Standing in line at the post office the other day I overheard a woman who was obviously a local school teacher talking to the postal employee about the incoming kindergarten class. She was appalled because they are getting children who do not understand what the word "book" means and when shown a book, they do not recognize it as such.
Understand; this is the city where I grew up that long had the reputation of having the best schools in the area, a place where people with young children aspired to live.
This scares the h*ll out of me.
3 comments:
I can understand the concept of never have been read to or of not owning a book, but to not KNOW what a book is? Sounds like a slight exaggeration to me. Maybe I am naive, but I can think of a gazillion instances where books come into play each day, even if their only stimulation is TV and video games.
Where we live kids are expected to read when they enter kindergarten and if they haven't mastered the basics are immediately labelled remedial - which drives me nuts - they also need to know how to write the basics, including their name, address and phone number.
I am not doubting you heard the teacher, I just think she is being a bit dramatic over the "didn't know what a book was" idea. Not being able to read is a huge difference then not recognizing a book. Don't you think?
PS Thanks for the comment on the "Bob" post. He in no way made our vacation bad - it was just strange/creepy all the way around and we found plenty to do at our campsite for a day. :)
I hear you! These are the same kids that will one day be deciding our future! Not all things were good in the "good ol' days", but we did get a decent education "way back when".
I too am hoping that this is an exaggeration on the part of this teacher. If not... these pre-kindergarten kids have been missing out on so much. I know this is the computer age.. but surely the parents still have books. You're right.. this is scary.
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