Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said:“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Mr. Roosevelt was indicating that education is key to ensuring a positive future for our country. Years have passed since his presidency, and many can argue that America’s educational system has improved, but that still remains to be seen. While it is true that education has gotten more focus in recent years, as highlighted by the “No Child Left Behind Act,” it does not mean that the system is fully developed enough to aid all of America’s children. Now, the average American is just that: average. Children generally receive B’s and C’s, average grades, in school if they are lucky enough to be in a good school system. Literacy rates are lower than they seem, and not enough people are properly motivated to do well in school. Forms of entertainment and parental influence, which also play a large role in the development of children into successful, productive adults, are not where they should be with respects to education. Much more needs to be done to improve the educational system of the entire country. Preschool should be made mandatory to help individuals reach their full potential and achieve what only a minority of today’s society is currently capable of. America’s children have found increasing difficulty with school. The curriculum in schools is claiming to be harder in higher levels, but the lack of focus and direction in the younger grades has made for decreased grade levels and lower mastery in several basic areas such as math, writing, and reading skills. Standardized test scores are at an all time low, as increasing amounts of children progress through the educational system having not at... ... middle of paper ... ... a child who does not want to or possess the skills and mindset to do so. Preschool allows children to mix learning with fun, and prepares them to move on to higher levels with more knowledge than those who do not read and do not attend preschool. (paragraph on family nurturing) Children need preschool in its most basic essence: to define motor skills, achieve basic socialization skills, and to learn the alphanumeric system that will undoubtedly help improve their understanding in the grades to come, allowing for the advances in education that America desires and certainly needs. Making preschool mandatory as part of the education reforms that America so desperately requires will combat the lack of educational programming that exists and allow children to receive education at a younger age than they would have in a home where education is not a main family focus.
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
The idea of universal preschool (UP) has recently exploded across America. Who wouldn’t want cheap or free early education for their children? From a distance the whole idea looks as if there’s nothing wrong with it, but close up it’s a different story. While parents will be saving money, the schools are going to be losing it, with funds being spread even thinner than before. In conjunction to this, the government would be the ones providing the money, and therefore, the curriculum. The trouble is that they would then take the “cookie-cutter” approach, shaping kids’ minds the way they see fit. This tactic could ideally lead to the cure of our economic gaps that Thomas L. Friedman explains in his renowned book, The World is Flat, but will only
Better jobs, less drug abuse and, fewer arrests are among advent ages found in a study that tracked more than 1,000 low income, mostly black chicago kids for up to 25 years (study shows). Preschool should be available for all children. Preschool helps kids educationally, and emotionally, but is too expensive for families.
Although preschools were mainly invented for the convenience of adults (Melton 182), the have evolved from sandboxes and finger painting to letter blocks and handwriting instructions. Everything is created for the advancement is actually benefiting the preschooler now and in the future even more so.
We investigated the Early Learning Content Standards and how they aligned with the kindergarten content standards. Our investigation will look at preschool-aged students who have gained this preschool knowledge prior to kindergarten and the negative or positive affects it has on their school career. Does it have an impact on their initial school year? Researching the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Data on students currently in kindergarten and first grade, and determining who did and did not attend pre-school, will give us information on the students polled. Research states the social-emotional standards in preschool tie directly to kindergarten readiness and, if a child attends preschool, they will be exposed to the social-emotional content standard. The Early Learning Assessment given in preschool is the formative assessment component of Ohio's comprehensive early childhood assessment system called Ready for Kindergarten and is directly tied to the kindergarten readiness assessment that we pulled data information from. The purpose of this research is to show the direct effect of exposure to preschool in the outcomes of the assessments collected and the screenings done by the Ashtabula Area
Olsen, Darcy. "Preschool Attendance by Young Children Is Unnecessary." Policy Report #201: Assessing Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential Information for Parents, Taxpayers and Policymakers. Phoenix, AZ: Goldwater Institute, 2005. Rpt. in Family. Ed. Karen Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Preschool was a great place to go as a college student and to see the vast difference in education from the beginning compared to now. This is another reason why I chose to observe a preschool class: what is accepted culturally for a child is completely different for an adult. It has been so long since I attended elementary school that I have forgotten a lot. I also was
As school becomes increasingly demanding, many people believe that preschool should be mandatory for all children. In order for students to be ready for first grade after kindergarten, there is a laundry list of standards they must meet. Children must be able to write letters, learn to rhyme, use words to convey feelings and thoughts, recognize sight words, add and subtract numbers one through ten, divide objects into even numbered groups, and much more (Morin). While all of these things may seem simple to most people, kindergarteners struggle with learning and doing these things. With one teacher and an average of 20 students in a classroom, it can be hard to give students the one-on-one attention that they need (Fitzgerald). The student-teacher ratio according to Fitzgerald is “3.5 students over the maximum necessary for a quality education”. If the students are not able to get the personal help in kindergarten that they need than they may not be ready for first grade by the end of the year. As kindergarten continues to require more of students, preschool becomes a necessary prerequisite. However, since preschool is not currently required or funded by the government in all places, many students don’t have access to this valuable resource. Preschool or a kindergarten readiness program should become mandatory for
Babies don’t stay babies forever. Eventually, they turn four and parents have to make the difficult decision of putting them in preschool or keeping them to themselves for an extra year. This decision could be life changing for a child, however, it could also be too much for a four year old. The history of preschool becoming an everyday thing for any child has greatly evolved over the years. Preschool gives young children a head start on school so when they attend kindergarten they already have an understand of some school related things. The price of sending a child to preschool is also a factor a lot of parents look at before sending their kids. These are all reasons that parents either decide it is good for their child to attend preschool or to keep them at home for another year.
Walt Disney once said, “The greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.” Albert Einstein shared, “Play is the highest form of research.” The next generation’s growth and development are essential to the growth and development of our society. Does every child need to attend preschool to develop a thriving society? Should every child leave their home and embark on a learning journey to discover the outer world? Yes, preschool attendance is an enriching learning experience and can help a child succeed in the future.
Preschool provides a foundation for learning both socially and academically that will help children succeed in Elementary School.
I found it significant that it seems as though everyone involved faces a big challenge when it comes to preschool. First, the article mentioned how those who really need high quality preschool are at-risk children; however, in most circumstances, they do not have access to these programs. In my opinion, every child deserves to have access to a high-quality education. This begins with high-quality preschool programs. The article explained high-quality preschool programs need to be child-centered and play-based because that is how children learn foundational skills in the most developmentally appropriate
Preschool and young school-aged children generally refer to children 3 to 5 years old, and it is extremely troubling for children at this
Recent studies have revealed the benefits and long-term effects of early-childhood education. Between the social interaction, discipline, and the development from an academic setting, there are countless benefits to early childhood education. However, this is not accessible to everyone due to lack of educators, financial resources, or being uninformed of its importance. Preschool should be provided to all families because the preschool age is when majority of brain development occurs. The objective of this paper is to prove that preschool should be accessible to all families because of the developmental benefits, opportunity it provides to children in poverty, and long-term benefits to society.
The International Encyclopedia of Education has noted that preschool is the fastest growing area of education in the early 1990s because of social need and the very positive effects that preschool is acknowledged to have on primary education. This is excellent as long as: