Michel Martin （Host）： They say it takes a village to raise a child， but maybe you just need a few moms and dads in your corner. Today， though， we’re looking at a question that’s challenging parents and teachers alike， which is how early is too early to focus on 1）academics in school？ We wonder if the 2）finger paint should be out and the math problems should be in， even for 3）preschoolers. Schools that tried teaching 3-year-olds French or 4-year-olds computer coding have been around for a while—long enough to be mocked in films like “Daddy Day Care.”
　　（Soundbite of Film， “Daddy Day Care”）
　　SAT Teacher： Now mark your books number five. Cat is to mouse as frog is to...
　　Unidentified Actress #1： Are they doing SAT prep？
　　Unidentified Actress #2： It’s never too early to start.
　　Michel： But it’s not just elite private schools that want 4）rigorous lessons for kindergarten and preschool. These days， many public schools are turning up the academics at a younger and younger age. But some teachers and parents say this is going too far. We wanted to talk about this so we’ve called Valerie Strauss. She’s education writer at the Washington Post and she’s reported on this issue. Welcome， thanks for joining us.
　　Valerie Strauss： Thanks for having me.
　　Michel： Also with us， Lynn Gatto. She’s the director of elementary education at the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education. Welcome to you as well. Thanks for joining us.
　　Lynn Gatto： Thank you for having me.
　　Michel： Valerie， you were writing that kindergarten is the new first grade. Why do you say that？
　　Valerie： It absolutely is. And pretty soon preschool’s going to be the new first grade. For at least 10 years now， 5）curriculum is being pushed down， partly driven by an increase in the importance of standardized tests. The idea is that kindergartners can learn how to do many things people thought they couldn’t do years ago. The brain develops much earlier than we thought. The brain develops more fully than we thought. Kids can do a lot more than was ever thought. The problem is of course that it’s gone way too far and kids， even if their brain is so developed， can’t really do a lot of the things that they’re being asked to do.
　　Michel： Lynn， you taught young children for more than 30 years. What is your take on this？
　　Lynn： I am definitely seeing classrooms asking children to do more than the curriculums required before. New York State has these 6）modules for kindergarten and one of their modules is—the topic is kings and queens—they call it a 7）domain. And they ask children in kindergarten to be able to identify and describe 8）royal objects associated with the king and queen， indicate that kings and queens still exist today，but there were many more kings and queens long ago， to describe a royal family. Why is this important for kindergartners to know？ You know， why is it important for them to understand the vocabulary words that they’re expected—disadvantages， 9）prosperity， 10）crown prince， 11）reign？ Well， what does this have to do with being five years old？ 　　Michel： That’s interesting. Valerie， what’s your take on this？
　　Valerie： Well， what’s happened is that standards-based educational over the past 15， 20—maybe even longer years has become much more important. And standards have gone down now into the kindergarten grades and even in pre-K. And what they do is have 12）content standards， which have specific bits of content that they want these kids to know. The problem with that—in the really early education—there’s no research that shows that this is the way kids learn， that trying to teach them 13）discrete bits of information is the way that they learn. That’s not how they learn.
　　Michel： Lynn， I get the
　　impression that you’re
　　14）skeptical of this.
　　Lynn： You know， I don’t have any problems with standards. I can live with standards. What I have a problem with and what I’m skeptical about is the 15）implementation of these standards—16）instruction is becoming highly 17）scripted，
　　whole class instruction， very teacher directed， there is no room for creativity， we’re not asking children to 18）innovate. We’re asking them to solve only the problems we want them to solve. There’s no place for imagination. I have a problem with that.
　　Michel： But， Lynn Gatto， one of the reasons that some people—19）activists， educators are pushing for more academics in these early years is that they’re seeing kids present to school or come to school unprepared and that they haven’t developed kind of habits of learning. If this isn’t the best way to 20）address it， what is？
　　Lynn： Well， I think we need to meet children where they are. And my experience is 34 years in an urban setting.
　　And， frankly， when I look at these standards， many of my colleagues and myself reach these standards and even beyond. And we did it through very engaging， meaningful kinds of instruction. For example， one of the things that I did was in fourth grade the children came back from lunch one day just fed up with the lunch. And In the end， they—using all standards and going far beyond—we scripted， created， wrote and went to an actual news studio and created a documentary called “Lunch is Gross.” And that documentary was shown on our local PBS station. And it affected change in the school district and opened a huge conversation in this community. And every child learned to read， every child learned， wrote， they publicly spoke. I mean， they met all of the standards that they’re talking about now， but it came from them and what they were interested in. 　　Michel： Valerie.
　　Valerie： There’s a number of issues here. One thing is that all children don’t develop at the same time. I personally—I have two daughters. One of them learned how to read by herself when she was 4， the other one couldn’t really read well until she was in third grade. And
　　when she did， she started reading 21）Tolstoy. But if she had been in a kindergarten today and couldn’t read by the time she was in first grade， she would be considered a 22）flop. It’s these kinds of pressures.
　　Michel： Well， let me ask you this， though， speaking of—we’ve all talked a lot about kind of the urban context and so forth. In the public debate， it’s often families of color or people advocating on their behalf who are pushing for more academics at an early age because they feel that this is the best way to address the racial achievement gap， you know， among other things. And they kind of suspect that they feel like， you know， maybe that the more affluent or more privileged kids are getting this and that their kids are behind.
　　Lynn： Right.
　　Michel： Could you just speak to that？
　　Valerie： I can speak to that. First of all， it’s not 23）monolithic among parents of color by any means. Kids in the wealthier schools， kids in private schools—President Obama’s girls who go to Sidwell—this isn’t what they do in preschool. This isn’t what they do in kindergarten. What they do is have very smart structured play because all early childhood experts know kids learn through play. They experiment， they make order out of numbers and they stack things and they find their own meaning in things. Assessment experts know young kids， particularly 4 and 5-year-olds， that they’re are 24）miserable testers. They cry， they yell out the answer， they want to help their friends. They throw up， they have to go to the bathroom. They say something and then they say， oh， I’m wrong.
　　Michel： Is there—I hear both of you， based on your experience and reporting， have a very 25）dim view of this—kind of this trend. And so I’m interested in whether there’s a 26）reverse trend. Is there any 27）pushback against it？
　　Valerie： There is. There’s a whole 28）opt out movement starting in different states—New York， it’s very strong because they had early common core tests. There have been a lot of 29）op-eds by early childhood experts. So there’s a pushback on the parent level and there’s a pushback in the expert level and on—you know， on the national level. 　　Michel： Lynn Gatto？
　　Lynn： Well， you’re going to find now that this is really 30）impacting middle-class parents—their children are all reporting， you know， behavioral problems， anxiety issues， they hate school. There are kindergarten children that are getting up every morning saying I don’t want to go. I think we’re going to find a lot of pushback pretty quickly now that it’s hit the middle-class.
　　Michel： Can I get a final thought from you？
　　Lynn： I really feel like rather than becoming a 31）democratic society or becoming a 32）corporate society—and really， I see corporate America driving what’s happening in schools. And I don’t believe school is about training future workers. I feel school is about training future democratic citizens.
　　Michel： Valerie， you want to give us a final thought？
　　Valerie： What Lynn is talking about is the corporate model in which many school reformers have based their reforms. And that is that you can run public education， which is really a 33）civic institution—and I would argue it’s the country’s most important civic institution—that you can run it like a business. And so there’s all kinds of things—school choice goes into this， looking at student as future workers， as instead of， as Lynn said， future citizens who understand how to operate and participate in a democracy. It’s a very 34）fundamental debate going on in public education now. And this is—you know， this is a piece of it—how do you teach young kids？ Do you honor the development of young children and recognize that they don’t all do the same things at the same times？ Or do you not？ And this is where we are with kindergarten.
　　Michel： Thank you both so much for speaking with us.
　　Lynn： Thank you.
　　Valerie： Thank you.


　　米歇尔·马丁（主持人）：人们说养育一个孩子需要全村的力量，但是也许只需要一些爸妈在身边就可以了。今天，我们来探讨一个困扰着父母和老师们的问题，那就是到底多早算是让孩子们过早地在学校接触学术问题？我们在想，孩子们，甚至是学龄前的儿童，是否应该不学手指绘画而学数学呢。学校尝试教3岁孩子法语、4岁孩子电脑编程已经有好长一段时间了——时间足以长到能在电影《奶爸别动队》里被讽刺。
　　（电影《奶爸别动队》原声片段）
　　雅思老师：现在把你的书编号数字5。猫对老鼠，就像青蛙对……
　　不知名女演员#1：他们在上雅思预科班吗？
　　不知名女演员#2：越早开始上课越好。
　　米歇尔：现在，不只是私立的精英学校想要在幼儿园和学前班开设多门课程，就连许多公立学校也越来越早地开设学科。但是一些老师和家长认为这样做太超前了，我们想谈谈此事，因此我们请来了瓦莱丽·斯特劳斯。她是《华盛顿邮报》教育版的作家，她报道了这个问题。欢迎你，谢谢你的到来。
　　瓦莱丽·斯特劳斯：谢谢你邀请我。米歇尔：和我们在一起的，还有林恩·加托，她是美国罗切斯特大学华纳教育学院基础教育部的主任，同样欢迎你的到来，谢谢你加入我们。
　　林恩·加托：谢谢你邀请我。
　　米歇尔：瓦莱丽，你在著作中写到幼儿园等于一年级。你为什么这样说呢？
　　瓦莱丽：幼儿园真的就是一年级。很快学前班就会成为新的一年级。课程体系一直被推翻，到现在为止至少有十年了，有部分原因是现在对标准测试越来越重视。这个想法是幼儿们能够做人们好几年前认为他们不能做的很多事。人的大脑发育比我们想象中要早，比我们想象中要完整。孩子们比起从前我们想象的能做更多事情。但问题当然是这个想法太超前了，即使孩子们的大脑很发达，也还不能按要求去做很多事情。 　　米歇尔：林恩，你从事幼儿教育已经30多年了。你对这个问题怎么看呢？
　　林恩：我的确发现在课堂上，现在要求孩子们学习比以前更多的课程。纽约州给幼儿园的孩子们制定了一些课程模块，其中一个模块的名字叫国王和皇后，他们管它叫一个领域。他们要求幼儿园的孩子们能够识别和描述与国王和皇后有关的皇室物件，以显示国王和皇后至今仍然存在。但是如果要描述皇室的情况，那么在很久以前，会有更多国王和皇后。对于孩子来说，了解这些为什么重要呢？你知道的，为什么学习这些词语——劣势、兴盛、皇储、统治对他们来说是重要的呢？好吧，这些词语跟一个五岁的孩子有什么联系呢？
　　米歇尔：这很有趣。瓦莱丽，你怎么看？
　　瓦莱丽：嗯，问题就在于，过去的15、20年前，也许甚至更早的时候，标准化的教育就变得越来越重要。然而现在标准已经普及到幼儿园甚至学前班。他们制定了内容标准，也就是他们要求孩子们要了解具体的内容。问题就是，在真正的早期教育中，真的没有研究表明这是孩子们应该学习的方式——尝试让他们了解一些零散的信息。这不是他们的学习方式。
　　米歇尔：林恩，我印象中你也很怀疑这种学习方式。
　　林恩：你知道的，我对标准没有什么意见，我可以在标准中生活。我的问题和疑惑是，怎样践行这些标准。现在指导照本宣科、大班化教学、以教师为中心，没有给（孩子们的）创造力留下空间。我们不是要求孩子们去创新，而是让他们解决我们让他们解决的问题。根本没有（给孩子们发挥）想象力的空间。我对这种做法很有意见。
　　米歇尔：但是，林恩·加托，一些人——激进分子、教育者在孩子们如此小的时候推动开设更多的课程，其中一个原因是他们看到来到学校的孩子都没有准备好，他们还没养成学习的习惯。如果这种做法不是最好的解决方法，什么方法才是呢？


　　林恩：好吧，我认为我们应该满足孩子们的需求。我有34年在城市教书的经验。坦白说，我和许多同事都达到甚至超过了所说的标准，我们用很有意义、有趣的指导方法达到了这个标准。例如，我做的其中一件事就是在教四年级的时候，有一天孩子们吃完午餐回来，肚子饱饱的。最后，他们达到了所有标准，甚至做得更好。我们构思、创作、编写而且来到了实际的新闻录影棚来录制一个叫做“午餐真恶心”的纪录片，这个纪录片在我们当地的广播公司播出。它影响了各区的学校教育，引发了一场较大的争议。每个孩子最后都会读书，会写字，而且会在公共场合发言。我的意思是，孩子们符合了人们说的全部标准，但是这都是源自于他们的兴趣。
　　米歇尔：瓦莱丽。
　　瓦莱丽：这里有许多问题。其中一个问题是，孩子们的成长不是同步的。就我个人而言，我有两个女儿。其中一个女儿四岁的时候就能自己读书，而另一个女儿直到小学三年级才会。她一会读书，就读托尔泰斯（的著作）。但是，如果她就读于今天的幼儿园，不能在一年级的时候读书，她就会被认为是一个笨孩子。这就是压力。
　　米歇尔：好吧，我们讨论了很多在城市中的教育，现在让我问你这个问题。在公议中，有色人种的家庭或者那些代表这些家庭的人们，都会推崇在孩子们很小的时候就学习学科课程，因为你知道的，他们感觉比起其他事情，这是解决宗族隔离最好的办法。你知道的，他们认为更富有或者更高贵的孩子正在接受着这些教育，而他们的孩子落在了后面。
　　林恩：没错。
　　米歇尔：你能对此发表看法吗？
　　瓦莱丽：我可以说说。首先，有色人种的父母绝对不是统一意见的。在贵族学校、私立学校的孩子——奥巴马的女儿在西德维尔上学——上述所说的这些事情孩子们在学前班、幼儿园都没有做过。他们所做的只是在设计合理的游戏中玩耍，因为所有早教的专家都知道孩子能在玩耍中学习。他们实验，他们给数字排序，他们堆积事物，从事物中找到自己的解读。评估专家知道年幼的孩子，尤其是在4到5岁时，他们是可怜的实验对象。他们哭，他们大声地喊出答案，他们想帮助朋友。他们会吐，会需要去洗手间。他们说了一些事，然后却说：“噢，我错了”。
　　米歇尔：从你们的经历和报告中，我知道你们两个对（早教）的这种趋势都持怀疑态度。因此我感兴趣的是这种趋势没有逆反吗，有人反对这种做法吗？
　　瓦莱丽：有。在不同的州——包括纽约州，都在开展反对运动。这场运动很激烈，因为这些州都有了早教的核心测试。很多儿童早教的专家都发表了有关这方面的专栏。所以，家长、专家，你知道的，全国都在反对。
　　米歇尔：林恩·加托？
　　林恩：好吧，你会发现如今这种做法真的影响到了中产阶级的父母们——你知道的，他们的孩子都反映出有行为问题、焦虑问题，他们讨厌学校。有些上幼儿园的孩子每天早上起来都会说“我不想去上学”。因为现在影响到了中产阶级的父母，我想很快就会有许多反对的声音。
　　米歇尔：我能知道你最后的总结吗？
　　林恩：我真的觉得美国没有成为一个民主的社会或者一个团结的社会——真的，我看到“团结”的美国人对学校做了什么事。我不赞同学校是为了培养未来的工作者，我认为学校应该是培养未来的民主公民。
　　米歇尔：瓦莱丽，你有没有最后的总结呢？
　　瓦莱丽：林恩说的是那些教育改革者是以“团结”的基础进行改革的。也就是可以将公共教育——这真的是一个公民机构，我认为这是国家最重要的公民机构，将它当成商业来看。所以就会产生各种问题——学校把学生们看成是未来的工作者，而不是，正如林恩刚才所说的，未来懂得如何践行和参与民主的公民。现在对公共教育的辩论是很重要的。然而你知道的，这只是公共教育的一部分——怎么教育年幼的孩子？你重视孩子们的成长过程，认识到他们不能同时做同一件事吗？还是你没有这样呢？这就是我们在幼儿园教育上需要关注的问题。
　　米歇尔：谢谢二位今天的到来。
　　林恩：谢谢。
　　瓦莱丽：谢谢。
　　小链接
　　中国学生世界最苦往低龄蔓延，幼儿园“抢跑”累趴孩子
　　学拼音识汉字，学英语练珠心算，四五岁的稚嫩小儿上起了相当于小学一、二年级的课程，每天回家后还要做个把小时的家庭作业；同时，在业余时间，还要掌握音乐、舞蹈、书法、绘画等技能……这种现象，在许多城市的幼儿园中都是随处可见。本该唱唱跳跳的孩子，却要提前背起沉甸甸的书包，这在家长看来是因为提前熟悉小学课程，可以让孩子尽早适应小学的教学氛围，幼儿园也以毕业的小朋友上小学后成绩都不错为卖点，转而更受家长的青睐。可实际上，过早过多的灌输，只会导致孩子的“知识消化不良”。许多孩子过早处在机械读、写、背的学习状态中，在疲于学习中抹杀了想象力，到上小学时就失去了对学习的兴趣。
　　幼儿早教过度 长大后劲不足
　　美国有关调查发现，受过早期教育的孩子中小学的升学率，是那些没有受过类似教育儿童的10倍，智商平均高出15分。但后来许多心理学家发现，早期教育过于紧张的儿童，一般在小学四年级时学习成绩就开始下降，逐渐失去以前的优势。
　　过于紧张的幼儿早期教育不仅不能达到预期目的，还会阻碍孩子其他技能的发展。科学家们虽然现在还不能确切知道各种知识信息是怎样进入儿童大脑的，但是有一点可以肯定：当儿童心情不愉快的时候，记忆的大门是不可能打开的。
　　尽管有人抱怨由于没有进行幼儿早期教育，其实在一些自然而然的环境里，如看连环画，参观博物馆、动物园等等，同样可帮助儿童发掘其内在潜力。失去早期教育机会的父母，只要坚持对自己的孩子进行仔细而得当的引导，同样可以赶上那些受过幼儿早期教育的儿童。重要的是这不应是枯燥无味的灌输，不是单纯教孩子什么东西，而是使他们产生求知的欲望，从而感到学习是有趣的事情。