The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon?
AdventureDad | September 6I just ran across an article in Newsweek titled : The New First Grade : Too Much Too soon? which discusses first grade education and how much it has changed. It’s a good follow up article to yesterdays little post about lots of homework for young children. You might get the impression that I’m anti-education but that’s not correct. I’m a strong believer in great education. But I’m a little hesitant towards heavy loads of homework for young children. I just don’t know if it’s such a great idea. The Newsweek article is scary and that kind of environment doesn’t sound healthy. Kids are looking at a lot less fun and a lot more studying.
From the article:“In the last decade, the earliest years of schooling have become less like a trip to “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and more like SAT prep. Thirty years ago first grade was for learning how to read. Now, reading lessons start in kindergarten and kids who don’t crack the code by the middle of the first grade get extra help. Instead of story time, finger painting, tracing letters and snack, first graders are spending hours doing math work sheets and sounding out words in reading groups. In some places, recess, music, art and even social studies are being replaced by writing exercises and spelling quizzes. Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again—some every 10 days or so—to ensure they’re making sufficient progress. After school, there’s homework, and for some, educational videos, more workbooks and tutoring, to help give them an edge.
Good idea or too much too soon? In the long run it’s up to us parents to decide.
Too much, too soon. Kids learn through play, and have the rest of their lives to work.
My daughter is privately schooled and doesn’t have any homework except at the end of the week that she can do over the weekend. Is this a public school versus private school thing? Are teachers getting less work more pay?
Why are they obsessed with loading up the little kids, instead of making the later grades worth anything? Aren’t these the same educators that basically treat middle school (or junior high) like babysitting time?
I just read the article and WOW, that is some crazy stuff. No wonder kids aren’t learning anything. If they are pushed that hard in elementary school they will be burnt out by the time it really counts.
[…] Today my colleague and blog friend Adventure Dad mentions at The BlogFathers an article by Newsweek’s Peg Tyre on the issue of school work called The New First Grade : Too Much Too Soon? It discusses the issue of the demands we place on our children today versus the demands of our generation. This followed an earlier post by Adventure Dad about kids having too much homework citing an article in Time Magazine called The Myth About Homework, written by Claudia Wallis. […]
As a parent of a first grader in public school I’m seeing the beginnings of what this article talks about. Of course I live in Oklahoma, and we’re always a little behind the trends of the rest of the country. Or maybe we’re ahead and the rest of you are behind…(yeah go ahead, you may laugh at me freely now). Anyway, do you know that in my area parents are upset because our teachers only give 20 minutes of homework daily for our first graders? yeah…only 20 minutes… Of course I have a theory about why. But you have to jump over to my blog to see it…
http://kellyology.blogspot.com/2006/09/kellys-soapbox-homework-and-odd-parent.html
We haven’t hit that stage yet, but it’s not far off. Our son loves the ‘imaginative play’ more so than reading. He’s definately better at the creative and spacial play. We worry a little that he’ll be bogged down once he hits school, but we’re hopeful the school won’t be too ‘test happy.’
[…] Posted on Thursday 7 September 2006 In the last few days I've been reading more about children and their education at a very young age. I discussed this here and here on The Blogfathers. Seems like the common approach today, especially in the U.S. is to go heavy on the homework and tests from the very beginning. Apparently parents believe their kids will become rocket scientists if they pile on the homework and decrease the playing at age 6. That's not the we do things here in Sweden and I'm very happy about that. For a toddler or first grader, fun and play is the focus and this continues into the teenage years. I guess all parents want their children to grow up with a good education and nice job at some point. But have you ever thought about what kind of occupation will suit your kids when they grow up? I think it's fascinating to see what kind of occupations my son is interested in right now and what gives him that sparkle in the eye and big smile on his face. Is that a good indication of what he will be interested in later in life? If so, my son won't need to go to school for very long, study hard, or do much homework. Below are Daniel's favorite jobs. They consistently bring him joy and he can't stop talking about them. And it gives me pleasure any time I can expose him to these occupations. 1. Dump truck driver - When Daniel hears the dump truck coming for it's 7.30 am morning route he runs to the balcony cheering loudly. Then he stands there until all the recyclable stuff has been collected. He even covers his ears to protect them from the noise. It's the cutest thing ever. Occasionally the dump-truck will run late and we'll catch it on our way to day care. That's the best thing that can ever happen, at least according to Daniel, and we must stay and see every single bottle being collected. 2. Police, Ambulance, or Fire Trucks - Pretty much anything that has flashing lights is extremely popular and belongs to the "wee-wee-wee" category as Daniel calls them. Wherever we go he spots them, way before I do. It's too bad for him that crime is very low here and there doesn't seem to be any fires either. Since he loves loud fire trucks flashing their lights, do I need to mention how much he loves New York City!!?:-)) 3. Trains - I guess the ultimate would be to be the actual driver but I think it would suit equally well to work with servicing trains or collect tickets. He loves trains! On the weekends we ride around on the train or subway for a couple of hours just because he enjoys it. We hang out near the tracks at the main Central Station and watch excitedly how the trains pull in and out. The other weekend we got to hop on the train and take a quick tour of the drivers area. Can you imagine how popular I was that day? 4. Bus Driver - A bus rides is sometimes added to the aimless weekend riding on the train. He loves to call the bus driver "senor" and must push the button for every single stop. Some kids seem unhappy riding the bus but Daniel can stay there for hours. 5. Boat Captain - We have a small ferry near our house which only shuttle people on a three minute ride across a small river. The boat driver is another "senor" and we regularly ask for permission to go up and see the captain while he driving the boat. The boat ride is thankfully quick otherwise I would have to quit my job and ride full time. When we want to go totally overboard we take the ferry and then bike to a nearby bridge which opens, like the ones in Ft. Lauderdale, to let through large boats. We stand right next to the bridge and see it open and if we're lucky a couple of trains will pass by while we're waiting. Talk about heaven! Tonight and Saturday I have something very special planned for our son. I'm guessing it will be something he will remember. Tonight we will be watching grown men play with miniature trains. There seem to be quite a few who loves to build and construct miniature railways, usually a copy of some particular station, and tonight we will be extending Daniel's bedtime and watching as Stockholm Association Of Miniature Trains run their huge collection of trains. I used to love trains as a toddler but my parents never bought me one of those railways I desperately wanted. Daniel has briefly watched miniature trains during our trip to Germany and was intrigued to say the least. Saturday morning we will be visiting Nirvana. I've called the local fire station and arranged to stop by there while they do their weekly service of the fire trucks. We did stop by there last week just to look at the trucks from far away and I almost had to drag Daniel into the car. Should be a couple of memorable hours. I can't tell you how much I love doing this things with our son. It brings me little pleasure personally but giving him this simple but powerful experiences is worth billions to me. It's obvious that many small boys have a period when they love trains/buses/police but I'm wondering when, if ever, it will come down to a more normal level? […]
I’m using Waldorf methods with my preschool kids and I have to agree with that philosophy that homework is counter-productive until later in the grades.
Kindergarten kids need to play and discover the world without “learning” in an abstract way. I think my kids will someday understand wave mechanics much better if they remember all the rocks they threw in the brook, likewise they will enjoy reading because of the stories they heard from me at bedtime. I also think pushing abstract learning too soon takes all the fun out of learning…how many of us can remember school as a joyous place?
Maybe in our culture we’re too focused on productivity and materialism, so that we’re afraid to let kids have free play and slow the pace of learning??
It’s because we have metric by which we compare the success of our education system to other countries, and that’s test scores in science, math, and other universal subjects. No one can claim that our educational system is perfect, but the fact of the matter is that science and math aren’t the end-all for the success of a country’s economy. The most successful economies are the ones that encourage entrepreneurship and creativity.
We need to be careful not to get caught up in a “you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists” false dichotomy here. It’s not 100% about doing hours of math homework vs. doing none. It’s about finding the balance that gives kids both the hard skills they need to educate themselves, and the creativity to make themselves happy and successful.