When Is a Child Ready for Kindergarten?

When Is a Child Ready for Kindergarten?

The author of this article describes how four-and-a-half and five-year-old children are simply developmentally unable to perform the tasks that are being asked of them in public schools. School has become so demanding of children at this age that the parents are keeping the children out of school until they turn six years old. The author states that a kindergartner's curriculum should be filled with fun learning activities such as play, science explorations, and read-alouds not "testing". I fully agree with what the author of this article has stated. Children at this age need fun and engaging activities that arouse their curiosity and intrinsic motivation. If all we do as preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers is teach to the test and then test the children all year long, what child is going to learn to their fullest academic potential? I honestly hate testing. I see the importance of some testing, but the state and administrators have went overboard with testing. School should not be a place where children dread waking up and going every single day.