Do I think that there is too much emphasis on creating the
perfect learning environment…Yes and No. I feel that it is great for children
to get an early start and the preschool that we visited seemed to do an amazing
job of doing this. The curriculum goals seemed appropriate and very functional
to a child’s development. But do children that don’t go to swanky preschools
not get as good of an education? Are the less expensive preschools not as good?
I don’t necessarily think so.
As you may
know, I have a child on the way and we will definitely be sending him/her to preschool.
My wife and I both went to preschool and they were not very fancy. But the
question is…did it help us? Will it help our child in the long run? Or is it just
something that helps children develop quicker, not necessarily better?
According to a study that was conducted in the 90’s, “those with higher-quality
preschool classes did better in language and math skills than those in
low-quality preschools. But as the children moved into the second grade, the
report said, ‘‘the difference between the language skills of children in high-
and low-quality care decreased.'' It was suggested in this study that this is
because children learn so much in kindergarten and 1st grade. On the
other hand, the study also found that the children who went to quality
preschools did continue to do better in their math.
For more information on this study, please click here
With that
being said, I do feel that children can be just as successful by going to a “regular”
preschool as opposed to a fancy one. I also feel that some children will
develop just fine if they don’t go to preschool at all because of the amount they learn in kindergarten and 1st grades. But I think that preschool is
very good for children to help them start to develop earlier and get them ready
for a more structured environment like kindergarten.
And a video just for fun...
I wonder if this spelling bee champ went to preschool
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