![]() ![]() There's all kinds of research coming not only from early childhood but animal research looking at mammals and how they use play for learning. The science is so persuasive on this topic. Yeah, it's incredibly weird - this fake dichotomy. Why do you think so many educators and policymakers have come to see play and learning as mutually exclusive? We're underestimating kids in terms of their enormous capacity to be thoughtful and reflective, and, I would argue, that's because we're not giving them enough time to play and to be in relationships with others. ![]() ![]() It's a mismatch because it's both really hard and frankly very stupid. And this is one of those absolute classic mismatches, because one study showed that, after a whole year of this calendar work where kids sit in a circle and talk about what day they're on, half the kids still didn't know what day they were on. A staple of early childhood curriculum is the daily tracking of the calendar. On the other hand, curriculum is often very boring. Logistically and practically, lives are quite taxing for little kids because they're actually living in an adult-sized world. We ask them to sit in long and often boring meetings. We have kids moving quickly from one activity to another. We have tons of clutter on classroom walls. We have very crammed schedules with rapid transitions. So that's what interests me: What is going on? ![]() We have a lot of anecdotal evidence that parents are frustrated and feeling overburdened. We've got a growing problem of preschool expulsions, a growing problem of children being medicated off-label for attention problems. On the other hand, the paradox is that many young children are doing poorly in our early education settings. It is the reality that science is confirming on a daily basis: that children are hardwired to learn in many settings and are really very capable, very strong, very intelligent on the one hand. What is this phenomenon that you call "the preschool paradox"? Here's an edited version of our conversation. I spoke with Christakis about her new book and the turmoil at Yale. What does Christakis' role in the heated debate over racial insensitivity and free speech on campus have to do with her views on preschool? Surprisingly, a lot. In December, she stepped down from her teaching duties, telling The Washington Post, "I worry that the current climate at Yale is not, in my view, conducive to the civil dialogue and open inquiry required to solve our urgent societal problems." Many Yale students accused Christakis of being racially insensitive and called for her ouster. "Have we lost faith in young people's capacity - in your capacity - to exercise self-censure, through social norming, and also in your capacity to ignore or reject things that trouble you?" Christakis wrote. She lauded the committee's goals of trying to encourage tolerance and foster community but wondered if the responsibility of deciding what is offensive should fall to students, not their administrators. When a campus committee sent students a memo urging restraint in choosing Halloween costumes and asking them to avoid anything that "disrespects, alienates or ridicules segments of our population based on race, nationality, religious belief or gender expression," Christakis wrote a memo of her own. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Importance of Being Little Subtitle What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups Author Erika Christakis ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |