How ‘twisted’ early childhood education has become — from a child development expert

Kids who got low scores, I was told, got extra drills in reading and math and didn’t get to go to art. They used a computer program to teach 4- and 5-year-olds how to “bubble.” One teacher complained to me that some children go outside the lines. In one of the kindergartens I visited, the walls were barren and so was the whole room. The teacher was testing one little boy at a computer at the side of the room. There was no classroom aide. The other children were sitting at tables copying words from the chalk board. The words were: “No talking. Sit in your seat. Hands to Yourself.” The teacher kept shouting at them from her testing corner: Be quiet! No talking! Most of the children looked scared or disengaged, and one little boy was sitting alone. He was quietly crying. — Nancy Carlsson-Paige, via The Washington Post