What would drive parents to hire a tutor for a preschool child? What do reading experts say about this?
Success For Children
Every parent wants school to be a pleasant and successful experience for their child. Preschools were once for a few who paid for it privately. Now, most public schools have a preschool program and many of them are all day, three to five days a week.
Baby Einstein
After several years of Baby Einstein, perhaps parents are getting the message that "good" parents will go the extra mile to ensure success. Without being educators or experts in early childhood development, parents push their children in math and reading thinking they are doing the right thing. Baby Einstein data shows that not only are the Einstein children not ahead of peers but watching television can actually be harmful. [Caroline E. Mayer, washingtonpost.com, May 2, 2006]
Tutoring Centers
Tutoring centers are beginning to pop up across the nation.
- Sylvan Learning Centers started a pre-K program
- Kumon, a Japanese company, teaches kids as young as 3 how to add and read the alphabet.
- KnowledgePoints has a program for 3- and 4- year olds.
[Pamela Paul, time.com, November 21, 2007]
Study in the U.S., Canada and Britain
The latest issue of Developmental Psychology has examined the most recent toddler-tutoring trend. Greg Duncan, a social-policy expert at Northwestern University, agrees that the best predictor of success in later school years was entering kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills. However, he cautions, "The kind of skills that matter in affecting later learning are things parents can pretty easily convey to their children in the home." In other words, parents can teach their children knowledge of letters and numbers. [Pamela Paul, time.com, November 21, 2007] Birth order may also affect how children perform in school.
Too Much Too Soon
Maryanne Wolf, head of Tufts University’s Center for Reading and Language Research states, "Recent brain-imaging data show that children aren’t ready to read until around age 5 at the earliest. To hasten that process not only makes no sense socially or emotionally, it makes no sense physiologically."
What about flash cards at age three or four that teach children letters and numbers? Wolf notes, "A pigeon can do it." [Pamela Paul, time.com, November 21, 2007] That does not mean the child understands language and how sounds make words. Recognizing symbols is not reading.
Forcing Facts Can Damage
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, University of Delaware professor adds, 'early tutoring could hurt kids’ ability to become lifelong learners." Dr. David Elkind, author of the 1981 book The Hurried Child says, "I hope people don’t take away from this new study the notion that formal education needs to be pushed down to the preschool level. Kids already learn what they need to know in a traditional learning-through-play program."
Wait Until Age Seven
Lilian Katz, a professor of education at Illinois University, feels that children should not begin formal education until age 7. "It can be seriously damaging for children who see themselves as inept at reading too early. Boys were particularly vulnerable when rushed into reading too soon." [Polly Curtis, education.guardian.co.uk, November 22, 2007] Many in education hold the opinion that forcing children to read too early may actually cause a learning disability. The brain is not ready and forcing may do damage. Research shows that merely beginning school causes stress.
While everyone is looking for ways to improve student achievement in school, beginning formal education in preschool instead of "play" is not the way to go, say the experts. Children need play to learn social skills and basic colors, letters and numbers.
Related articles: School Proficiencies Inconsistent, 10% Of Schools Dropout Factories
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
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