Re: Why not let kids be kids?

[Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>]

Hi, Jerry. I'm in an either/or mood, so forgive me if this seems  
reductive. But here we go:

We're either serious about keeping kids in school and raising  
graduation rates -- esp. for low-income minority kids -- or we're not  
serious.

If we're serious about wanting to keep kids in school, it's vital  
that school be fun, interesting, and relevant from the very beginning  
of the school experience. It matters not a whit if there is rigor,  
rigor, rigor starting in pre-K. When this rigor turns to rigor  
mortis, kids will drop out of school in even larger numbers than they  
currently are. I think people either get this or not.

I got this after watching my daughter in her pre-K class during the  
academic/rigor portion of the class. She, along with most of the  
other 4 and 5 year olds, were very quiet, very still, and behaving  
very well. They also looked catatonic, a rather shocking site when  
observing groups of very young children.

If people don't get the rigor mortis/catatonia thing, then they're  
clearly not serious about keeping kids in school and raising  
graduation rates -- esp. for low-income minority kids.

I think it would be helpful to make this argument as clear as  
possible as part of our strategic communication on this issue.

Peter


On Mar 18, 2008, at 6:02 AM, gbracey1@verizon.net wrote:

> > Peter,
>
> The short answer is, adults decide.  The decisions can be stupid  
> ones, but
> adults need to decide.  Recall that in Linda's chapter comparing the
> curriculum at the wealthy school, Crofton, adults have made very  
> different
> decisions.
>
> At the preschool age, instruction needn't be formal.  When I was at  
> Indiana
> University, we ran a preschool developed around ideas of informal  
> education.
> For instance, everyday the kids cooked something.  They thought  
> they were
> having fun making something good to eat.  WE thought they were  
> learning the
> rudiments of physics, chemistry, and mathematics.  Not to mention  
> fine motor
> skills (they had to handle the spoons and cups), measurement (tsp  
> vs. Tbsp),
> reading (the recipe was on paper in large print on a board), and the
> importance of following a sequence (one of the more important life  
> skills).
>
> We had no "outcome" measure, but we thought the experience was  
> decent, maybe
> even vital.