The State Of Early Childhood Education Is Worse Than We Thought.

What were tried and true practices are now abandoned, and our little ones are being treated like older students.

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Greetings, friends, parents, & fellow countrymen,

First, I'm sharing thoughts and information in hopes of promoting positive change for the betterment of every child's education. Just as the Lorax spoke on behalf of the trees, I speak on behalf of Early Childhood Professionals who cannot, for fear of the impact of negative job repercussions. Repercussions that affect the very lives and livelihoods of educators, and if you don't believe me, I hope to convince you otherwise by the end of this post.

When I inform you that things are rotten in Denmark, it is not in jest. Please let me fill you in. I just spoke with a fellow educator from the great state of Texas, who currently teaches Kindergarten in Houston. She is a lovely, God-fearing lady who gives her all to her students and this noble profession. I've worked with her at an Elementary School on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, and I know of the excellence she both exudes and represents regarding job performance. We both strive to work as unto the Lord. So, when I tell you that yesterday, when she shared that Kindergarteners in her district are no longer permitted to color or cut & paste, I could scarcely believe it. I literally had to ask her twice to clarify that I understood her correctly. She also stated that choral reading is another activity that's no longer permitted and that any teacher engaging students in these activities would be dismissed from their job. This is a perfect example of why I am speaking out.

Teachers who have the educational background (College-educated in the field of Early Childhood Education) and who have remained on the job are hesitant to challenge those in authority, fearing backlash that could be reflected in their annual job review. After all, the bills must be paid, we want that contract to continue life as we've become accustomed to, our family depends on us, and so on. Well, I'll say it! Not allowing time for these little ones to engage in coloring, cutting, and pasting activities as part of their work is complete boloniga! Pure rubbish! Any early childhood professional worth their salt knows that coloring, cutting, pasting, manipulating clay, and working with small beads are all activities that build fine motor skills and will help to improve a child's handwriting skills. The fine muscles in their hands are strengthened over time with practice; these types of activities also happen to be fun for them. Which, by the way, is developmentally appropriate practice. One of my many college professors stated that "play" appears to be a waste of time to the uninformed; however, we Early Childhood professionals recognize the great value of it, and the learning that's actually occurring! No, indeed, the activities of coloring, pasting, gluing, and even role-playing are appropriately the work of a child.

This is another example of why teachers are hemorrhaging the school system. Do you realize that they are hiring people with no background in education or college credits in the field of education to teach? These novice teachers who are on-the-job training don't know any better, and therefore do not speak out to challenge anyone. Apparently, that's just the way they like it. I am telling you that it's not just burnout or the bad behavior of some students that's driving this teacher shortage. It is the insistence on compliance with practices that professional teachers know to be inappropriate! Teachers who are anywhere close to retirement walk away because they can't stand to see what's being done in the name of education, and no one will listen to the EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERTS.

Why does it matter? Here's an example: Thirty years ago, my sister Lorie was struggling in her first-grade class. The teacher was savvy & informed enough to question my mother about when Lori had begun to walk, during which she discovered that she'd skipped crawling altogether. The teacher then explained that Lori would have to get down and learn to crawl to "wire" her brain correctly. The teacher explained that by skipping crawling, she'd missed out on important learning connections that must occur and can't be skipped over. They had to teach her how to crawl, to coordinate the movements of her hands and knees. After which, whatever the issue had been was resolved. Yet if an experienced educator hadn't been there and known how to ask the right questions, the problem would have gone unresolved.

Cutting, pasting, gluing, sorting, painting, and coloring are the building blocks of Kinesthetic learning, which is one-third of the major learning styles--- that's simply being eliminated if these activities are forbidden due to time limitations. Learning to classify, recognize & implement pattern analysis, and build fine motor skills, is not to be dismissed! Who are these people, and why are they being permitted to make such shockingly uninformed adjustments regarding our children's educational experience?

When a child has little to no experience with letters and numbers, it's like teaching them to recognize and understand Japanese. These people, who don't understand that, pack in their "learning agenda" on top of what Kindergarteners are supposed to master. This is why so many do not master the fundamental basics of phonemic awareness, phonics, sight-word recognition & mastery, as well as writing skills. The vast majority of children nationwide are not reading on grade level because they've stacked the deck against them, having unrealistic expectations from the onset. As an educator in her fifties, I attended Kindergarten for only a half-day program. My mother chose the second half, after lunch, so that I wouldn't need to get up early. Literally, the only end-of-year assessment given to me was an observation of students to see who already knew how to write their own name. The goal of Kindergarten back then was to bridge the gap between life at home with mom and transition to being at school for eight hours a day. In other words, it centered entirely on meeting our Social-Emotional needs. The contrast with what is expected of today's Kindergartener is beyond unrecognizable to my experience, and yet, I ended up with a B.S.E. and two Master's Degrees in Education. Isn't it apparent that the further we move away from traditional Early Childhood educational practices that are tried & true, the more our children are forced to skip over important developmental milestones? What are the developmental milestones, you may ask? There are five: Gross Motor Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Language & Communication Skills, Cognitive Skills (which are thinking, problem solving, and understanding concepts), and Social-Emotional Skills (interacting with others, playing, and managing feelings). It is abundantly clear that Social-Emotional Skills are being overlooked completely in schools and, to a degree, in many homes. That's why we see so many emotional problems surfacing!

How long will we continue to allow those in power--who have no background in Early Childhood Education to shove their inappropriate expectations down the throats of students and teachers alike? As one of my former principals would say, "Kindergarten is a different animal," and later on, the principals who had been ex-coaches from high schools or intermediate schools would just admit they didn't have the educational background for making sweeping changes in Kindergarten. Praise the Lord, they recognized it!! And yet, currently, it's clear that people in power making decisions for our little ones don't have the specialized educational background knowledge and are oblivious as to how their decisions are negatively impacting young students and the Early Childhood Educators tasked with teaching them.

So what's the solution? We, former educators, grandparents, and community leaders who care about the success of our Children-- who are the future of this country, must take note, step up, and run for your local school board to change this. We must show up to our local school board meetings and ask questions and demand change! We must write the Secretary of Education and demand that only Early Childhood Educators should be permitted to oversee the educational programs of our youngsters. We must take back the reins to realign our goals with meeting the fundamental developmental needs of all our precious little Children.