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What Pre-School Should Be Doing
Susan Ohanian
I was making my weekly vegetable pick-up at my farm co-op, talking to the farmer about the reading habits of his almost-year-old son. This child knows what his favorite book is, and he makes sure his parents know too. In Dad's words: "I have to read Where the Wild Things Are to him every morning at 6--at least 3 times every morning."
"We get almost to the end, when Max is ready to go home, and Eli grabs the book and turns it back to the Wild Things. He doesn't want Max. He wants the Wild Things."
It just struck me as remarkable that babies exhibit such strong book preferences at such a very early age. . . . And then they get to school and Standardistos decree that they have to all be on the same page (of a boring book) at the same time.
I may be preaching to the choir here, but this baby's strong literary tastes really hit a chord with me.
What also struck a chord is how Dad is so familiar with such a great many books. I mean, really familiar. What a priceless heritage for this child.
Pre-school used to try to duplicate this kind of book experience, but now we see the national effort to convert pre-school into another test prep skill zone.
What the people who put their faith in skills tested by DIBELS don't realize is that you can't create shortcuts to genuine book experience. Children have a deep-seated need to hear stories, to experience stories, to feel stories in their very bones. Unless and until they have this experience, they will never become readers.
— Susan Ohanian
2007-09-13
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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