According to Ellis, the effort to cram 10 months worth of education into seven months in order to make sure that students meet state standards on standardized testing is far too demanding. The solution? Teach the younger students skills that they will need in future grades, so that they will be prepared to meet the state’s expectations when the time comes. Long gone are the years in which students are taught how to socially interact with others and how to behave appropriately in kindergarten. Throughout the last decade, the expectations have risen, and students are expected to know how to read entering first grade. While this may be a good thing academically, the same students who are excelling in the classroom at a young age are failing socially.

Too Fast, Too Soon

In 2007, UNICEF conducted an overview of child well being in rich countries. Out of 21 countries, the United States finished 20th, just ahead of the United Kingdom, and 20th out of 21 countries in the categories of Health Safety, Behaviors and Risks and Family and Peer Relationships. The United States finished 12th in Educational Well Being, and 17th in Material Well Being. The United States was not scored in the category of Subjective Well Being. This is proof that although as a country we are in the middle third in terms of academic achievement, we are in serious trouble in regards to developing the whole child.

What’s ironic is that the academic push at an early age is actually hurting students in the long run academically. Mr. Ellis presented his audience with a study that included four year-old students with roughly the same IQ. Half of the students were placed in academically rigorous schools while the other half was placed in schools that focused on developmentally appropriate practices. Their progress through elementary, middle, and high school was tracked. Early on, the students in academically rigorous schools showed significant gains in regards of knowledge while the other students seemed to progress at slow but steady pace. When the students reached high school, however, various forms of assessments showed that the students that were brought along slowly with developmentally appropriate practices were more successful academically in every case. Personal interviews also showed that these students seemed to ‘fit in’ more than the other group of students.

And if you think that the dramatic rise in the referrals students to receive special education services over the past ten years is a coincidence, think again.

Why is This Happening?

There are many factors when it comes to school-age children’s inadequate behavior and academic success (or lack there of). Here are just a few that Mr. Ellis cited:

• Growing pressures of developmentally inappropriate education for young children. This not only stresses out the students; it affects the parents and teachers as well.
• High-stakes testing of children of all ages.
• Too much screen time
• Too little time for child-initiated play.
• Too little time spent outdoors in nature and in healthy physical activity.
• Too few strong, consistent relationships with caring adults.

To quote Jean Piaget, “Play is the work of the child.” Constantly scheduling children in activities may keep them busy and out of some trouble, but it hurts them creatively. Children need to able to entertain themselves and interact with other children on their own terms, not their parents’. As adults, it’s important for us to let children be children and learn at their own pace. So, instead of teaching your toddler how to write his name at the age of three, give him a big paintbrush and let him go to town, so to speak. And sure, your child's painting skills probably won't impress your family and friends, but I bet his SAT scores will.