I recently read an article about parents that spent the summer getting their children "ready" for k. They hired private tutors for reading and math because they didn't want their children to be behind when they enter K. Has K really become that competitive?
Did anyone see the article about pre-K testing mania among some parents in NYC? It was mucho depressing and described what I would describe as
helicopter hothousing (i.e., this is no ordinary hothousing):
She particularly struggled with preparing her child for the test that many private schools rely on, the so-called E.R.B.... She scoured the Web site Urban Baby and found anxious parents trading conflicting advice: You must prep your child for the test! You must not prep your child for the test, because the testers will know and hold it against you! She wanted to get it right; she had no idea if she would.
<Deleted text; summary: So she started a business charging parents $450/hour for advice about what the admissions boards at the right private schools want to hear.>
Ms. Rheault and her business partner...have worked with their experts to create � yours for $500 � an E.R.B. prep workbook, with every element of the test in it. They don�t call it intellectual enrichment, or a learning kit, or educational games; right there, on the cover of the workbook, it says it clearly: �Pre-K and Kindergarten Standardized Test Practice.�
Sorry to say, but for some people, this stuff is all about status and not about learning. It's so-o-o depressing. And of course some of them create problems for other kids who weren't drilled.
Val
