Rock and a Hard Place

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-12-2003
Rock and a Hard Place
1524
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:45am

There's something on this board that has been bothering me, and I hope I can articulate it.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:19pm
But not all parents are as on the ball as you are.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-17-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:20pm
I have no issue with knowing where my child is *in general* compared to her class. Heck, when dd was in Kindergarten, she came home and told me that her teacher had listed all of the students in order from best to worst and then she proceeded to name them. Now, I knew that the teacher had done no such thing, but I was talking to her about it and told her what dd's order had been. She was a little shocked b/c dd's order was right on. If kids know where they are in relation to others in their class at 5 or 6, I imagine any parent this is interested could figure it out as well. Or that parent could ask the teacher and she should be able to give the parent a good idea *without* a number ranking (your child is 13th) and without gossiping about other parents.

What I object to, and what causes me to question this teacher's competency via CLW, is an on paper ranking of early Kindergarten students, and the discussion of that ranking as being a direct result of sahms not reading to their children.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:20pm
Thanks.

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-02-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:20pm
I can't see any purpose for it. It has been suggested that parents of children who are at the bottom of the chart may benefit from knowing that they are not measuring up - that their parenting may be lacking - that they need to take responsibility - maybe they haven't been read to - go back to CLW's posts. She was stating that the teacher has made these determinations that children from lower ses homes were not read to - hence the big differences in reading readiness. If there is another purpose for this type of charting, I haven't seen it. The only value I think it has is in evaluating the teacher.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2002
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:21pm
You are right, they are already getting competitive at that age. Honestly, I just don't see academics as a competetive sport and maybe this is based on my experiences with the Swedish school system. The school has a couple of sports days every year and the kids who did best in the various competitions are ranked with the rankings published all over the school. So sports are treated as competitive from early on. But academic achievement in the early grades is treated as strictly about getting each and every child up to the expected level of skills by a certain age...better or worse, faster or slower simply doesn't matter because the important point is that every gets the skills they need.

The system has a lot of advantages: even the poorest children end up with a very solid education because the standards are applied and upheld across the board. The disavantages tend to hit the brightest children, who achieve the targets early on, but are not provided with extra stimulus or challenges since this is not viewed as necessary (after all, they have met the requirements, what more do they need?). That is actually a problem I have been dealing with for the last few years...luckily, ds has a couple of teachers who are really trying to work with me on it, but there is nothing even remotely like a gifted program anywhere in the country.

Laura

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:21pm
There you go with your problematic confusion over the general vs specific thing again.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:21pm

My favorite catty Mother remark has been when I commented that

"I do not want to be a princess! I want to be myself"

Mallory (age 3)

      &nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:21pm

Also the *sample* gets re-mixed every year in most schools.

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:22pm
I agree that the most meaningful comparison is how the individual child is progressing.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-26-2003 - 4:23pm

"What I object to, and what causes me to question this teacher's competency via CLW, is an on paper ranking of early Kindergarten students, and the discussion of that ranking as being a direct result of sahms not reading to their children."


Don't faint, but I agree.

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