HOLD ‘EM OUT?
The WaPo has a decent piece on the pros-and-cons of keeping kids with summer birthdays out of kindergarten for an additional year. They report that there is a trend among middle-class parents to keep their kids (especially boys) home (or in daycare).
Studies have found that as many as 10 percent of parents nationally are delaying their children’s entry into kindergarten. The ones being held back tend to be boys, at a ratio of 2 to 1.
But, of course, this isn’t fair to poor kids.
Many say they worry that the trend to wait is serving to further disadvantage children from low-income backgrounds.
“There’s already at least a year’s difference in academic skills between middle-class and low-income preschoolers when they enter school,” Stipek said. The gap is widened if the middle-class student is a full year older.
So, middle class parents are once again expected to offer up their children to the “fairness” god. Blecchh!
UPDATE: The AZ Republic reports today that 71% of 4-year-olds who started kindergarten early have been held back.
833 of the 1,179 young kindergartners this past school year will be retained, nearly 6 percent more than in the previous year. Mesa’s lackluster promotion rate further fueled the controversy between early education proponents and those who equate the movement with parents’ push for state-funded baby-sitting and school districts’ reluctance to forfeit the state dollars that come with the younger students.
2 Responses to “HOLD ‘EM OUT?”
 Comment by John June 24th, 2003 at 9:32 pm |
This reminds me of the old joke where the world is ending tomorrow and they quote different newspaper headlines… The Wall Street Journal predicts a bad day for the markets. The Washington Post says: WOLRD ENDS TOMORROW; WOMEN, MINORITIES HIT HARDEST. |
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Comment by John June 24th, 2003 at 9:33 pm |
Well, WORLD, actually. |