I should have been more clear. Although individual preschools and daycare situations can be wonderful, there is an underlying 'belief' floating around that 3 and 4 year olds will never be able to succed in kindy if they aren't exposed to the classroom environment early. That the children who do preschool will learn to behave in ways that will help them in the future. This may be totally true for ND kids - I don't have much experience in that area. I do know that if the teachers expect a PG kid to act like an ND kid, and are dissapointed when they don't then it's hard on the kid. I also know that if the child is placed by age will all ND kids that the 'social lessons' can be more negative than positive. (N of 1!) If the child faces both overwhelming ND peers and ND teacher-expectations then the pattern of underachievement and Outer-directed Perfectionism can start at age 3.
Somehow, at the time, it never entered my mind that preschools could have a negative affect on kids (except for those rare news-worthy situations.) What could be bad about more people to love?
The part that I hate the worst is that when kids 'flunk' preschool, or even don't thrive there, it is looks like 'all the more reason that they need preschool.' What kind of institution is able to create unhappy kids and then use the child's unhappiness or acting out behavior to prove that the kid 'needed' that institution in the first place?
That's what I mean when I say that I question the concept. I have no qulams with the individual examples, and am glad that Kriston can share 2 counter examples. In fact, I'm DOK for Kriston's Mom's Preschool, or even Kriston's DS's preschool with the advanced peers and the flexible teacher.
I hope that says it better....
Grinity
