Viewpoints: What you learn in kindergarten isn't the stuff you'll find on tests
Sometime soon, the governor of California will have to decide whether to sign off on legislation that would create an early cutoff date for kindergarten eligibility. The plan is to require kindergartners to be 5 years old by Sept. 1 rather than Dec. 1 – in keeping with most other states that use an earlier cutoff date.
It seems that kindergarten apparently is no longer the "garden" of play and crafts originally envisioned by European educators in the early 19th century. In 21st-century California, there are pages of academic standards for that first year of public schooling, and younger kids just aren't making the grade academically. With a mere 13 years to make it to college, it seems we just can't afford the lag time.
What a pity.
In old-fashioned kindergarten, the pace is slow, the way it should be when you are young and just starting out. It's a place to become acquainted with details that very quickly disappear into the white noise of a grown-up life: the days of the week; the months of the year; the seasons; pleases and thank-yous; the stuff most of us can't remember without a smart phone.
Kindergarten is more about the journey than the destination. A kindergartner can spend 20
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/14/3026703/what-you-learn-in-kindergarten.html#ixzz0zWDZcq19
