Are Schools Crushing Your Child’s Desire To Learn?

I can't take credit for the awesome letter to a kindergarten teacher published at Scary Mommy. I will say that I totally agree with the author, Philip Kovacs, and I'd definitely want to ensure my kid's teacher got a similar letter.

Unfortunately, I know first hand just how important it is for parents to be aware of and involved in what happens inside their children's classrooms every day. It's crucial.

Check out what Kovacs, a writer and educator, wants his kid's teachers to know and I bet you'll agree:

I realize you have to make sure that my son should be able to “Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0 to 20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects),” as required by the state and federal government.

I have to tell you, I don’t care if he walks out of your room at the end of the year and he can’t write numbers up to 20. He will pick that skill up as his life requires it.

Surprised? I'm not. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that we are pushing our children into academics at too early an age and it may not be giving them the “edge” we think it will.  There's more…

It concerns me a bit that you are going to require him to “With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.”

I appreciate the guidance and support from adults, in fact I expect it, but I’m confused about him publishing his writing. You see, he can’t write.

Did you know there are countries that don’t teach reading and writing until kids are 7?  Seven years old!

Turns out that there are a lot of developmental changes going on in a 5-year-old’s head. Maybe these countries that take a slower approach are onto something. I know Finland blows us out of the water on test scores.

So what about tests? Kovacs has an opinion about those too. Here's what he has to say:

I’d prefer that you skip tests all together and let him hang out in one of your learning centers. In fact, I’m looking into the legality of me opting him out of high-stakes, standardized tests for the entire time he’s in the system.  A testing schedule of 40 days is, arguably, unreasonable.

Kovacs isn't alone in his quest to avoid excessive standardized testing. Many parents are bucking the system when it comes to testing these days.

The letter also contains an unexpected apology to his son's kindergarten teacher for not completing the assignment they were given over the Summer:

I received a set of sight words this summer that we were supposed to teach him before he walked through your door. I need to apologize for leaving them untouched. We did build a robot out of a giant box that he still plays with, and our living room has pretty much become Lego-land, defended by an army of square and rectangle soldiers that know exactly where to attack your bare feet. We also spent a good amount of time outside swimming and running and just generally goofing off, but we didn’t get to the sight words.

So what does the author expect this poor teacher to teach his son during kindergarten?

That's the best part!

I’d like him to end the year a little kinder, a little more courageous, and a little more compassionate. He’s doing great now, but I know what type of competitive environment he’s headed into, and I know what that can do to people. There’s no need for him to come home crying because he can’t read as fast as the kid next to him.

It would also be incredible if, in the course of all that competition, he learns perseverance, impulse control, resiliency, and how to think about thinking.

Most importantly, I need him to leave your classroom loving to learn. If that is all he walks away with, then you will have been successful, and I will sing your praises.

Doesn't that sound awesome? I wish those things for every kid entering kindergarten, but sadly they won't all get that sort of education.

In the end, Kovacs offers his help to achieve these goals not only for his son, but for all of the children in the classroom.

Then, he makes one last request of the kindergarten teacher. Read the letter to his kid's teacher to find out what his last request is.