16 January 2011

Paranoia, Paranoia

Sometimes I wonder if the academic push in Kindergarten is not on some level intentional.  After all, if we don't provide the space for collaboration, cooperation and empathy, children won't explore these skills.  If we don't value play and creativity, children will not expect recreation and think in expected, well-worn tracks.  If we demand fluent reading and the ability to decode nonsense words, we express the importance of reading to decode - not reading to learn, or to understand, or for enjoyment.  And if legibility is more important than content, we demonstrate the importance of form over function.

All of that would be a really great scheme for boring good workers who don't ask too many questions or expect too much.

Which is why it is very important that we have plenty of snail-racing time and write silly stories about hot dogs, I think.

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