressed out? Perhaps this is why.

<snip>

The present emphasis on testing and test scores is sucking the soul out of the primary school experience for both teachers and children. So much time is spent on testing and measuring reading speed that the children are losing the joy that comes but once in their lifetime, the happy messiness of paint, clay, Tinkertoys and jumping rope, the quiet discovery of a shiny new book of interest to them, the wonders of a magnifying glass. The teachers around them, under constant pressure to raise those test scores, radiate urgency and pressure. Their smiles are grim. They are not enjoying their jobs.

Our children need parents and teachers who, like Hamlet, know a hawk from a hand saw, who know foolishness when they see it and are strong enough to defend these small souls from the onslaught of escalating developmentally inappropriate claptrap. The great unspoken secret of primary school is that a lot of what is going on is arrant nonsense, and it's getting worse. Any fool can see.

I, for one, would like to take "learning" and "education" back to the inherently motivating, joyful process of exploration, discovery, and personal growth.

[ulysses]

1. you're being too soft on them.

It needs to be all drill and kill, like the Indians do. We'll fall further behind otherwise.

;-)

[Fridays Child]

2. Do you have a link to the complete article?

:)

[LWolf]

5. Yes!

:blush: oops...

Here it is:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/06/03/INGE5Q5QCO1.DTL

[roody]

3. I'm so glad that I teach first grade.

They are one year away from the tests.

[pnwmom]

8. But even first grade at my kids' school has been tainted by the pressure.

So has kindergarten, for that matter.

[roody]

9. Mine is too. I just do my best to not take the tests

seriously, and to have a good time learning.

[pnwmom]

4. I would like to read the whole article, too.

My three children are widely spread apart in age and it has been so sad for me to see the changes over the years.

I think the only people who are really benefiting from all this testing mania are the test manufacturers themselves, and the politicians who use the issue to panic people.

[LWolf]

6. See post # 6! n/t

[pnwmom]

7. Okay -- found it -- but at post #5. Thank you!