|
|
|
Early Schooling: An Idea Whose Time Has Gone?
|
|
Early Schooling: An Idea Whose Time Has Gone?
Editor's Introduction No serious thought can be conducted without assumptions. The problem is that a sound argument supported by good evidence, but based upon a false assumption, can only lead to a faulty conclusion. By their nature, assumptions are beliefs so taken for granted that it is not deemed necessary to prove them. Experts are not immune to this problem. The intellectuals of their dayhave believed the sun revolved around the earth, that the world is flat, and that Hitler would guarantee peace in their time. The universal value of "early childhood education" could be such a false assumption. What the experts seem to have in mind is the schooling of young children by "specialists" trained in techniques beyond the grasp of the average parent. Programs designed for "at-risk" children will be mandated for all children. The multi-faceted learning that takes place naturally in a nurturing family environment is not on the agenda. "Early childhood education" is an article of faith with many in Task Force 2,000, the education community, legislature, media, business and the general public. Yet, the evidence against it, and institutional day care, is mounting daily. It is hoped that this report will serve to challenge interested citizens and policy-makers to investigate their assumptions before they restructure social policy based upon this seductive and expensive assumption such as: (a) Peer dependency/Negative socialization Cornell University's Urie Bronfenbrenner and other researchers have found that children who are with their peers more than their parents in the early years will become peer dependent. To the extent that they conform to their peers, they suffer four crucial losses: (1) self worth, (2) optimism, (3) respect for parents, (4) trust in peers, setting the stage for drugs, sex, alcohol and violence. [6] Stanford's Albert Bandura and others report that peer dependency is now pervasive at the preschool level. [7] Contrary to common opinion, little children are not best socialized by other children. Their social development is best enhanced by parent example, building confidence in themselves and cooperation with others in a family setting. And in a reasonably warm home, "adult-child responses, which are the master key to education will be 50 to 100 times more than the average teacher-child responses in the classroom." [8] (b) Damage to parental attachment/Emotional development The foundation stone of the child's personality is his or her relationship with parents, especially the mother. If the child forms a secure attachment relationship with his parents, he will, according to John Bowlby, well-known British psychiatrist, form a positive internal working model of himself, his world and his parents. (Bowlby was concerned about the parent-child bond especially through age eight.) He will be a cooperative individual as he grows up, possessing high self-esteem. He will be able to trust others. [9] He will have a foundation for school success. Other leading researchers are alarmed a the movement away from mother and the home. Why? Because too early placement of young children in school may place limits on their ability to make full use of their developmental potential by damaging parental attachment. Psychologist Jay Belsky of Penn State University, a day care researcher for more than ten years, suggests that early day care places the child at risk emotionally, particularly in his social relationships. One of the most widespread sources of childhood stress is the increasing separation of children from their parents at young ages. "Declining parental attachment is an extremely serious risk to children today. The verdict of enormous psychological literature is that time spent with a parent is the very clearest correlate of healthy child development," says Karl Zinsmeister, Adjunct Research Associate at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. When young children go into extensive non-parental care, he says, many of them will suffer emotional and intellectual harm with symptoms including low self-esteem, increased aggressiveness, weak child-parent bonds, poor social skills and poor academic performance. [10] In addition, early institutional care increases the risk of acquired infectious diseases [11], attention deficit problems and hyperactivity. [12] (c) Intellectual development The availability of appropriate preschool programs may be important for those parents who are unable to provide their children adequate intellectual and social enrichment, or for handicapped or at-risk children. But even those children would best benefit from a morning program combined with an afternoon at home with a caring parent or grandparent. [13] If a half day of kindergarten is good for kids, a whole day should be better, New York City educators thought. Following this theory, all-day kindergarten classes for the 1983-84 school year were instituted. At the end of the year, the children who had attended all day kindergarten had made greater gains than students in half-day classes. But these gains were short-lived. "Reading and mathematics tests administered at the end of the second grade showed no measurable differences between children with half-day and full-day kindergarten experience," says educator Carolyn H. Jarvis of New York City's Board of Education. She reported her findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. [14] Some educators think that children learn best at their own pace at home. As Dr. Burton White, the renowned educational psychologist and director of the Harvard Preschool Project, says, "School for four year olds is indefensible on educational grounds." [15] David Elkind, Tufts University psychologist, says, "Nursery school is not essential for healthy development." [16] What the very young want, and urgently need, experts agree, is not education or socialization, but the affection and unhurried attention of their parents. [17] The number of nursery schools and out-of-the-home programs has increased a thousand-fold since 1965. Yet, during that time there has been no improvement in achievement test scores a the elementary, junior high or high school level, illiteracy has increases, and there has continued to be a decline in SAT scores. (d) Academic Burnout Many early entrants (ages 4 and 5) are tired of school before they finish third or fourth grades. Top learning and development authorities warn that the earlier young children begin formal, institutional schooling the earlier they tend to burn out. [18] Endnotes 1. Task Force 2000, "Creating Twentieth Century Schools," 1989, p. 7. 2. American Psychologist, March, 1987 quoted in Family Report, March-April, 1988. 3. Bloom, Benjamin S., All Our Children Learning, Washington, D. C.: McGraw-Hill, 1980. 4. Westinghouse Learning Corporation/Ohio University, 1970. "The Impact of Head Start: An Evaluation of the Effects of Head start on Children's Cognitive and Effective Development." The Disadvantaged Child, J. L. Frost & G. R. Hawkes, editors. 2nd Edition, pp. 197-201. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 5. Moore, Raymond S. That Modern Kindergarten Fiction, p. 3. See also Better Late Than Early, Reader's Digest Press, 1975 and School Can Wait, Camas, WA 98607, The Moore Foundation, 1982. 6. Bronfenrenner, Urie. Two Worlds of Childhood: U.S. and U.S.S.R., New York": Simon & Schuster, 1970. 7. Bandura, Albert, and Aletha C. Huston. "Identification as a Process of Incidental Learning," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, LXIII (1961), 311-318. 8. Moore Raymond S. Bulletin from the Moore Foundation, Number 62. 9. Bowlby, John, Attachment and Loss, Volume 2, Separation Anxiety and Anger, New York: Basic Books, 1970. 10. Zinmeister, Karl, at the Conference on Child Care sponsored by Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund, 1988 and 1989, published in Who Will Rock the Cradle? Washington, D.C., Eagle Forum and Legal Defense Fund, 1989. 11. U.S. Communicable Disease Control Center, Atlanta to the Wall Street Journal, September 5, 1984. 12. Hagerman, Randi Jenssen, M.D. "Pediatric Assessment of the Learning-disabled Child," Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Volume 5, No. 5, October 1984. 13. "Kids Need Time To Be Kids," Newsweek, Feb. 2, 1987, p. 58. 14. Trotter, Robert J. Psychology Today, January 19, 1988. 15. Dr. Burton White quoted in Newsweek, Feb. 2, 1987, p. 58. 16. Elkind, Dr. David. Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. 17. Zinsmeister, Karl, "Hard Truths About Day Care," Reader's Digest, October, 1988, p. 93. 18. Moore, Raymond S. Bulletin from the Moore Foundation, Number 62. Permission to reprint this paper in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided full credit is given to the Southwest Policy Institute. Published by the Southwest Policy Institute and its Center for Oklahoma Studies. Nothing in this policy study should be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Southwest Policy Institute or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any legislation. Copyright 1989 by the Southwest Policy Institute |
