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Mar. 4th, 2008
An article on Finnish schools
Mar. 4th, 2008 08:43 pm
Like Sweden, they start school later than we do, and like Sweden, they do better on international tests.
I'm not surprised. There's no profit in pushing a kid who really isn't ready to learn to read, or to add, or to tie their shoes - and even if they're ready early, and they do these things early, so what? Nobody can tell when they're grown anyway.
It just seems so weird to me. When children are babies, we understand that some of them walk early, and some talk early, and it doesn't matter. The average age for starting to walk spans nine months - which doesn't sound like a lot, until you realize that the late-end-of-average walkers are twice the age of the early-end-of-average walkers! And we get that development isn't steady. Heck, there's an oft-repeated expression about it - early walker, late talker. (Or the other way around). People say it because it's true.
So what happens when a kid turns five (or six, or three, or whenever that magic age is) that makes us think that they'll suddenly need help, and gain the magic ability to learn on schedule? Often, nowadays, it sounds like on an accelerated schedule.
I don't get it. I just don't.
I'm not surprised. There's no profit in pushing a kid who really isn't ready to learn to read, or to add, or to tie their shoes - and even if they're ready early, and they do these things early, so what? Nobody can tell when they're grown anyway.
It just seems so weird to me. When children are babies, we understand that some of them walk early, and some talk early, and it doesn't matter. The average age for starting to walk spans nine months - which doesn't sound like a lot, until you realize that the late-end-of-average walkers are twice the age of the early-end-of-average walkers! And we get that development isn't steady. Heck, there's an oft-repeated expression about it - early walker, late talker. (Or the other way around). People say it because it's true.
So what happens when a kid turns five (or six, or three, or whenever that magic age is) that makes us think that they'll suddenly need help, and gain the magic ability to learn on schedule? Often, nowadays, it sounds like on an accelerated schedule.
I don't get it. I just don't.