A recent article in The New York Times, "Delay Kindergarten at Your Child's Peril," presents reasons why children should start school at an earlier rather than later age. I agree with many of the premises of this article, but have my doubts on some of the details. 

I agree with the fact that children should start school at an earlier age. That is consistent with what we do in Montessori and what we do here at The Renaissance School (TRS). Many of the statements in the article attributing an early school start to becoming a successful student are examples of what we do in our school.

• I agree that it is a great disadvantage to children to delay having them in a learning environment. The article mentions that children learn to read more easily when they are younger. Again, I agree wholeheartedly. The reason is that children are in the sensitive period for language (in Montessori terms) well before kindergarten. That is why students here at TRS learn to read so easily, assuming they don't encounter a learning  challenge. Children who are not exposed to a learning environment early on, often have a difficult time engaging and finding motivation. More on teaching children to read at TRS.
  

 

• The article attributes the superior progress of early entry students to the increased challenges of a demanding environment. Again, it supports what we here at TRS very strongly believe, which is to challenge each child to his or her potential.

 

• The article also mentions that children between the ages of three and five who have older siblings, mature faster, because they are exposed to older children. Again, I agree that placing children in multiage environments allows them to develop socially and emotionally in a way that single-age classrooms cannot. The older children inspire, guide and teach the younger ones naturally.

 

• *What the article fails to recognize is that every human being is different and therefore the idea of starting a child in kindergarten early may not be the best for that particular child, even when it is the best for many others. The individual needs to be considered.

• The article also fails to recognize that emotional maturity is  greatly developed by giving children the opportunity to develop leadership skills at the end of each developmental period. An example would be after they  have had two to three years of learning from older children and then have a chance to apply what they learned. Avoiding having children in situations that  allow them to grow, such as delaying learning because they are immature, really backfires, because if we look at learning in traditional terms,   their peers are an enitre year ahead of them.

 

• * The idea of holding children back so that they have an edge on others, is unfortunately a practice that reflects a lack of understanding of child development and that ultimately just delays the development of the child. Not any better is when children are being held back a whole year, because their birthday is maybe two minutes after the cut-off for the year. Honestly, the idea of "holding" a child back is nonsensical. Traditional education has yet to find a way to respect the child's social and emotional development while addressing the intellectual development.

 

An article came out recently in Science magazine which might interest you. The article basically says that traditional education does not develop what are considered the most important skills needed in the 21st century, which are classified under "executive functions". These skills include cognitive flexibility, inhibition (self-control, self-regulation), working memory, problem solving, reasoning and planning. They mention that these skills need to be developed in early childhood to improve school readiness and academic success. This of course is looking at education through the traditional lens where education starts in kindergarten. Of interest to us is that the article states that Montessori is one of two curricula that addresses these skills. The other approach is a highly structured play-based program for early childhood education only.

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Leslie Hites

Head of School