conuly

Interesting indeed. I'm a long-term, die-hard opponent of the 'pre-academic' school of thought, which was very popular back in the 80's when I was first teaching. Kindergarten is where a child ought to be learning the physical routines and social customs of school, so as to be used to them when 'real school' begins. Taking turns, raising hands, sharing materials, putting things away, and all those skills are The Curriculum.

The best way to teach children anything is to get out there and do it with them. Read to them, dance with them, make art with them, measure and weigh things, explore the natural world and the world of humans, model the behavior you want them to emulate.

There's a factor to consider: how much self-control do the adult role-models display? If Mama can't say No to a third piece of pie, Daddy can't turn off his video game, Grandma spends all her time shopping, Grandpa yells at other drivers, and Teacher blames, threatens and insults people, it's not terribly surprising that the kiddies give free rein to their impulses too.

I would be more of a proponent of the Unschooling Movement if I hadn't seen too many parents take it as an excuse to pretty-much let their children 'just grow'. It's then considered a wonderful thing if those children have achieved something close to an 8th-grade education by the time they're 18. Well, for my money, an 8th-grade education now is approximately equivalent to a 6th-grade education 30 years ago, and not worth much on the open market. The 'unschooled' family I know best, yes, they're lovely home-grown kidlings, happy and healthy and free, but about as ignorant as the Clampetts.

I say let the kids play freely, doing whatever they like with no more limits or rules than are necessary to keep them safe, healthy, and non-destructive, until they're 5 or 6. Then a year of kindergarten, where they learn How School Works, and get used to structures and schedules, but their activities are still mostly play.

And then let School commence in earnest,with none of this fake sugar-coating of Fun. Old-fashioned School, the goal of which is to teach children to read, write, use math, and understand history, art, science and politics. Six hours a day, five days a week (except holidays) ten months out of the year for 12 years ought to be enough to accomplish this task if the people trying to accomplish it are on the ball, and therefore I say no homework.

I entirely disagree with "blurring the lines between work and play". I think we've had far too much of that already, both in school and in adult life, and the results are rather painfully obvious. As Mark Twain put it, Work is whatever one is obliged to do, and Play is whatever one is not obliged to do - it has nothing to do with how much effort is required to do it. This "blurring the lines" business sounds to me like just more of the same old wrong-headed ploy that children have been seeing through for centuries: trying to manipulate them into thinking that what someone else wants them to do is what they really want to do.

The children who actually fall for that ploy grow up to be a pretty sad lot, I've noticed. The rest of them learn How To Manipulate by example, and do it right back to the ones who taught them. So I say, hell no, none of this trying to trick kids into thinking Work Is Play, which is right up there with War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, etcetera. Tell them straight-up, "Okay, you're in first grade, this is your work, which you are obliged to do as well as possible; play-time comes after the work has been done."

As for leadership in dramatic play, the best way I know to achieve that is to have older kids looking after/playing with younger ones, because they naturally tend to organize plays and pretend-games. Some adults can still do that, but most can't, because they're too obviously and consciously 'in charge', and turn the whole endeavor from Play to Work.