I’m still scratching my head that I actually witnessed this… Years ago, I was investigating preschools for my first child and made a scheduled visit to one of the most popular schools in the neighborhood, chosen by parents I consider to be intelligent and thoughtful. As I entered the classroom and discreetly sat on the floor behind about fifteen 3-4 year olds, a teacher stood at a chalkboard to present a lesson on ‘shapes’. She drew a square and asked, “What is this?” One of the preschoolers raised her hand and shouted “Square!” The teacher gave a brief nod of approval and continued drawing, this time a circle… A few hands shot up, and she pointed to a boy. “Circle!” the boy exclaimed. To my astonishment the teacher frowned, shook her head and corrected him. “No, round.”

Huh? A trick question? Preschoolers need this?

There were other dismaying interactions between the staff and children in the time I spent at the school. The director manipulated the 2-3 year olds to move onto a climbing structure by pointing to the sand and saying, “There are sharks in the water!” while smiling smugly at another teacher on the playground. Later she admonished a boy who found it difficult to stand still during the long graduation performance rehearsal. “If you do that tomorrow, I’ll embarrass you in front of all the parents!”

Needless to say, I passed on that school. Eventually, I lucked into finding a jewel with an educated staff, child-centered philosophy and developmentally appropriate educational curriculum – play. Although the name of the school did not include the words “creative children” as the first had, this was a center where creativity was truly nurtured, and where preschool-aged children were understood and respected.

Our child’s first school experiences can color his or her perceptions about school and learning for years to come. Child development experts and early childhood educators agree that the preschool years are a time for the development of social skills and hands-on sensory learning that is experimental and exploratory. Here are a few of the reasons our kids don’t need academic instruction in these first school years.

We can’t rush development (or nature).

Kindergarten has evolved from being a time for play, socialization, cartons of milk (loved them!) and afternoon naps to structured lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. The Gesell Institute for Human Development recently “conducted 40-minute one-on-one cognitive assessments with 1,287 children ages 3–6 at 56 public and private schools in 23 states” (as reported in The Harvard Letter). They then compared the results to identical studies published in 1925, 1940, 1964 and 1979. The conclusion: Kindergarten has changed, but children haven’t.

Teaching academics earlier is not helping children develop cognitive skills any sooner. “Marcy Guddemi, executive director of the Gesell Institute, says despite ramped-up expectations, including overtly academic work in kindergarten, study results reveal remarkable stability around ages at which most children reach cognitive milestones such as being able to count four pennies or draw a circle.”

Funneling academics down to preschools to “better prepare” children to deal with an already overly academic Kindergarten experience is a waste of time, and this “miseducation”, as Dr David Elkind refers to it in Miseducation- Preschoolers at Risk, can cause “damage to a child’s self-esteem, the loss of the positive attitude a child needs for learning, the blocking of natural gifts and potential talents.”

Stress, discouragement, shame.

Even if we have the most brilliant child imaginable, why risk setting him up to feel confused, embarrassed, and possibly even inept? The boy who enthusiastically answered “Circle!” at the preschool I observed may have felt all those things — even when he gave a perfectly acceptable answer. Giving a toddler or preschooler lessons in academics either at home or at school can create unnecessary stress and feelings of failure.

If there is one thing children need to prepare them for Kindergarten it is self-confidence, and plenty of it. Self-confidence is fostered in these formative early years when parents are patient, trusting their children to develop naturally and autonomously according to their inborn schedule and individual pace. Yes, there are preschoolers who are drawn to memorizing letters and numbers, and there are self-taught readers. Those abilities continue to flourish without formal instruction in preschool.

Untrained staff, weak philosophy.

Since an academic preschool program is counter to the expert opinion and research about how children learn and considered developmentally inappropriate, it reflects a staff that is either lacking in early childhood education or bowing to outside pressure. In my experience, pressure often comes from parents who fear that their child will not be prepared for Kindergarten and might fall behind. The director of a wonderful NAEYC accredited preschool my younger children attended often dealt with parents who expressed concern that their child wasn’t learning anything, “just playing”. I admired the way the preschool held strong to its developmental philosophy and took care to ease parents’ worries by educating them about cognitive development, child-centered learning and the power of play.

Missed opportunities.

The first years are the once-in-a-lifetime window of opportunity for children to follow individual interests, explore, invent and discover, and revel in a love of learning while establishing the secure roots necessary for a successful education. As educator Susan Westley explains in her Tallahassee.com essay lamenting the replacement of play with academics in Kindergarten, “It is akin to taking a pink rose bud and prying apart the petals to bring forth a beautiful rose. It doesn’t work. Children, like flowers, need to be given the freedom to grow at their own pace and blossom when they are ready.”

Parents may not have the power to effect changes in Kindergarten, but we do have the ability to choose a positive preschool atmosphere for our children in which curiosity is encouraged, the focus is on enriching experiences rather than performances, and children have plenty of questions, but no wrong answers.

NAEYC indicators for an appropriate early childhood program:

– A wide variety of materials with which children can play and experiment

– Children making choices about activities

– Teachers with training in early childhood education

– Each child’s interests and abilities considered in the teacher’s plans so that each

child can experience success and joy in learning

Young children learn best through direct sensory encounters and not through a formal academic process. Learning should be the outcome of hands-on experience, especially play. – NAEYC

“Respect your child by letting his interest lead the way” – Magda Gerber

I share more in Elevating Child Care: A Guide to Respectful Parenting (now available in Spanish!)

(Photo by Jude Keith Rose)