It's the Poverty, Stupid, Not Pre-K Skills

Found in my In-Box, 11/4/2009
Dear Susan,
Experts agree that pre-kindergarten education helps young children become more successful students, who become more responsible adults, who create stronger communities. But, pre-k opponents are trying to block billions in federal funding for these vital programs. Please join me now in letting your Senators know how you feel about pre-k education.
Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet.org

Dear Don,

One reason many of us longtime educators are nervous about federal funding for pre-K is that he who pays the bills calls the tune, and the corporate-politicos passing laws in D. C. have proven themselves to be tone deaf.

Agitating for Pre-K legislation is a smokescreen, pretending that a lack of skills is the problem when the real problem is poverty.

Leading the charge, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan moans that kindergartners can't handle the skill load they need to be competitive workers in the Global Economy. So let's have a pre-K program to get all kids ready for Algebra and competition with those kids in India and China.

The truth of the matter is that the skill load on today's kindergartners is what we used to teach second graders. In an Oct. 1 interview with Fortune magazine, Joel Klein chides middle-class and affluent parents who express concern about the stress in school: "They say there's too much high-stakes testing. But our kids are going to grow up in a world with high-stakes testing at every level, high-stakes challenges in a very aggressive global economy."

Here you have the philosophy/pedagogy of the neoliberal school reformer: Make your kindergartner's life miserable so he'll accept misery as an adult. And kindergarten is too late. Start that skill push ASAP:

It all began when she woke up one morning
and heard on NPR that US kids are behind.
And there was her son squishing Cheerios with his thumb,
Not even counting them.
Just squishing.

"Ohmygod," she worried, "I'm leaving this boy behind.
How will he ever get ahead in the Global Economy?"

Too old for Baby Einstein, she bought her boy
a subscription to the Wall Street Journal,
figuring it's never too young to get a feel for the landscape.
from "My neighbor is teaching her two-year-old to read the Wall Street Journal "

• If our corporate-politicos would look at the work of the Alliance for Childhood , they would see that what children need is imaginative free play.

• If our corporate-politicos would look at the research of Prof. Stephen Krashen, they would see that what produces test score gains is children's access to books. And yet money-strapped cities and schools continue to shut library doors.

• If our corporate-politicos would look at the study released by the US Surgeon General, they would know that one third of all poor youngsters ages 2 to 9 have untreated cavities. Many children in poor neighborhoods never see a dentist.

Imposing skill drill on Pre-schoolers won't fix their aching teeth.

• If our corporate-politicos would look at the November 2009 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, they would see that half of American children receive food stamps, which means they live in food insecure homes, and studies show that Adults who grew up in poverty are more likely to have impaired physical and mental growth, lower academic achievement, and to remain impoverished.

Starting in the late '80ies, the Business Roundtable launched a singularly successful campaign of blaming the schools for the nation's economic woes. Our U. S. Department of Education follows in lockstep, bamboozling the public into thinking that the huge problem faced by our society is not an epidemic of dental caries, inadequate food, and closing libraries but a failure of teachers to deliver sufficient skills.

 

Comments

[timgraves]

Susan is correct about poverty. However, until a societal change of that magnitude can happen, do we leave children to languish? This is a very complex issue.

The context is poverty but we have clear research with lower income children that indicates appropriate early childhood experiences make a huge difference. (See the Perry Preschool Project and others.)

But, alas, once again Susan is correct. Government involvement tends to create its own problems. I have observed firsthand in early childhood programs that when government gets involved regulations create a one-size-fits-all model and teachers are afraid to allow creativity. If we allow creativity how could we possibly know that standards are met?

At workshops I give on the importance of fostering creativity in early childhood I often have adults say, "that's how we used to teach." Yep, we used to follow the child's lead. We used to trust children to learn. We used to have joy.

One teacher told me that after their naps children wanted to help take bed linen to the washer and help wash it. She followed their lead, helped them to measure out the appropriate amount of detergent, showed them how to turn on the machine. Her administrator criticized her for doing something that was not on her lesson plan.

I am deeply saddened.

[MathAppeal]

As an inner-city high school teacher, I see tired children who have not eaten. I see barely literate children who not only are unable to comprehend their textbooks but who have been turned off of reading due to their lack of access to appropriate reading material (and, perhaps, to the revolving door of techniques attempted over the years to try to teach them how to read). I see frightened children whose personal and physical safety may be at risk both commuting to school and while they are on campus.

Poverty's tentacles extend far beyond the reach of the home. In addition to the wealth of sources Susan Ohanian cites, I also recommend Dr. Ruby Payne's book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

[jah86]

I teach Pre-K in a Universal Pre-K setting. I have been involved in early education for a little over 6 years now. One of the purposes of Pre-K is so that children are getting an approved, appropriate breakfast/­lunch/snac­k every day. I also have an audiologist, spech therapist and nurse that come and do health screenings. This includes a dental screening. My program is not income based but a lottery system currently. However there will be a spot for every 4 year old in my state by the year 2012. Drilling skills is not part of the states curriculum and drilling skills is very much discouraged. Integration of the arts, writing skills and early literacy skills are encouraged. Young children learn through play and that is a main objective of the Pre-k curriculum. I think it is unfair to place the blame on early education initiatives because they are beneficial to children and to any community.

[Tom AF Anderson]

It's all well and good to claim that play is an important component of the Pre-K curriculum. Furthermore, kids in your Pre-K probably do get to play between periods for now. But standards testing of Pre-K students can either become less rigorous or more rigorous. Since many students are currently without Pre-K testing regimes, standards testing will only become more rigorous. Some teachers like you start realizing that there's a big test coming up, they may start thinking that the kids should stop playing around and tell the kids to start sitting on their tiny chairs at their tiny desks, practicing taking tests every day to prepare for a K test that shouldn't even be given to a bigger person. And that's the shame... Five year old kids don't need to read the WSJ, they need libraries to be open for them when they get older. Closing libraries and taking money away from those on food stamp, ignoring their health problems just so that Pre-K can get more funding is a terrible compromise.

[martinls0030]

Libraries serve as agencies that provide the masses with information they often cannot afford themselves. They also have professionals who help all people, including the less privileged, navigate the world of information. No wonder there existence is threatened: an enlightened populace might upset the status quo.

[MsJoey]

As a mother of 2 school-aged children, a teacher with 18 years of experience, and a die-hard fan of Alfie Kohn, Stephen Krashen, and anyone else who has the courage to point out the hypocrisy and incongruities in the push for education "reform," I say AMEN!

It's great to see a voice for sanity in educational policy here on HuffPo!

[suemonaco]

It's no surprise to most educators that children who come to school tired, hungry, ill, hurting physically or emotionally, or lacking in adequate background experiences (ie, books in the home, trips to the zoo, family dinners etc) do less well in school. And, they also score less well on the myriad tests we are forced to give them. Corporate education reform agendas pushing for Federal involvement in preschool are nothing more than smokescreens for their own profit agendas. And selling workbooks to babies won't "fix their aching teeth", as Susan put it. Thank you to Susan for making this clear once again. I hope to see regular posts by Susan on this site.

[jlucido]

Hi, Susan. I am now a FAN. Of course, I always have been! Keep up the fight for kids.

Joe

[blindjester]

I used to think that well-meaning amateurs (along with uninformed voters) were destroying education here in Arizona--especially programs for second language learners.

I don't think they mean well anymore.

[SuefromMD]

What a treat to read a Susan Ohanian piece on the Huffington Post. Nobody cuts through the crap on CEO-backed education policy quite like Susan. With one simple phrase she rips the veil from Big Business reform agendas ... "Imposing skill drill on Pre-schoolers won't fix their aching teeth," she declares, refusing to mince words as always. We need to hear from Susan on the Huffington Post on a regular basis!