ATLANTA -- Recently, there has been a public decry against kindergarten education going more and more similar to the way elementary schools educate. However, these two questions are on the minds of every parent: whether 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds should start learning native language, mathematics and a foreign language? If they don't, are they going to lose the game from the starting line of life? The parents are struggling for appropriate answers to the questions, which also leave kindergarten educators in a dilemma.
As kindergarten education is already an established cause in the developed nations, drawing on the experience of these nations and integrating their resources into domestic education may be one of the best solution to the difficult situation.
Is kindergarten going examination-oriented helpful or harmful?
In recent years, it is common to see kids sitting in classes with textbooks, learning English, mathematics and reading poems, instead of playing toys. Some of them are even required by their parents to sit English proficiency tests and calculation of abacus examinations.
"I know I should not be so impatient about my kid but the fact that kids in other kindergartens or training services are taught this way keeps worrying me," said a parent in Baoji, a city in western Shaanxi Province. "The possibility that my kid will fall behind in grade 1 concerns me."
The parent's misgiving is not groundless. A parent surnamed Zhao in eastern Zhejiang Province said he tried very hard to refrain from giving his kid input of language basics and mathematics during the preschool period as he believed a playful childhood was much more important and it is wrong to instill too much such things into the minds of kids. "And I was dumbfounded when my kid went into the grade 1 because the difficulty of the textbooks and exams were beyond my imagination," he said. "The situation proved me wrong and I hated to learn that my kid was straining to sit tests while other kids were breezing through them."
Actually, the Ministry of Education had asked kindergartens to educate according to the growth stage of the kids and correct content and teaching methods that were similar to primary school in a circular released in 2011. However, the picture has not been much changed over the years.
Different from the mixed picture of the education in preschool in China, the idea of "Hug First, Then Teach" has been adopted by the public in advanced nations. The idea was initiated by Kids 'R' Kids Learning Academies in the U.S., which also uses a comprehensive growth assessment system to evaluate kids' aptitude, potential and shortcoming by assessing 10 different learning domains and 38 different objectives. Kids 'R' Kids will offer diversified education according to the various characteristics of kids.
"We have growth assessment reports for each child every three months, so our directors, teachers and parents know what growth stage is for every child in our school." Said Wang Lihua, general manager of the Kids 'R' Kids China. "This way we can immediately see if any child needs special attention in any aspect. If a child is found to require additional assistance, at this early stage, professional help can be sought and rendered before the child reaches elementary school level. "
Knowledge or ability? Which will help kids at starting line?
"Being able to recognize many characters and count well does not mean a successful preschool education for kids," said Zhang Shuqin, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's national legislature and vice principal of the No.1 experimental elementary school of Linyi City in eastern Shandong Province.
"I have seen many kids who are believed to be smart because they can count to 20 easily and recognize many characters in grade one grow to be mediocre in later years," she said, adding kids would lose interest in basics if they had already learned about them before elementary school. Zhang warned learning in advance would hamper the efforts to nurture kids' skills in listening, learning, communication and cooperation.
Zhang's view was echoed by many educators who believe preschool education must comply with the mental and physical growth of the kids. Kids before 6-year-old were in a stage where nonintellectual factors should be developed and tapped, according to Lu Na, a teacher with an educational training center in Guilin, a city in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Lu said the objective for the stage was to develop interest and learning capability rather than simply inculcating knowledge, because the kids were easy to receive various information in the period, which presented a golden opportunity for educators to tap their potential.
Frank Su, executive vice president of the Kids 'R' Kids China said " at Kids R Kids we build a solid foundation for knowledge, using our AdvancED accredited curriculum. At the same time we nurture our children ability to think outside the box, which is lacking in current preschool education system in China."
"There is starting line in every stage of life. " Su said. " We value capabilities and habits that will benefit kids throughout their lives more than offering just knowledge with memorization. According to the curriculum plan of the Kids 'R' Kids, every academy has up to 2,000 English books as well as up to 500 Chinese books in their library and classrooms. This arrangement also promotes kids in developing a sound reading habit and a broad vision.
In addition to nurturing reading habit, Kids 'R' Kids created curriculum systems like Brain WavesTM, Big StepsTM, FastTrackTM and STEAM AHEADTM to tap three capabilities: learning, creativity and imagination. They are also conducive to develop the ability to solve problems and practice.
Wang said the reading skills as well as problem solving abilities are very important to child growth, and Kids 'R' Kids Academies provide the same system to Chinese children that is being used to teach American children throughout USA.
Parents or Government? Who is to blame for kindergarten going examination-oriented?
The role that parents play in the growth of their children can not be underestimated. Zhu Min, principal of the Beijing 21st Century Experimental Kindergarten, said the parents in China tended to interrupt the learning tempo of their children with eagerness to boost their growth.
"This is because almost every parent in the nation is under huge pressure from family and society and they involuntarily pass down that pressure to their children, who are actually in a stage of exploring the outside world," said Zhu.
Therefore, the efforts to help parents develop a right educational view is one of the key solutions to current situation.
The government's actions are another. Statistics showed that the market of the preschool education in China is valued at 350 billion yuan (about 56.5 billion U.S. Dollars), of which 200 billion belongs to kindergarten market. And the market is growing at a compound rate of 20 percent annually.
However, the supervision of such a tremendous market is slack and the standards guiding the sector are far from enough. As a result, many kindergartens are forced to compete with some training services that promote so-called "prodigy class."
The other side of the picture is that the number of public kindergartens only accounts for one third of the total of kindergartens in the nation. The market is dominated by private services which tend to cater to parents' eagerness in education due to stiff competition. A recent survey in Shanghai showed only 1.8 percent of public kindergartens hold interest-oriented classes while the figure for private ones stands at 19.7 percent.
It should be reminded that while the government is increasing the number of public kindergartens, the advanced preschool resources and experience from abroad also need to be introduced to save the kids from examination-oriented trend.
Specifically, the safety facilities and advanced management system should be invited in as scandals of child abuse and inappropriate medicine taking are popping up in recent years.
Kids 'R' Kids, which owns 160 chain kindergartens in the U.S., has officially launched its service in China recently. As a leading educator, Kids 'R' Kids was the first one in the U.S. to obtain the AdvancED accreditation, a top certificate in education, in the category of kids education.
The Kids 'R' Kids kindergartens are equipped with 360 degree security management system and they are transparent because parents are able to learn about what their kids are doing through TransparentSchool, a live Internet video tracking system.
In comparison, the domestic kindergartens still have a long way to go.
