填鴨式的早教真的有必要嗎？

Michel Martin （Host）： They say it takes a village to raise a child， but maybe you just need a few moms and dads in your corner. Today， though， we’re looking at a question that’s challenging parents and teachers alike， which is how early is too early to focus on 1）academics in school？ We wonder if the 2）finger paint should be out and the math problems should be in， even for 3）preschoolers. Schools that tried teaching 3-year-olds French or 4-year-olds computer coding have been around for a while—long enough to be mocked in films like “Daddy Day Care.”

（Soundbite of Film， “Daddy Day Care”）

SAT Teacher： Now mark your books number five. Cat is to mouse as frog is to...

Unidentified Actress #1： Are they doing SAT prep？

Unidentified Actress #2： It’s never too early to start.

Michel： But it’s not just elite private schools that want 4）rigorous lessons for kindergarten and preschool. These days， many public schools are turning up the academics at a younger and younger age. But some teachers and parents say this is going too far. We wanted to talk about this so we’ve called Valerie Strauss. She’s education writer at the Washington Post and she’s reported on this issue. Welcome， thanks for joining us.

Valerie Strauss： Thanks for having me.

Michel： Also with us， Lynn Gatto. She’s the director of elementary education at the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education. Welcome to you as well. Thanks for joining us.

Lynn Gatto： Thank you for having me.

Michel： Valerie， you were writing that kindergarten is the new first grade. Why do you say that？

Valerie： It absolutely is. And pretty soon preschool’s going to be the new first grade. For at least 10 years now， 5）curriculum is being pushed down， partly driven by an increase in the importance of standardized tests. The idea is that kindergartners can learn how to do many things people thought they couldn’t do years ago. The brain develops much earlier than we thought. The brain develops more fully than we thought. Kids can do a lot more than was ever thought. The problem is of course that it’s gone way too far and kids， even if their brain is so developed， can’t really do a lot of the things that they’re being asked to do.

Michel： Lynn， you taught young children for more than 30 years. What is your take on this？

Lynn： I am definitely seeing classrooms asking children to do more than the curriculums required before. New York State has these 6）modules for kindergarten and one of their modules is—the topic is kings and queens—they call it a 7）domain. And they ask children in kindergarten to be able to identify and describe 8）royal objects associated with the king and queen， indicate that kings and queens still exist today，but there were many more kings and queens long ago， to describe a royal family. Why is this important for kindergartners to know？ You know， why is it important for them to understand the vocabulary words that they’re expected—disadvantages， 9）prosperity， 10）crown prince， 11）reign？ Well， what does this have to do with being five years old？

Michel： That’s interesting. Valerie， what’s your take on this？

Valerie： Well， what’s happened is that standards-based educational over the past 15， 20—maybe even longer years has become much more important. And standards have gone down now into the kindergarten grades and even in pre-K. And what they do is have 12）content standards， which have specific bits of content that they want these kids to know. The problem with that—in the really early education—there’s no research that shows that this is the way kids learn， that trying to teach them 13）discrete bits of information is the way that they learn. That’s not how they learn.

Michel： Lynn， I get the

impression that you’re

14）skeptical of this.

Lynn： You know， I don’t have any problems with standards. I can live with standards. What I have a problem with and what I’m skeptical about is the 15）implementation of these standards—16）instruction is becoming highly 17）scripted，

whole class instruction， very teacher directed， there is no room for creativity， we’re not asking children to 18）innovate. We’re asking them to solve only the problems we want them to solve. There’s no place for imagination. I have a problem with that.

Michel： But， Lynn Gatto， one of the reasons that some people—19）activists， educators are pushing for more academics in these early years is that they’re seeing kids present to school or come to school unprepared and that they haven’t developed kind of habits of learning. If this isn’t the best way to 20）address it， what is？

Lynn： Well， I think we need to meet children where they are. And my experience is 34 years in an urban setting.

And， frankly， when I look at these standards， many of my colleagues and myself reach these standards and even beyond. And we did it through very engaging， meaningful kinds of instruction. For example， one of the things that I did was in fourth grade the children came back from lunch one day just fed up with the lunch. And In the end， they—using all standards and going far beyond—we scripted， created， wrote and went to an actual news studio and created a documentary called “Lunch is Gross.” And that documentary was shown on our local PBS station. And it affected change in the school district and opened a huge conversation in this community. And every child learned to read， every child learned， wrote， they publicly spoke. I mean， they met all of the standards that they’re talking about now， but it came from them and what they were interested in.

Michel： Valerie.

Valerie： There’s a number of issues here. One thing is that all children don’t develop at the same time. I personally—I have two daughters. One of them learned how to read by herself when she was 4， the other one couldn’t really read well until she was in third grade. And

when she did， she started reading 21）Tolstoy. But if she had been in a kindergarten today and couldn’t read by the time she was in first grade， she would be considered a 22）flop. It’s these kinds of pressures.

Michel： Well， let me ask you this， though， speaking of—we’ve all talked a lot about kind of the urban context and so forth. In the public debate， it’s often families of color or people advocating on their behalf who are pushing for more academics at an early age because they feel that this is the best way to address the racial achievement gap， you know， among other things. And they kind of suspect that they feel like， you know， maybe that the more affluent or more privileged kids are getting this and that their kids are behind.

Lynn： Right.

Michel： Could you just speak to that？

Valerie： I can speak to that. First of all， it’s not 23）monolithic among parents of color by any means. Kids in the wealthier schools， kids in private schools—President Obama’s girls who go to Sidwell—this isn’t what they do in preschool. This isn’t what they do in kindergarten. What they do is have very smart structured play because all early childhood experts know kids learn through play. They experiment， they make order out of numbers and they stack things and they find their own meaning in things. Assessment experts know young kids， particularly 4 and 5-year-olds， that they’re are 24）miserable testers. They cry， they yell out the answer， they want to help their friends. They throw up， they have to go to the bathroom. They say something and then they say， oh， I’m wrong.

Michel： Is there—I hear both of you， based on your experience and reporting， have a very 25）dim view of this—kind of this trend. And so I’m interested in whether there’s a 26）reverse trend. Is there any 27）pushback against it？

Valerie： There is. There’s a whole 28）opt out movement starting in different states—New York， it’s very strong because they had early common core tests. There have been a lot of 29）op-eds by early childhood experts. So there’s a pushback on the parent level and there’s a pushback in the expert level and on—you know， on the national level.

Michel： Lynn Gatto？

Lynn： Well， you’re going to find now that this is really 30）impacting middle-class parents—their children are all reporting， you know， behavioral problems， anxiety issues， they hate school. There are kindergarten children that are getting up every morning saying I don’t want to go. I think we’re going to find a lot of pushback pretty quickly now that it’s hit the middle-class.

Michel： Can I get a final thought from you？

Lynn： I really feel like rather than becoming a 31）democratic society or becoming a 32）corporate society—and really， I see corporate America driving what’s happening in schools. And I don’t believe school is about training future workers. I feel school is about training future democratic citizens.

Michel： Valerie， you want to give us a final thought？

Valerie： What Lynn is talking about is the corporate model in which many school reformers have based their reforms. And that is that you can run public education， which is really a 33）civic institution—and I would argue it’s the country’s most important civic institution—that you can run it like a business. And so there’s all kinds of things—school choice goes into this， looking at student as future workers， as instead of， as Lynn said， future citizens who understand how to operate and participate in a democracy. It’s a very 34）fundamental debate going on in public education now. And this is—you know， this is a piece of it—how do you teach young kids？ Do you honor the development of young children and recognize that they don’t all do the same things at the same times？ Or do you not？ And this is where we are with kindergarten.

Michel： Thank you both so much for speaking with us.

Lynn： Thank you.

Valerie： Thank you.

米歇爾·馬丁（主持人）：人們說養育一個孩子需要全村的力量，但是也許只需要一些爸媽在身邊就可以了。今天，我們來探討一個困擾著父母和老師們的問題，那就是到底多早算是讓孩子們過早地在學校接觸學術問題？我們在想，孩子們，甚至是學齡前的兒童，是否應該不學手指繪畫而學數學呢。學校嘗試教3歲孩子法語、4歲孩子電腦編程已經有好長一段時間了——時間足以長到能在電影《奶爸別動隊》里被諷刺。

（電影《奶爸別動隊》原聲片段）

雅思老師：現在把你的書編號數字5。貓對老鼠，就像青蛙對……

不知名女演員#1：他們在上雅思預科班嗎？

不知名女演員#2：越早開始上課越好。

米歇爾：現在，不只是私立的精英學校想要在幼兒園和學前班開設多門課程，就連許多公立學校也越來越早地開設學科。但是一些老師和家長認為這樣做太超前了，我們想談談此事，因此我們請來了瓦萊麗·斯特勞斯。她是《華盛頓郵報》教育版的作家，她報道了這個問題。歡迎你，謝謝你的到來。

瓦萊麗·斯特勞斯：謝謝你邀請我。米歇爾：和我們在一起的，還有林恩·加托，她是美國羅切斯特大學華納教育學院基礎教育部的主任，同樣歡迎你的到來，謝謝你加入我們。

林恩·加托：謝謝你邀請我。

米歇爾：瓦萊麗，你在著作中寫到幼兒園等于一年級。你為什么這樣說呢？

瓦萊麗：幼兒園真的就是一年級。很快學前班就會成為新的一年級。課程體系一直被推翻，到現在為止至少有十年了，有部分原因是現在對標準測試越來越重視。這個想法是幼兒們能夠做人們好幾年前認為他們不能做的很多事。人的大腦發育比我們想象中要早，比我們想象中要完整。孩子們比起從前我們想象的能做更多事情。但問題當然是這個想法太超前了，即使孩子們的大腦很發達，也還不能按要求去做很多事情。

米歇爾：林恩，你從事幼兒教育已經30多年了。你對這個問題怎么看呢？

林恩：我的確發現在課堂上，現在要求孩子們學習比以前更多的課程。紐約州給幼兒園的孩子們制定了一些課程模塊，其中一個模塊的名字叫國王和皇后，他們管它叫一個領域。他們要求幼兒園的孩子們能夠識別和描述與國王和皇后有關的皇室物件，以顯示國王和皇后至今仍然存在。但是如果要描述皇室的情況，那么在很久以前，會有更多國王和皇后。對于孩子來說，了解這些為什么重要呢？你知道的，為什么學習這些詞語——劣勢、興盛、皇儲、統治對他們來說是重要的呢？好吧，這些詞語跟一個五歲的孩子有什么聯系呢？

米歇爾：這很有趣。瓦萊麗，你怎么看？

瓦萊麗：嗯，問題就在于，過去的15、20年前，也許甚至更早的時候，標準化的教育就變得越來越重要。然而現在標準已經普及到幼兒園甚至學前班。他們制定了內容標準，也就是他們要求孩子們要了解具體的內容。問題就是，在真正的早期教育中，真的沒有研究表明這是孩子們應該學習的方式——嘗試讓他們了解一些零散的信息。這不是他們的學習方式。

米歇爾：林恩，我印象中你也很懷疑這種學習方式。

林恩：你知道的，我對標準沒有什么意見，我可以在標準中生活。我的問題和疑惑是，怎樣踐行這些標準。現在指導照本宣科、大班化教學、以教師為中心，沒有給（孩子們的）創造力留下空間。我們不是要求孩子們去創新，而是讓他們解決我們讓他們解決的問題。根本沒有（給孩子們發揮）想象力的空間。我對這種做法很有意見。

米歇爾：但是，林恩·加托，一些人——激進分子、教育者在孩子們如此小的時候推動開設更多的課程，其中一個原因是他們看到來到學校的孩子都沒有準備好，他們還沒養成學習的習慣。如果這種做法不是最好的解決方法，什么方法才是呢？

林恩：好吧，我認為我們應該滿足孩子們的需求。我有34年在城市教書的經驗。坦白說，我和許多同事都達到甚至超過了所說的標準，我們用很有意義、有趣的指導方法達到了這個標準。例如，我做的其中一件事就是在教四年級的時候，有一天孩子們吃完午餐回來，肚子飽飽的。最后，他們達到了所有標準，甚至做得更好。我們構思、創作、編寫而且來到了實際的新聞錄影棚來錄制一個叫做“午餐真惡心”的紀錄片，這個紀錄片在我們當地的廣播公司播出。它影響了各區的學校教育，引發了一場較大的爭議。每個孩子最后都會讀書，會寫字，而且會在公共場合發言。我的意思是，孩子們符合了人們說的全部標準，但是這都是源自于他們的興趣。

米歇爾：瓦萊麗。

瓦萊麗：這里有許多問題。其中一個問題是，孩子們的成長不是同步的。就我個人而言，我有兩個女兒。其中一個女兒四歲的時候就能自己讀書，而另一個女兒直到小學三年級才會。她一會讀書，就讀托爾泰斯（的著作）。但是，如果她就讀于今天的幼兒園，不能在一年級的時候讀書，她就會被認為是一個笨孩子。這就是壓力。

米歇爾：好吧，我們討論了很多在城市中的教育，現在讓我問你這個問題。在公議中，有色人種的家庭或者那些代表這些家庭的人們，都會推崇在孩子們很小的時候就學習學科課程，因為你知道的，他們感覺比起其他事情，這是解決宗族隔離最好的辦法。你知道的，他們認為更富有或者更高貴的孩子正在接受著這些教育，而他們的孩子落在了后面。

林恩：沒錯。

米歇爾：你能對此發表看法嗎？

瓦萊麗：我可以說說。首先，有色人種的父母絕對不是統一意見的。在貴族學校、私立學校的孩子——奧巴馬的女兒在西德維爾上學——上述所說的這些事情孩子們在學前班、幼兒園都沒有做過。他們所做的只是在設計合理的游戲中玩耍，因為所有早教的專家都知道孩子能在玩耍中學習。他們實驗，他們給數字排序，他們堆積事物，從事物中找到自己的解讀。評估專家知道年幼的孩子，尤其是在4到5歲時，他們是可憐的實驗對象。他們哭，他們大聲地喊出答案，他們想幫助朋友。他們會吐，會需要去洗手間。他們說了一些事，然后卻說：“噢，我錯了”。

米歇爾：從你們的經歷和報告中，我知道你們兩個對（早教）的這種趨勢都持懷疑態度。因此我感興趣的是這種趨勢沒有逆反嗎，有人反對這種做法嗎？

瓦萊麗：有。在不同的州——包括紐約州，都在開展反對運動。這場運動很激烈，因為這些州都有了早教的核心測試。很多兒童早教的專家都發表了有關這方面的專欄。所以，家長、專家，你知道的，全國都在反對。

米歇爾：林恩·加托？

林恩：好吧，你會發現如今這種做法真的影響到了中產階級的父母們——你知道的，他們的孩子都反映出有行為問題、焦慮問題，他們討厭學校。有些上幼兒園的孩子每天早上起來都會說“我不想去上學”。因為現在影響到了中產階級的父母，我想很快就會有許多反對的聲音。

米歇爾：我能知道你最后的總結嗎？

林恩：我真的覺得美國沒有成為一個民主的社會或者一個團結的社會——真的，我看到“團結”的美國人對學校做了什么事。我不贊同學校是為了培養未來的工作者，我認為學校應該是培養未來的民主公民。

米歇爾：瓦萊麗，你有沒有最后的總結呢？

瓦萊麗：林恩說的是那些教育改革者是以“團結”的基礎進行改革的。也就是可以將公共教育——這真的是一個公民機構，我認為這是國家最重要的公民機構，將它當成商業來看。所以就會產生各種問題——學校把學生們看成是未來的工作者，而不是，正如林恩剛才所說的，未來懂得如何踐行和參與民主的公民。現在對公共教育的辯論是很重要的。然而你知道的，這只是公共教育的一部分——怎么教育年幼的孩子？你重視孩子們的成長過程，認識到他們不能同時做同一件事嗎？還是你沒有這樣呢？這就是我們在幼兒園教育上需要關注的問題。

米歇爾：謝謝二位今天的到來。

林恩：謝謝。

瓦萊麗：謝謝。

小鏈接

中國學生世界最苦往低齡蔓延，幼兒園“搶跑”累趴孩子

學拼音識漢字，學英語練珠心算，四五歲的稚嫩小兒上起了相當于小學一、二年級的課程，每天回家后還要做個把小時的家庭作業；同時，在業余時間，還要掌握音樂、舞蹈、書法、繪畫等技能……這種現象，在許多城市的幼兒園中都是隨處可見。本該唱唱跳跳的孩子，卻要提前背起沉甸甸的書包，這在家長看來是因為提前熟悉小學課程，可以讓孩子盡早適應小學的教學氛圍，幼兒園也以畢業的小朋友上小學后成績都不錯為賣點，轉而更受家長的青睞。可實際上，過早過多的灌輸，只會導致孩子的“知識消化不良”。許多孩子過早處在機械讀、寫、背的學習狀態中，在疲于學習中抹殺了想象力，到上小學時就失去了對學習的興趣。

幼兒早教過度 長大后勁不足

美國有關調查發現，受過早期教育的孩子中小學的升學率，是那些沒有受過類似教育兒童的10倍，智商平均高出15分。但后來許多心理學家發現，早期教育過于緊張的兒童，一般在小學四年級時學習成績就開始下降，逐漸失去以前的優勢。

過于緊張的幼兒早期教育不僅不能達到預期目的，還會阻礙孩子其他技能的發展。科學家們雖然現在還不能確切知道各種知識信息是怎樣進入兒童大腦的，但是有一點可以肯定：當兒童心情不愉快的時候，記憶的大門是不可能打開的。

盡管有人抱怨由于沒有進行幼兒早期教育，其實在一些自然而然的環境里，如看連環畫，參觀博物館、動物園等等，同樣可幫助兒童發掘其內在潛力。失去早期教育機會的父母，只要堅持對自己的孩子進行仔細而得當的引導，同樣可以趕上那些受過幼兒早期教育的兒童。重要的是這不應是枯燥無味的灌輸，不是單純教孩子什么東西，而是使他們產生求知的欲望，從而感到學習是有趣的事情。