Once again the experts in Early Childhood Education are being ignored. Those in Elementary Education really do think they know what is best for children even though research and over 100 years of practice and experience in early childhood says they are wrong.
In an article I posted on Linked in several years ago I wrote about the real differences between Early Childhood and Elementary Education. The link is here. The most important point of this article is the fact those in Elementary Education do not have the foggiest notion about how young children learn or why it is important not to push academic learning on them too soon.
We in this country are already talking about teaching Emotional Intelligence in Elementary School. Why? Because we are so focused on getting young children to read, we are failing to support what they really need to be focused on, their Social/Emotional Development.
Many in Elementary Education think those of us who are critical of early reading are being overly sensitive. The truth is we know putting reading before proper social/emotional development leads to children who have issues following directions, listening, self-control, regulating emotions, getting along with others, and many other things they need to succeed in school on a daily basis.
Early Childhood Professionals know these things are the foundation of children doing well in school. They need these skills. The thing about ECE is our goal is to meet the needs of each individual child. The truth is some children will master the social skills early and be ready for learning to read. However, many will not. The concern we are expressing is if Common Core pushes learning to read in Kindergarten, then we are putting Emotional Intelligence out of order and both the children snd the educational community will suffer for the misplaced order of development.
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