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I guess I wasn't ready to step off my soap -box. Our granddaughter goes to pre-school this year and is four years old. She is very smart but that is beside the point. All preschoolers have to know how to write their name, say the alfabet, tie their shoes, of course be potty trained and they have to stay all day. She can speak some spanish and can count and say colors in spanish. I not worried about her in anyway but just what is the purpose of preschool if they have to know all of this before they can go to preschool? I always thought pre-school was to prepare them to leave Mommy, learn to spell their name and learn what ever they could to be ready for kindergarden which used to serve the purpose of pre-school. Now I understand they go right into math skills in kindergarden. Wow I would have flunked pre-school. I was number five of six kids and Mom worked and it wasn't with Bridgets education.

flopstock wrote: The best i can figure it...and i'm on my second generation of grade school age kids(isn't god a hoot?) what my first two learned in 1st grade 20 years ago is what is being taught in kindergarten today. so what was being taught in kindergarten is being taught in pre-school where we used to focus on teaching them not to chew on each other or wipe their nose on the kid in front of them...



I blame it on all of you people who insisted on making your kid listen to opera and reading to them in the womb when they should have been sleeping. they come out overtired and hyperactive and we wonder why they have an attention span of a gnat. i say we should have just let sleeping fetuses lie...we'd be moving them along at a more comfortable pace today...


Bravo Floppy i hear ya on this one. So many folks are failing to let kids be kids. instead of mini einsteins. Many years ago when I was a brownie leader we had a girl who often fell asleep during brownies and school. I inquired why ... it was because every day after school and supper this girl was carted off to music lessons, dance lessons, singing lessons, skating lessons, swimming lessons etc. And why.... the parents thought eventually she would be "great" at something. Well this is about 10 years later, my daughter ran into this girl and guess what, she is 17, dropped all her lessons, is in her last year of high school and is looking forward to getting some kind of job. That is it.

Do us adults have longer attention spans? We just know how to control them and direct them better...........................uh, well maybe I don't at times.

You know were all on the same train. I realize we have to keep our education up with the foreign schools but how many kids go into Einstein levels? Let those genius's be genius's and let your every day kids enjoy school, life, the great outdoors, their bicycles, and just kid stuff. There are so many kids that can't read even in high school, because of dance, swim,music lessons taking their time when they should have been in reading class. I honestly think too many parents want to live their childhoods thru their children. Which is robbing their children of the chance to form their own likes and dislikes because they are so busy trying to please Mommy and Daddy.

flopstock wrote: The best i can figure it...and i'm on my second generation of grade school age kids(isn't god a hoot?) what my first two learned in 1st grade 20 years ago is what is being taught in kindergarten today.


Here's a news flash....mankind has learned a few things since you went to school floppy. When you were in school, in the Science book, there was a chapter on bacteria, and two sentences on virii. You see, we knew there was such a thing as a virus, and it caused disease, but because they are so small, we had no idea what they were like. Now, kids in the 7th grade can not only tell you what a virus is, how it attacks the cell, and how it replicates, they can tell you six distinct kinds of protein coats and the virus that is associated with them.

It's a tough, competitive world. Your children need to know more than you ever did to succeed in it.



I blame it on all of you people who insisted on making your kid listen to opera and reading to them in the womb when they should have been sleeping. they come out overtired and hyperactive and we wonder why they have an attention span of a gnat.


Yeah, God forbid you as a parent would want your child to be successful, because the techniques you just mentioned are proven to help cognitive ability. You think that attention span problem came from that? Those tactics are designed to combat short attention spans. It was your fault when you used MTV as a babysitter.

i say we should have just let sleeping fetuses lie...we'd be moving them along at a more comfortable pace today...


Yes...let's further erode America's lead in technology so that when our children are our age, they will live in a third world country. India is already overshadowing us in college graduates and technical degrees. Meanwhile, parents have not only adopted the horrifyingly flippant attitude I just saw here, they are actively trying to erase true Science like evolution from the curriculums. Welcome to the new Dark Ages.

By the way, Bridget...I'm hoping one of the things that they will teach your daughter is how to spell "alphabet".

And Floppy, you are too smart to ridicule education, you know it's importance in our society. Shame on you.

:mad:

Button Button whose got the button?

Yes Jives, those kids do know 7th grade science at that level-they better when they leave one of our classrooms. They have upped the bar in math and science, we have been behind other coutries for many years in these areas. Here is a link to some of these score averages-United States ranks 12th in math and 6th in science for 4-8 grade students in 2003.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0930079.html

This is from the TIMMS study, if you want information on them,

http://nces.ed.gov/timss/

I am glad to see the increase in science, it was much lower then that a few years before.

My kids are switching from the private to the public this year - and we just found out that they are just learning cursive and Jeana is going to be in 2nd and is already fluent, and now has to learn to print and go back wards not forwards.. ...it drives me nuts that 2 schools- one small town and the curriculum is not the same!! Whats up with that...Also, my oldest who went to public, was getting help from my 5th grader at the private...Its so strange-I wish they had the same curriculum for all school in Iowa - just crazy....By the way - I didn't learn cursive till I was in 3rd grade!

Far Rider wrote: Im after the best for him, taking into consideration his life, aptitude, likes and dislikes, capabilities etc... whatever that ends up being wether its a combo of public and or private institution will be determied by what I have available, what I can afford and who I can barter into helping him!


You rock, Far.