My Two Cents

I have been an elementary principal for twenty-four years. It saddens me to see more and more children coming to Kindergarten without understanding that there are boundaries in life, and that they serve an important purpose.

Even harder to handle are the parents who insist that the wrong-doing from their own child is somehow not of concern until they are satisfied knowing that the other children involved are also receiving the same discipline, even to the point of grilling the administrator for details regarding other children (which is of course private information). This should have no bearing on their own child’s actions. When a child has made bad decisions, we must teach them how to make better ones in the future. By placing the focus on everyone else, we teach blame, and not responsibility.

This is of growing concern to me for a variety of reasons, but today, I was struck by the Message version of Proverbs 25:28, that says, “A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.” It makes me so sad to see our children not learning how to self-regulate, and unfortunately, one only needs to head to a store in public to notice that far too many adults also have not learned this critical life-lesson either.

Decision-makers in public education have forced a pushed-down curriculum, where all five-year olds are expected to fluently read, whether or not their eye muscles are fully developed enough to track print. School leaders, in their efforts to meet the never-ending demands of accountability look for ways to prove they are closing the gap for at-risk students by dismissing sound research of developmentally appropriate practices in the name of intervention. Research shows us that cognitive structures are formed best and most deeply in early childhood through play, yet recess has been shortened in the name of rigor. Teachers are mandated to spend so much time assessing their students that they don’t actually have enough time to teach them.

We don’t fatten the pig by constantly weighing it.

My take on the fix is this:

1. Allow children to develop and move at their own pace according to their level of development. Teachers know when their students are ready to move on, and they should be the ones to decide when that happens—not some testing schedule. This is why teachers actually have earned a degree and many semester hours beyond that degree. Let them use their professional judgement and expertise.

2. Create more time for play. Play is not frivolous, but rather, sound research is clear in noting that cognitive flexibility is best developed through time and exploration of the world around us. If opportunity has not been given for ample exploration, children will struggle with academics. Bring back sand and water play, kitchen and dress-up areas. These are necessary first-steps in learning, and far too many of our children have not had these experiences available to them prior to coming to school.

3. Do not formally assess children until they are at least eight years of age. It is wrong to expect every child to be reading at the same level when their basic physical development may not even out until around age eight. We cannot ignore this well-known fact and expect more rigor and intervention to bridge the gaps.

4. Address the effects of generational poverty. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” began and our nation has made NO progress since. We know that the largest barriers to school success have most to do with the effects of generational poverty, yet we continue to look at programs and systems, and ways to make teachers more accountable instead of the source of this unfair and most uneven playing field. In every European country a free and high-quality daycare and preschool opportunity is given to every child from birth to age six. Until we address the inequalities of the experiences prior to coming to school, we will not get the results we expect to compete globally.

5. Demand parent engagement. Schools cannot close the gap alone. We must figure out how to change the culture so that parents know they are not only welcome but needed to assist in their child’s schooling progress. This is a two-way street. School personnel must learn how to become more open and welcoming. Parents must understand that their engagement matters.

6. Equip every school with fully-trained staff and space to teach coping skills and replacement behaviors to meet the ever-growing social/emotional needs of our children. Mindfulness rooms are popping up in many schools across the nation as safe spaces to teach the necessary self-regulation skills to be successful. Growing emotional intelligence has to come before expecting strong intellectual success.

7. Insist that all school personnel understand the importance of building relationships with students and their families. Create opportunities to encourage collaboration within the classroom and the community as well. Until we learn to “play nice,” it will be difficult to claim we are creating the citizenry that we desire for our nation.

When we quit pointing fingers and blame by truly addressing these concerns, I believe genuine positive change will take place.