Oooh, I can sense another South Park episode coming on. Having just read Chuck Shepherd's weekly News of the Weird in my local newspaper, I have a new candidate for a spoof. For many New York City parents are now sending their children to expensive test-preparation courses for...kindergarten!
According to the article, New York City's public school system has a high-achiever kindergarten program, but applicants have to be in the 90th percentile on two different tests. And the age of the applicants? Three, four years old!
It's true that some kids are precocious, learning to read at a very early age or demonstrating other special talents. The late Isaac Asimov and my friend in New York are examples. For myself, I was a pretty bright little kid who may or may not have qualified on the "admissions" exams for an advanced kindergarten program, whatever that program may constitute. I do know that if this program is run the in same manner that the "high-achiever" public school I attended from fourth through twelfth grade was, I would rather just as soon pass up on the offer, thank you. Of course, it's the parents who ultimately make these decisions, not the poor kids, who have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.
It might be argued that having such a high-achiever kindergarten program in the NYC public school system gives an otherwise unavailable opportunity for kids in depressed, blighted areas to rise above their surroundings and enjoy a more positive, constructive learning environment. But these test preparation courses not only unfairly skew the admissions test scores; their expensive nature (as much as $1,000 or even more) also ensures that those admitted to the program will tend to be from the more affluent families. It may be a great idea for a private school, but hardly something that should be part of the taxpayer-funded public school system.
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