The Alliance for Childhood is coming out against so-called kindergarten boot camps, or any intense effort made to ready young children for school.
The efforts are not resulting in any significant academic progress, but is rather depriving children of much-needed playtime, they say.
A growing number of worried parents have enrolled their young children in camps and classes to make sure they know their letters and numbers prior to kindergarten. Many school systems expect 5-year-olds to enroll knowing the alphabet, days of the week, colors and shapes. They’re expected to know how to count to 10 and complete a worksheet, according to the Alliance.
Edward Miller of the Alliance says: “Kindergarten was designed as a place to introduce children to the pleasures of learning and exploring the wider world, mainly through play and discovery. Now we talk in terms of preparing them for combat–as if school is a war zone, or a prison.”
Miller is co-author of the 2009 report “Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School.” It documents the importance of free play in early education and the extent to which play has been pushed out of kindergarten. The authors argue that the push for early academics is based on unproved assumptions.
Recent research in England and New Zealand, for example, compared children who were taught to read at age 5 with those taught to read at 7. By age 11, there was no difference in reading ability between the two groups.
These findings complement earlier studies in the U.S. and Germany comparing children in play-based preschool and kindergarten classrooms with others in programs focused on academic skills. Within a few years, the children in playful programs were significantly ahead of the others in academic achievement.
Play deprivation contributes to behavioral problems, especially in young boys. Preschools with the least amount of time for dramatic play had the highest rates of expulsion, according to research.
“Years of research on the role of play in early childhood shows that it contributes to self-control, problem solving, empathy, cooperation, and communication skills,” says Joan Almon of the Alliance. “By depriving children of play, we rob them of the chance to develop the tools they need to get along with others and succeed in school and in life.”
The Alliance says that the “pressure-cooker atmosphere” has led increasing numbers of parents to “redshirting” their 5-year-olds, holding them back from starting kindergarten until they are six. The most recent census data, for 2008, shows that 17 percent of children entering kindergarten were 6 or older.
What do you think? It seems like there should be plenty of time in the day for both learning and play, especially if students are entering with higher-skill levels. How did you prepare your little one for kindergarten? Did they have time to play?