objet trouvé: Education

Preschool naps are on the chopping block.

Here's a quote, which, by the way, comes from a Maryland school administrator:

"Nap time needs to go away. We need to get rid of all the baby school stuff they used to do."

I will say that the excuses cited in the article for sleepless 4-year olds is a little on the exasperating side. It's like we want 4-year-olds to be on par with 24-year-olds. Scheduled from morning 'til night. I don't remember having a schedule as a 4-year-old, and I don't think that's a bad thing. Shoot, if I had the same schedule now that I did when I was 4 and was just starting school today, I'd be getting remedial help and special tutors to improve my social skills or something. My sisters nor I were ever in preschool. Both my sisters graduated in the top 5% of their class, and me, for all my failings, still managed a top 20% or so finish.

I was reading and talking at age 2, and that didn't come from preschool or special classes to help me along. I'm not sure how it came that I was properly pronouncing the city name Minneapolis before I could feed myself. I just did. And I don't have problems with well-run preschools giving kids a boost and supplementing (not taking over) the role of parenting.

I think there's plenty of time in the day for quiet time on a mat, and school work too. I don't see anything wrong with building do-nothing time in the schedule for younger kids. I think something calming like a nap, or at least lying still can be good for kids.

I had half-day kindergarten and while I don't see anything wrong with full-day kindergarten, I don't think full-day preschool and kindergarten is the cure-all for a cracked educational system. Kids should, as the article said, get enough sleep at home, but even if they do, I don't think 4-year olds need to motor along.

Before long, they're going to have to hit Starbucks during the day just to make it through.

To me the plan to deep-six the nap just forces kids to grow up faster. I don't understand the rush. Some unstructure isn't so bad. Actually, a lot of unstructure isn't so bad. School is all about structure. Work is a lot about structure as well. Kids have plenty of time for structure, and as it is, there's some semblance of structure for kids at home even if no one realizes it. And, again, I won't argue against structure in school, work or home. But at the same time, I was given time on my own as a kid to play with other kids (mostly outdoor stuff when I wasn't grounded), develop an imagination on my own, read things I liked, watch some TV (in the 3 channel+PBS days), and occasionally, learn something as well.

Sounds to me like we're on the road toward having preschoolers take university-level courses. As it is, I'm sure there's a number of 4-year-olds who could do better in some university classes than those there now.

And besides, when did sleeping become a thing just for babies, particularly if you have a good waterbed to sleep in?