Abstract
There is a schism between early childhood educators and schoolteachers around what comprises school readiness and how it is best achieved. While early educators see the child as naturally self-educating through development and discovery, schoolteachers see explicit instruction and practice as the best way for children to master critical skills. These differing world views reflect different underlying value systems which manifest in divergent views of how, when, and what children learn. An examination of the Perry Preschool Project reveals a mostly successful real-world attempt to accommodate both world views, although there are reasons to doubt the practicality of the model as a solution. These same tensions surrounded the rise of kindergarten; tellingly, the debate has been settled by the school system assimilating kindergarten into its worldview. Ultimately, the two sides are irreconcilable, which has important implications for the future of America's early childhood efforts.
TopBackground
Ask early childhood educators and kindergarten teachers whether a child is ready for school and you might well get two different answers that are based on two totally different worldviews. Those worldviews are representative of the larger systems that these adults are a part of and the different philosophies and goals that each pursue.1
Key Terms in this Chapter
Reading Wars: The heated and long-lasting debates about how children best learn reading, which came to a particular head in the late 20th century.
Early Childhood Education: The set(s) of philosophies and policies around educating young children, especially prior to their entry into school; early childhood educators generally see learning as natural, spontaneous, and occurring on its own individual timeline.
Administration for Children and Families (ACF): A division of the Department of Health & Human Services focused on promoting the well-being of families and children.
Worldview: The philosophical lens through which one’s experiences and ideas are filtered; it is reflective of an underlying value system.
Biologically Primary: Relating to skills that are either inherent or that are learned naturally as a child develops and that require little to no formal instruction in order to emerge.
Department of Education (ED): The federal department that oversees school-based education (K-12) and which is focused around student educational achievement.
School Readiness: The idea that children should arrive at school properly prepared to be successful in a formal learning environment, though what exactly that readiness looks like is neither well defined nor agreed on by all stakeholders.
Biologically Secondary: Relating to skills that are not inherent or that require systematic and explicit instruction over time; formal learning.