His First Day

Our son Lance will begin kindergarten in five days, and my wife and I are staying up late at night – way too late for parents who have two children in diapers also living in the house. Are the nerves of our first-born’s entry into public education, the anxiety over his chances for success, or the tears shed at the somewhat “official” loss of toddler-ness keeping us up past our bedtime?

Not so much. We’re banging our heads against his three-hour school day.

Suffice it to say, Americans haven’t enjoyed a three-hour work day since 18never. My bleary-eyed brain started wondering when someone thought this would be a bright idea – to short change the instructional time for the youngest and most impressionable of our students. Turns out, World War II created the first shortage of labor and resources that led to the cleaving of kindergarten, a concept that first arrived in the United States in 1856, with the first public schools adding them starting in 1873. We imported the idea from Germany some twenty years after Frederick Froebel established his school with the goal of “supporting development and emphasiz(ing) self-directed activities that fostered the child's innate curiosity and sense of social responsibility.”

Americans may not be familiar with this initial philosophy behind kindergarten – the kids are supposed to direct the activities because they are naturally curious! This may seem like a revolutionary idea, one that most parents associate with Maria Montessori of Italy. Indeed, she opined that the teacher should be little more than an observer, a guide, one who sets up an environment that empowers children to safely explore, learn, discover, and master their surroundings. The seeds of Montessori’s ideals were definitely sown by the very invention of kindergarten, yet the schools that bear her name are largely considered avant garde. This begs the question: if Montessori students are engaged in the kind of teaching and learning that Froebel initially proposed, what the heck is going on in the so-called “regular” public schools for half a day?

“Hey kids, what time is it?”

“Content standards time!”

Yes, the indoctrination into our beloved to-do list style of education begins from Day One. The US Department of Education’s Common Core provides thirty-two standards that the 5-to-6 set must learn. Looking at my son’s school calendar of 177 days, that equates to 16.6 hours of classroom instruction per standard. I guess if he can’t quite grasp a certain skill in a week, too bad. The always-moving school bus of learning will leave my child behind. So much for Froebel’s emphasis on “self-directed activities”. Those extra three hours a day would’ve come in real handy.

Well, at 12:30 in the morning, my wife and I come up with a solution. He spends the morning at his pre-school, heads to kindergarten at noon, then returns to the pre-school to buy us a couple of hours before his final pick-up. If the pre-school is willing, we will end up paying for full-time care. Attending the public school kindergarten will save us zero money, but Lance really loves his pre-school. He’s got great friends there, the teachers are warm yet firm, his academic and social skills have blossomed, and the parental community is quite friendly and supportive.

Oh yeah, and it’s a Montessori.