Are we moving too fast? I am currently working on a degree in education. While working on my degree I have noticed that many times students are expected to know information at a younger age than they used to have to. For example, when I was in kindergarten I went to learn how to learn in a classroom setting, to get used to a school routine, and master basic skills such as the alphabet, counting, phonics, and writing my name.
It seems many kindergarten programs expect incoming kindergarteners to already know and have mastered these skills when entering into school. From the beginning of time it has been important for students to get a strong foundation on their early education in order to succeed in their higher education years. Now it appears as though many curriculum programs want to advance the student as quickly as they can, which from my own personal experience it tends to leave the majority of students behind.
When a child is just starting to add it is important that they get their addition down strongly that way they can move on to more advanced topics like multiplication. It proves to be a real challenge to teach a child two times six when they can't tell you what two plus six is without sitting down to count it out. It is important to be repetitive and be sure the student knows two plus six is eight because they just know it; because they have heard it and said it just enough times.
When a child is learning to read it is important that they have had a strong background in the alphabet, and what sound each letter makes. A student can learn to read without this background knowledge, but it is far easier for them to understand the process of sounding out words when they know what sounds the letters make. It also makes spelling easier. The more a child reads, the more words he or she will be likely to know. Spelling can be very difficult for a child if they don't know which sound each letter makes, or haven't seen the word somewhere before.
When a student is younger, their brain is more malleable. Students tend to ask more questions when they are first starting out rather than when they get older. It is important that we as the adults and future of the world learn to slow down. Everything is so fast paced because we live in a world where technology and life in general moves so quickly. A beginning and solid foundation of a child's education is something I believe that we can not afford to move too fast on. There are students who are able to move more quickly than others, and some that need extra time compared to the vast majority, but educators must look at where the majority of their students are at and teach at that pace rather than a pace set for the more advanced students or for the one or two students who need the extra help.
It's a parent's responsibility for their own child's education, and while a teacher holds a great deal of power, the parent holds even more.
So let's reconsider moving too fast through the basics, and spend more time focusing on those basic skills that will help a student with everything else they will learn for the rest of their lives.
