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The New Preschool Is Crushing Kids1
如今，“让孩子们赢在起跑线上”这句话越来越为人所诟病，看看现在幼儿园和学前班里的孩子们，小小年纪就背负沉重的学业负担，恨不得十八般武艺样样精通。在父母、老师拉着孩子们往前跑时，他们也许都忽略了——人的一生是长跑，计较了起跑线上的分秒，殊不知“欲速则不达”，跑得快，不等于跑得赢。
Step into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to be bombarded with what we educators call a print-rich environment， every surface festooned with alphabet charts， bar graphs， word walls， instructional posters， classroom rules， calendars， schedules， and motivational platitudes—few of which a 4-year-old can “decode，” the contemporary word for what used to be known as reading.2
Because so few adults can remember the pertinent details of their own preschool or kindergarten years， it can be hard to appreciate just how much the early-education landscape has been transformed over the past two decades.3 The changes are not restricted to the confusing pastiche4 on classroom walls. Pedagogy and curricula have changed too， most recently in response to the Common Core State Standards Initiative’s kindergarten guidelines.5 Much greater portions of the day are now spent on what’s called “seatwork” and a form of tightly scripted teaching known as direct instruction， formerly used mainly in the older grades， in which a teacher carefully controls the content and pacing of what a child is supposed to learn.6
One study， titled “Is Kindergarten the New First Grade？”， compared kindergarten teachers’ attitudes nationwide in 1998 and 2010 and found that the percentage of teachers expecting children to know how to read by the end of the year had risen from 30 to 80 percent.7 The researchers also reported more time spent with workbooks and worksheets， and less time devoted to music and art.8 Kindergarten is indeed the new first grade， the authors concluded glumly9. In turn， children who would once have used the kindergarten year as a gentle transition into school are in some cases being held back before they’ve had a chance to start.10
Until recently， school-readiness skills weren’t high on anyone’s agenda， nor was the idea that the youngest learners might be disqualified from moving on to a subsequent stage.11 But now that kindergarten serves as a gatekeeper， not a welcome mat， to elementary school， concerns about school preparedness kick in earlier and earlier.12 A child who’s supposed to read by the end of kindergarten had better be getting ready in preschool. As a result， expectations that may arguably have been reasonable for 5- and 6-year-olds， such as being able to sit at a desk and complete a task using pencil and paper， are now directed at even younger children， who lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful.13 Preschool classrooms have become increasingly fraught spaces， with teachers cajoling their charges to finish their “work” before they can go play.14 And yet， even as preschoolers are learning more pre-academic skills at earlier ages， I’ve heard many teachers say that they seem somehow less inquisitive and less engaged than the kids of earlier generations.15 More children today seem to lack the language skills needed to retell a simple story or to use basic connecting words and prepositions16. They can’t make a conceptual analogy between， say， the veins on a leaf and the veins in their own hands.17
New research found that although children who had attended preschool initially exhibited more “school readiness” skills when they entered kindergarten than did their non-preschool-attending peers， by the time they were in first grade their attitudes toward school were deteriorating.18
Media attention to the cognitive potential of early childhood has a way of exacerbating such a trend， but the actual academic consensus on the components of high-quality early education tells another story.19 According to experts， the best preschool programs share several features： They provide ample opportunities for young children to use and hear complex， interactive language； their curriculum supports a wide range of school-readiness goals that include social and emotional skills and active learning； they encourage meaningful family involvement； and they have knowledgeable and well-qualified teachers.20
In a high-quality program， adults are building relationships with the children and paying close attention to their thought processes and， by extension21， their communication. They’re finding ways to make the children think out loud22.
The real focus in the preschool years should be not just on vocabulary and reading， but on talking and listening. We forget how vital spontaneous， unstructured conversation is to young children’s understanding.23 By talking with adults， and one another， they pick up information. They learn how things work. They solve puzzles that trouble them. Sometimes， to be fair， what children take away from a conversation is wrong. They might conclude24 that pigs produce ham， just as chickens produce eggs and cows produce milk. But these understandings are worked over， refined， and adapted—as when a brutal older sibling explains a ham sandwich’s grisly origins.25
Unfortunately， much of the conversation in today’s preschool classrooms is one-directional and simplistic， as teachers steer students through a highly structured schedule， herding them from one activity to another and signaling approval with a quick “good job！”26
如今，“让孩子们赢在起跑线上”这句话越来越为人所诟病，看看现在幼儿园和学前班里的孩子们，小小年纪就背负沉重的学业负担，恨不得十八般武艺样样精通。在父母、老师拉着孩子们往前跑时，他们也许都忽略了——人的一生是长跑，计较了起跑线上的分秒，殊不知“欲速则不达”，跑得快，不等于跑得赢。
Step into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to be bombarded with what we educators call a print-rich environment， every surface festooned with alphabet charts， bar graphs， word walls， instructional posters， classroom rules， calendars， schedules， and motivational platitudes—few of which a 4-year-old can “decode，” the contemporary word for what used to be known as reading.2
Because so few adults can remember the pertinent details of their own preschool or kindergarten years， it can be hard to appreciate just how much the early-education landscape has been transformed over the past two decades.3 The changes are not restricted to the confusing pastiche4 on classroom walls. Pedagogy and curricula have changed too， most recently in response to the Common Core State Standards Initiative’s kindergarten guidelines.5 Much greater portions of the day are now spent on what’s called “seatwork” and a form of tightly scripted teaching known as direct instruction， formerly used mainly in the older grades， in which a teacher carefully controls the content and pacing of what a child is supposed to learn.6
One study， titled “Is Kindergarten the New First Grade？”， compared kindergarten teachers’ attitudes nationwide in 1998 and 2010 and found that the percentage of teachers expecting children to know how to read by the end of the year had risen from 30 to 80 percent.7 The researchers also reported more time spent with workbooks and worksheets， and less time devoted to music and art.8 Kindergarten is indeed the new first grade， the authors concluded glumly9. In turn， children who would once have used the kindergarten year as a gentle transition into school are in some cases being held back before they’ve had a chance to start.10
Until recently， school-readiness skills weren’t high on anyone’s agenda， nor was the idea that the youngest learners might be disqualified from moving on to a subsequent stage.11 But now that kindergarten serves as a gatekeeper， not a welcome mat， to elementary school， concerns about school preparedness kick in earlier and earlier.12 A child who’s supposed to read by the end of kindergarten had better be getting ready in preschool. As a result， expectations that may arguably have been reasonable for 5- and 6-year-olds， such as being able to sit at a desk and complete a task using pencil and paper， are now directed at even younger children， who lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful.13 Preschool classrooms have become increasingly fraught spaces， with teachers cajoling their charges to finish their “work” before they can go play.14 And yet， even as preschoolers are learning more pre-academic skills at earlier ages， I’ve heard many teachers say that they seem somehow less inquisitive and less engaged than the kids of earlier generations.15 More children today seem to lack the language skills needed to retell a simple story or to use basic connecting words and prepositions16. They can’t make a conceptual analogy between， say， the veins on a leaf and the veins in their own hands.17
New research found that although children who had attended preschool initially exhibited more “school readiness” skills when they entered kindergarten than did their non-preschool-attending peers， by the time they were in first grade their attitudes toward school were deteriorating.18
Media attention to the cognitive potential of early childhood has a way of exacerbating such a trend， but the actual academic consensus on the components of high-quality early education tells another story.19 According to experts， the best preschool programs share several features： They provide ample opportunities for young children to use and hear complex， interactive language； their curriculum supports a wide range of school-readiness goals that include social and emotional skills and active learning； they encourage meaningful family involvement； and they have knowledgeable and well-qualified teachers.20
In a high-quality program， adults are building relationships with the children and paying close attention to their thought processes and， by extension21， their communication. They’re finding ways to make the children think out loud22.
The real focus in the preschool years should be not just on vocabulary and reading， but on talking and listening. We forget how vital spontaneous， unstructured conversation is to young children’s understanding.23 By talking with adults， and one another， they pick up information. They learn how things work. They solve puzzles that trouble them. Sometimes， to be fair， what children take away from a conversation is wrong. They might conclude24 that pigs produce ham， just as chickens produce eggs and cows produce milk. But these understandings are worked over， refined， and adapted—as when a brutal older sibling explains a ham sandwich’s grisly origins.25
Unfortunately， much of the conversation in today’s preschool classrooms is one-directional and simplistic， as teachers steer students through a highly structured schedule， herding them from one activity to another and signaling approval with a quick “good job！”26