World News Korner

Kindergarten show cancelled so that children can continue working toward college or a career. These are five year olds.

Letter sent to kindergarten parents

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

An annual year-end kindergarten show has been canceled at a New York school because the kids have to keep working so they will be “college and career” ready. Really.

That’s what it says in a letter (see above) sent to parents by Ellen Best-Laimit, the interim principal of Harley Avenue Primary School in Elwood, N.Y., and four kindergarten teachers. The play was to be staged over two days, May 14 and 15, according to the school’s calendar.

One mother who received the letter, Ninette Gonzalez Solis, wrote on Facebook that parents learned recently the play was being canceled and started calling the principal, leading the school officials to send out the new missive. Solis wrote that she was very upset about the cancellation.

Gee no kidding, I would hope that ALL of the parents who received this letter are upset.

Here is a portion of the letter for those having trouble reading it:

"The reason for eliminating the kindergarten show is simple. We are responsible for preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills and know that we can best do that by having them become strong readers, writer, coworkers, and problem solvers. Please do not fault us for making professional decisions that we know will never be able to please everyone. But know that we are making these decisions with the interests of all children in mind."

That is such BS.

Look I worked in a kindergarten room.

These children are struggling to learn to sit still during lessons, take turns during free time, and to zip up their coats and tie their own shoes.

The skills we focused on was teaching them to cut out shapes in order to improve their small motor skills, identify and read letters to improve their memorization skills, and to respect other children's property and feelings to improve their social skills.

One of the first tasks we struggle with is teaching children to stand in line. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bunch of five year olds to stand in line, without touching each other, wandering around aimlessly, or facing the wrong direction, for the first time?

A lot more challenging than one might imagine.

And what really helps with the teaching process is recognizing that this age group is barely out of the toddler stage, and they need to have lots of time to move, to play, and to distract themselves from the boring classroom work.

This school clearly does not understand what it takes to prepare children of this age for college or a career. One thing I can tell them for sure is that burning children out on school before they even reach the first grade is certainly NOT the way to put them on the path toward success.

Source