ITA with Mana and MK13.
Speaking to the article in the OP, I don't see the issue just as one of kindergarten being too "hard" or "easy", but also of its being totally inappropriate for the developmental needs of children as individuals. Childhood is a time of beauty, exploration and, above all, pleasure. (Truthfully, all of life is.) Imagine the wonder of everything being new and exciting, of feeling intrinsic motivation to discover, explore, and create. Children are, fundamentally, the agents of their own education. Interest motivates knowledge acquisition, as it should!
Contrast that with the modern practice of near total sensory deprivation in a sterile, small classroom. Students perform repetitive and meaningless sedentary busywork about material disconnected from its original context. They operate within a narrow, almost inbred, community, unrepresentative of the diversity of the general population, under the supervision of a stand-in steward whose self-interest is administratively divorced from their long term best interests. They learn to develop an external locus of control, as material is fed to them, not sought after. To top it off, all people of the same age are lumped into an amorphous group and expected to be homogeneous. Call me cynical, but it's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit that more children aren't driven mad by the ludicrous practices of modern education!
Who cares whether little Johnny reads at 2, 4, or 6, or can find the letter A on a chart? It's immaterial if the life lessons he learns at school suppress his capacity for original thought or enthusiasm to learn.
Sorry folks. Looks like I OD'd on my obnoxious soapbox pills tonight. Feel free to address any and all hate-mail to my PM inbox with the subject, "aquinas, shut up already."
