Is so hard think. How I can help new generations in a few years. I think that correct way is to develop a private education. 'Cause at moment only we have nice infrastructure and deficient syllabus to help our children. Even here in third world is the same receipt.
1
Getting invited to ride in a Mercedes doesn't prepare you for owning one. It just produces Mercedes-envy. Working hard at the local MacDonald's while in high school just might.
As a university professor, I recommend parents make sure their kids get excited about thinking and learning through games, puzzles, and reading than to take campus tours.
As a university professor, I recommend parents make sure their kids get excited about thinking and learning through games, puzzles, and reading than to take campus tours.
11
Why should we force children to adopt our adult values and aspirations at a time when they are still far more creative and exploratory than most adults? To hear a first grader say, "If you don't go to college you won't get a good job," makes me cry. How dare teachers put that kind of anxiety and worry onto a 6 or 7-year old! Let children be children for this brief, miraculous window of time that they have.
6
My daughter is 7yrs old and she is ready for college. She is not a genius really, she is a self starter. I don't think it will do any harm to think that far ahead. God knows I have to start saving right now to send my children to college, in the not to distant future. Inspiration can be fostered early... One day I took my children to school with me I couldn't find a baby sitter, so I took them along and it worked out fine. Since then that's all they talk about is " when I go to university ".
So many parents would have a heart attack if their children don't want to go to college. We are now in the knowledge era and we need to think that far ahead in a holistic way, don't think of it as a marketing ploy, think about what we are prepared to invest in our children's future.
So many parents would have a heart attack if their children don't want to go to college. We are now in the knowledge era and we need to think that far ahead in a holistic way, don't think of it as a marketing ploy, think about what we are prepared to invest in our children's future.
2
I think the Times headlines for this article are misleading and represent phony attention grabbing. I expected the article to show how first grade students are being taught how to fill out a college application and memorize SAT vocabulary, but it does not really deal with preparation for college in the first grade except for a few cute quotes; in fact most of the examples are from higher grades. In middle and upper class homes the college expectation is already there from a very early age, and what is wrong with being realistic about such goals in the first grade in schools that serve a lower income population?
1
This is a game, it's like good song, It needs a hook, a flow, a chorus, a hit.
Rich or poor, it should not matter. USA!
The future of us is with them, our children.
A better educated Nation is a better world.
Public, private, charter, or whatever, this generation needs our help.
Guidance and Cyber Security for their future is what can provide more advances for our future as Americans.
LIVE IT
Rich or poor, it should not matter. USA!
The future of us is with them, our children.
A better educated Nation is a better world.
Public, private, charter, or whatever, this generation needs our help.
Guidance and Cyber Security for their future is what can provide more advances for our future as Americans.
LIVE IT
2
College = cool buildings and junk food without parental supervison
America = kaput.
America = kaput.
4
I have to say this article makes me fear for the worst for the future of society. I am a college professor and never had any of these "preparations" in my life. I wish people would look more closely at the backgrounds of great spirits like Vincent Van Gogh, Rainer Maria Rilke, Maya Angelou, Georgia O' Keefe, and Frida Kahlo to see that organization and college prep are not something that is fundamentally important. Space and freedom are. Nature is. Van Gogh writes about his walks in the woods as a child and how they impacted him. This goal oriented behavior for tiny children who have yet to experience so many fundamental things like the moon and the sea is, is my opinion, wrong and damaging.
17
I partially agree with commenters who note that many children of educated, middle-upper class parents probably do not need this type of intervention, because they are already receiving it inductively and have parents who will help them through the college preparation/college application process, while children of lower income or not-college-educated parents may benefit from being introduced at school to some of the ideas that others may receive at home. However, it seems more reasonable to start this conversation in middle school than in elementary school, and to focus more on specific skills than on generalized ideas of "college." Letting Middle Schoolers know what kind of performance will be expected of them in high school might help them to work toward those goals (or it could also make success feel impossible). It also seems more reasonable to turn this into a more holistic discussion. Some families may never be able to afford college. Some kids may do better starting at a community college. Still others might be able to better pursue their careers without a college education and the debt this would require. If we are truly concerned with children's futures, then we should make sure they have the skills they need when the time comes to make those choices, in order to ensure them the broadest range of choices. Otherwise, this becomes another version of "teaching to the test," where the goal is success on an application, and not on actual skills or learning.
1
There's nothing wrong with introducing the idea of college to elementary school children (I always knew I was going to college from my parents). A class trip is ok, too. But this is way over the top. Kids need time and space to be kids. They need to play and imagine. Children, today, don't have enough unstructured time. This is just the newest example.
7
No one likes to mention that college is not for everyone. Not all of us want to sit in a classroom. There are some who like to tinker and perform manual labor. We are not all book smart. Some of us are better in sports, in dealing with people and manipulating objects, and are better in performing jobs which do not require a college education but experience. What is wrong with trade school? Is educational achievement our only measurement of success as a parent? College carries an enormous amount of costs and ultimately debt. After spending $250,000, are college educated children guaranteed a job that pays well? There are many who carry large college loans obtain jobs that do not require college degrees. You know them: the college educated waiter, the retail clerk checking out your groceries, the sales person in Best Buy, etc etc. I would like children to enjoy dreaming of who they can be and be imaginative in how they plan to achieve that goal. It is sad when a child says when he grows up, he wants to get into Harvard.
6
Exactly. There should be a well-developed system of learning trades (which today also means IT and not just the classic trades), and then associating trade students with post-graduation jobs. If the endgame of college increasingly is not a liberal arts education but a pragmatic one that permits employment and a middle class adulthood, there should be no stigma attached to any means of helping kids achieve that goal. Setting kids up blindly to want to go to college without the support to get there is sort of ridiculous.
3
So very wrong on so many levels. Coaching little kids to think about college is like teaching to the test rather than teaching intrinisically important subject matters. Childhood is supposed to be a time to cultivate a love of learning--read, go to museums, go on vacation to historic sites, collect rocks and fossils, watch birds. Did I say "read" at least six times? In other words, experiencing education as personally-motivated exploration, not as something parents and society demand from the outside. If kids get motivated to learn on their own, formal education just polishes and refines what's already there. If they don't, the rest is futile--like creative writing classes for people who don't already read and write on their own.
5
This is insanity. Dr. Guddemi is right “We are robbing children of childhood by talking about college and career so early in life,”It is important to set an expectation that a child will do something with their life beyond high school. That could be service in the military, vocational school, community college or a four-year degree. What is important is that children have a full and rich childhood, filled with exploration, adventure, travel, and traditional learning, as well as love and acceptance for whom they are!
7
As presented there is in this 'program' no foundation for early childhood education. It is a trendy notion conceived as somehow innovative. It is along the lines of other 'innovative' gambits like: teaching 6 year old how to text, and take selfies, build Lego-toy robots, manipulate tablets, etc. Sometime back it was 'innovative' to have driver education courses in schools.
All these 'innovative' gambits actually are a cover-up for what is lacking in a foundation for early childhood education. It is not 'human development' but a notion that somehow that a college education has one set for a 'better life'...that is a 'consumer life'. Earning and spending.
It also spares prospective employers (with the ever fewer jobs as robots and AI displaces job labor) for the cost of preparing their workers. Education's foundation has become getting the young into future jobs.
It is a perversion of education that once was a subject for debate BUT no longer is debated. It is settled...higher education is trade education. Nearly all students in my classes say outright...'I am here for a later job'.
It has worked for the period 1950 -2000. College grads netted jobs and were more secure. In the era of AI and its diverse applications college and cognitive learning are uncertain preparations for a 'good life'.
All these 'innovative' gambits actually are a cover-up for what is lacking in a foundation for early childhood education. It is not 'human development' but a notion that somehow that a college education has one set for a 'better life'...that is a 'consumer life'. Earning and spending.
It also spares prospective employers (with the ever fewer jobs as robots and AI displaces job labor) for the cost of preparing their workers. Education's foundation has become getting the young into future jobs.
It is a perversion of education that once was a subject for debate BUT no longer is debated. It is settled...higher education is trade education. Nearly all students in my classes say outright...'I am here for a later job'.
It has worked for the period 1950 -2000. College grads netted jobs and were more secure. In the era of AI and its diverse applications college and cognitive learning are uncertain preparations for a 'good life'.
1
All these readers are taking this way too seriously. I think that these kids are just getting exposed to an idea they may not get at home. To widen horizons and perhaps add a new goal isn't harmful.
3
This has the potential to enlarge the gender equity gap in college and career aspirations for young women.
A individual who believes (because of societal expectations for their gender, race, and/or socioeconomic status) that they were born with aptitudes and abilities which are less than and more narrow in scope than others is unlikely to express interests (let alone attempt mastery) in academic areas or career fields nontypical for their gender, race, and/or socioeconomic status.
Research shows that the systemic processes, tools, and assessments schools utilize to guide students in their academic and career aspirations reinforce and compound these beliefs.
K. Connor and E.Vargyas of the Nat'l Women’s Law Center found that career interest inventories and aptitude tests “routinely administered early in a student's education…result in the channeling of students into low-level and sex-traditional classes and careers based on the socialization that occurred in grade school or the first years of junior high school.”
Additionally, “socialization experiences of males and females also have a significant influence on interest inventory results. What test-takers have been socialized to believe are appropriate interests and occupations for their sex greatly influence test results...Elementary-Age Boys indicate a wide variety of occupational preferences, mostly in male-dominated occupations, Elementary-Age Girls list a much smaller number of occupations.”
http://tinyurl.com/mk64tun
A individual who believes (because of societal expectations for their gender, race, and/or socioeconomic status) that they were born with aptitudes and abilities which are less than and more narrow in scope than others is unlikely to express interests (let alone attempt mastery) in academic areas or career fields nontypical for their gender, race, and/or socioeconomic status.
Research shows that the systemic processes, tools, and assessments schools utilize to guide students in their academic and career aspirations reinforce and compound these beliefs.
K. Connor and E.Vargyas of the Nat'l Women’s Law Center found that career interest inventories and aptitude tests “routinely administered early in a student's education…result in the channeling of students into low-level and sex-traditional classes and careers based on the socialization that occurred in grade school or the first years of junior high school.”
Additionally, “socialization experiences of males and females also have a significant influence on interest inventory results. What test-takers have been socialized to believe are appropriate interests and occupations for their sex greatly influence test results...Elementary-Age Boys indicate a wide variety of occupational preferences, mostly in male-dominated occupations, Elementary-Age Girls list a much smaller number of occupations.”
http://tinyurl.com/mk64tun
2
I'm the head of a private school in Manhattan and I think these people have lost their minds.
9
The question is, when is your first grader ready for first grade? The best preparation for the future is the present. First grade should be about first grade:learning about yourself, your neighbor, and the world about you. What the child sees on her way home, what are they curious about, what do they want to create? There should be aimals and plants in the classroom, lots of books, and toys, and discussions.
7
I am from a long blood line of educators. I, like my mother, retired after 35 years. When my daughter wanted to quit college because her friends were making lots of money doing what they loved to do, I told her this: "1) College is not money. Many volunteer their services. 2) College is not a job placement. Most graduates go into a field other than what they studied. 3) College is one way to better yourself in your own eyes. People can rob you of everything else, but your education in what ever form becomes an intrical part of yourself. You will carry it with you forever. At her graduation she gave me a letter saying I should tell that to the whole world. I just did.
4
What should be happening are orientation sessions for the *parents* of these children--not the six year olds. If the objective is to make opportunities for children whose sociocultural environment does not provide familiarity with the resources, planning or preparation needed to attend college--the PARENTS need educating. Not 6 year olds.
For older elementary students from these backgrounds, yes, a discussion of the academic and financial requirements, and opportunities to think about why this is a worthwhile effort is probably appropriate. To know that if you want to be a doctor or policeman, buckling down in algebra is a must--that's important. But not being marketed to by various institutions.
For older elementary students from these backgrounds, yes, a discussion of the academic and financial requirements, and opportunities to think about why this is a worthwhile effort is probably appropriate. To know that if you want to be a doctor or policeman, buckling down in algebra is a must--that's important. But not being marketed to by various institutions.
3
"By lunchtime, having rubbed the mascot Testudo’s nose for good luck (twice!) and piled their cafeteria trays with chicken fingers, fries and pizza slices, students were sold." Maybe a healthier diet would do more to improve these kids' learning and possibility of going to college than tours of campuses and scattergrams.
Next we have to teach them how to borrow money so they can support those hard working professor and administrators.
2
Faculty are not the reason college costs are out of control.
2
And just to be sure I wasn't neglecting the target audience with my views... I asked my 6 year old what she would like to Major in and she said "Unicorn ?! ". I'm sure Standford is still offering that right ??
2
With a dual minor in Rainbows and Gumdrops.
3
For some children who don't have parents who have ever worked, or those who don't know anyone who has gone to college, this is just part of general information that should be taught. The idea of aiming for something at a young age is important. The idea that life should have some trajectory is vital, particularly the kids who don't get that kind of framework from their homes.
2
Certainly the intention is good although 6 th grade seems to me a bit more appropriate than 1st grade. The more pressing question is to me how the class of 2030 is going to afford college. Tuition is already beyond steep and with these prices higher education is going to be more and more out of reach for the poor, working class and even middle class. This county needs a reform! State colleges should not charge any tuition. We also need serious alternatives for those kids who do not want to go to college. There is very little infrastructure for those who want to to acquire marketable skills (mechanics, electrician, technician, etc).
6
Exactly. Bravo. All the inculcation in the world isn't going to make college more affordable for many kids, or ensure they are able to earn a living income.
What ever happened to college as a way to expand one's horizons, to broaden one's knowledge and to create a truly literate persons?
We seem to be turning the idea of college into a trade school for high-paying jobs.
We seem to be turning the idea of college into a trade school for high-paying jobs.
5
Actually, if you want a secure, high paying, satisfying job with good benefits, available anywhere in the country...you should go to trade school.
Electricians, plumbers, linemen, petro/oil workers, etc. all are jobs I'd be proud to have either of my children take on for a career.
Take Electricians...median pay is 50k yr. So, half earn more, half less. The expected job growth for electricians in the next 10 years is 20%. Higher than average pay with higher than average opportunities for employment. (The future for demand employees will be greater than the available workforce supply, will drive wages even higher)
This example can be applied across the board to all trades. Remember, Apprenticeships were the original 4 year learning institute. And, instead of being ladened with debt, in an apprenticeship, students are being paid from day one, have their academic courses paid for by the employer, and upon completion are almost certainly guaranteed a great paying job.
I have a Master's degree plus 45. I obviously value education. But, not all education happens in ivory towers.
Electricians, plumbers, linemen, petro/oil workers, etc. all are jobs I'd be proud to have either of my children take on for a career.
Take Electricians...median pay is 50k yr. So, half earn more, half less. The expected job growth for electricians in the next 10 years is 20%. Higher than average pay with higher than average opportunities for employment. (The future for demand employees will be greater than the available workforce supply, will drive wages even higher)
This example can be applied across the board to all trades. Remember, Apprenticeships were the original 4 year learning institute. And, instead of being ladened with debt, in an apprenticeship, students are being paid from day one, have their academic courses paid for by the employer, and upon completion are almost certainly guaranteed a great paying job.
I have a Master's degree plus 45. I obviously value education. But, not all education happens in ivory towers.
3
So when exactly to kids get to be kids these days?
I don't believe college is the answer for everyone and don't feel this is a very good exercise for these children. Why can't they also be enlightened on the rewards and benefits of apprenticing to become a tradesperson?
I don't believe college is the answer for everyone and don't feel this is a very good exercise for these children. Why can't they also be enlightened on the rewards and benefits of apprenticing to become a tradesperson?
4
The elementary school should first make sure that pupils succeed in learning to read. Many failed at grade 2.
2
These are children, not miniature adults. They are also not prizes in their parents' competition with other adults & parents, or for teachers, so they can saw that this number of their students are going to XYZ University. If schools really feel that it is important for students to start taking classes in 1st grade, of all things, in order to get to top colleges & universities, then talk to the parents. Let children be children. Their childhood will end far too soon as it is.
6
This method has got it all backwards, in my opinion. The emphasis in elementary, middle, and high schools should be to teach kids the core fundamentals, to inculcate in them the right values, expose them to sports, and guide them appropriately during their (plentiful) moments of crises that they encounter as part of growing up. Based on their preferences and aptitudes, the college decision will come later - or not, if the child decides to take up a vocational trade, either due to preference or financial constraints. Pushing college on kids in their first grade will only serve to increase pressure of the most useless kind on them, and create a generation that's shell shocked due to vicious competition that will surely materialize as a side effect.
Of course, if this is done more mildly - like parents and teachers taking about the virtues of going to college, and making a few college visits just to show kids what it looks and feels like - that would be perfectly okay, since this would not necessarily pressurize or commit kids but would still be a plug in favor of attending college.
Of course, if this is done more mildly - like parents and teachers taking about the virtues of going to college, and making a few college visits just to show kids what it looks and feels like - that would be perfectly okay, since this would not necessarily pressurize or commit kids but would still be a plug in favor of attending college.
4
When I was in the first grade in 1948, the provincial head of the order of nuns who taught at my Catholic school, made a rare visit. She spoke to our crowded class of 66 students (all in one room) and told us that we were at the beginning of a long 12-year journey before we started college.
I never forgot her words, always just assumed I was going to college, and made curriculum choices that would make that possible--even though our family had little money. It was her matter-of-fact words that convinced me that I was capable and I never doubted her.
I never forgot her words, always just assumed I was going to college, and made curriculum choices that would make that possible--even though our family had little money. It was her matter-of-fact words that convinced me that I was capable and I never doubted her.
4
The idea that if everybody just goes to college, they will get a high paying career is absurd. There is a limited number of professional jobs available, and it simply does not create more such jobs just by training people to do them. Having everyone get a college degree will no doubt raise the level of competence in some professions, and maybe even spark some innovation that may increase economic competitiveness. But we must all face the obvious fact that most jobs in our society simply do not require a college education. If we pursue this fantasy, we will end up with more and more young people, and eventually old people, who have degrees but are "stuck" in jobs that do not require a degree. This is already happening in Europe, where there are bright young people with impressive degrees, working in what society defines as menial jobs. They feel cheated, but this is not as bad as Americans will feel if they end up in this position, with a big college debt to pay off on top of it. At least college is free in Europe.
Somehow, we need to upgrade the pay for so-called low skilled or menial jobs so that the people who do them are not impoverished, and not made to feel like failures. The fact is that many such jobs are essential to our lives, including cashiers, agricultural workers, elder care workers, child care workers, laborers, etc. Us professionals have brainwashed everyone to think we deserve a much larger share of the pie than we actually do.
Somehow, we need to upgrade the pay for so-called low skilled or menial jobs so that the people who do them are not impoverished, and not made to feel like failures. The fact is that many such jobs are essential to our lives, including cashiers, agricultural workers, elder care workers, child care workers, laborers, etc. Us professionals have brainwashed everyone to think we deserve a much larger share of the pie than we actually do.
5
I disagree with Guddemi that introducing our kids to college is necessarily going to take something away from their childhood or increase their stress. We (as parents and educators) do not have to force them to decide at this point but giving them more information about majors or college life may help them to make the adjustment smoother when the time actually comes.
By all means, we should open up the option of college to those kids who don't have it handed to them on a silver platter. We must level the playing field by every strategy we can think of -- starting, to say the obvious, with a good solid academic program.
But let's not, in the process, make second class citizens of the children whose aptitudes and preferences are non-academic. If we convey the expecation that everybody should go to college, we will be setting up a feeling of failure and inferiority in every child who grows up to be a truck driver or a hair dresser. We need the people who do the non-degree jobs. Therefore, let's respect them, and not imply that anyone who misses out on college is a failure and a nobody.
But let's not, in the process, make second class citizens of the children whose aptitudes and preferences are non-academic. If we convey the expecation that everybody should go to college, we will be setting up a feeling of failure and inferiority in every child who grows up to be a truck driver or a hair dresser. We need the people who do the non-degree jobs. Therefore, let's respect them, and not imply that anyone who misses out on college is a failure and a nobody.
7
Phillips Exeter Academy conducted two or so generational study of their students who graduated from Harvard obtaining professional and PhDs for common characteristics. One stands out. Most did something unusual on their own before they reached the age of 10.
Big problem with this is that a child might not give the unusual act a second thought and forget about it if not identified as usual by another who reminds the child later.
Emotional growth is more important than physical and/or academic growth.
Teaching and supporting code switching is needed for socialization and assimilation with peers, family and teachers. "Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city" by Elijah Anderson has case studies and recommendations for code switching.
Big problem with this is that a child might not give the unusual act a second thought and forget about it if not identified as usual by another who reminds the child later.
Emotional growth is more important than physical and/or academic growth.
Teaching and supporting code switching is needed for socialization and assimilation with peers, family and teachers. "Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city" by Elijah Anderson has case studies and recommendations for code switching.
1
A better program might be to let even first graders learn how to do mechanical repair tasks; early training enabling eventual jobs as plumbers, electricians, computer technicians, machinists, appliance repair techs or any of a host of other well paying skilled professions.
And along with the introduction to the nuances of these various craft and maintenance positions should be simultaneous (through high school) hands-on exercises in how to manage an entrepreneurial enterprise. This would prepare students to be able to run their own service contracting businesses. You see those trucks on the streets every day.
I've had conversations with many such skilled people over the years running their own firms. Many have never darkened the door of a college.
I talked recently with an affluent owner of a yard maintenance company who runs five fully equipped crews daily (trucks, trailers and lawn equipment). He started with a single lawnmower, now owns a debt-free business and only completed the eighth grade.
College prep is for many a path to success. But so is enabling kids with skills which offer them routes toward satisfying non-collegiate livelihoods.
Plus, knowing a few mechanical and entrepreneurial skills will never negate anyone's college options and, who knows, might even improve one's admission chances.
And along with the introduction to the nuances of these various craft and maintenance positions should be simultaneous (through high school) hands-on exercises in how to manage an entrepreneurial enterprise. This would prepare students to be able to run their own service contracting businesses. You see those trucks on the streets every day.
I've had conversations with many such skilled people over the years running their own firms. Many have never darkened the door of a college.
I talked recently with an affluent owner of a yard maintenance company who runs five fully equipped crews daily (trucks, trailers and lawn equipment). He started with a single lawnmower, now owns a debt-free business and only completed the eighth grade.
College prep is for many a path to success. But so is enabling kids with skills which offer them routes toward satisfying non-collegiate livelihoods.
Plus, knowing a few mechanical and entrepreneurial skills will never negate anyone's college options and, who knows, might even improve one's admission chances.
7
Exposing young children to the term "college" and to actual college campuses, and to careers and how you attain and obtain them is something that most families with means have always done. It is well-past time that we provided the same for all of our students, including those whose parents don't think about college because they didn't go themselves, or because they can't imagine the unimaginable. "Teaching" about college and careers to young children is not the same as teaching about it to high school students. If done in an age-appropriate manner, it is both fun and enriching and should be part of every child's upbringing. I have fond memories of Sunday drives with the family to nearby towns and villages, and they always included a walk around the local campus and a stop in the campus library. The adults in my life spoke of "when" I would go to college, not "if;" all kids deserve that, as well.
7
Every time I hear somebody assert that anything is possible and that our dreams for ourselves determine our destinies, I feel sad. The biggest hurdle children have in achieving in adult endeavors is their lack of experience and people telling them half truths and fantasies about what they must do to succeed is not helpful even if it is intended to instill hope and optimism. To succeed in college one needs to have an adequate body of knowledge, academic skills, the ability to delay gratification, the patience to persist despite mistaken efforts and failures to achieve, the ability to focus upon completing tasks until they are completed, the ability to remain alert and interested in learning despite all difficulties (especially when one is certain that the task is beyond one's ability), the willingness to admit what one does not understand and to determine what to do about it, the ability to form good questions, and generally to work hard and intelligently. One also needs to be aware that while one can do a lot more than one already, there are going to be things which one will probably never be able to master. The imagination is crucial to learning and to solving problems but it alone is never enough to succeed in life.
8
I agree with everyone who's said that these programs are great for kids who otherwise wouldn't be exposed to college. I went to college because my parents did. It was as expected as brushing my teeth. My husband didn't go to college because his family didn't. Exposing kids to college as a possibility (though not a requirement) for everyone is important, especially for those kids who might not get the same message at home.
6
I don't see the productivity in this exercise. Rich students still are afforded the same or similar privileges, while poor students are not being given real opportunity to climb economically and socially. If they wanted to institute real change, this is not the manner in which to do it.
1
Some people are guzzling the everyone-must-go-to-college!-Kool-Aid by the gallon these days.
Maybe, instead of telling everyone they should go to college, we should be asking what happened to all those jobs that didn't require a college education, yet paid a living wage. Some of them moved overseas (where they don't necessarily pay living wages). Some are still here, but they stopped paying a living wage long ago. Maybe we should stop accepting that.
And then there are the high failure rates in colleges. Maybe it would be better if people didn't have to go into debt while chasing a future that, for many, doesn't exist.
Why does this society try to wish away reality by lying to first graders? No, everyone should not go to college, and you should not have to go to college in order to earn a living wage.
Maybe, instead of telling everyone they should go to college, we should be asking what happened to all those jobs that didn't require a college education, yet paid a living wage. Some of them moved overseas (where they don't necessarily pay living wages). Some are still here, but they stopped paying a living wage long ago. Maybe we should stop accepting that.
And then there are the high failure rates in colleges. Maybe it would be better if people didn't have to go into debt while chasing a future that, for many, doesn't exist.
Why does this society try to wish away reality by lying to first graders? No, everyone should not go to college, and you should not have to go to college in order to earn a living wage.
8
In all the hand-wringing about whether middle-class kids are under too much college pressure too early, far too little attention is paid to the vast numbers of students of color for whom early exposure to a college-graduation culture can dramatically expand their educational horizons and improve their life trajectories. Casually diminishing the enormous potential of kids who would be first-generation college attendees with statements like, “Not every child will go to college,” is one prime reason why degree attainment has barely budged for low-income students and reinforces what we call “the belief gap”-- the sense that college isn't attainable for students from tough neighborhoods across America.
It’s also just plain wrong, and we're proving it on Chicago’s South Side: At the UChicago Charter School campuses, where we educate 1,900 African-American students, many of whom will be the first in their families to graduate from college, we have leveraged our college-going curriculum, “6to16,” into 100 percent college acceptance for three years running. For students who are typically underrepresented in the nation’s colleges and universities, we begin in sixth grade to instill the academic behaviors, social supports, as well as culture and beliefs that spur high school and college success.
Rather than fret about some kids and dismiss others, we should be working tirelessly to ensure college is at least a choice for each and every one of them.
It’s also just plain wrong, and we're proving it on Chicago’s South Side: At the UChicago Charter School campuses, where we educate 1,900 African-American students, many of whom will be the first in their families to graduate from college, we have leveraged our college-going curriculum, “6to16,” into 100 percent college acceptance for three years running. For students who are typically underrepresented in the nation’s colleges and universities, we begin in sixth grade to instill the academic behaviors, social supports, as well as culture and beliefs that spur high school and college success.
Rather than fret about some kids and dismiss others, we should be working tirelessly to ensure college is at least a choice for each and every one of them.
1
"far too little attention is paid to the vast numbers of students of color for whom early exposure to a college-graduation culture can dramatically expand their educational horizons and improve their life trajectories...we have leveraged our college-going curriculum, “6to16,” into 100 percent college acceptance for three years running"
There is now forty-plus years of data that says you are wrong. The "life trajectories" of "students of color" going to school in 2015 are dramatically worse than those of their grandfathers and grandmothers going to school in the 1950s. Why do you think that is?
It certainly is not because of "far too little attention". An education major today will spend 40%+ of their classroom and practice time paying "attention" to these students.
Maybe it's the nature of the "attention" that's the problem.
There is now forty-plus years of data that says you are wrong. The "life trajectories" of "students of color" going to school in 2015 are dramatically worse than those of their grandfathers and grandmothers going to school in the 1950s. Why do you think that is?
It certainly is not because of "far too little attention". An education major today will spend 40%+ of their classroom and practice time paying "attention" to these students.
Maybe it's the nature of the "attention" that's the problem.
College educated parents achieve the same thing any time they take their kids to an alumni day, or football game, etc. Why not let underserved and underrepresented kids have the same access?
4
I think the issue is what do you want to explore when you are a child . If the child explores different territories, then a convergence should develop between what they are interested in and where their talents lie. Having figured that out they can then pursue learning and Volunteer work etc in that area. By college they should have logged the 10,000 hours tah Malcolm Gladwell indicated was necessary to stand out from other students at any college. Along the path hopefully they will also meet like minded souls who can be the basis of long time friendships etc...
I hope they are teaching the kids that when they get to college, they will need to take remedial courses because our school system will not be preparing most of them for college.
1
It does seem over the top, but there's something to be said for making the expectation at a child will go to college a given. That was my personal experience and I was the first one in my extended family to graduate from college. My mother had to leave high school at 15 and she was very clear that she wanted much more for her children. I wish the article would clarify whether these children are in school systems with high graduation rates where most children would go to college anyway or whether these children are in systems where fewer children graduate and go on to college.
Disgusting idea. Leave them alone! By the time these kids get to a point of seriously considering their next step in education this country will have wakened to the reality that not every kid has to go to college to enjoy a comfortable career. Highly skilled workers earn more than some college graduates,and this country needs more of them. In this community a major employer was looking for 100 new employees in 2010 - the height of the recession - and couldn't find them!
2
Focus on teaching children valuable skills need not be too early.
By end of Grade 1, they should be able to read simple stories and write coherently.
By end of 10th Grade they should know most of what they need for life:
1. practical Math
2. more advanced Math and what it's for
3. Physical Geography -- how it shapes cultures and encourages gathering in cities
4. History
5. Writing so anyone else can get the intended meaning
6. Planning
7. Personal organization
8. At least one major foreign language. (Air travel has greatly shrunken distances and we are in a global economy. We do not learn others' languages for their benefit.)
9 Drawing
Sending kids on college tours makes money for the consultant, but how much does it accomplish beyond raising parent anxiety and pressuring kids ahead of time?
By end of Grade 1, they should be able to read simple stories and write coherently.
By end of 10th Grade they should know most of what they need for life:
1. practical Math
2. more advanced Math and what it's for
3. Physical Geography -- how it shapes cultures and encourages gathering in cities
4. History
5. Writing so anyone else can get the intended meaning
6. Planning
7. Personal organization
8. At least one major foreign language. (Air travel has greatly shrunken distances and we are in a global economy. We do not learn others' languages for their benefit.)
9 Drawing
Sending kids on college tours makes money for the consultant, but how much does it accomplish beyond raising parent anxiety and pressuring kids ahead of time?
[ At least one major foreign language. (Air travel has greatly shrunken distances and we are in a global economy. We do not learn others' languages for their benefit.)]
My knowledge of French was useful to me in France, but few other places. Similarly with my wife's knowledge of Spanish. English is spoke around the world. That is how the Norwegians communicate with the Greeks.
My knowledge of French was useful to me in France, but few other places. Similarly with my wife's knowledge of Spanish. English is spoke around the world. That is how the Norwegians communicate with the Greeks.
Show them a goal, dangle the prize, raise the parents knowledge too.
Simply brilliant! They will still be juveniles, they won't loose a childhood which lasts only 12 years, however, they might gain a career that lasts 30, 40 or 50 years. It's approaching about 2 million more in lifetime earnings now. Big prize wouldn't you agree?
Simply brilliant! They will still be juveniles, they won't loose a childhood which lasts only 12 years, however, they might gain a career that lasts 30, 40 or 50 years. It's approaching about 2 million more in lifetime earnings now. Big prize wouldn't you agree?
CHUCK: [they might gain a career ] Or they might be resentful and depressed for the rest of their lives when they either don't get in or flunk out.
Raising one's expectations too high makes the fall that much harder.
Raising one's expectations too high makes the fall that much harder.
" It's approaching about 2 million more in lifetime earnings now. Big prize wouldn't you agree?
If it were true, I would. Anyone smart enough to go to (real) college and get a (real) degree knows that correlation is not causation.
The "lifetime earnings" that are being measured are the lifetime earnings of people a lifetime ago who had to be exceptional to go to college. It's the being exceptional that causes the earnings, not sitting in a seat in a classroom.
If it were true, I would. Anyone smart enough to go to (real) college and get a (real) degree knows that correlation is not causation.
The "lifetime earnings" that are being measured are the lifetime earnings of people a lifetime ago who had to be exceptional to go to college. It's the being exceptional that causes the earnings, not sitting in a seat in a classroom.
if these folks see fit to discuss college ambition with 1st graders, they may as well start talking about finances -adjusted for the rate of inflation, of course - that will be needed to see these 'dreams' come true. perhaps, one should even go a bit further, and start talking with them about the business of higher education and predatory school loans.
As a parent of children 8 and under, this is a troubling trend. i think one need only look at the extreme pressures on ambitious students in Asia and subsequent suicides that have been reported at least since the 1980s/1990s. This sort of extremism - college or fail - is problematic enough in a culture of big divides.
what we really need and what we have desperately needed is a re-emphasis on vocational programs in this country and a revaluation of these programs - not as lesser in some grand hierarchy of accomplishment but just different. there are so many ways of expressing intelligence and not all of them reside in cerebral thinking encouraged in a traditional liberal arts environment.
oh and by the way, who knows what the role of college will be in the next few decades given the ongoing 'disruption' of achievement and learning in the digital era.
As a parent of children 8 and under, this is a troubling trend. i think one need only look at the extreme pressures on ambitious students in Asia and subsequent suicides that have been reported at least since the 1980s/1990s. This sort of extremism - college or fail - is problematic enough in a culture of big divides.
what we really need and what we have desperately needed is a re-emphasis on vocational programs in this country and a revaluation of these programs - not as lesser in some grand hierarchy of accomplishment but just different. there are so many ways of expressing intelligence and not all of them reside in cerebral thinking encouraged in a traditional liberal arts environment.
oh and by the way, who knows what the role of college will be in the next few decades given the ongoing 'disruption' of achievement and learning in the digital era.
I have mixed feelings. because when I was 8, I went to my father's 25th college reunion and it made a huge impression on me and I eventually attended the same school. So getting exposed at a young age to college in some way is important, especially for those kids who are 1st generation going to college. BUT, the purpose of elementary school is to solidifying fundamental skills of reading, writing, & math. Stick to the basics and get that right. If you want to push the discussion of college earlier, start in middle school, but leave those elementary kids alone!
1
College isn't just about getting in. It's about staying and toughing it out. And it is tough! Not just classess and papers and tests and concepts, but life on your own (or almost) for the first time. The first time you can do what you want when you want. The first time you learn to police yourself - make it to school, do your homework, show up for tests.
Too many kids go to college because they think they are supposed to or think it is a big party. Many get there and find they cannot handle it. It is wrong to teach kindergardeners and 1st graders that they want to go to college. Better to educate them on the many choices out there - with no pressure.
In middle school - that's where kids need to learn about the various choices they have for careers or a job they might like AND how to get there. Sadly, we've removed all of our technical classes from HS and pretend that everyone should just get a college degree.
Let the kids learn to like learning in K-5, then talk and teach about options in 6-8. Once HS starts, these kids will at least have an idea of whether they need college or not, and if so, the sacrifice that it will take to get that degree - and it will be sacrifice; that's life!
Too many kids go to college because they think they are supposed to or think it is a big party. Many get there and find they cannot handle it. It is wrong to teach kindergardeners and 1st graders that they want to go to college. Better to educate them on the many choices out there - with no pressure.
In middle school - that's where kids need to learn about the various choices they have for careers or a job they might like AND how to get there. Sadly, we've removed all of our technical classes from HS and pretend that everyone should just get a college degree.
Let the kids learn to like learning in K-5, then talk and teach about options in 6-8. Once HS starts, these kids will at least have an idea of whether they need college or not, and if so, the sacrifice that it will take to get that degree - and it will be sacrifice; that's life!
1
Really pandering to adults, shameful. Now, might we expect some "push back" from middle-schoolers ? The top student in my prep school graduating class became a plumber, happy and successful, and knew Latin and Greek. Why operate out of fear and lack - just encourage curiosity and kids will respond.
What's the benefit of college if there are less and less jobs? I have a Masters degree from a City University (CUNY) and I am in my 8th month of looking for a job. By the time these kids are 18 (so in 2027) and are ready for college, what they are learning now about college may be extremely dated. Colleges are changing as it is from MOOCs and other online learning paths to rising costs that are so high that many cannot even go to the places they read about or saw in films when they were young. I've seen Rudy 100 times over and I knew that even 6 years ago I couldn't afford Notre Dame.
Let kids be kids because no one knows what the future holds. They shouldn't have to worry about (because thats all it is) where they're going to college. We might as well start taking kindergarten classes to High Schools and show them 12th grade algebra or AP Biology classes. Lets also remember that NC State and North Carolina and ECU are all State schools. So the kids are all guaranteed a spot (with the 2.0 or 2.5 GPA). Places like Duke (private institution) well good luck going there regardless of where you're from.
A good time to start learning about college is your Freshman year of High School. Thats when most kids start learning about college sports (if they haven't already) and you get caught up in the atmosphere. My advice, start going to college open houses early & often to get a feel for where you may be staying upwards of 3 to 4 years (or more) of your last teen to adulthood years.
Let kids be kids because no one knows what the future holds. They shouldn't have to worry about (because thats all it is) where they're going to college. We might as well start taking kindergarten classes to High Schools and show them 12th grade algebra or AP Biology classes. Lets also remember that NC State and North Carolina and ECU are all State schools. So the kids are all guaranteed a spot (with the 2.0 or 2.5 GPA). Places like Duke (private institution) well good luck going there regardless of where you're from.
A good time to start learning about college is your Freshman year of High School. Thats when most kids start learning about college sports (if they haven't already) and you get caught up in the atmosphere. My advice, start going to college open houses early & often to get a feel for where you may be staying upwards of 3 to 4 years (or more) of your last teen to adulthood years.
I was going to college as early as I remember. Neither of my parents graduated from college but both knew how important it was.
At age 6 that is what "college ready" means.
We developed the same expectations for our kid.
It was surprising how many of their peers in high school and just never thought about college.
There is also a huge lack of information about career choices - but that need comes a bit latter.
At age 6 that is what "college ready" means.
We developed the same expectations for our kid.
It was surprising how many of their peers in high school and just never thought about college.
There is also a huge lack of information about career choices - but that need comes a bit latter.
What happened to just encouraging the child to dream to be what ever they want to be ? At age 6 isn't that where it starts ? Believing you can do something and being giving the confidence that you can ? There are so many amazing professions out there that don't need a college degree. The video was disturbing and narrow minded and showed an adult enforcing her own view onto impressional young minds. There is something very wrong with the current education system if this is the norm. A teacher is there to guide and encourage and present all the opportunities available to students - not just one.
2
Many kids who grow up in less advantaged areas, whose parents may not show them to the benefits of a college degree, who think college is all about sports, will benefit from this form of exposure.
Other kids, often growing up in higher income areas, taught the importance of good grades and high standardized test scores from an early age, and surrounded by similarly educated peers, already have an adequate understanding of the benefits of college. Increasing exposureto these kids in their youngest years will only dial up the pressure, shorten their childhoods even more, and burn them out faster.
Someone has got to look at these issues in context.
Other kids, often growing up in higher income areas, taught the importance of good grades and high standardized test scores from an early age, and surrounded by similarly educated peers, already have an adequate understanding of the benefits of college. Increasing exposureto these kids in their youngest years will only dial up the pressure, shorten their childhoods even more, and burn them out faster.
Someone has got to look at these issues in context.
1
I used to work in a low-income elementary school where each elementary classroom was named after the teacher's prestigious alma mater, college pennants lined the hallways, and children started each day chanting robotically about "climbing the path to college."
Did it make the (mostly white) faculty feel righeous? You betcha. Was it cute to see a class of Kindergarteners wearing Yale tee-shirts? Sure. Did it provide a nice sound bite to have 3rd Graders discussing whether they wanted to go to Georgetown or Dartmouth? I guess.
But it was all rhetoric. It meant nothing to the children. They may have well been talking about El Dorado or Atlantis. Where was representation from CUNY, SUNY, community colleges, etc? How about the fact that many of these children will be bogged down with work, family, financial obligations, and (let's face it) academic remediation that might not make it so easy to waltz from the projects to Harvard?
Let's get real. Teach the kids to read, teach them to love school, and don't turn them into political statements.
Did it make the (mostly white) faculty feel righeous? You betcha. Was it cute to see a class of Kindergarteners wearing Yale tee-shirts? Sure. Did it provide a nice sound bite to have 3rd Graders discussing whether they wanted to go to Georgetown or Dartmouth? I guess.
But it was all rhetoric. It meant nothing to the children. They may have well been talking about El Dorado or Atlantis. Where was representation from CUNY, SUNY, community colleges, etc? How about the fact that many of these children will be bogged down with work, family, financial obligations, and (let's face it) academic remediation that might not make it so easy to waltz from the projects to Harvard?
Let's get real. Teach the kids to read, teach them to love school, and don't turn them into political statements.
4
A better program might be to let even first graders learn how to do mechanical repair tasks; early training enabling eventual jobs as plumbers, electricians, computer technicians, machinists, appliance repair techs or any of a host of other well paying skilled professions.
And along with the introduction to the nuances of these various craft and maintenance positions should be simultaneous (through high school) hands-on exercises in how to manage an entrepreneurial enterprise. This would prepare students to be able to run their own service contracting businesses. You see those trucks on the streets every day.
I've had conversations with many such skilled people over the years running their own firms. Many have never darkened the door of a college.
I talked recently with an affluent owner of a yard maintenance company who runs five fully equipped crews daily (trucks, trailers and lawn equipment). He started with a single lawnmower, now owns a debt-free business and only completed the eighth grade.
College prep is for many a path to success. But so is enabling kids with skills which offer them routes toward satisfying non-collegiate livelihoods.
Plus, knowing a few mechanical and entrepreneurial skills will never negate anyone's college options and, who knows, might even improve one's admission chances.
And along with the introduction to the nuances of these various craft and maintenance positions should be simultaneous (through high school) hands-on exercises in how to manage an entrepreneurial enterprise. This would prepare students to be able to run their own service contracting businesses. You see those trucks on the streets every day.
I've had conversations with many such skilled people over the years running their own firms. Many have never darkened the door of a college.
I talked recently with an affluent owner of a yard maintenance company who runs five fully equipped crews daily (trucks, trailers and lawn equipment). He started with a single lawnmower, now owns a debt-free business and only completed the eighth grade.
College prep is for many a path to success. But so is enabling kids with skills which offer them routes toward satisfying non-collegiate livelihoods.
Plus, knowing a few mechanical and entrepreneurial skills will never negate anyone's college options and, who knows, might even improve one's admission chances.
1
An indictment of our society, for having so few options for our young people and for using college as a way to simply kick the can down the street, after we fail them so badly in the earlier grades.
1
I wonder if this is for the benefit of the kids, or weather this has more to do with the bragging rights of they're parents. My folks are very well educated and yet I'm a truck driver. Doe's it matter weather your child goes to college and where, or if they have a job that they like and are happy? Children need to be children before they can become adults. My feeling is that there are a lot of parents who rob they're children of they're childhoods in the name of the parents expectations. This to me is stupid and wrong.
Completely ridiculous. Imposing one idea of "success" on a child or a class, particularly at that age, is a problem. So much more important than "preparing" your child for college, is helping them to ENJOY learning. If they enjoy learning, they will likely want to go on to higher education, and they will most likely achieve success somehow. I don't care if/when/where my child goes to college (I have an advanced degree, and am a working professional). I want my daughters to love what they do and be happy. First world problems, silly solutions.
Actually this has been done informally and not specifically for a long time. 60+ years ago as a pre-kindergarten child I had an awareness of college as my then young uncle sent me a "Razorback T-shirt". Try explaining what a razorback actually is to a child. But I became aware that college was the step after high school. My father was a college graduate and I assumed that was where I would eventually go. One of my best friends told me when we were in 5th grade that he would one day attend Princeton. Both of his parents (a rarity in those days) were college graduates. Reading was fostered early with trips to the library and obtaining my first library card. Doing well in school was also emphasized. It wasn't until many years later that some of my friends from working-class families told them that things were much different in their homes.
2
Children will be ready for their futures when they laugh, and play. Children will be ready for their futures when they are fed and housed with love. They will be ready for their futures when they create and are appreciated for their creations.
I think I understand and agree with the principle that it's important to get an early start on life and education and career. But, this teacher is wrong in the way she approaches the execution of that principle. There's a lot of failure built into her fixation on college prep. She should back off.
This appears to be an article about kids, but really isn't. It's about adults, whose responsibility in part is to shield kids from anxiety, but instead are increasing it. Adults who tell themselves that they are pressuring kids to "succeed" for the kids' sake very often are having a tough time recognizing their own agenda. As a family therapist I have this conversation daily. Parents ought to let kids know about college and share their enthusiasm; but they should also tell them about flower picking, bus driving, monastic life, and everything else that "successful" people do. Most kids look around in high school and ask themselves whether they really want to continue with this torture. At that time they should be permitted to make an informed, personal choice rather than adding a line to their parents' resume. College isn't a factory that takes poor people and makes them rich, not reliably, as research cited here shows. Far better than taking 6 year olds to campuses, the parental mindset, implicit or explicit, should be, what can I do to support my kid's short term and long term happiness? When kids decide to be rock stars for three weeks of sixth grade and get behind on their homework, that's the rubber meeting the road. This is not to say that parents should not guide or place boundaries on children's behavior. Of course they should -- but in the kid's interest, not their own. My kid was taken on a college tour in 5th and came home with, "teachers sure were stressed."
1
I don't think I was ready for college until well after I graduated. That's Life... learning to figure it all out.
-------------------
If you are wealthy, you have that luxury. The children described here will likely have no guaranteed college ride. Those with college-educated parents get this grounding at home. These children are likely first-generation college students, likely to the country. They NEED to see the connections: the stepping stones, the cause and effect, the practical workplace advice (ie/take Spanish over French).
Let them peek at the possibilities out there. Let them hope for Harvard -- the "Best" in their minds. Let them see the "fun" payoff that comes with the bookwork they're being asked to do today, turning off the tv and games: the freedom of choice in the classes; the variety of cafeteria food available across campus; the multiple student worship places, where they can worship and bring that part of their cultures with them. The games, the mascots! The efficient, smartly decorated rooms that await...
Those of you from upper classes who think this is about branding or selling the kids unrealistic dreams are missing the point. It's about exposing children -- once they're done with HeadStart and want to keep competing -- and their families, to what others simply take for granted. Don't scorn these programs. They work via inspiration.
Hats off to the people described here helping all students to see their options. Good job. Keep it up! t/y.
-------------------
If you are wealthy, you have that luxury. The children described here will likely have no guaranteed college ride. Those with college-educated parents get this grounding at home. These children are likely first-generation college students, likely to the country. They NEED to see the connections: the stepping stones, the cause and effect, the practical workplace advice (ie/take Spanish over French).
Let them peek at the possibilities out there. Let them hope for Harvard -- the "Best" in their minds. Let them see the "fun" payoff that comes with the bookwork they're being asked to do today, turning off the tv and games: the freedom of choice in the classes; the variety of cafeteria food available across campus; the multiple student worship places, where they can worship and bring that part of their cultures with them. The games, the mascots! The efficient, smartly decorated rooms that await...
Those of you from upper classes who think this is about branding or selling the kids unrealistic dreams are missing the point. It's about exposing children -- once they're done with HeadStart and want to keep competing -- and their families, to what others simply take for granted. Don't scorn these programs. They work via inspiration.
Hats off to the people described here helping all students to see their options. Good job. Keep it up! t/y.
1
The writer of this piece largely misses the point. Creating the expectation of college attendance into the education of kids--and children from low-income homes in particular--from a very young age has nothing to do with "competitive culture." For most of us (including, I'd wager the writer of this piece) there was never a moment where you weren't aware of what college was, or a time when you didn't simply assume that's where you'd end up. This has nothing to do with pushing ""college prep for the playground set." It's about baking the assumption of college into the lives of kids who don't have your advantages. Just like it was baked into yours.
1
I am ever more convinced that it is this economic system - late capitalism - that is depressing the birthrate in advanced capitalist countries. Read this essay and the comments. Prospective parents, can you do this? Can you finally start a job after some years of college and unpaid internships, and then focus on building that career (because nearly half of jobs are paying part-time, minimum, or non-living wages), while having children whose future schooling and careers you likewise need to spend most of your spare time building, even when you don't believe in it (lest your child, to use the dreaded phrase, "falls behind.") This, along with preparing to support that child financially until at least his/her late 20s or early 30s. This, plus saving mightily for your own possible retirement. Does not sound fun. Does not sound doable. And it isn't - the rich are hiring nannies, tutors, coaches, to try to take this workload off themselves so they have time to invest in their own careers, relationships, and maybe some relaxation. So what if you don't have the funds to manage all this? One or none, in terms of children, is the rational and sane choice. And that is what millennials are choosing. Because this is crazy. It is no way to live.
Poorly understood financial and social laws are at work here to limit our population growth.
Poorly understood financial and social laws are at work here to limit our population growth.
This should strike more of us as eerie and dystopian. Pappano's saccharine tone only confirms it.
1
If taking children to colleges to make them "college-aware" makes sense, then taking them out to see what different jobs are like and what they pay makes even better sense. College is a means to an end. The means are important, but the end should be in view as well.
Let's increase the equality gap by instilling in our 1st graders the idea that if you don't go to college you're a second-class citizen. Great.
Don't we need well trained mechanics, plant operators, barbers/hairdressers, and factory workers?
If the goal was to get the right education beyond high-school these students could get into a technical school or apprenticeship and start a good career, buy a home, and afford to start a family. All of this before the 55% of college admissions drop-out with a bunch of debt and very little job prospects because they have no experience.
Yes attending college is a great goal for some of those that have the aptitude, but not for everyone.
Don't we need well trained mechanics, plant operators, barbers/hairdressers, and factory workers?
If the goal was to get the right education beyond high-school these students could get into a technical school or apprenticeship and start a good career, buy a home, and afford to start a family. All of this before the 55% of college admissions drop-out with a bunch of debt and very little job prospects because they have no experience.
Yes attending college is a great goal for some of those that have the aptitude, but not for everyone.
3
Dangling colleges that cost $60,000 + (in today's dollars) in front of young, easily impressed children from low income and middle class families seems an awful lot like bait and switch to me.
Perhaps the right question is not "is your first grader ready for college" but rather, "do you have a plan to pay for your first grader's future education?"
Financial aid don't mean a "free ride" especially if you come from a low income family who can't help you pay off student loans.
And far too many "middle class" parents put too much faith in the idea of scholarships and financial aid fand don't save a dime towards college. Then when their kids start applying to college they are shocked to discover that colleges expect them to actually have money to pay for at least some of their child's education out of pocket.
In short, too many families already have champagne tastes but beer budgets when it comes to paying for college.
So, money first. By first grade, every family should have a college savings plan and stick to it. I'd be all for elementary schools helping parents become educated about college costs, what financial aid can be expected to cover, and ways to save -- even if it's only $10 a week for low income families. Families of elementary school students need to understand that sending a child to college requires making tough choices and perhaps giving up some "luxuries"
Then, we can worry about where (or if) your child (or students) should go to college
Perhaps the right question is not "is your first grader ready for college" but rather, "do you have a plan to pay for your first grader's future education?"
Financial aid don't mean a "free ride" especially if you come from a low income family who can't help you pay off student loans.
And far too many "middle class" parents put too much faith in the idea of scholarships and financial aid fand don't save a dime towards college. Then when their kids start applying to college they are shocked to discover that colleges expect them to actually have money to pay for at least some of their child's education out of pocket.
In short, too many families already have champagne tastes but beer budgets when it comes to paying for college.
So, money first. By first grade, every family should have a college savings plan and stick to it. I'd be all for elementary schools helping parents become educated about college costs, what financial aid can be expected to cover, and ways to save -- even if it's only $10 a week for low income families. Families of elementary school students need to understand that sending a child to college requires making tough choices and perhaps giving up some "luxuries"
Then, we can worry about where (or if) your child (or students) should go to college
This is an excellent idea. She is certainly not robbing children of their childhood by planting a simple idea in their head: college may be an option for you. My mother, who was the first in her family to go to college and became a teacher, told me once as a child, "People like us don't got o medical school." With those words she slammed a door shut. As a child, as a teenager I never thought about what's she'd said other than "med school is not for people like me." Only later did I realize it was absurd. I excelled at math and chemistry. I could have gone to med school. My math SATs put me in the 98th percentile. I became and English teacher, like my mother. I'm not bitter. Rather I'm astounded at how impressionable children are. All this teacher is doing is opening doors. Good for her. She may change a few lives.
5
I think it's a good idea to make children aware of college. My siblings and I always knew we were going to college. It was just assumed that we would because our parents did. We attended school in a rural county where very few adults were college graduates, so it's probably not too surprising that the valedictorian and salutatorian of my senior class didn't go to college. Even though I agree with acquainting children with college, I also believe they should learn about alternative careers that don't require college. Not everyone is suited to college but there are certainly other ways to prepare for a career.
No doubt children need to be taught the core courses but you still need them to be kids some thing need more attention the first 6 years and other the last 6 years. Band art, and choirs and need as much attention as math or science ant that doesn't mean begging on the street to be able to do those things.
1
"It's like a high school but it's higher" - wisdom from the mouth of babes...
3
Well, America, if this is the way to go, we can look forward to an army of semi-robotic Barbies and Kens with perhaps some variation in skin pigmentation. So what's next? Recorded music, foreign language conversations and various lectures, to be played in the nursery and perhaps, by speakers applied externally (one would think), in the womb as well?
The result? Already expressed in the title of a book by a former prof named Deresiewicz: 'Excellent Sheep'. And it's articles like this that should make any compassionate, intelligent, thinking person want to take it on the 'lamb'.
The result? Already expressed in the title of a book by a former prof named Deresiewicz: 'Excellent Sheep'. And it's articles like this that should make any compassionate, intelligent, thinking person want to take it on the 'lamb'.
3
As a first-generation college student from Indiana, I didn't have a clue what college was all about. Our guidance counselor told us to bring two number two pencils to the SATs, not to drink too much before the test, and not to be late. Otherwise, zip, nada, niente, zilch. Oh, she said apply to several schools, so I applied to Purdue, Indiana, and Notre Dame. I thought you had to apply to schools in your state, you know, the "state schools." More power to young students who are taken behind the curtain and to those who pull the curtain back.
9
I question this woman's ability as a teacher if she is expecting young children to spend their time on something they obviosuly do not understand. Shouldn't they be focusing on reading. writing and being kids instead?
6
It's all part of the liberal left's social engineering master plan. First make pre-K universal, then start planting college in their head in K. Notice the focus is only on black/Hispanic/native American kids.
Well this is silly. Why do kindergartners have to know about college? Except that's easy for me to say. My children's parents and grandparents have not just college but graduate degrees. Their GREAT-grandmother had a degree in Chemistry. Their great grandfather had a medical degree. My children knew about and understood the path to college at an early age. Children who don't have the same resources deserve the same long acquired knowledge that my children were able to come by easily.
8
Anyone in HS who still don't know a thing about college has only themselves to blame. This is America, and we are in the internet age. Every HS kid has access to the internet, either from their school or from any public library or internet café. Where there's a will there's a way. Schools need to stop the mollycoddling and social engineering and just teach the basics.
Childhood destroyer!
7
If your first grader is "college-ready" then you need to contact the nearest TV network affiliate so you can cash in with a reality show. That or ignore this bowls hat.
8
Time to reread "The Case for Working With Your Hands", a NYT Magazine article from May 2009:
http://nyti.ms/1Kft4d9
http://nyti.ms/1Kft4d9
10
I remember that article. It's important to understand there are many skilled, well paid careers that require training and years of experience to master but do not involve going to a university. Many university degrees are not vocational and don't prepare one for a career. You have to realize what your interests and capabilities are and weigh them against the cost of your education and how helpful a given degree will be in the job market.
This is crazy. Let kids be kids. The first ten years or so should be mostly play. That's how it's in Finnish schools and they seem to do fine. College talk starts in high school.
America has totally lost common sense.
America has totally lost common sense.
25
But the Finnish schools make sure that everyone learns the core stuff (loaded word, I know) so that they can do their equivalent of the Algebra I in eight grade that lets you get to Calculus as a high school senior. They also study in more than one language (gasp). Of course that is necessitated by the more privileged minority's first language being Svensk (Swedish) and the more numerous common folks' language being Suomi (Finnish). Most also become English-proficient. If the fact is that nearly everyone will succeed academically in a robust way, among other things by making sure that the average teacher is a skilled and well-supported professional held in high societal esteem, then you don't need the band aid of selling college to young children. We in the US are far from there.
8
I teach first grade. I teach in Yonkers. I am getting my students "ready" for college without ramming it down their throats. I teach them how to tie their shoes, say please and thank you and excuse me- social skills are needed for college and seem to be lacking these days. I am teaching them the 3 Rs (gasp I didn't say common core), reading, math and writing. I work with the reality that some of my students live in poverty. They are more worry if there will be food at home, heat in their apartment, who will be home. Some are more fortunate, and have more of a nuclear family. When we had "college day" at school and in the district, I told my students to focus on now, learn their basic skills so they can graduate - High school, then see where life takes them. I am a teacher, I am realistic, the focus needs to change, not everyone needs to go to 4 year college. Some just need 2, we need trade schools, and true magnet programs back in the HS's. I think we will see more success in our high schools and more competent adults in our country if we focus on attainable skills by the time they are 18. What do I know, I am a teacher, and in a profession that is constantly under attack, and the interesting part is that we are trying to help our students succeed while we are being set up for failure. However, everytime I have student start reading, get addition, etc. nobody can take that away from me or my students, and we need to start focus on what is working!
36
I wish all my grand children could have had you or someone like you for a teacher. Good job and keep up the great work. Would love it if you threw in that you taught them cursive too. I have a 16 year old grandson that can not read cursive well.
1
Given the average cost of a private college education (CollegeData.com), versus the average earnings variance a bachelor degree provides (according to a recent study by the Census Bureau) the LIFETIME rate of return is somewhere around an annualized 10% (I just modeled it).
That means half the people that go to a private college see zero to negligible return on investment. This doesn't even begin to account for the negative IRRs seen by hundreds of thousands of students that started (incur costs) but do not complete (reap rewards of) a college degree.
No one will argue that exposing less privileged kids to the idea they can be whatever they want is a bad idea. We can all support that universally.
Trying to "seed brand awareness" among six year olds? Campus tours that culminate in pizza and chicken fingers?!? Setting a life path for children before they are old enough to know their own strengths and interests?!??!! GARBAGE
Fully 45% of the (30) richest, self-made Americans either didn't start or didn't complete college (though some went back and finished later). It's not always necessary for, and it's CERTAINLY no guarantee of, financial success in life.
That means half the people that go to a private college see zero to negligible return on investment. This doesn't even begin to account for the negative IRRs seen by hundreds of thousands of students that started (incur costs) but do not complete (reap rewards of) a college degree.
No one will argue that exposing less privileged kids to the idea they can be whatever they want is a bad idea. We can all support that universally.
Trying to "seed brand awareness" among six year olds? Campus tours that culminate in pizza and chicken fingers?!? Setting a life path for children before they are old enough to know their own strengths and interests?!??!! GARBAGE
Fully 45% of the (30) richest, self-made Americans either didn't start or didn't complete college (though some went back and finished later). It's not always necessary for, and it's CERTAINLY no guarantee of, financial success in life.
15
Those who didn't complete college and still had the resources to self educate and excel came from different economic classes, and more privileged places, than the students described here.
They have immense confidence in their own achievements, that your own pessimism will never damper.
A lack of college education in these children indeed will doom them to jobs on the bottom rungs of the ladder. There's simply no "nest egg" or capital funding to start financing their own independent paths, and there are no fallback resources to build on, like the self=made entrepreneurs you describe.
These children -- with their confidence and their achievements and their positive ENERGY -- are the future of our country. They want to learn to grow, not just for a financial payoff as you seem to believe education is there for...
They have immense confidence in their own achievements, that your own pessimism will never damper.
A lack of college education in these children indeed will doom them to jobs on the bottom rungs of the ladder. There's simply no "nest egg" or capital funding to start financing their own independent paths, and there are no fallback resources to build on, like the self=made entrepreneurs you describe.
These children -- with their confidence and their achievements and their positive ENERGY -- are the future of our country. They want to learn to grow, not just for a financial payoff as you seem to believe education is there for...
I don't think I was ready for college until well after I graduated. That's Life... learning to figure it all out.
14
I find this nothing less than delusional. For vast majority of these kids, their likelihood of going to "Harvard" or wherever, is about as likely as delusions of being the next Luke Skywalker, or the kids from the 50s who thought they were going to grow up to be firemen.
The other delusion, is that of the quote-unquote 'educators' who insanely believe that these activities are anything other than an enormous waste of time.
They probably believe that "if only 1 kid in a 100" ends up following through on these fantasies, then their efforts were worthwhile. And not realizing that, that 1-in-a-100 would have gone anyway. And not realizing all of the more valuable things that could have been done with the same resouces.
They're out there pitching college-bound as if it was a long trip to Xanadu
TWO Problems:
1) It's hard work, lots of solitary study just to learn the basics of almost any field nowdays. (Boring, and so NOT-Cool)
2) Who are the STEM Role Models? They all want to be Kobe Byrant, JayZ, Beyonce, or somebody like that.
The STEM Role models they know about are like, Bill Nye, the nerd, Science Guy, or those idiots on "The Big Bang Theory"
If you really want to make an impact, you need to move them towards towards practical achievable goals like becoming a good student so that they can have OPTIONs when they grow up.
The notion that any kid can meaningfuflly decide if they want to go to College A vs. College B in early elementary school, is simply laughable.
The other delusion, is that of the quote-unquote 'educators' who insanely believe that these activities are anything other than an enormous waste of time.
They probably believe that "if only 1 kid in a 100" ends up following through on these fantasies, then their efforts were worthwhile. And not realizing that, that 1-in-a-100 would have gone anyway. And not realizing all of the more valuable things that could have been done with the same resouces.
They're out there pitching college-bound as if it was a long trip to Xanadu
TWO Problems:
1) It's hard work, lots of solitary study just to learn the basics of almost any field nowdays. (Boring, and so NOT-Cool)
2) Who are the STEM Role Models? They all want to be Kobe Byrant, JayZ, Beyonce, or somebody like that.
The STEM Role models they know about are like, Bill Nye, the nerd, Science Guy, or those idiots on "The Big Bang Theory"
If you really want to make an impact, you need to move them towards towards practical achievable goals like becoming a good student so that they can have OPTIONs when they grow up.
The notion that any kid can meaningfuflly decide if they want to go to College A vs. College B in early elementary school, is simply laughable.
20
You seem to have missed the whole point of the article.
'Where you stand depends on where you sit."
For me--currently sitting in the library of one of the most premier graduate schools in the world, alternating between prepping for my final round interview at one of the most prestigious companies in the world and studying to earn the second of 3 degree from elite institutions that I will have...
For me--in all likelihood to be sitting securely in the 1% in the future, with a highly sought job whose demand for the service provided is fairly inelastic...
For me--who sat on a bus, 2 trains, and another bus (and back) to travel from the hood to Westside for my after school math and science courses that were generously free for me as a kid
For me--who sat in science club (Fri night), computer club (Sat morning), SSAT prep (I think Mon night) and who sat and listened as my single night-shift working HS-educated mother reviewed my homework (and I now realized half of it she probably couldn't tell right from wrong)...
For me--where I stand is clear. Hit them hard, and hit them early.
For me--currently sitting in the library of one of the most premier graduate schools in the world, alternating between prepping for my final round interview at one of the most prestigious companies in the world and studying to earn the second of 3 degree from elite institutions that I will have...
For me--in all likelihood to be sitting securely in the 1% in the future, with a highly sought job whose demand for the service provided is fairly inelastic...
For me--who sat on a bus, 2 trains, and another bus (and back) to travel from the hood to Westside for my after school math and science courses that were generously free for me as a kid
For me--who sat in science club (Fri night), computer club (Sat morning), SSAT prep (I think Mon night) and who sat and listened as my single night-shift working HS-educated mother reviewed my homework (and I now realized half of it she probably couldn't tell right from wrong)...
For me--where I stand is clear. Hit them hard, and hit them early.
22
Right on!
"Don't ever let anybody underestimate you, based on where you come from..."
Your mother, and others out here, are proud of you, but you know that already. Don't let go of that tiger -- sounds like you've got him by the tail!
"Don't ever let anybody underestimate you, based on where you come from..."
Your mother, and others out here, are proud of you, but you know that already. Don't let go of that tiger -- sounds like you've got him by the tail!
Truman, with all of your elite education, you must surely realize the fallacy in your "Hit them hard, and hit them early" philosophy. Only 1% can be in the top 1%. If all young kids are deluded into thinking that their goals should be to graduate from Stanford and work for Google, then the system is by definition setting them up for failure. Even you, with all of your preparation, may find that your final round interview at that so-called prestigious company does not go in your favor. Or, worse, you may find that being a 1%er isn't really all that fulfilling.
If our kids were actually taught readin', writin' and 'rithmetic, the rest would take care of itself.
If our kids were actually taught readin', writin' and 'rithmetic, the rest would take care of itself.
1
So very sad to not let children just be children without expectations to adulthood already. A college degree without carefree learning from all stages but full of standardized practices/testing/scoring/judging (and by standardized adults!!) would be absolutely meaningless for the future of humanities.
11
"The future Harvard applicant wants to be a doctor". Art Linkletter would ask youngsters what they wanted to be. Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, merchant were typical responses/ One young lad, however, broke that mold: when "what do you want to be?" was put to him he said, shyly " I'd like to be 29".
5
Suppose we double the number of kids who go to college. How do we double the number of jobs that require college? Just wondering . . . .
24
Well-educated children will create the jobs that you today can only dream of...
To work as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (and lean on the wall) it is preferred that you have a college degree. My SVA student runs the elevator in a friend's building. Many people with advanced degrees work as adjunct faculty after having been graduate teaching assistants at the colleges where now it seems EVERYONE is getting his college degree. There is lots that one needs to know in life that isn't taught in college IMO. Most importantly, true fluency in a second language -- something that should be being achieved by the third or fourth grade as in Germany. Kids start their third language in fifth grade. I know of NO college that requires that one has Calculus to enter -- name that school. (Columbia used to have three levels of calculus -- for MDs, scientists, and mathematicians.. FYI)
This article seems intended to TERRIFY. Not all colleges are the same either and a super competitive elite school might be a really bad choice for the student who is merely top of the class not a National Honor scholar.
(BTW with all of the college educated creationists and anti-vaccination-ers out there, the environmentalists with their disposable diapers, the Tea Party-ers I wonder why bother to pay for education. Horse/water/ drink=learn =think rationally.
This article seems intended to TERRIFY. Not all colleges are the same either and a super competitive elite school might be a really bad choice for the student who is merely top of the class not a National Honor scholar.
(BTW with all of the college educated creationists and anti-vaccination-ers out there, the environmentalists with their disposable diapers, the Tea Party-ers I wonder why bother to pay for education. Horse/water/ drink=learn =think rationally.
10
I am all for this early college possibility awareness. Knowing an option exists is half the battle in successfully exercise that option. It is difficult to solve a problem if one can't visualize it.
My High School did not have these kinds of programs so the majority of my 1979 classmates got shut out after graduated from High School. Knowing that these various possibilities exist would help guide them staying on a path that maximizes their potentials. Many were tough and hard working teens and programs like this would have made a big positive impact on their lives and would have help them coming out on top during the 90's, 00's, and 10's economic crisis.
My High School did not have these kinds of programs so the majority of my 1979 classmates got shut out after graduated from High School. Knowing that these various possibilities exist would help guide them staying on a path that maximizes their potentials. Many were tough and hard working teens and programs like this would have made a big positive impact on their lives and would have help them coming out on top during the 90's, 00's, and 10's economic crisis.
9
Young children should be allowed to enjoy the innocence of childhood. The problem: our world has become brutally competitive. If 5 and 6 year old are not instilled with competitiveness, in elementary school and in other activities, quickly, they will fall behind.
Are you kidding me?
Kids LOVE healthy competition, emphasis on the healthy. Trust me, these children described here have no lack of fun or love in their lives.
This is NOT the competitive tiger parenting in the upper classes that you've read about. This is a fun way to get children to realize that if they hit the books hard now, they truly can build better lives, with better jobs and income, than they and their families are currently living now.
Why not encourage this? Are the upper classes really afraid of some honest competition to the little ones of their own, with their natural economic "headstarts" in life?
Kids LOVE healthy competition, emphasis on the healthy. Trust me, these children described here have no lack of fun or love in their lives.
This is NOT the competitive tiger parenting in the upper classes that you've read about. This is a fun way to get children to realize that if they hit the books hard now, they truly can build better lives, with better jobs and income, than they and their families are currently living now.
Why not encourage this? Are the upper classes really afraid of some honest competition to the little ones of their own, with their natural economic "headstarts" in life?
I wouldn't trust Wendy Segal- she needs to keep up better with academic research if she's going to give academic advice. Students taking French make more money that those taking Spanish (but less than students who studied German). http://freakonomics.com/2014/03/05/is-learning-a-foreign-language-really...
If you are going to funnel all of your child's free time into college application fodder and limit class choices to college prereqs (who needs to try many things in order to find activites about which they ae both talented and passionate?), at least use the best current evidence. Good intentions are not enough.
If you are going to funnel all of your child's free time into college application fodder and limit class choices to college prereqs (who needs to try many things in order to find activites about which they ae both talented and passionate?), at least use the best current evidence. Good intentions are not enough.
7
Likely, the children who studied French came from more affluent backgrounds in the first place. Perhaps their higher income in latter years reflects their job connections, and overseas opportunities where they got a chance to use their French.
Not too much French spoken in the American cities today, in the workplaces or not. Spanish though -- if you are bilingual, you are at the top of the list for so many jobs nowadays.
You're not looking at where the students are coming from. These kids are just getting up to bat, lifting the bat off their shoulders and learning to take their cuts. The French-speaking children you describe likely have the luxury to major in Art History, and can still turn that into something profitable. They were born on second or third base, and will have family income supporting their choices, whereas the newcomer chiildren will have to get their on their own, every single step along the basepath...
Encouraging them to take French is not a realistic path for getting up and getting out, based again on where they are coming from... Hth.
Not too much French spoken in the American cities today, in the workplaces or not. Spanish though -- if you are bilingual, you are at the top of the list for so many jobs nowadays.
You're not looking at where the students are coming from. These kids are just getting up to bat, lifting the bat off their shoulders and learning to take their cuts. The French-speaking children you describe likely have the luxury to major in Art History, and can still turn that into something profitable. They were born on second or third base, and will have family income supporting their choices, whereas the newcomer chiildren will have to get their on their own, every single step along the basepath...
Encouraging them to take French is not a realistic path for getting up and getting out, based again on where they are coming from... Hth.
1
Parents are better off encouraging their kids to dream about what they want to do when they grow up. College is a step along the journey to get you to your goal in life. For some their goal in life might not even involve college. Too many parents and kids alike seem to treat college as a destination in and of itself, which is why we end up with so many unemployed and underemployed college grads. All they worry about is getting into their dream college. Once they get there their dream has been achieved and they have no idea what to do next.
Years ago when college was still inexpensive, you could go to college to "find yourself". These days with college being so expensive, unless your parents are rich, most of us need to go there with a clear sense of purpose. Those who don't should think twice about plunking down $120k for a degree. You might be better off going to a vocational school or work for a couple of years while trying to "find yourself". Even a couple of years in Europe is cheaper, and you might learn more.
Years ago when college was still inexpensive, you could go to college to "find yourself". These days with college being so expensive, unless your parents are rich, most of us need to go there with a clear sense of purpose. Those who don't should think twice about plunking down $120k for a degree. You might be better off going to a vocational school or work for a couple of years while trying to "find yourself". Even a couple of years in Europe is cheaper, and you might learn more.
18
In our family there never was a question--from kindergarten on it was not "Will you go to college?" but "WHERE will you go to college?". No choice in the matter. Worked for my family all the way back to my great-grandparents, both male and female. Never a thought that high school was the end--it was really just the beginning!
9
I believe children need to be taught what university/college entails and what to expect from them, rather than teaching children they are expected to attend these institutions in order to succeed. We are currently buying into a product sold by businesses in the same way we buy into the idea of diamonds: that without them people, including children, are less.
Unfortunately, it has become imperative to have a college degree to increase the likelihood of finding employment, and as a result we now force children not to think about what they want to do and what they would enjoy doing, but rather how they plan on getting into college and which one (e.g. taking Spanish because you have more options with it instead of French which you may actually enjoy). Following the current trajectory, we'll be creating more and dissatisfied graduates who will follow the status quo because it was all they have ever been taught to do.
Unfortunately, it has become imperative to have a college degree to increase the likelihood of finding employment, and as a result we now force children not to think about what they want to do and what they would enjoy doing, but rather how they plan on getting into college and which one (e.g. taking Spanish because you have more options with it instead of French which you may actually enjoy). Following the current trajectory, we'll be creating more and dissatisfied graduates who will follow the status quo because it was all they have ever been taught to do.
4
Working at Student Success Agency I have helped hundred of students but never a six-year-old. What's exciting about this article is not necessarily that kids are having assignments on the college process, but instead that students are getting the time to think about their future and build a vision.
In order to wow school committees today, students have to show colleges that their a leader who is taking action on a vision.
A lot of the entrance essays ask students questions like ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ and ‘What do you want to be remembered as?’ and I think Ms. Rigo is helping students learn how to think in this way.
Most kids have no clue what they want out of life so having students think about their future will help them build intrinsic motivation when they get older. It will give them meaning in their life and the discipline to achieve their goals. Students with no vision play more video games and take longer to move out of their parents’ house. You don’t want that now do you?
I think we should all be giving Ms. Rigo a round of applause for turning our students into visionaries!!!
In order to wow school committees today, students have to show colleges that their a leader who is taking action on a vision.
A lot of the entrance essays ask students questions like ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ and ‘What do you want to be remembered as?’ and I think Ms. Rigo is helping students learn how to think in this way.
Most kids have no clue what they want out of life so having students think about their future will help them build intrinsic motivation when they get older. It will give them meaning in their life and the discipline to achieve their goals. Students with no vision play more video games and take longer to move out of their parents’ house. You don’t want that now do you?
I think we should all be giving Ms. Rigo a round of applause for turning our students into visionaries!!!
5
I was a low class white kid at one point in my life, wandering industrial areas and day labor sites looking for work to earn money for a car. The problem I saw was that it is just so difficult to get any kind of job, even something like dish washing at the buffet. Everyone only wants to hire proven winners.
College is one way to prove you're a winner. Elite schools only have that status because so few people make it in and out. The dean's list is only so long. Even the community college I went to had classes that were curved, and not everyone could get an A. But if you make it, you prove yourself superior, and it is not surprising that people will do whatever it takes to go all the way.
The problem is that there appear to be few other ways to prove you're a winner. Sports and music require huge amounts of innate talent that you can't learn, then time and money for practice and development. You don't get graded when doing community service and it isn't exclusive. Entrepreneurship requires insight often derived from experience to identify problems to solve and solutions, and this type of experience is rare when you're young.
In the absence of alternatives, it is no surprise people put so much weight on college.
College is one way to prove you're a winner. Elite schools only have that status because so few people make it in and out. The dean's list is only so long. Even the community college I went to had classes that were curved, and not everyone could get an A. But if you make it, you prove yourself superior, and it is not surprising that people will do whatever it takes to go all the way.
The problem is that there appear to be few other ways to prove you're a winner. Sports and music require huge amounts of innate talent that you can't learn, then time and money for practice and development. You don't get graded when doing community service and it isn't exclusive. Entrepreneurship requires insight often derived from experience to identify problems to solve and solutions, and this type of experience is rare when you're young.
In the absence of alternatives, it is no surprise people put so much weight on college.
19
The death of vocational high school.
4
Not so, Mr Vance! In the highly competitive and "sucksess" oriented community where I live, my middle son, who is brilliant, HATED school so much and his grades were so poor that he was advised into a Vo-Tech High School, where he is excelling. He is learning carpentry and his plan right now is to not bother with college. I am planning to use his college fund to help him get set up with great tools and a good vehicle so he can get his career off the ground, unless he changes his mind. For the first time in his life, he genuinely likes school, and is not subjected to the daily mind screw by the school psychologist or labeled as "at risk" or a problem.
2
Lighten up adults! Remember role playing games Aspiring to go to college is a good thing.
7
I started taking my daughter on college tours starting at age 10. Whenever we were in a city like NY - we'd go to NYU. Boston - Harvard. LA - UCLA etc. Actually attending classes with students. She now has a clear idea of what she wants to major in. She is still in high school. Last week she dropped in on classes at the university where she plans to go that she would likely take in two years.
12
As idealistic as this comment is, it fails to take into account the fact that many college students change their major multiple times, even if they've wanted to do the same thing for years in high school and even middle school. Almost all the people I go to school with at Georgetown have changed their major once, if not twice.
As a professor at an elite private university, I winced all the way through this article. Sure let's help kids who don't come from privilege to have access to equal education. But don't confuse doing so with mandating this increasing professionalization of childhood. I've got too many stressed out kids scared half to death to think for themselves because they've been helicoptered from birth. They're even screaming when I give them opportunities to write essays without being graded if I don't tell them what and how to write them. And deciding when young about what to do and where to do it when they "grow up" often leads to disaster in college. Too many of them are pursuing careers for which they've no real skill or passion. I've started regularly warning this generation of students that decisions they made when they were 6 years old about majors and professions should probably--no certainly--be reconsidered in early adulthood.
128
Thank you for saying this. I'm a grad student, and I was once caught up in the...romanticization(?) of the college application process. But when teachers illustrate that application process with squares and circles, you forget that taking the SAT and sending in essays is a negligible amount of work compared to the rest of college. I was an honors student in high school, but college nearly broke me...is still nearly breaking me. But I'm lucky - I do have some skill and some passion for the challenging career I threw myself into. Putting college on such a high pedestal is begging for a disaster.
Other thoughts:
"She can’t wait to get to Cambridge because “my mom never lets me go anywhere.”" -- This breaks my heart.
Comparison to the Olympics -- I was momentarily unsure if this was serious or a joke. Well, I guess it makes better business for tutors.
"...the math you take in middle school determines if you reach calculus by 12th grade....(t)hat means finishing Algebra I in eighth grade." -- Huh, I just took both algebra II and geometry my sophomore year, and calculus as a senior. Maybe it's more important to get kids into subjects they're genuinely interested in, rather than push them into those subjects as a means to get them into college.
Other thoughts:
"She can’t wait to get to Cambridge because “my mom never lets me go anywhere.”" -- This breaks my heart.
Comparison to the Olympics -- I was momentarily unsure if this was serious or a joke. Well, I guess it makes better business for tutors.
"...the math you take in middle school determines if you reach calculus by 12th grade....(t)hat means finishing Algebra I in eighth grade." -- Huh, I just took both algebra II and geometry my sophomore year, and calculus as a senior. Maybe it's more important to get kids into subjects they're genuinely interested in, rather than push them into those subjects as a means to get them into college.
10
I think you are quite confused. The helicoptered kids are *not* the kids who need to hear about college in first grade. Letting us all know first and foremost that you are from an "elite" private university (is there one in LA?) speaks volumes.
I agree with the statement with your statement that "Too many of them are pursuing careers for which they've no real skill or passion."
As a high school teacher in Vermont I feel that we do an amazing job here of promoting college and having that be a goal for all students. Where we fail is in the basic concept that college is not THE goal, but instead is the Path to it. We prepare students to be college ready and instill in students a strong aspiration to attend, but fail to send them off with a real sense of meaning or purpose behind college other than to go for the sake of going.
Students often go to college because it is expected of them by others, not because of an inherent personal interest in the field or understanding of what they hope to accomplish through obtaining the degree.
As a high school teacher in Vermont I feel that we do an amazing job here of promoting college and having that be a goal for all students. Where we fail is in the basic concept that college is not THE goal, but instead is the Path to it. We prepare students to be college ready and instill in students a strong aspiration to attend, but fail to send them off with a real sense of meaning or purpose behind college other than to go for the sake of going.
Students often go to college because it is expected of them by others, not because of an inherent personal interest in the field or understanding of what they hope to accomplish through obtaining the degree.
This has nothing to do with education and all to do with money. It's about promoting a product and making believe your children need it.
50
Good luck paying for it, Class of 2030.
11
What happened to childhood?
4
My first grader is not ready for college now, but I anticipate that he will be as early as the age of 16 and no later than 18.
1
Today in schools appearances are the equal of reality. Formerly testing, such as the SAT, to get into college indicated that a sizable vocabulary indicated you had read and learned a lot, and if you had paid attention in math classes you could figure out lots of problems that an understanding of math enabled you to do. Now the education industry will require teaching vocabulary, as if vocabulary itself is education, not a sign of reading experience and learning. And drilling students so as to recognize certain types of problems, which can be identified and solved by rote memorization, now is assumed to equal actual ability.
My own children, who could read at 2 years old--not because their parents drilled them in reading--but because their parents and grandparents all loved to read and in time were unavailable to read stories to keep up with demand. The kids were bored, my son said "tortured," in public school, waiting for years for something new and exciting to learn while many other kids fumbled with what they had leaned years before. The last straw: in high school my kids were told they had to read over the summers a selected set of books, upon which they would be tested. I said enough. Kids need to explore on their own. At about the time I was in 7th grade, in the local public library, I stumbled upon and read library Sophocles' trilogy. Wow, this guy marries his mom and kills his dad! That was mine, my personal and mysterious discovery.
My own children, who could read at 2 years old--not because their parents drilled them in reading--but because their parents and grandparents all loved to read and in time were unavailable to read stories to keep up with demand. The kids were bored, my son said "tortured," in public school, waiting for years for something new and exciting to learn while many other kids fumbled with what they had leaned years before. The last straw: in high school my kids were told they had to read over the summers a selected set of books, upon which they would be tested. I said enough. Kids need to explore on their own. At about the time I was in 7th grade, in the local public library, I stumbled upon and read library Sophocles' trilogy. Wow, this guy marries his mom and kills his dad! That was mine, my personal and mysterious discovery.
6
I find this horrible. Perhaps starting in 6th grade, but any younger and the children don't understand what exactly is going on, and there is not much that can be done in terms of impact for future years, other than the basics of writing and reading. Classes taken in the 7th and 8th grades make a slight difference; learning the "steps" to a college application does not. I'm heading towards application time right now, and there may be a couple of classes that I think I should have taken earlier, but what I appreciate more was the opportunity to enjoy my childhood.
7
College is something our children have learned about from us, since we had the privilege of attending. However, some kids don't get this kind of exposure at home. I'm not sure I agree with the way they are introducing the concept here; too contrived. Encouraging them to thinking about careers and explaining the pathways to get there seems like a better way to teach the need for a higher education.
6
My goodness, the readers of the NY Times must include some of the most neurotic insecure people on earth. People that are so ludicrously preoccupied with their children's competitiveness that all they are assured of that their kids will turn out just like themselves, neurotic, depressed and vacuous of anything, other than the never ending task of trying to succeed while failing to live to their own expectations. Not attending Harvard or MIT is not a sign of failure, in fact, 99.9% of highly successful people didn't! Leave your children alone. Teach your children to be responsible, hard working and empathic. Teach them that mediocrity is not good enough and let them fail so they learn how to raise themselves up from defeat. If your child can do all these simple things, getting into and succeeding in college will be one of the simplest things they do in life.
20
Let them fail at what? School? To what degree? Allow them to get into drugs, alcohol, crime, flunk out so they know how to pick themselves up? Would you sit around and watch your kids fail and do nothing?
3
I graduated from pharmacy school in 1976. My parents were both working class, we had little money, and everyday growing up they told me to go to college because they didn't want me to have to straggle like they did. Of course it was ingrained that I needed to go to college. The times were right for it; college was affordable for working class people. Not today. Furthermore, even though I attended college, I learned more in the first six months out of school than i learned in the previous five years. Even at that time, I thought the course of study could have been way shorter and involved simultaneous real-time experience. Our entire education system is outmoded, from kindergarten on up. We are in the digital age, but still educating for an agrarian society. It all needs to change. I have no doubt that I could take an average student from high school, having him work by my side for two years while taking a few online courses and turn out a better pharmacist than those who go to school for six years or more. And that method would work for most professions.
14
According to government archives e.g.,http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/tables/dt10 among 16 to24 year olds, less than 50% graduate high school in a given year, and less than 50% of the graduates enroll in college in the same year; also that these rates (in the mid-40% range) haven’t changed materially over the last 50 years—true as well for averages on tests such as the SAT and ACT.
By inference from experience, "universal college attendance" is, quite literally, an impossible dream. Accordingly, constant promotion of college going, however well- intentioned. is ill-designed to promote development of an educational system that by organization and emphasis does not implicitly denigrate the majority of students who are not academically oriented.
A letter to the editor (WSJ) captured the foregoing theme, as follows:
"College is not the only way to acquire vital life skills or to grow as a person. We each have different skills, interests and goals that we have to find for ourselves; and for many, college is surely that route. But treating college as a categorical good in which everyone should participate marginalizes (those who for whatever reason do not participate)" (Mr. Roy)
Why can't we urge students to "be all you can be" in school systems that do not promote the notion that "success" is defined primarily by completion of the “college-prep” program.
By inference from experience, "universal college attendance" is, quite literally, an impossible dream. Accordingly, constant promotion of college going, however well- intentioned. is ill-designed to promote development of an educational system that by organization and emphasis does not implicitly denigrate the majority of students who are not academically oriented.
A letter to the editor (WSJ) captured the foregoing theme, as follows:
"College is not the only way to acquire vital life skills or to grow as a person. We each have different skills, interests and goals that we have to find for ourselves; and for many, college is surely that route. But treating college as a categorical good in which everyone should participate marginalizes (those who for whatever reason do not participate)" (Mr. Roy)
Why can't we urge students to "be all you can be" in school systems that do not promote the notion that "success" is defined primarily by completion of the “college-prep” program.
5
This article is merely a symptom of a larger issue in the evolution of American parenting. It now begins at conception (or perhaps even before), and is a blood sport, a game of one-upsmanship, a tooth-and-nail-step-over-your-best-friend-if you-need-to claw to the finish line: acceptance to a premier college, and preferably with an academic scholarship in tow.
We have one-year-olds in intensive French immersion; 2-year-olds taking lessons on half a dozen different instruments; 3-year-olds in soccer, dance, gymnastics, judo – at the same time!; 4-year-olds with engagement and social calendars that rival those of Wall Street executives; and now 6-year olds taking college prep courses. Tell me, where does it end? Where do we draw the line between healthy and instructive competition and the soul-crushing pressure brought about by parents who are trying to live vicariously through their children?
Our leaders, innovators, our best and brightest, the smartest and most successful among us, once rolled in the grass with their friends. They scraped knees and broke bones, played on swing sets and spent hours staring at the sky. Let children be children. Let them wonder and fantasize and play without structure or schedule. Let them discover the amazing, weird and fantastical world around them. College can wait.
We have one-year-olds in intensive French immersion; 2-year-olds taking lessons on half a dozen different instruments; 3-year-olds in soccer, dance, gymnastics, judo – at the same time!; 4-year-olds with engagement and social calendars that rival those of Wall Street executives; and now 6-year olds taking college prep courses. Tell me, where does it end? Where do we draw the line between healthy and instructive competition and the soul-crushing pressure brought about by parents who are trying to live vicariously through their children?
Our leaders, innovators, our best and brightest, the smartest and most successful among us, once rolled in the grass with their friends. They scraped knees and broke bones, played on swing sets and spent hours staring at the sky. Let children be children. Let them wonder and fantasize and play without structure or schedule. Let them discover the amazing, weird and fantastical world around them. College can wait.
23
Oh the problems of the privileged.
2
As a teacher in the South Bronx, where the average income is the lowest per capita in the country and well over 87% of the students are first generation Americans (or not even Americans, and certainly first generation to go to college), I can say with gusto that it is never too early to tell kids that anything is possible. This includes college. As others have mentioned here, for many underserved communities, college is not even a talking point -- let alone a assumption. Giving these kids any cultural capital or confidence that college even a real option for them is a game-changer.
I tell my students the same age old phrase, "if you shoot for the moon, you will land among the stars". I say that to say that, we have to recognize that in the end college is not the right fit for everyone, but to not align our education system to be college focused is a huge detriment to these children and our society at all. Basically, while the rest of the world is telling their children they can do anything (college included), these kids will hear you can't really do anything, you are from "X" underserved group. I think these types of ideas and foci are critical to moving our country forward.
I tell my students the same age old phrase, "if you shoot for the moon, you will land among the stars". I say that to say that, we have to recognize that in the end college is not the right fit for everyone, but to not align our education system to be college focused is a huge detriment to these children and our society at all. Basically, while the rest of the world is telling their children they can do anything (college included), these kids will hear you can't really do anything, you are from "X" underserved group. I think these types of ideas and foci are critical to moving our country forward.
14
It pains to me to have to tell my 5th grade son that although he is a straight A kid, top of his gifted class, a Johns Hopkins Talent Search high scorer, member of American Mensa, even if he scores a perfect 2400 on the SAT, has a 4.5 weighted GPA, 5-6 AP 5s, the fact that he's not black/hispanic/native american or has a rich/famous/alumnus parent means that his average grade best friend who excels at basketball, baseball and soccer will have a much better chance of getting into Harvard than he does, and what's more on a full scholarship.
Parents who think they need to make sure their kids are taking all the right classes since middle school, and sending their kids to SAT/academic camps are wasting their time and money. They're better off sending their kids to basketball/soccer camps and getting them on select soccer/little league/lacrosse/basketball or football from a young age. College is not for smart kids, it's for those who are good at sports, and for rich kids to network and party.
America is zero appreciation for intellectual achievement. All through K-8, smart kids are ignored while the trouble makers are celebrated as "unique" and "have personality". In high school, all that matters is how well you play basketball/football and how popular you are. When it comes to college, all that matters is whether you are a star athlete, or have a rich/alumnus parent, or is an under-represented minority. Wise up parents, forget about the books, hone your kid's sports skills.
Parents who think they need to make sure their kids are taking all the right classes since middle school, and sending their kids to SAT/academic camps are wasting their time and money. They're better off sending their kids to basketball/soccer camps and getting them on select soccer/little league/lacrosse/basketball or football from a young age. College is not for smart kids, it's for those who are good at sports, and for rich kids to network and party.
America is zero appreciation for intellectual achievement. All through K-8, smart kids are ignored while the trouble makers are celebrated as "unique" and "have personality". In high school, all that matters is how well you play basketball/football and how popular you are. When it comes to college, all that matters is whether you are a star athlete, or have a rich/alumnus parent, or is an under-represented minority. Wise up parents, forget about the books, hone your kid's sports skills.
12
As one who once joined Mensa just out of perplexed curiosity, allow me to suggest that neither IQ nor educational credentials nor money are what life is all about. Seek not to contend and avoid comparisons.
Teach your son that...
Teach your son that...
13
I'm a low-paid, overworked teacher. No status. I impress no one. But I'm happy. Every single day, I like my job.
14
So you are teaching your son to be bigoted. Hopefully that will be a real handicap.
3
In New York City, the Big Test can be the Hunter College High School entrance exam in grade 6, test prep starts in grade 3, or the Bronx Science/Stuyvesant/Brooklyn Tech test, which is grade 8 or 9, prep starts in primary school. Exam schools are a bit of an anomaly elsewhere so the idea that a fate-determining exam can happen at age 10 or 11 seems like too much pressure, too soon. Those admitted to Hunter start taking the subway, alone, in grade 7; in some parts of the U.S. that would be considered child abuse.
4
No wonder kids are taking drugs and ae smoking pot ! This society knows how to take away childhood and create mentally unstable citizens ! Bravo !
14
Too early at that age. College is not the be all and end all for everyone, but preparing for some education beyond high school whether tech school, apprenticeships or college and being a life long learner will make one more employable. As to the families of these children, if they don't understand why advanced education is important, it is just as vital to teach the parents as well as the children.
9
Shameless marketing and ruthless exploitation of hyper-parents by the con artists of the education world. That's all this is. Get a grip, people.
11
Do not forget Icarus...
The kids are the marketing targets.
The kids are the marketing targets.
Its an American system. get into Ivy league college, meet right people, get great career. Learning has very little to do with it.
The sooner you learn the system, the better....
If you want a good education go to Russia and get a Phd. in Physics or heck read a book at your public library.
The sooner you learn the system, the better....
If you want a good education go to Russia and get a Phd. in Physics or heck read a book at your public library.
6
Congratulations, America! Parentally speaking, our society has now jumped the shark.
11
It isn't the parents. It's the SAT company, headed by David Coleman (I believe) and a host of other testing and tutoring companies, along with the colleges themselves.
1
I will say that is all you want out of college is a job, be an electrician instead. Though it's hard.
9
There is a lot of value in letting kids have a vision of what the future may be, and that there are lots of things to aspire to. Most days though I can only say that my first grader will be ready for college if he ever learns how to tie his shoes!
I laughed when I read about the six-year old who can't wait to go to college because her mom "never lets her go anywhere." I had the same mindset when I was 6, and was still thinking the same thing when I left for college. It brings up an entirely different set of issues.
I laughed when I read about the six-year old who can't wait to go to college because her mom "never lets her go anywhere." I had the same mindset when I was 6, and was still thinking the same thing when I left for college. It brings up an entirely different set of issues.
5
If we're talking about average upper-middle-class 4th-graders declaring that their dream is to go to Yale (and only Yale), then this is obviously harmful. But we're not talking about that. We're talking about giving relatively poor children the cultural capital to become first-generation college students. My kids get that stuff at home (as do yours, in all probability). We know what college costs. We know how you get into college - in fact, we know, without thinking about it, how you get into an elite college. We read to our kids, we talk about paleontology with them, we give them books about contemporary geopolitics. They hear in passing that one godmother is "mom's college roommate." They know mom and dad met through "a scholarship program." They know the names of Harvard and Yale - and also Princeton, Smith, Rice, Columbia, UChicago, MIT, Amherst, and so on. They'll be fine.
You know who didn't have that? Me. I was lucky enough to go to an elite college, but I was the only one from my school to do so. My parents were concerned about letting me move so far away. I arrived at college - college! - not knowing what many of the basic disciplines were (sociology, anthropology) and not realizing that you could study some obvious subjects (archaeology, art history, linguistics, applied math). I didn't know that I needed a meal plan. I constantly worried about money. All this despite tons of proud familial support. Come on, folks, give these kids half a chance.
You know who didn't have that? Me. I was lucky enough to go to an elite college, but I was the only one from my school to do so. My parents were concerned about letting me move so far away. I arrived at college - college! - not knowing what many of the basic disciplines were (sociology, anthropology) and not realizing that you could study some obvious subjects (archaeology, art history, linguistics, applied math). I didn't know that I needed a meal plan. I constantly worried about money. All this despite tons of proud familial support. Come on, folks, give these kids half a chance.
97
Sally has it right. We can debate all day the advantages and disadvantages of such an early and structured introduction to college for middle class kids, but for kids from low-income families, this makes all the sense in the world. Poor kids - whether in small towns or city neighborhoods - need to see more than their immediate surroundings. They need to see the possibilities in the world around them.
Programs such as Ms. Rigo's not only let kids aspire to college, they take the mystery and the fear out of it. Like Sally, I was the first in my family to go to college. My parents were wonderful and very supportive, but college was a mystery to them as well. I was on my own. Exposing kids to college with a trusted teacher by their side is a great idea.
Programs such as Ms. Rigo's not only let kids aspire to college, they take the mystery and the fear out of it. Like Sally, I was the first in my family to go to college. My parents were wonderful and very supportive, but college was a mystery to them as well. I was on my own. Exposing kids to college with a trusted teacher by their side is a great idea.
10
Lucky to go to an elite college? Thankfully, I had no such luck. My sister, unfortunately for her, was far "luckier" than I was...
I hear you totally. But first grade?
2
As a retired head of school and educator for over 40 yrs, I am disheartened by those who advocate pursuing the college track as early as Ist grade or any elementary grade for that matter. The journey through pre-school and elementary school are the critical years in a child's life, kept wholesome and safe by teachers who strive each day to embrace Parker Palmer's belief that "teaching is the finest work I know." Children love to come to school (and sometimes do not want to leave) when they are allowed to fine their genius, explore new ideas, discover new landscapes, and achieve the rewards that come with hard work, risk taking, and a profound sense of their own abilities. Dig beneath the surface and find the schools that emphasize the learning process rather than the outcomes, value children as they value teachers, and who can, in William Blake's words, "see a World in a Grain of Sand." Let us not burden our children at this age with SAT prep and fabricated resume building. Instead, let us safeguard an environment that celebrates the joy of learning and valuable teaching moments. College will come in due time. Let us not rush the process.
10
Thank you, Peter Rapelye.
I grew up in a culture and family knowing that I would go to college for as long as I knew any about college. While attending college, I was surprised to learn that this is not true for everyone or all cultures; a dorm mate had never thought about college growing up, and was only there because of an athletic scholarship. He went on to get a good education and successful career as a result. So, for people like me, it probably would not matter to learn about college in school, but for many students, especially those from poorer families, it could be an eye opener and game changer.
7
This is building brand loyalty, pure and simple. Has noting to do with motivating kids and everything to do with convincing parents to shell out the cash for tuition when the time comes.
4
As anyone who ever was a kid knows, you do a lot of stuff in school that is a waste, then when you graduate to adulthood, you keep doing lots of stuff that is a waste.
So if this helps give some kids the mental goal to set sights on to increase their individual effort, great.
But doing this in high school probably makes more sense, especially explaining how student loans work.
So if this helps give some kids the mental goal to set sights on to increase their individual effort, great.
But doing this in high school probably makes more sense, especially explaining how student loans work.
1
When I was small I wanted to be a bus driver. My mother ignored my wishes and I was forced to go into the music business as an adult and make a lot of money!
Never forgave her!
Never forgave her!
5
Maybe a better question should be: Is your First Grader Ready for Second Grade?
49
"She wants students to know what she did not: the effort, cost and planning required to earn a degree." But Ms.Rigo: what is wrong with the effort you put in? Getting through college and moving on to a successful career in spite of not having anyone to hold your hand through it sounds like a life well lived to me. When will we stop believing that parenting is about giving your kids what we didn't have? Parenting and education is about loving our children and giving them the space to grow into who they are meant to be. There is no prescription for success in this world!
8
This really about the opportunistic marketing of product to parents. A prime example of this was when Eva Moskowitz took her Success Academy charter school kindergarten and first graders to visit colleges. It's reprehensible. It's certainly not age appropriate. Let kids be kids. Parents, don't buy into the hype. If you expose your children to diverse cultural experiences, instill and support love of learning, ensure that they do their school work, feed them nourishing food and cherish them, they will thrive.
13
It is especially important for kids without any family history of college graduates. It also important that college not be seen as the only possible or desirable option, and that the overall expectation is conveyed that skills beyond high school are essential and can be obtained in various ways and settings. I worry that an overemphasis on college sidelines skilled trades, which are every bit as lucrative as anything requiring a college degree. We still need people who can make things.
7
Wow, such marketing!
Perhaps we should ask first graders what type of car they would like to have and start taking them to car dealership to get them familiar with various brands.
The purpose of a school is to get educated not to get into college. Majority of youngsters learn too little in K12. Focus should be on learning as much as possible before college.
Perhaps we should ask first graders what type of car they would like to have and start taking them to car dealership to get them familiar with various brands.
The purpose of a school is to get educated not to get into college. Majority of youngsters learn too little in K12. Focus should be on learning as much as possible before college.
16
RedPill in NY – "The purpose of a school is to get educated not to get into college."
Hint: 1. School = Education. 2. College = School.
The REAL problem is that people divide education into segments or compartments - like what you're doing – If you consider that education is a lifetime process then lines delinieating things like K-12 or College become blurred if they don't disappearr altogether.
Hint: 1. School = Education. 2. College = School.
The REAL problem is that people divide education into segments or compartments - like what you're doing – If you consider that education is a lifetime process then lines delinieating things like K-12 or College become blurred if they don't disappearr altogether.
1
I guess you haven't yet seen the commercial in which a girl of about 9 is asking Santa for a car. Consumerize 'em as soon as possible.
I got very little guidance in preparing for college when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's, even though my parents were college grads. I probably could have gone to a more prestigious school if I had had more help. Flash forward, my kids went to an exclusive private school here in Seattle with the kids of very accomplished professionals, most of whom were grooming their kids from day one, over scheduling them with ridiculously high expectations. Somewhere there has to be a happy, healthy medium, but as long as one set of parents pushes like Tiger moms, as long as the economy languishes for the middle class (instilling fear), and as long as college tuition keeps rising and acceptance rates go lower and lower, the arms race will continue.
8
As an assignment last year, each student in my son's sixth grade class was to write a letter to a college or university of their choice requesting info about the college and why that insititution would be a good choice. I like that a college was asked to justify itself to a sixth grader by the way.
The end result in my son's case was that he was provided a personal tour of his college by its admissions director and has received gifts (pennants, key chains) and exchanged hand-written notes several times with the assistant admissions director.
College is a goal - not a given - and we introduce our kids to goals all the time and encourage them to achieve them. i see nothing wrong introducing them to the goal of a college education. But I see a lot wrong with making presumptions that its "too early" to put this goal on their radar.
The end result in my son's case was that he was provided a personal tour of his college by its admissions director and has received gifts (pennants, key chains) and exchanged hand-written notes several times with the assistant admissions director.
College is a goal - not a given - and we introduce our kids to goals all the time and encourage them to achieve them. i see nothing wrong introducing them to the goal of a college education. But I see a lot wrong with making presumptions that its "too early" to put this goal on their radar.
4
If your children attend a vocational / technical high school AND take the proper courses, they can STILL get into a "good" college (you define "good" they way YOU wish: Ivy league, "first tier," public, private, exclusive, expensive, one-gender, military, etc.......) AND they will have one or several vocation skills, taught to them for free (your taxes fund public schools).
In other words, they will possess skills ( plumbing, welding, carpentry) that others who languished through a "college prep" school do not. Good grades, rank, social status, and "AP" courses might put those prepped students one step up on them academically, but that should never be considered an acceptable substitute for practical experience, know-how, and money-making marketability.
In other words, they will possess skills ( plumbing, welding, carpentry) that others who languished through a "college prep" school do not. Good grades, rank, social status, and "AP" courses might put those prepped students one step up on them academically, but that should never be considered an acceptable substitute for practical experience, know-how, and money-making marketability.
5
There was a piece on NPR a couple days ago about how economists are expecting trade jobs to open up down the road, particularly for millennials (older than the cohort of children being discussed here). Faced with the prospect of huge student loan debt, two year college degrees (and better yet, apprenticeship programs partnered with community college programs, like the one mentioned in the NPR piece) may end up being far more attractive to students in the future. Talking to such young children about college and careers may be well-intentioned, but it puts the cart before the horse and may even be harmful in the long run to those children for whom a 4-year college education will not be realistic. Young children should learn to love learning for the sake of learning, not to try to fit into some Naviance scattergram.
10
So, if I am not on the "college track" by the first grade, I am destined to be a slacker, fast food worker, greeter at Walmart, store clerk, etc. I won't be a "master of the universe" on Wall Street, a hedge fund manager living in Connecticut, etc.? I would think that the kid at age 5 or 6 would develop a lot of neuroses, feelings of inadequacy, stress anxieties, and rebel more against his parents when he or she is a teenager due to all this pressure to perform in the first grade.
The kid should enjoy the elementary grades and learn all that he or she can from school and moral values from the parents. Time to work diligently in academics starts in middle school and then in high school.
The kid should enjoy the elementary grades and learn all that he or she can from school and moral values from the parents. Time to work diligently in academics starts in middle school and then in high school.
3
For inner city kids from one parent families who might not know a single person with a college degree this is excellent.
5
Great article. It is all about building expectations. A baby boomer, I was expected to attend college and I got the message at a very early age. I remember a sweatshirt that said "College class of ??" I got when I was about four or five years old. I wore it until it was outgrown, and then the sweatshirt was passed down to the next sibling. My parents showed they cared and kept me on track, I became the first in my family to graduate from a four-year college. All of my six brothers and sisters have college degrees. My wife and I had the same expectations when we had our two boys. She and I made sure homework was done and we both worked for a secure home environment.We went to museums and all the rest of the hidden "educational" stuff, including having them perform volunteer work and holding part-time jobs for pay. Today both are Ivy League grads who are making their own ways in the world. Build those expectations at a young age.
3
Or alternatively, don't. Grooming tiny kids towards adult expectations. What a repulsive thought.
3
Children's job is playing; but worrying about College while in first grade is akin to getting up at 3 AM and hoping dawn will come earlier. Lets be reasonable and relax a bit. There should be a place for everything, likewise with time.
7
Agreed! 1st grade is NOT college, nor should it ever be. Stop the insanity. We rob students of their childhood, not to mention their creativity, and willingness to take risks when we eliminate childhood. William Deresiewicz at Yale, and the infamous educator Ken Robinson have said as much. That was my experience teaching at RISD too.
6
This type of race to the top is a sure fired recipe for a hurried child syndrome resulting in mental health issues ranging from obsessive compulsive, anxiety related disorders as well as overly perfectionistic and Type A neurosis which has the potential, in the long run, to be debilitating for the child and lead to a range of acting out behaviors including narcissism, substance abuse, sexual addictions as well as high marital disruptions if pushed to the extreme. Often children, when left to their own accord, learn perfectly well on their own and accomplish tremendous self mastery outside the highly structured confines of the adults preconceived notions of success.
8
I've noticed that discussing the systematic problems plaguing America's institutions of higher education has become a trendy topic for the media. While acknowledging these structural problems, I think it is also important to address the ways in which students are excluded from the discussion of what different levels of education are intended to equip them with.
As a senior at a liberal arts college, I find it appalling how many of my classmates seem to have gone through the motions of acquiring B.A.s without even the slightest consideration of what such degrees are intended to represent. Why don't we make students aware of what they miss when they don't pursue higher and higher levels of education? No one ever warned me that high school is intended to equip us with the requisite skills and knowledge to more advanced learning, pre-professional undergraduate degrees equip us with certain task-specific skills, and liberal arts degrees are meant to undermine our preconceptions of reality and challenge us to connect the dots, but if they had I would have been dramatically more motivated. There is a reason students in the developing world travel miles to get to class whereas American students from all kinds of socio-economic backgrounds fail to see the point.
I'm glad the New York Times is attentive to the how, but I encourage parents and role models to get behind the why. College shouldn't feel like a formality to anyone. It should be a vocation.
As a senior at a liberal arts college, I find it appalling how many of my classmates seem to have gone through the motions of acquiring B.A.s without even the slightest consideration of what such degrees are intended to represent. Why don't we make students aware of what they miss when they don't pursue higher and higher levels of education? No one ever warned me that high school is intended to equip us with the requisite skills and knowledge to more advanced learning, pre-professional undergraduate degrees equip us with certain task-specific skills, and liberal arts degrees are meant to undermine our preconceptions of reality and challenge us to connect the dots, but if they had I would have been dramatically more motivated. There is a reason students in the developing world travel miles to get to class whereas American students from all kinds of socio-economic backgrounds fail to see the point.
I'm glad the New York Times is attentive to the how, but I encourage parents and role models to get behind the why. College shouldn't feel like a formality to anyone. It should be a vocation.
5
Sure this makes sense.
Childhood should be enjoyed until ... 1st grade and then let the pressure begin.
Suicide galore.
Childhood should be enjoyed until ... 1st grade and then let the pressure begin.
Suicide galore.
1
"One cut-and-paste work sheet has students using circles and squares to sequence the steps. There are four: mail your application, get accepted, graduate high school and “move in, go to class and study hard!”"
At least we can be thankful there isn't a square for 'attend keggers.'
At least we can be thankful there isn't a square for 'attend keggers.'
2
The tour guides — Javier Scott, a peppy junior from Columbia, Md., and Carley Pouland, a senior from Fort Worth — briefly struck a serious note, urging students to chase their dreams. “College can help you do that,” Mr. Scott said. “When you work hard, more opportunities will open up to you.”
What gibberish. I wasn't ready even when I entered the Ivy League at sixteen and graduated law school at 23. But I'll tell you one thing: I wouldn't have had the foggiest notion of what they were talking about.
Is this to guarantee that first graders don't wind up working as Starbucks baristas after they graduate?
What gibberish. I wasn't ready even when I entered the Ivy League at sixteen and graduated law school at 23. But I'll tell you one thing: I wouldn't have had the foggiest notion of what they were talking about.
Is this to guarantee that first graders don't wind up working as Starbucks baristas after they graduate?
1
You sound oddly immature, even now, as an attorney.
These children have to take it seriously, whereas you did not.
(Who paid for your undergrad and law school? Paying for things often helps one mature. When everything is given or done for you, you turn out like you. An early "achiever" who is simply lost in real life situations... Hint: no, it's not about keeping these kids from being Starbucks baristas. That's not exactly their "fallback". God bless you as you start your learning "out of school" and begin to encounter others who did not have your quick-start academic successes, apparently at the expense of real life experience that these kids live daily.)
These children have to take it seriously, whereas you did not.
(Who paid for your undergrad and law school? Paying for things often helps one mature. When everything is given or done for you, you turn out like you. An early "achiever" who is simply lost in real life situations... Hint: no, it's not about keeping these kids from being Starbucks baristas. That's not exactly their "fallback". God bless you as you start your learning "out of school" and begin to encounter others who did not have your quick-start academic successes, apparently at the expense of real life experience that these kids live daily.)
The article illustrates the critical role of raising the awareness and expectations of children about college.
I believe that the stark difference in college attendance between children from lower income families and those from higher incomes is in great part cultural. Children from struggling families, and particularly from newly immigrated families may not receive the encouragement and expectations that children from higher income families receive. I believe such encouragement at home is a threshold without which many children will simply not avail themselves of a college expectation, regardless of economic assistance. I can only relate my own experience. I was raised by a single mother in a low income environment. Yet, for as long as I can remember , I knew I was expected to go to college. So, I did what I had to do. I scheduled classes so I could work and between my earnings and government assistance, I completed both undergraduate and graduate schools. Once I got out, I was equal to anybody else who graduated, despite the circumstances of my upbringing.
Many of my friends did not receive such encouragement. Some even quit high school, and others got simply never went to college. The primary difference was the expectations drummed into us at home.
If the types of programs discussed in this article provide the encouragement that is lacking at home, they will be invaluable to the future potential of the children.
I believe that the stark difference in college attendance between children from lower income families and those from higher incomes is in great part cultural. Children from struggling families, and particularly from newly immigrated families may not receive the encouragement and expectations that children from higher income families receive. I believe such encouragement at home is a threshold without which many children will simply not avail themselves of a college expectation, regardless of economic assistance. I can only relate my own experience. I was raised by a single mother in a low income environment. Yet, for as long as I can remember , I knew I was expected to go to college. So, I did what I had to do. I scheduled classes so I could work and between my earnings and government assistance, I completed both undergraduate and graduate schools. Once I got out, I was equal to anybody else who graduated, despite the circumstances of my upbringing.
Many of my friends did not receive such encouragement. Some even quit high school, and others got simply never went to college. The primary difference was the expectations drummed into us at home.
If the types of programs discussed in this article provide the encouragement that is lacking at home, they will be invaluable to the future potential of the children.
3
What happened to the natural question What do you want to be/do when you grow up? That's a logical segueway for parents to get little kids thinking about all the possibilities and what they involve without dragging SATs into it. Teachers could do the same. Have moms and dads in for show and tell, take kids on field trips to interesting workplaces, make bridges from popsicle sticks, do chemistry with vinegar and baking soda.... This is the modus operandi of wealthy/educated parents....
3
This is crazy - it's run by a bunch of neurotic adults. I didn't talk to my daughter about college until she was in high school. Why put more pressure on kids than you have to? Right now my daughter is happy, normal and well adjusted. And she's graduating Magna Cum Laude from an Ivy League school in May. Let kids be kids.
5
Understanding what will be expected of students and what students can expect from a college or university undergraduate education is important. It is important that they know before they enter the 10th grade if they wish to be admitted as freshman to any top school.
Whether tours of college and universities is necessary for that knowledge is by no means confirmed. When the children are so many years away from their high school studies, it's probably a pleasant field trip but unlikely to contribute much to children actually attending college later on.
What is important is that children learn what it is like to learn and what it is like when their minds are open and alert to new experiences, and how being tired, bored or confused can discourage learning -- and what to do to adjust themselves to learn most effectively.
Whether tours of college and universities is necessary for that knowledge is by no means confirmed. When the children are so many years away from their high school studies, it's probably a pleasant field trip but unlikely to contribute much to children actually attending college later on.
What is important is that children learn what it is like to learn and what it is like when their minds are open and alert to new experiences, and how being tired, bored or confused can discourage learning -- and what to do to adjust themselves to learn most effectively.
1
Is it ever to early? Yes! Give the kids a break and send them out to play, take them to the beach, to a creek, to a meadow. And parents, it will help you out as well.
5
Laughed out loud when the teacher in the "college prep" video said to a kid, "you did good!" Sheesh.
40
Nothing screams financial *mania* like negative bond yields and record stock prices in the middle of a global economic depression.
College has been infected with the same bubble mentality that prevails in the markets, today.
Mindless bourgeois conformists have totaled up over a trillion dollars in debt for financially leveraged college "experiences" though their fabled degrees may not be worth the price of vellum...if a degree is ever obtained, as too many never even graduate.
Everyone cannot get rich doing the same thing but they most certainly can go *broke* trying.
Fair warning!
College has been infected with the same bubble mentality that prevails in the markets, today.
Mindless bourgeois conformists have totaled up over a trillion dollars in debt for financially leveraged college "experiences" though their fabled degrees may not be worth the price of vellum...if a degree is ever obtained, as too many never even graduate.
Everyone cannot get rich doing the same thing but they most certainly can go *broke* trying.
Fair warning!
4
I am dubious that this is the best way to prepare young kids for college.
Of course education should be encouraged, and I have certainly benefited from my college education, but a few thoughts...
1. Plenty of my friends who went to college with me are still working minimum-wage or other low-tier jobs that let them scrape by...we are the age bracket that were in college when the Recession hit, and we got to learn the hard way that college is no longer a reliable method of getting a good job. Shoving "Work hard and you'll go to college and you'll get a good job!" down kids throats is almost infuriatingly willfully ignorant of everything we've learned over the last few years.
2. Cost. Going to college costs a lot of money. I am lucky enough to come from a family with lots of money, and I feel I should point out that from the group of my college friends from above, the only ones of us who have gone on to graduate school are the two of us that came from wealthy families. Heavily promoting college to kids at this age and overlooking the cost factor is unfair to poorer kids, since it implies that if they don't get into college it's because they didn't work hard enough rather than they don't have the means.
The U.S. needs to get away from the myth that all you have to do to succeed is work hard, when dumb luck is also a factor. If we truly want to live up to the American ideal of prosperity for all of it's citizens, we need to work on eliminating unfair disadvantages.
Of course education should be encouraged, and I have certainly benefited from my college education, but a few thoughts...
1. Plenty of my friends who went to college with me are still working minimum-wage or other low-tier jobs that let them scrape by...we are the age bracket that were in college when the Recession hit, and we got to learn the hard way that college is no longer a reliable method of getting a good job. Shoving "Work hard and you'll go to college and you'll get a good job!" down kids throats is almost infuriatingly willfully ignorant of everything we've learned over the last few years.
2. Cost. Going to college costs a lot of money. I am lucky enough to come from a family with lots of money, and I feel I should point out that from the group of my college friends from above, the only ones of us who have gone on to graduate school are the two of us that came from wealthy families. Heavily promoting college to kids at this age and overlooking the cost factor is unfair to poorer kids, since it implies that if they don't get into college it's because they didn't work hard enough rather than they don't have the means.
The U.S. needs to get away from the myth that all you have to do to succeed is work hard, when dumb luck is also a factor. If we truly want to live up to the American ideal of prosperity for all of it's citizens, we need to work on eliminating unfair disadvantages.
61
Children have to think about their careers in elementary school but don't have to be responsible adults until 30? Something is awry.
12
This article is not about a career. It's about going to College. It would be wonderful, if it was about a career search. However, this is preparation for students to continue to their lives in academia, without even KNOWING a career path. Such, why so many companies are reporting that college grads are not prepared for work, because school is only preparing them for school....
2
I was about 10 years old and talking to a good friend of mine when he suddenly announced out-of-the-blue that he intended to become a pharmacist and marry early. I couldn't have been more stunned at the time if he had told me was a Martian. But the thing is he ended up doing exactly what he said he would do and is now living a happily-ever-after life. I had early plans too, but none of them came true; but others eventually did, and I am now living happily-ever-after too. If you want to make G-d laugh, tell him your plans.
2
I grew up on or near college campuses because one or both of my parents was always taught at one. I grew up thinking of higher education as an automatic rite of passage in life, and as a positive and good goal. My husband and I chose a neighborhood very near a major university as our home when our daughter was an infant. She grew up down the street from a major American university and benefited from the proximity to it. I wish more children could have more exposure to colleges and university at an early age. Fun campus visits for fourth graders sound like a good idea to me.
4
Choosing a college should not be any more stressful than picking a summer camp. The experiences are roughly the same, only year-round, with a better library and easier access to booze.
1
If Scott Walker and his ilk get their way, public colleges may not even exist by the time these first graders are 18. After all, if he didn't need it, why should they?
7
Is Your First Grader College Ready?
Answer: Not if he's going there to play football.
Answer: Not if he's going there to play football.
5
Childhood's inevitable end never arrived so early. Glad I grew up when I did.
11
I have recently seen that a public school in NYC has just received LOTS of private donations (one million dollars?) so that all the students--for years to come--can visit Harvard to learn about what each student can aspire to. Is Harvard the only excellent school in the world? No. Will each student want to go to a large urban university? No. A local community college might meet the social, familial, and intellectual needs of certain students. These are needs that might not be recognized or understood until the student is in high school. Why force feed one university to these kids. BTW....St. John's is closer, Vassar is closer, SUNY Purchase is closer, as are Bard, Herkimer Community College, Yeshiva, and Princeton. It would save on travel expenses and let that million go further. Let's not push these elementary school kids too hard...let them worry about who wants them on the kickball team at recess and what they are going to do for fun after school. It sure beats coloring in a college banner.
42
Harvard has a $50 billion endowment. Why does Harvard need donations to provide poor kids with a visit? My uncle, the son of an immigrant Irish cleaning lady, went to Harvard on a scholarship for local Cambridge kids. If you want to go to Harvard, odds are pretty good for poor kids who study hard and have a talent... in my uncle's case baseball.
2
You have missed the point of the HONY fundraiser for Mott Hall Bridges. They chose a trip to Harvard for the 6th graders, not because they were expecting to inspire all the kids to go to Harvard, but because these kids have very limited horizons and limited mobility. They can't see their way out of their neighborhood. The point of the fundraiser is to show each class of 6th graders the opportunities available in the wider world,if they start the course, study, and stay out of trouble. A visit to an iconic university that the kids see in movies and know by name is going to spark their thinking. It just is. Reach for the stars and you will certainly be able to reach the moon.
3
These efforts reflect a poor understanding of the broad value of a public school education. Ironic (and sad), isn't it?
Perhaps ongoing and age-appropriate efforts, starting in perhaps the fourth grade, to teach students all the ways education is beneficial -- both for those who go to college, and those who pursue other avenues, would better instill the values of life-long learning for all students.
Perhaps ongoing and age-appropriate efforts, starting in perhaps the fourth grade, to teach students all the ways education is beneficial -- both for those who go to college, and those who pursue other avenues, would better instill the values of life-long learning for all students.
9
Whether we admit it to others or not, all parents have a future mapped out for their child from the earliest age through to eighteen, and maybe older. Will it work out that way? Who knows? It’s a good bet that somewhere along the way, perhaps much sooner than we’d like, things will take a different course, and we go from there, but there is value in charting a course to start from, and maybe to tack to, instead of drifting; could you live with yourself if you did not do everything for him that you thought best? Yet, as I write that, I don’t like the sound of it, and am not convinced that this planning is as wise as it seems. And that’s how parents become the people they thought they never would. The old man becomes everything the young man hated.
1
This excessive pushing of college being a necessity to high schoolers is one thing. To do it to a first grader seems rather funny when most first graders will grow up over the years and change what they want to be and how they want to get to be that at least three times or more.
IMO, this is telling the children whose parents didn't attend college or did not finish college that what they do and how they are managing isn't really good enough. I know that some people will say that isn't going to happen, but I've raised or helped raise 3 generations of kids, and you would be surprised about how they think about issues such as this and what it means to them.
By the time the K-kid gets his high school diploma, the world is going to look so different and be so different that this is pipe dream material making no sense at all.
IMO, this is telling the children whose parents didn't attend college or did not finish college that what they do and how they are managing isn't really good enough. I know that some people will say that isn't going to happen, but I've raised or helped raise 3 generations of kids, and you would be surprised about how they think about issues such as this and what it means to them.
By the time the K-kid gets his high school diploma, the world is going to look so different and be so different that this is pipe dream material making no sense at all.
6
I agree with you -- especially about the unintended negative message that one's own family might fall short if they didn't attend college.
I do like the idea of gradually building awareness of careers in elementary and middle school, but only in a way that is natural, unforced and age appropriate.
1. If there is a unit on careers, have speakers from the school or neighborhood. For example, have the school principal, school nurse or city librarian talk about their work.
2. Have kids interview parents about careers in the family - making no distinction about educational levels -- such as interviewing a parent about their grandparent's farm, or about being an army cook, being in the navy, seamstress, etc. (I've done a project looking at "does anyone have parents/grandparents with jobs related to: food, clothing, boats,....")
3. Visit a nearby museum and arrange for a brief talk about careers related to museums. Or have a construction manager give a talk about a nearby construction project, about the different trades and professions that go into the project.
A few experiences scattered throughout elementary and middle school provide a level of awareness and arouse curiosity. The experiences shouldn't be "preachy" about college and careers. And very important, the experiences should draw on the assets of the local community.
I do like the idea of gradually building awareness of careers in elementary and middle school, but only in a way that is natural, unforced and age appropriate.
1. If there is a unit on careers, have speakers from the school or neighborhood. For example, have the school principal, school nurse or city librarian talk about their work.
2. Have kids interview parents about careers in the family - making no distinction about educational levels -- such as interviewing a parent about their grandparent's farm, or about being an army cook, being in the navy, seamstress, etc. (I've done a project looking at "does anyone have parents/grandparents with jobs related to: food, clothing, boats,....")
3. Visit a nearby museum and arrange for a brief talk about careers related to museums. Or have a construction manager give a talk about a nearby construction project, about the different trades and professions that go into the project.
A few experiences scattered throughout elementary and middle school provide a level of awareness and arouse curiosity. The experiences shouldn't be "preachy" about college and careers. And very important, the experiences should draw on the assets of the local community.
4
Another Asian fad adapted by white middle-class. First it was tiger mom, then helicopter parents and now college tours.
9
As someone who has sat on elite college admissions committees, if you want to insure your child never gets into an elite college, start putting pressure on them at age 6 to start thinking about college. By the time they are 18 they will be so robotic and uninteresting they won't have a chance (they'll just have boxes to check--volunteer, advanced placement, team captain, but it will be transparent and one-dimensional). Teach them to be passionate about SOMETHING. These are not accelerated kids, they are neurotic parents and teachers. If you want your child to be successful teach him or her to love learning, instill in them a curiosity about life. Have them turn over rocks to see what's underneath, then turn over another one. They will either be smart enough to get into MIT or they won't, but drumming them at age 6 to think about college is a surefire way to make sure they equate school and misery. Let them be carefree. My two cents.
39
As someone who did not go to elite university, I have to disagree with some of your opinions. Going to MIT is not about being smart enough. It is more about what schools your parents could suggest to you when you are in high school and how they can support you to prepare for entrance exams etc. I did not have college-educated parents and hence I had to make all the choices myself. I wish I had had someone who would encourage me to apply to the best universities in the country!
3
Thank you ProfinVA. Sanity at last.
Parent listen to this person. The future is in creating unique individuals not little corporate robots. They are going to be replaced by real robots anyway.
Parent listen to this person. The future is in creating unique individuals not little corporate robots. They are going to be replaced by real robots anyway.
6
How about we get our high schoolers ready to take on the financial burdens of college? Let's start with College Loan Finance 101. Teach them how a $100,000 loan payment is equivalent or more than a home mortgage loan in most cases.
22
Has anyone considered that by the time these little ones are ready for college, standards and procedures may be totally different than they are today? I'm just thinking of the massive differences from kindergarten (ditto machines) to college (computers, the internet)... Why not let these kids enjoy life a little. There is plenty of time to be a grown up later on.
13
Why do we want to rush our children and young people thru their childhood and youth?
24
Plus, what are they going to think once they realize that many wunderkind CEO's never bother to go to college, and start start-ups instead? That Einstein never went to college? That many famous people skip college because they were doing movies and such at the time, and they ended up being some of the richest people in America?
4
Einstein went to college.
2
I think this sort of project is wonderful, but only if the teachers are very careful about the language they use so as to not alienate people. They're not careful about that in the video. When the little blond girl says "If you don't go to college, you won't get a good job. If you do go to college you'll get a good job, and have a good family."
None of that is correct. Garbagemen make 60-100K depending on cost of living in their city, and I don't believe a degree is a requirement. Also, what would we do in America without farmers, many of whom forego college to continue apprenticeships on family farms?
Most importantly I just think it's clear that in this classroom most of their parents are educated. Because otherwise, at least one child would be saying/thinking, "but what about my mom, who never went to college? She has a job. Are you saying her job isn't good? And our family isn't good?"
None of that is correct. Garbagemen make 60-100K depending on cost of living in their city, and I don't believe a degree is a requirement. Also, what would we do in America without farmers, many of whom forego college to continue apprenticeships on family farms?
Most importantly I just think it's clear that in this classroom most of their parents are educated. Because otherwise, at least one child would be saying/thinking, "but what about my mom, who never went to college? She has a job. Are you saying her job isn't good? And our family isn't good?"
17
This is very, very sad...we're sending the message that education is about advancement and a good career - rather than learning to solving problems and improving your knowledge of the world (ideally so you can then figure out how to improve it). I agree that kids who are in families where the parents haven't gone to college may benefit from some exposure to this idea, before it's too late. But, 1st grade?? What a corruption of youth and mind. You're pre-disposing kids to think that the next 11 years of school is just to get into college - which is just a way to get a good paying job. Most kids in elementary school don't know what they want to be when they grow up - and, that's fine. A good education will allow them to learn about what they really love and how they want to contribute to society. Telling them in the 1st grade that exams and competitive universities are the only way to be happy does them a terrible disservice...
14
Stop with the additional preparation efforts to build model learners....Mommy does not need to read SAT vocabulary words at her womb in order to create a lifetime learner!
4
As a college consultant, I find this emphasis on younger and younger children to be disheartening. And, nowhere in all this elementary school focus on college, does the word "finances" appear. It is downright dishonest to give kids the message "work hard and you can go to college" without any discussion about what it costs to attend college. And, because elementary school is way to early to discuss the costs of college tuition, room, board etc., these children are not getting a complete picture. Moreover, not everyone can or should go to college. There are plenty of important jobs performed in this country by people who do not have a college degree.
118
Our university is in one of the lowest-income regions of the nation: South Texas. Very often, our young children do not consider a university education an option. So we welcome them on tours simply to show them what a campus looks like and to tell them a bit about what we teach. They can obtain the details and make their decisions later on. Besides, I always enjoy telling very young people that I teach grades thirteen through eighteen and that I hope to see them here in ten years. A little encouragement never hurts.
2
I myself went to a "top-notch" University. My time and money would have been better used watching the clouds drift in the sky. The world can be a beautiful place if you slow down and open your eyes.
8
In first grade they have a tour. Then in second grade they should be ready to fill and sign the application for a college loan. Meanwhile banks and loan corporations have recommended all the teachers to not explain these kids the meaning of "debt" and "interest".
7
My daughter went to a diverse, mostly working class middle school in Queens, NYC. Many of the teachers went to name brand colleges (from TFA, Teacher Corps and similar programs).
The teachers named the classrooms after colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. They had the kids make bulletin boards on these schools.
I wondered the benefit of this for the kids. Sure perhaps one of two would go Ivy League, but surely not most. Most go, if at all, to local community colleges, and they are fine. I just couldn't decide if "branding" colleges was a great idea.
One day my daughter, who wanted to go to a state university, came home upset. She said "Mom, I'm worried. I'd better study hard to get into State U before Harvard, MIT, Oxford and Cambridge scoop me up"!
The teachers named the classrooms after colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. They had the kids make bulletin boards on these schools.
I wondered the benefit of this for the kids. Sure perhaps one of two would go Ivy League, but surely not most. Most go, if at all, to local community colleges, and they are fine. I just couldn't decide if "branding" colleges was a great idea.
One day my daughter, who wanted to go to a state university, came home upset. She said "Mom, I'm worried. I'd better study hard to get into State U before Harvard, MIT, Oxford and Cambridge scoop me up"!
12
It seems like it would be more beneficial to actually teach young children how to think for themselves and to practice setting and achieving shorter term goals. Those are the skills they need if they are going to make the right decisions for themselves later in life.
19
Good Grief!!!
Maybe we should start by assessing how far children come in public school and K-12 - if we spend this time preparing elementary children to perform in high school they can absorb and learn ahead of any post high school education, be ready for tech school, community college of full university and not need remedial steps and costly interventions. The K-12 structures exist, the standards exist, but we've let them slip into meaninglessness - or possibly a worship of school sports over academic achievement.
Beginning in jr. high or high school is soon enough for campus visits and the like. First graders see the pretty garden, the cool dorms and other "features" and really don't have enough life experience to connect all this with classroom experiences and academic success.
Maybe we should start by assessing how far children come in public school and K-12 - if we spend this time preparing elementary children to perform in high school they can absorb and learn ahead of any post high school education, be ready for tech school, community college of full university and not need remedial steps and costly interventions. The K-12 structures exist, the standards exist, but we've let them slip into meaninglessness - or possibly a worship of school sports over academic achievement.
Beginning in jr. high or high school is soon enough for campus visits and the like. First graders see the pretty garden, the cool dorms and other "features" and really don't have enough life experience to connect all this with classroom experiences and academic success.
8
If this is the new trend, equal attention should be given to teaching children about trades, apprenticeships, or technical degrees that might land them a job that pays more than a college degree. Then you have to teach them AND their families how to pay for any of the above educational paths.
23
How about they follow a few people in their careers for the day instead of looking at a dorm room. Say, a day in the life of an employed plumber versus a college grad with no job and sky high loans.
2
To leaven this and similar stories, is the counter-narrative, grudgingly conceded by Ivy League and other prestigious schools, of the fact that the broad mass of Americans outside the milieu of the upper middle class of the Northeast, people who don't read the NYT and the New Yorker, don't buy into this ethos of prestige-this social psychology- at all; in fact they are largely oblivious to it.
Thus, while they are concerned with having productive, successful lives for themselves and their children, which may mean college, being frenetically obssessed with the US News rankings and getting into a "good" school is simply not on their radar screen, yet they often become quite prosperous and successful in their local communities and beyond, issues sociologist Charles Murray and others have touched on; that it's a "class" thing so to speak.
Having said that, the Ivies and their kindred can provide an excellent education that is most edifying and one that is an asset in terms of the character it builds inside one, something an alum of such a place will cherish for a lifetime. That dropping its name, however, will get one much of an advantage in the broad expanse of Middle America is a dubious prospect; in fact it might be viewed in places like today's Williston, ND, as it was in Jack London's Klondike, as inept snobbery, something one might want to keep to one's self.
Thus, while they are concerned with having productive, successful lives for themselves and their children, which may mean college, being frenetically obssessed with the US News rankings and getting into a "good" school is simply not on their radar screen, yet they often become quite prosperous and successful in their local communities and beyond, issues sociologist Charles Murray and others have touched on; that it's a "class" thing so to speak.
Having said that, the Ivies and their kindred can provide an excellent education that is most edifying and one that is an asset in terms of the character it builds inside one, something an alum of such a place will cherish for a lifetime. That dropping its name, however, will get one much of an advantage in the broad expanse of Middle America is a dubious prospect; in fact it might be viewed in places like today's Williston, ND, as it was in Jack London's Klondike, as inept snobbery, something one might want to keep to one's self.
5
Parents who did not go to college or poor are not stupid not to know the value of college education. It is a matter of financing the education. They learn about the colleges from friends in school, because they talk about what their plans are after graduating from school. Kids now a days take competitive exams in their 8th grade to get into selective high schools that are established in many states. They know the value of excellence in education at an earlier ages. At first grade, all they need to do is remember what they learned at the end of the day.
3
Olympics? West Point? Harvard? Your average child, for that is what, odds are, your child is, ain't making it no matter what you do.
Relax, enjoy life, enjoy your children, quit grubbing after money and status. Develop a bit more of a moral compass and sense humility and proportion, yourself - try church or temple if you are truly clueless in those endeavors - so your kids will have a better role model when their careerist dreams go bust just like yours.
Meanwhile, it might make sense hedge your bet and vote for all those public policies, such as genuinely universal, affordable healthcare, a higher minimum wage, workplace safety and collective bargaining, and a more livable planet, that lower the stakes of the First Grade Rat Race, so your child and every child can at least be assured a more decent, more healthy, more dignified life no matter how high they try to jump and fall.
Relax, enjoy life, enjoy your children, quit grubbing after money and status. Develop a bit more of a moral compass and sense humility and proportion, yourself - try church or temple if you are truly clueless in those endeavors - so your kids will have a better role model when their careerist dreams go bust just like yours.
Meanwhile, it might make sense hedge your bet and vote for all those public policies, such as genuinely universal, affordable healthcare, a higher minimum wage, workplace safety and collective bargaining, and a more livable planet, that lower the stakes of the First Grade Rat Race, so your child and every child can at least be assured a more decent, more healthy, more dignified life no matter how high they try to jump and fall.
35
Ha! True except we don't get to vote on these policies. Thy don't seem to be in favor with anyone we elect.
5
Ibarguen
Thank you. Your comment is the best I have read in years. At some point Americans of all political orientations and across classes need a reality check. Fantasies of being better than others and devoting life to the Sisyphusian task of realizing grandiose status rob us of our lives, self-respect and even humanity as anyone who is not "elite" becomes inscribed as a "loser". When will we again respect ordinary, decent, hard-working people who value shared prosperity? The Deification of the one percent is a moral hazard and spiritual shackle.
Thank you. Your comment is the best I have read in years. At some point Americans of all political orientations and across classes need a reality check. Fantasies of being better than others and devoting life to the Sisyphusian task of realizing grandiose status rob us of our lives, self-respect and even humanity as anyone who is not "elite" becomes inscribed as a "loser". When will we again respect ordinary, decent, hard-working people who value shared prosperity? The Deification of the one percent is a moral hazard and spiritual shackle.
1
Is it ever too early? Yes.
21
I think teaching 6 year-olds about college is simply idiotic.
17
I was looking for the "this is stupid" comment so I could recommend it. Thank you!
1
Aside from the pathetic and childhood-destroying nature of obsessing at such an early age, when are we going to wake up to the fact that not every person belongs in college? When are we going to value the trades as honest, decent-paying career choices? Kids are not allowed to dream their own dreams anymore or develop their own unique talents. Helicopter parenting is actually an oblique form of child abuse.
32
This is so depressing and so developmentally inappropriate. Can't children be children? And someone please show me data that says where you go to college determines your success in life? How has college become so reified in our society? The sad news is that parents and schools have all drunk the Kool-Aid on the uber-importance of college. I am eagerly awaiting a backlash from youth who have been force-fed this nonsense. Why don't the youth speak up and say that the college quest does not define them or their needs? until that day the College Board will rule the academic world.
13
This is most certainly the saddest piece I've read (and seen) so far this year. Is this REALLY what raising children has devolved down to, especially for New Yorkers? I am very sad for these kids and their over-stoked parents trying to breed tomorrow's hedge fund managers and One57 residents.
7
Well, such parents don't even need this approach. It is totally expected that their children will go to college, and that they can easily afford it. This article is geared to lower income families who may not have gone to college themselves and have limited idea of how to guide their kids. No need to bring "geography" (i.e., New York) into it. Besides, the story is about North Carolina.
5
Maybe if they really want to attack inequality they should promote "Union Awareness".
7
My immediate reaction is one of semi-disgust. However, then I realized that in some ways it is appropriate for first grade to discuss college. I realize that I actually have spoken to my own first-graders about college--not in concrete terms, but in our family we talk about college as the inevitable post-high school plan. We talk about what our kids want to choose for careers and what it takes to get there (and sometimes that means talking about chef school, and other times it means talking about college and veterinary school). My children also saw me go through medical school, which was an example to them. Not all children are raised in similar environments. And while I would not tout my own cultural or socioeconomic environment as somehow "better", I do think that for children who do not grow up with college as part of their family vocabulary, discussing it at school is good for them. Perhaps campus visits are overkill, but even a small project about future goals doesn't seem inappropriate from that perspective.
9
What ever became of teaching critical thinking? With today's flood of information from various sources, ranging from partisan propaganda, the internet, and junk TV (such as "reality" shows), you need to be able to tell s**t from Shinola. Without it, you're just a pawn and will remain so.
6
"Critical thinking" gets tossed around but remains undefined, although I do agree that source evaluation skills are key to being literate about the purpose(s) of the creation and dissemination of a particular information source.
But these are kids, and they do have age-related limitations where text and image source analysis is concerned. Seems to me they're at an age where critical thinking - again, whatever that is - can be had best through soft analysis of a game of kickball while playing it ("Should I risk kicking the ball far enough to get around all the bases or not take the risk and just kick to send in the run from third?") or an ethical discussion about a kid who promises to eat her lunch so as to not waste food but then shares it with a homeless kid, thus breaking her promise, and thus creating the ethical dilemma to be discussed.
The cynicism about being a pawn can wait.
But these are kids, and they do have age-related limitations where text and image source analysis is concerned. Seems to me they're at an age where critical thinking - again, whatever that is - can be had best through soft analysis of a game of kickball while playing it ("Should I risk kicking the ball far enough to get around all the bases or not take the risk and just kick to send in the run from third?") or an ethical discussion about a kid who promises to eat her lunch so as to not waste food but then shares it with a homeless kid, thus breaking her promise, and thus creating the ethical dilemma to be discussed.
The cynicism about being a pawn can wait.
1
What's next prep courses for the SAT exam in first grade.
3
Steve, I hate to tell you but NCLB and CC and high stakes testing they already have this. I wish I was speaking metaphorically but this is reality for many, many
children now.
children now.
4
I don't want kids to grow-up too fast; they already are. But to a young mind, concrete examples are more important and pivotal than abstractions. If a child realizes earlier that doing well in school is important to going to college and then having a good life, it might cause them to do a little better in school if they actually see what a college is. I know it sounds like adding more stress for kids and maybe it is a bit, but it can also clarify goals for children. I did well in high school and college but I was first-generation in college. If I had a better understanding of what college was (and engineering for that matter), I would have been and even better student and had a more successful life.
2
Non-sense. When my daughter was 5 she wanted to be a Mexican ballerina scientist. (We're not Mexican.) Kids that age have no clue and pushing them is counterproductive. The best thing for a kindergartener to do is play, the more fantasy and imagination the better.
22
I think you misunderstand what I am saying. I'm not for pushing kids and adding to stress, but making concrete the concept of college is better than having it be abstract idea. Look at climate change deniers and vaccination deniers. They have that problem too and are adults. A trip to a college and showing kids what colleges are and the experiences kids can have is a good way to inspire kids. That's all. Concrete examples are always a more effective communication and learning tool than abstractions.
1
This is what my son would say is a first world problem. This is crazy - there is a college for everyone but not everyone knows where they want to go at 17, let alone 5. To grow up, kids need to be kids and that means letting them grow, learn, make mistakes, try stuff, quit stuff, stick with stuff and not worry about the CV. Enough already.....
13
I am all for making our children think about the future. Last week I took my kids to see the movie "Project Almanac". It was watchable, but there was something that really bothered me about the movie. At a pivotal part of the movie, two of the young actors are in front of a large wall that asks the question "what will you do before the world ends?", I thought then, why is the world ending? After the movie my kids were rethinking that part of the movie and giving their answers to what they would do "before the world ends".
It was amazing to me how they took that concept with no question, they did not ask why is the world ending, it was almost like the end of the world has become a given, tacit knowledge. It seems Hollywood knows something the rest of us do not, because it seems to be the theme in many of their movies, especially one's directed at American youth.
The concern in believing the world is soon to end, is that it makes it seem unavoidable, and promotes a certain reckless behavior. Why study hard and save your money, plan for the future, when there will be no future, it pushes kids to live for the moment.
Our kids have enough hurdles, they need to believe the world will be around for billions of years to come, but it will be their hard work that will insure, for at least a long while, people are here to continue to enjoy it.
It was amazing to me how they took that concept with no question, they did not ask why is the world ending, it was almost like the end of the world has become a given, tacit knowledge. It seems Hollywood knows something the rest of us do not, because it seems to be the theme in many of their movies, especially one's directed at American youth.
The concern in believing the world is soon to end, is that it makes it seem unavoidable, and promotes a certain reckless behavior. Why study hard and save your money, plan for the future, when there will be no future, it pushes kids to live for the moment.
Our kids have enough hurdles, they need to believe the world will be around for billions of years to come, but it will be their hard work that will insure, for at least a long while, people are here to continue to enjoy it.
1
Before going to a college-obsessed boarding school, I lived in a town where a bumper sticker emblazoned with the name of a prestigious school was a sign of success of the highest caliber. I developed a pretty severe inferiority complex when I realized that I would never get into an Ivy, even after being coached in pursuit of that goal for years. I can only imagine the pressure these children will feel to disregard their mental health in their quest for a piece of paper with a fancy name on it.
8
You must be kidding right? Oh your not...then my I suggest that the advocates of this type of thinking be required to proceed with manditory collage applications during conception. Why wait? Yet another reason for public televised spanking.
1
This saddens me. I am not _at all_ opposed to early academics, or to giving kids a head start, or talking about the future. But this has gotten completely out of hand. First grade?! Can't they look forward to second grade for awhile, first?
6
This is a business playing into parent's fantasies. We received a lot of solicitation about this camp and that camp for high schoolers who wanted to be doctors during the period my daughter was in high school. There are always fees, lodging, travel etc being charged for these. So this push for college for first graders is something similar. This is another made up business preying on anxieties and resources of helicopter parents. Educate and raise your children well with expectations and they will goto college.
50
There is something missing from this discussion -- when we're talking about the kids who benefit from this type of early college awareness, we're not talking about upper middle class white kids. As an upper middle class white girl from the suburbs of Boston, it was always made clear to me from kindergarten that I would go to college, so my private school didn't need to overtly push the concept on us.
But for children living in poor communities, where the adults around them never went to college and maybe didn't graduate from high school, this is an absolutely crucial effort to try and chip away at the uneven playing field between children from financially stable, educated families and those children who don't have natural role models surrounding them every day. Understanding that college is EXPECTED and ATTAINABLE is so important, and it's an alien concept in too many places, and children miss their shot by assuming it's not in the cards for them. Why is everyone so down on this?
But for children living in poor communities, where the adults around them never went to college and maybe didn't graduate from high school, this is an absolutely crucial effort to try and chip away at the uneven playing field between children from financially stable, educated families and those children who don't have natural role models surrounding them every day. Understanding that college is EXPECTED and ATTAINABLE is so important, and it's an alien concept in too many places, and children miss their shot by assuming it's not in the cards for them. Why is everyone so down on this?
193
I was going to say this, but you said it better. Poorly-educated people who have no background in higher education, natives and immigrants, do not know what "everybody knows" about preparing their children for college, or even why they should. They don't know about testing, about tracking in the public schools, don't know what resources are available to them and again, don't always know how important this is to their children.
My wife was raised by parents who had no interest in whether she went to college or not. Her friends, from well-to-do families, showed her what to do and how to prepare. Tens of millions of young people in America don't have such friends.
My wife was raised by parents who had no interest in whether she went to college or not. Her friends, from well-to-do families, showed her what to do and how to prepare. Tens of millions of young people in America don't have such friends.
80
I volunteered as a writing coach for College Summit, a great nonprofit that helps poor kids prepare for college. Almost without exception, none of these kids' parents went to college and virtually ever kids was told they were not "college material" by parents, teachers, counselors and other family members (which says something about the quality of their teachers -- but that's another topic).
Suffice to say, virtually all of these kids went to college despite the naysayers.
The sooner lower income kids hear about college as a part of their life they need to prepare for, the better.
Suffice to say, virtually all of these kids went to college despite the naysayers.
The sooner lower income kids hear about college as a part of their life they need to prepare for, the better.
8
I teach high school seniors. Most will go to college and will be the first in their families to do so. Most are highly motivated by the belief that college will make them successful. Only a few are motivated by intellectual curiosity and these are the ones, I believe, who actually finish college and build a lucrative career and be able to pay off their college debt. Unfortunately, more than half of our nation's college students drop out. Instead of teaching kids how to get good grades, high scores and build a college ready resume, what if we taught them how to be curious, innovative and socially conscious?
7
It is a well-known fact that top companies in the USA essentially use the most prestigious universities and colleges as job screeners. The segmented labor market in countries like Japan has been criticized for heavily favoring graduates of top universities there, but I doubt the USA is much less extreme. The situation may not be as ridiculous as pre-financial crisis (2008), when 4th-year undergraduates from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton who could sign their own names basically had their pick of lucrative, entry level jobs as well-paid finance/consulting drones at Goldman Sachs & Co., but the situation is still pretty ridiculous.
As long as this state of affairs persists, it is understandable that parents will begin preparing their children for college admissions when they're in elementary school.
As long as this state of affairs persists, it is understandable that parents will begin preparing their children for college admissions when they're in elementary school.
1
It may be understandable, but it may also have very negative consequences for the child, especially if they stumble along the way. There's more to life than working for a big corporation.
2
Total madness. Campus tours? Women's Studies? Sociology!? Doesn't anyone in the education system remember BEING a child?
There are a lot of negative comments here. I can see where this might seem over-the-top in a wealthy suburban enclave where your kids are exposed to the concept of college and continued education. My wife is a teacher in Oakland public schools. While she doesn't take them to campuses, she does actively discuss college. She teaches 1st and 5th grade. Why? Most of these kids have never left a one mile radius, their parents didn't go to college, and they aren't exposed to college on anything other than TV. Middle class and suburban kids tend to grow up comfortable with the idea that college is at least an option, and the getting there a manageable task. For kids not exposed to idea it's either daunting or so far removed from their reality it would never even be entertained.
Helicopter parents are bad. Let kids play. But expose them to thoughts, ideas, and ways of life that they might not otherwise pursue. I know this is the Internet, but there don't *have* to only be extreme positions on this one.
Helicopter parents are bad. Let kids play. But expose them to thoughts, ideas, and ways of life that they might not otherwise pursue. I know this is the Internet, but there don't *have* to only be extreme positions on this one.
9
It would be nice if educators could figure out a way to keep a child's natural curiosity and passions alive past 6th grade, rather than reduce life to a series bullet points on a powerpoint presentation.
9
According to friends our family is batting .500 in the game of life; one kid at Harvard graduate school and one kid can't seem to graduate community college. They were raised in the same household, had the same experiences, went to the same schools. Each kid is unique. We don't feel we failed, to us, our score is 1.000.
They both were exposed to the concept of college as a necessity and a goal early in life. One did well in school, the other did not. While college seems to be a requirement for a professional life these days, do not demean life without a degree. It will be more challenging to earn a middle class lifestyle without college, but it can be done. Recognize that schools like Harvard or Yale may be crushing goals if your child doesn't achieve. However, doing "good enough" may make one happier, have a well rounded life and is not necessarily a measure of intelligence. Oh, BTW, the actual IQ of the more intelligent child is not that of the one at Harvard.
They both were exposed to the concept of college as a necessity and a goal early in life. One did well in school, the other did not. While college seems to be a requirement for a professional life these days, do not demean life without a degree. It will be more challenging to earn a middle class lifestyle without college, but it can be done. Recognize that schools like Harvard or Yale may be crushing goals if your child doesn't achieve. However, doing "good enough" may make one happier, have a well rounded life and is not necessarily a measure of intelligence. Oh, BTW, the actual IQ of the more intelligent child is not that of the one at Harvard.
10
Nowhere else but here. This is simply bizarre. It's the natural outgrowth of ridiculous ideas like all kindergarteners will be able to read, enshrined in the Common Core. Early readers no more become better readers later in life than early walkers become better walkers when they are two years old. As evidenced in their comments, 6 year-olds cannot conceptualize what college is.
As to Olympic athletes, it's a faulty comparison with students. Olympic athletes are rarer than hen's teeth and almost every child in our country is a student.
Everyone's not going to Harvard, or Rice, nor should they. Everyone's not going to college, nor should they.
As to Olympic athletes, it's a faulty comparison with students. Olympic athletes are rarer than hen's teeth and almost every child in our country is a student.
Everyone's not going to Harvard, or Rice, nor should they. Everyone's not going to college, nor should they.
9
Actually the situation in Japan is similar, and we used to ridicule them for burdening their children at an early age.
1
The Olympic comparison is pretty weak. Most kids who spend their lifetimes training for the Olympics aren't actually going to be in the Olympics. Intense focus in one activity from a young ages does close off doors. It is up for the individual families to decide whether closing those doors makes sense, but I certainly wouldn't push it on anyone.
Why must the word "college" be automatically entertwined with children's future aspirations? Not all children are meant to go to college. Quite a few would do better in decent vocational schools which are few and far between is this country.
3
There is an assumption that every 6 year old will be able to go to college, i.e, have the smarts to do so. The indisputable fact is that some people are not academically able to do college level work. That is not to say they can't try but this is another inane article putting everyone in the same place and pushing young parents beyond their resources at the moment. If the US doesn't quit spending so much on endless war no one will be able to afford to go to college.
7
How sad. What especially strikes me here is the desperate attempt to place the entire burden of achieving the magic goal of college on five-year-olds, even as the article states, "' Families in upper-income brackets have lots of resources, 'she said, 'and they are mobilizing those resources to maximize advantage.'". And the solution to this disparity is to get first-graders to start planning their academic path, as if that will level the playing field? Why not just tell their parents that they need to increase their annual income by at least $200,000 and do it soon so that they can send their kids to prep schools, hire tutors, etc? Ridiculous, right? But so is asking first graders to beat out amply-financed kids of elite alumni by getting started right away.
9
Honestly, I didn't even know what college was when I was in first grade. My parents never discussed advanced education or anything about my future, really. I didn't get interested in it until way after high school. I went on to get a master's degree. Imagine that!
4
This just goes to show the ever growing American obsession with achievement. From tiger moms to Tiger Woods, we look at the value of our child's future life in terms of the accomplishments they may accrue.
So here is where I diverge most strongly with this early college prep: creating a mock college application and doing campus visits at age 10 develop skills for a very narrow purpose, that of getting into a top college. How is getting into some school for name recognition an admirable goal in the first place? Why not try to do great things and see where it takes you, whether Harvard or "State." Let us try to be a society of a sincere "do your best" instead of "be the best."
So here is where I diverge most strongly with this early college prep: creating a mock college application and doing campus visits at age 10 develop skills for a very narrow purpose, that of getting into a top college. How is getting into some school for name recognition an admirable goal in the first place? Why not try to do great things and see where it takes you, whether Harvard or "State." Let us try to be a society of a sincere "do your best" instead of "be the best."
3
Fortunately my kids at 21, 18 and 16 appear to be deeply involved in to sorting out their own ideas and aspirations for what they hope to achieve for themselves. I agree that raising future expectations for children born into poverty and strife has to be a good thing as reaching one's potential is a benefit for all our citizenry. It's sad that introducing the concept of college (where you can buy candy!) seems particularly odd for small children. How about encouraging their strengths and talents, find and shore up their weaknesses and create learning environments that inspire exploration and mastery of the fundamentals- but discussing college in first grade. Too weird for this parent.
http://curbappealinsleepyhollow.blogspot.com/
http://curbappealinsleepyhollow.blogspot.com/
2
What happened to childhood?
3
The politicized world of education is the wrong direction to take. A university degree is OVERPRICED due to politics. The school testing system today and how its used is politicized and again totally wrong. (this comment section is not the place to discuss this testing claim. Suffice it to say that I was exposed to a world class education solution to this topic on the University of Texas campus - the Educational Productivity Council. There were methods developed to measure teaching efficiency and use this knowledge to improve a school districts curriculum. Note that this is local control. Did any of our state legislatures embrace this? No. FL did look at it somewhat. Did other countries? Yes Control of education needs to be returned to the state and communities) So, politics has taken schools down a bad road. I see this in practice because I'm in a community that puts education first. As such, the local high school has the best physics program in the world, is in the top 5 high schools in the US, and the whole school system has parental involvement at its core. Introducing kids to the concept of college is something of a balancing act. It should not be politicized. What happened to being a kid, playing and having fun? Being a kid can be combined with future dreams. Parents need to support this: enabling kids to live their dream as they grow up.
2
Yes, kids should be kids. But kids who don't have a family member who has attended college need to be exposed to the idea of college. My parents went to college and had graduate degrees. My dad was a professor and my mom later became a high school teacher. There was never a point in my life that I didn't hear about college in a positive light. My sister and I were given total freedom to follow our dreams, and we ended up on different paths. But we always knew that college could open many doors for us.
I agree that the test prep nonsense needs to stop. But college awareness in neighborhoods where few go to college (or even graduate from high school) is the only way to end the centuries of racism and classism in America.
I agree that the test prep nonsense needs to stop. But college awareness in neighborhoods where few go to college (or even graduate from high school) is the only way to end the centuries of racism and classism in America.
11
This is what public school teachers are forced to do now that corporations have bought the politicians. In order to keep their jobs, teachers are forced to teach nonsense instead of providing a real education.
My sister, concerned that my niece wasn't learning the fundamentals in early elementary school when examining her materials complained to the teacher. The teacher responded by telling her that she wanted to teach what's important but she had no control over the curriculum. When my sister asked what could be done, the teacher replied with, "Don't worry, I teach them the fundamentals when my bosses aren't looking."
That tells you everything you need to know. Teachers have to teach in the shadows for kids to learn.
My sister, concerned that my niece wasn't learning the fundamentals in early elementary school when examining her materials complained to the teacher. The teacher responded by telling her that she wanted to teach what's important but she had no control over the curriculum. When my sister asked what could be done, the teacher replied with, "Don't worry, I teach them the fundamentals when my bosses aren't looking."
That tells you everything you need to know. Teachers have to teach in the shadows for kids to learn.
9
Our entire education system has been upended by the Rep.Party with one goal in mind, turn it over to Corporations for profit and destroy unions that vote Democratic. What was once the best education system in the world has been turned into a free for all for Corporations with little accountability other than profit. Texas, mentioned in this piece has a 50% drop out rate in their high schools. We are in a race to the bottom, and our children and grand children are collateral damage to a 1% agenda. We are eating our seed corn before it even goes into the ground.
4
My first-grade son hears about college all the time. We've walked through multiple campuses; we've gone to multiple college football and basketball games; he's a veritable college billboard because his wardrobe is filled with college shirts from various "almas mater" of family members. This is, of course, because he enjoys the privilege of having two college-educated parents and many other college-educated family members, including a dad fairly obsessed with college sports.
Students in families without college experiences will most probably lack this immersion and awareness, so the elementary schools described here are filling the void. What's wrong with that?
Students in families without college experiences will most probably lack this immersion and awareness, so the elementary schools described here are filling the void. What's wrong with that?
39
Nothing in concept, it is the practice people question. if you can't present the total picture are you creating false hope? Are these kids old enough to grasp he ideas of college financing? Competitive testing and resume building? Just talking about this college or that, or even the nebulous concept of "college" does not provide the context you describe (and I also enjoyed my self).
1
This is a double edged sword. Since the testing agenda, kinder classes in NYC no have longer play centers that helped build socialization skills. Now it's mostly academics and worksheets because kinder is now the new first grade.
This is the first thing that needs to be corrected.
That said, there are school communities where students don't hear conversations about college. The purpose of field trips should be to open up horizons. But some of what's being done here is over the too.
Trips should also be fun and so should early childhood education. I have had students who have never visited a zoo or a farm. When I would ask them what animals they eat, they couldn't believe the origin of a hamburger. As educators we need to fill in these gaps that we take for granted. Unfortunately young children are coming home stressed with test prep activities. And the new agenda ignores the problems they face at home. Let's not also pressure them into getting into Harvard at the age of 5.
This is the first thing that needs to be corrected.
That said, there are school communities where students don't hear conversations about college. The purpose of field trips should be to open up horizons. But some of what's being done here is over the too.
Trips should also be fun and so should early childhood education. I have had students who have never visited a zoo or a farm. When I would ask them what animals they eat, they couldn't believe the origin of a hamburger. As educators we need to fill in these gaps that we take for granted. Unfortunately young children are coming home stressed with test prep activities. And the new agenda ignores the problems they face at home. Let's not also pressure them into getting into Harvard at the age of 5.
3
To those commenting about how stressful this is for kids, I'm assuming you haven't been to college in decades. As a current college student, I can say I WISH I had this kind of planning growing up. I wasn't exposed to the inevitable obligation of choosing a program, being forced to take out student loans, cramming for exams and writing 10 page papers. None of this was substantially explained in high school. At the end of senior year, myself and I'm sure 75% of my generation (I graduated high school in 2011) was simply thrown to the wolves. If you think this is stressful, imagine being able to brush off the looming process of college planning until the spring of your senior year. Not out of laziness, but simply not appreciating the importance of proper planning. Nothing is more stressful than knowing that the decisions you make in a rushed, almost thoughtless manner will affect you for your entire life. My generation and those who are now making their way through k-12 will be more reliant on a college education for a job than most of you were, and we'll have the least financial support, and the most competition.
If you want to "let kids be kids", by all means, but don't let them become mindless students who rely entirely on the system to decide their fate. Give them the tools and mind-set they need to actually succeed, and do it early, so they won't take the free portion of their education for granted.
If you want to "let kids be kids", by all means, but don't let them become mindless students who rely entirely on the system to decide their fate. Give them the tools and mind-set they need to actually succeed, and do it early, so they won't take the free portion of their education for granted.
52
If you waited until spring of senior year to discuss future plans (college or not) then your high school was neglectful or you were not listening.
4
How do you present complex concepts and steps to children so young, building transformers seems like an attainable lifetime goal? I agree with you in principle, but prior to middle school, it seems a little too much too early.
2
I find Justin's take refreshing and right in synch with what I see up close everyday. As a career choice guy, for 20 years I've been helping bright college graduates fix their career choice mistakes. I'm talking big vocational choice errors, like lawyers that realize they're not innately good at writing, and surgeons that learn 10 years after medical school that they don't have a natural talent for diagnosing spatial problems. They worked really hard at the wrong things, because they were flying blind on the hope that "hard work is all it takes" to succeed in life. Many say that they had clues that something was off track in college, but misinterpreted their gut hunches. They didn't have a inner compass to redirect with confidence, so they defaulted to external rules of thumb (heuristic short cuts) for achieving success: "follow the crowd."
Motivating kids to aspire and make something of their life is good, but this alone, without help on how to make a solid career choice rooted in their natural abilities is backfiring terribly (as noted earlier here by Justin and Diana, a professor of an elite university).
After I work with college students to find their strengths and make a well-considered career path quest, I often get a call from their mid-career parents, also college graduates that are not happy with the future their teenage self plucked out of thin air, who say, "I still haven't figure out what I want to be," why is this still happening today?
Motivating kids to aspire and make something of their life is good, but this alone, without help on how to make a solid career choice rooted in their natural abilities is backfiring terribly (as noted earlier here by Justin and Diana, a professor of an elite university).
After I work with college students to find their strengths and make a well-considered career path quest, I often get a call from their mid-career parents, also college graduates that are not happy with the future their teenage self plucked out of thin air, who say, "I still haven't figure out what I want to be," why is this still happening today?
1
Sounds like fun for the teachers leading a field trip. Otherwise, kind of pointless. Kids that young need to focus on their current studies for their own sake, not as a "career path".
12
The current studies of a 1st grader is drawing a butterfly and spelling the word "awesome". What's the big deal on making them draw a college campus and to spell the word "university"? It simply plants the idea and importance of a college education, even if all they're focused on is drawing within the lines.
1
This is fantastic! These programs are opening possibilities to children and showing them that their future belongs to them. It does not help children to tell them they can be anything they want if we don't provide them advice and realistic encouragement to achieve their goals. Children from families and communities where college and careers are not commonly thought of need support from people who are in the know. At the end of the day, no one is forcing them to go to college, only to see that they can choose that option for themselves.
23
"Is your first grader college ready?" Answer: No.
Kids who don't have college students and professionals in their families need to be introduced to college as a possibility in their lives, and non-white and non-rich kids benefit from visiting a college and seeing that the students include people like themselves. But when they're old enough to understand what's going on.
In my own case, a babysitter who was a college student was a more effective ambassador for college than any number of formal programs would have been. The human connection is much more important than test prep.
Kids who don't have college students and professionals in their families need to be introduced to college as a possibility in their lives, and non-white and non-rich kids benefit from visiting a college and seeing that the students include people like themselves. But when they're old enough to understand what's going on.
In my own case, a babysitter who was a college student was a more effective ambassador for college than any number of formal programs would have been. The human connection is much more important than test prep.
9
I think it's a good idea to get this college discussion out of the way in pre-school. That way, in first grade you can have that alcohol, drugs, and sex discussion. That leaves second grade for the harder discussions - divorce, dead-end careers, raising teenagers. By third grade - they'll be ready to conquer the world.
263
I wonder to what extent this is a striver-class overcompensation. Those who already have college and advanced degrees don't need this type of institutionalized intervention. Why? In ever gesture and act, they are signalling the importance of college and, also, it inevitability. This program might actually be great for inner city kids.
3
Most low-income children do not live in the inner city, they live in rural communities, and would have to leave home to attend college. This is a huge barrier to increasing the number of poor children, even those with good academic preparation and financial aid, who pursue and obtain post-secondary degrees.
2
And what is college? “It’s someplace where you go to get your career.”
______________
That's a problem right there. College is a place to continue your education, learning more about the world, yourself, and possibly a field you'd like to pursue as a career. But there are plenty of people who work in areas that they didn't focus on in college.
It used to be the complaint that in Communist countries, people were viewed simply as being cogs in the economic machine. They same thinking is taking over here—and at an earlier age now, it seems.
______________
That's a problem right there. College is a place to continue your education, learning more about the world, yourself, and possibly a field you'd like to pursue as a career. But there are plenty of people who work in areas that they didn't focus on in college.
It used to be the complaint that in Communist countries, people were viewed simply as being cogs in the economic machine. They same thinking is taking over here—and at an earlier age now, it seems.
100
In 1957 when I was almost 5, my status conscious mother who had never read a book was determined that I fulfill her expectations. She took me to a private school and was discouraged by the educator who informed her that I was too young. My mother continued to push her child prodigy until the teacher gave me a choice between a book or candy - and I chose the candy. (In fact, my mother never allowed candy.) I still recall my mother driving me home, sulking in regard to the opportunity of which I deprived her, to be the proud mother of a prodigy, shouting "you will never get in a decent (read Ivy League) college. Needless to say, we never had a warm relationship; nothing was ever for my best interest, only for her personal glory. Children should be allowed to evolve into themselves with parental support and guidance.
17
This is one of those markers that occasionally pop up showing just how insane, and inhumane, we have become. I am struck by this quote well into the article: “It is competitive out there and what can you do and what are you doing other than going home and playing video games?” She nudges them. “You are 12 years old. Do you give back?” So there are three assumptions there. "Giving back" is a competitive endeavor; twelve year olds should feel bad if they don't compete by opportunistically feigning altruism; and the only other option is to zone out in front of a computer screen. People, how about creating some non-competitive, creative, and fun things for kids to do? Or better yet, let them get together and create their own things.
In the meantime, I guess I'd better start coaching my sperm, and doing Ivy League meditations every night so the right aspirations will vibrate down into my DNA.
In the meantime, I guess I'd better start coaching my sperm, and doing Ivy League meditations every night so the right aspirations will vibrate down into my DNA.
22
My 4 year old thinks Ivy League schools are too mainstream and wants to spend this summer backpacking around Belgium to try and find herself.. idk if i should let her go...
144
Strange, we used to look at school obsessed Asian students as uncreative technocrats, whereas Americans were rugged individualistic inventors and tinkerers. Now we want to be sure that we're a perfect fit for the credentialist model of life. Our Asian brothers would be so proud.
The irony of it all is that many people I know with excellent credentials are actually pretty incompetent at their jobs. And they are often sufficiently lacking in introspection to even recognize as much. It may be a little mean, but I do occasionally take a bit of pleasure in asking a question or two that completely undermines the premise of a lousy presentation or report. But really, sometimes its needed to stop things before a damaging "solution" is advocated to the enterprise.
The irony of it all is that many people I know with excellent credentials are actually pretty incompetent at their jobs. And they are often sufficiently lacking in introspection to even recognize as much. It may be a little mean, but I do occasionally take a bit of pleasure in asking a question or two that completely undermines the premise of a lousy presentation or report. But really, sometimes its needed to stop things before a damaging "solution" is advocated to the enterprise.
11
Most of the articles recently in the NYT about university life in the US have not been complimentary. They have dealt with rape, dating or otherwise, alcoholic overindulgence and other forms of immature and inappropriate behavior for learning or anything else.
Perhaps the stress in K-12 should be on learning, understanding, responsibility and maturity, so that those who do go through the system will enter a university prepared to act as adults and actually gain something from the learning process beyond a hangover.
I have a son who is a statistician (albeit not in the US). Does anyone think that there is a grade school student or high student world over who would answer the question: what do you want to be when you grow up with the answer: statistician? Apart from doctor, lawyer, teacher etc., there needs to be plenty of time for meandering.
I have a grandson in the first grade (also not in the US), father surgeon and mother psychologist. His parents thankfully are happy just to let him learn and enjoy the first grade. Plenty of time for serious later, including university and career choice.
Perhaps the stress in K-12 should be on learning, understanding, responsibility and maturity, so that those who do go through the system will enter a university prepared to act as adults and actually gain something from the learning process beyond a hangover.
I have a son who is a statistician (albeit not in the US). Does anyone think that there is a grade school student or high student world over who would answer the question: what do you want to be when you grow up with the answer: statistician? Apart from doctor, lawyer, teacher etc., there needs to be plenty of time for meandering.
I have a grandson in the first grade (also not in the US), father surgeon and mother psychologist. His parents thankfully are happy just to let him learn and enjoy the first grade. Plenty of time for serious later, including university and career choice.
8
Our quest to become smarter and smarter just keeps getting dumber and dumber. Kids deserve an enjoyable life balanced with an appropriate education.
20
I believe starting that early may produce a distorting focus that leads educators to help students, as the Bible says, gain the world but lose their soul. I taught in an elite enclave in Silicon Valley, where the local preschool sweatshirt left me speechless. It had the name of the preschool at the bottom, and above it were written three words: Oxford, Harvard, and Stanford.
They meant well, but I always felt so bad for those kids and the view their parents seemed to have regarding their childhood. Wake up and don't waste this life on trivial conceptions and test scores and "top" schools!
They meant well, but I always felt so bad for those kids and the view their parents seemed to have regarding their childhood. Wake up and don't waste this life on trivial conceptions and test scores and "top" schools!
44
Considering that North Carolina has decimated its public education spending and has current plans to make things even worse for these first graders this is like an obscene joke.
27
I am a child psychiatrist. This disgusts me. When my 1.5 year old is in preschool and comes home talking about college, I am going to tell him to stop it and focus on elementary school and learning to color inside the lines and tie his shoes first.
30
Even better, perhaps he will choose to color outside the lines.
9
The problem I have with these programs is how it is just about getting in. I'm more concerned with my children FINISHING college (less than half of those who start finish). It's EASY to get in (every child who wants to go to college will be accepted to one), its really hard to finish. Where you go only matters if you graduate, and even then it matters a lot less than what you major in.
6
While college is an admirable goal, not everyone is academically inclined but may want to contribute to society by learning a trade or skill or art. I worry that college is emphasized as the most desirable path and that other roads are seen as less worthy.
5
Is Your First Grader Ready for World Peace? Mindfulness practice at age 6, learning to pause before speaking or acting in order to refrain from causing harm at 10. More and more elementary schools are introducing the idea of compassionate awareness. Is it ever too early to plan for the future?
My dream headline.
My dream headline.
19
Is it ever too early to introduce children to the concept of college? Yes, if the child doesn't have a concept of this day next week, or what's bigger, 7 or 9. If parents buy into this nonsense, well, it's still a free country. Now, some of the unvaccinated kids raised by them may not live long enough to apply to college, but that's a different problem......
19
There is more teen anxiety and depression than ever before in our history. I see it with my own teens and their friends, some of whom have been medicated for years, had to spend time in hospitals and have done the unthinkable: committed suicide. We need to slow down, smell the roses from time to time, and let children in this country develop naturally at their own pace. It is not necessary to be on the fast track from infancy. It's wrong and we are only damaging them so they can grow up to be screwed up individuals. STOP THE INSANITY!
29
A local school counselor says she sees third graders reporting stress about where they will go to college.
For heaven's sake. Let's let the little kids be little kids.
For heaven's sake. Let's let the little kids be little kids.
9
My 7 year old told me yesterday that he's worried he won't get a scholarship because of his ADHD. I have no idea how he even knows what a scholarship is, but I felt sick that he's worrying about it in only the 2nd grade.
5
When we did the preschool rounds with our eldest daughter years ago, the most memorable interview was with a preschool (which shall remain nameless) whose representative began one of her sentences with a reference to her preschool and ended it with "Ivy League." I kid you not. We did not enroll our daughter there.
5
The goal of education should be to produce individuals that can think critically, can engage in decision making that is based on logic and reason, are socialized so that they can appreciate the attitudes and feelings of others and to create a pathway for growth, whether that growth eventually resides in college or in the realm of vocational studies. Making a student "college and career ready" should be a by-product of the educational process, not the driving force. Schools are now being turned into test prep factories, many as early as kindergarten, in order to accommodate the agenda of those that believe that data and more data is the end all be all. Children need learning experiences that enhance their development as individuals, not test takers. Charter schools that engage in these practices should not be used as templates for the public schools. Children need to be allowed to be children, the focus on college will occur, as it always has, in due course.
42
I don't have children so I'm in no position to judge but I'll just say that this is one more example of how this generation of parents are among the worst parents in the history of parenting. But I'm not judging.
6
What makes an innovator, a creative and critical thinker? Daydreaming. Play. Proven already in tons of studies. Unless your child is interested in becoming an olympic contender, let them be kids. The longer, the better.
31
Really? First grade? Why can't we just let kids be kids?
5
"It's time the tale were told
of how you took a child
and you maaaade hiiiim oooooooooold."
~The Smiths
Former educator here. Current white guy.
Two points: 1) My students went through remarkable shifts from one school year to the next, and this was in a high school. Human clay, indeed, and the impressions left by multiple people over my students' lives amounted to a lot of misshaped graduates. What is the impression being created here? 2) It was a given that I would attend and graduate from college. Everything was in place for me to do so. What are stakeholders, including these universities, doing to ensure these givens exist for these 1st grade dreamers?
A child's day is made of ephemeral dreams. Let the kids be kids while working behind the scenes to make sure they have realistic chances for success.
of how you took a child
and you maaaade hiiiim oooooooooold."
~The Smiths
Former educator here. Current white guy.
Two points: 1) My students went through remarkable shifts from one school year to the next, and this was in a high school. Human clay, indeed, and the impressions left by multiple people over my students' lives amounted to a lot of misshaped graduates. What is the impression being created here? 2) It was a given that I would attend and graduate from college. Everything was in place for me to do so. What are stakeholders, including these universities, doing to ensure these givens exist for these 1st grade dreamers?
A child's day is made of ephemeral dreams. Let the kids be kids while working behind the scenes to make sure they have realistic chances for success.
12
I think that children need to hear about college at a young age. I grew up in an educated family and I heard about college experiences my parents had all the time growing up, met people they knew in college and occasionally went to the campus they attended. It never dawned on me to NOT go to college to learn. Some children do not have people at home who have also been to college or finished college and they need to hear these things at school. It doesn't have to be detailed or include tours at a very young age, but the concept and idea that you can learn to become a teacher or an accountant or someone who designs clothes at college needs to be planted early.
9
This is absurd.
2
I see no reason why second-graders shouldn't be planning their retirements, making out wills and planning their deaths and funerals. It's never too early to start.
166
Indeed. That their lemonade stands lack branding consultants and 401(k) plans is shocking to me.
6
This is sad. First grade kids should be engaged in first grade activities and not subject to a template of fear based achievement.
5
Back when my kids were applying to colleges, 10 to 15 years ago, I thought it was sad that so many parents expected children to be world-beaters by the time they were seventeen. It put an inordinate amount of pressure on those children and made my high-achieving, but still maturing kids, feel like they could never catch up (they did, of course, and then some). It's even worse now.
It seems reasonable that anyone who works hard and wants to go to college should have the opportunity, and I suspect that much of the reason kids from low-income families don't get to college as often as wealthier students has to do with money, and is not because they don't know it's there for them too.
While there's nothing wrong with helping kids to feel empowered and competent, the idea that everything they do from the age of six should relate in some way to getting into college is absurd, and will probably stunt their growth intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. The last thing children need is more anxiety. Meanwhile, the colleges, with their usual cynicism, see this as merely another marketing opportunity. Everyone involved needs to rethink this.
It seems reasonable that anyone who works hard and wants to go to college should have the opportunity, and I suspect that much of the reason kids from low-income families don't get to college as often as wealthier students has to do with money, and is not because they don't know it's there for them too.
While there's nothing wrong with helping kids to feel empowered and competent, the idea that everything they do from the age of six should relate in some way to getting into college is absurd, and will probably stunt their growth intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. The last thing children need is more anxiety. Meanwhile, the colleges, with their usual cynicism, see this as merely another marketing opportunity. Everyone involved needs to rethink this.
7
I think there is a fine line between prep and exposure. Kids need exposure to the concept of prepping for college, so it doesn't hit them too quickly in high school. When I was in 5th grade, I did an assignment in which I came up with my own college, making a description and course listing for the School of Electronics (this was before computers were truly ubiquitous). I loved it. It got me excited that years down the line, I would choose what course of study I would pursue. I still had time to "explore" interests, but the seed of prepping for a college education was planted.
53
little brother tagged along when my oldest was touring schools. at the time he was a bright but indifferent high school freshman. at brown university someone in auditorium asked, do you have to have a 4.0 gpa to apply to brown?
the dean of admissions replied, if you don't have a 4.0, what are you doing here?
my son got the message. his teachers all wondered what the heck had gotten into him. (imho, grade 9 is not too soon to make a plan.)
the dean of admissions replied, if you don't have a 4.0, what are you doing here?
my son got the message. his teachers all wondered what the heck had gotten into him. (imho, grade 9 is not too soon to make a plan.)
3
College education is a bubble being financed with higher and higher levels of debt. All bubbles start off as good ideas initially. Somewhere along the line vested interests take over. Government comes along and does its bit. Remember the "ownership society" of a few years ago. Funny how it resulted in the lowest home ownership rate in 50 years. For a while the bubble generates its own demand, after all you need more adjunct professors as enrollment rises, just as real estate agents need homes to live in. We are already at a place where bartenders make more money than postdocs. When you see an article like this, you know everyone has bought into the story lock, stock and barrel. Let our children be children. Let them decide by themselves if college is a good idea. We don't know what the world will look like 15-20 years from now. Will the colleges and universities even look like those of today 20 years from now? Only time will tell.
7
Sorry for being a spoilsport but what elementary schools actually need to be doing is teaching children to read well, do math accurately, and learn about science and social studies and art and music and PE. I'm not talking about drill and skill without enrichment either. Teaching all that is what schools do where children go to college as a matter of course. And schools need to engage families in this, not play "pretend to go to college" in first grade.
But schools also need the help of the country as a whole. If parents can't find decent housing and pay for food on their salaries and can only find jobs that are part time they aren't going to be able to provide their children the support they need. This is a problem based in the fact that the richest family in America and its plutocratic ilk got that way by depending on the government to provide the most marginal of food and services to their employees so that the Waltons could wallow in splendor and excess while refusing to pay their employees a decent wage.
When children see that hard work pays off for their families and that their schools expect competence and value them and their families, that's when things will change.
But schools also need the help of the country as a whole. If parents can't find decent housing and pay for food on their salaries and can only find jobs that are part time they aren't going to be able to provide their children the support they need. This is a problem based in the fact that the richest family in America and its plutocratic ilk got that way by depending on the government to provide the most marginal of food and services to their employees so that the Waltons could wallow in splendor and excess while refusing to pay their employees a decent wage.
When children see that hard work pays off for their families and that their schools expect competence and value them and their families, that's when things will change.
56
Child abuse !
When I was in second grade, my goal was to grow up and marry a girl whose father owned a delicatessen. I liked the food. My friends, quite successful as adults, all had similarly ambitious goals.
The appropriate agency to deal with this situation is not the Department of Education but Child Protective Services.
When I was in second grade, my goal was to grow up and marry a girl whose father owned a delicatessen. I liked the food. My friends, quite successful as adults, all had similarly ambitious goals.
The appropriate agency to deal with this situation is not the Department of Education but Child Protective Services.
15
A college education is a wonderful thing. But, let's be honest, someone is always going to have to work at WalMart. More effort should be put into teaching children to fight for a living wage for all, not just teaching them to try to fight their way into the affluent class when we know going in that 80%+ of them will fail in that endeavor.
9
Rather shocking there are no comments on this article. On the one hand, this oversell of colleges to near toddlers strikes me as excessive (elementary students given campus tours). However, when children grow up in a household where college is an expectation following high school and parents gently push their children toward that end (yes, you will take pre-Algebra in 7th grade and Alg I in 8th grade and no, you cannot play 2 hours of video games on a school night), they will have an advantage. I think some moderation is in order. 3rd and 4th graders should be encouraged to go outside for some unstructured play, not worry about planning for life 10 years up the road.
2
"is it ever to early to plan for the future?" Yes.
Six year olds (and I have one) should be six year olds. We need age-appropriate education and expectations. Kids need to learn how to master their current situation before they master something very distant. They have many challenges to master before they become a teenager.
Six year olds (and I have one) should be six year olds. We need age-appropriate education and expectations. Kids need to learn how to master their current situation before they master something very distant. They have many challenges to master before they become a teenager.
2
Between this and play dates we are toast.
6
Along with death and taxes, one thing you can absolutely count on is Americans over-reacting to and over-doing just about everything. College prep is the gold plated example.
3
ears ringing, head spinning. training children to do pet tricks.
4
We have far too many gimmicks and fads in education, college prep is one of them.
1
“Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement. And it's the one thing that I believe we are systematically jeopardizing in the way we educate our children and ourselves.”
― Ken Robinson
And of course, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" --John Lennon
It's childhood! All well and good to mention college and career, but how can a child enjoy and learn and explore and discover if there is so much tension about a future too far away for her frame of reference even to understand?
Children have interests in things. Expose them to these things in ways that are childlike and fun; let children play and be creative -- and *live in the moment*. Kids are great at that. They need first to experience what they love without the stress of contemplating their very joy in an adult world. Don't deprive them of knowing that the future exists, but we don't need to worry them about paying the mortgage just yet.
I have brought my 8 year old to the college where I teach, and he thought it was "big." And that's enough for now. He knows that my students are 18-20 years old, and he knows how old he is. He knows that adults work and that one day he will. Now, he has fun with his interests - and it couldn't be more educational.
― Ken Robinson
And of course, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" --John Lennon
It's childhood! All well and good to mention college and career, but how can a child enjoy and learn and explore and discover if there is so much tension about a future too far away for her frame of reference even to understand?
Children have interests in things. Expose them to these things in ways that are childlike and fun; let children play and be creative -- and *live in the moment*. Kids are great at that. They need first to experience what they love without the stress of contemplating their very joy in an adult world. Don't deprive them of knowing that the future exists, but we don't need to worry them about paying the mortgage just yet.
I have brought my 8 year old to the college where I teach, and he thought it was "big." And that's enough for now. He knows that my students are 18-20 years old, and he knows how old he is. He knows that adults work and that one day he will. Now, he has fun with his interests - and it couldn't be more educational.
7
Thank goodness for parents like you.
1
I am so relieved that children as young as first grade are being given college tours. It's wonderful really. I think that Preschoolers should take a look at LSAT exams and GREs after all, they should not be sitting idly by in Latin class while their upperclassmen are touring college campuses! We live in such interesting times! Btw who said, 'may you live in interesting times.' I think I will find a 2 year old who should know that quote. The funny thing is in another 15 years or so, someone, perhaps from some fine education graduate program will 'discover' play and it's values. Then there will be a regrouping towards developmental appropriateness, i.e., not expecting a preschooler to exhibit the fine motor skills of a 3rd grader. I had a friend whose son almost 'failed' kindergarten because of his writing ability. Another case of not meeting the child where s/he is at and pushing beyond where someone is ready to go. He is 4th grader now who is on par with his grade. Time, people! What is the rush?!!!
2
it's called steiner schools.. waldorf.
Please stay home.
When you take your junior to really look at a school it is important and many questions by the younger children and families are irrelevant, from my experience. There are only so many weeks a high school junior can tour a college and if those are packed with 5th and 6th graders, it is difficult to accomplish that.
When you take your junior to really look at a school it is important and many questions by the younger children and families are irrelevant, from my experience. There are only so many weeks a high school junior can tour a college and if those are packed with 5th and 6th graders, it is difficult to accomplish that.
2
Never too early to get started on creating an edge. Begin with the naming of the child. What harm is there in giving him/her the first or middle name of "Yale," "Stanford," "Vanderbilt," "Hopkins" or even "SUNY Purchase"?
3
It is interesting how this article didn't mention students with special needs. What about them? what about my kids? I understand that we live in a competitive word specially with the common core standards. Also, what happens when is clear that college is not for everybody? what about vocational schools/programs? it bothers me that with the common core there is only one path in the kids future and is the imposition about "college readiness", its like is either going to college or you will not be successful in life.
5
This article, as a parent of two preK students, made me sick to my stomach. Why are we thinking of this now, at this age?
2
Who needs childhood? Let's just eliminate it entirely. First off, it's no fun. Ask any kid. Second, it's expensive. Ask any parent. Third. it's totally unnecessary. Reduce the voting age to 3 years. All those mini-adults in grade school are guaranteed to vote more wisely than their 18 year-old peers.
The only downside I can see is the economic cost of manufacturing cars small enough for toddlers to see anything above the steering wheel, like the windshield -- or the road.
Just sayin'.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
The only downside I can see is the economic cost of manufacturing cars small enough for toddlers to see anything above the steering wheel, like the windshield -- or the road.
Just sayin'.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
5
This is as sad as it gets. The end of childhood. I fear for the burned-out kids who will be taking care of me in my old age. I feel sorry for the ones who waste their childhood worrying about college and career, only to realize that all it leads to is 45 years of sitting behind a computer.
There is much more to life than the future. What matters is fully experiencing the present moment.
There is much more to life than the future. What matters is fully experiencing the present moment.
5
This is absurd --- college ready. What is happening to childhood in this test crazy-college crazy educational world---that's the problem, we do not talk education anymore, we talk preparation. In words of John Dewey: "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." Of course, what can you expect from a Secretary of Education who has never been in the classroom, whose only credential for the job is being a basketball buddy with the President, and probably thinks John Dewey is the individual who invented the Dewey decimal system.
1
I was signed up for college in the maternity ward, hours after I born. Now, that's marketing at its best. My mom was told I was college material. Readiness skills? Well, I early on slept thru the night. Today, sleeping thru class is very important.
2
On one hand this seems like an interesting, creative variation on often predictable assignment for kids--and the results cited here are mostly very cute!--but on the other (as Dr Guddemi) says, this is all part of the increasing pressure for small kids to begin thinking, talking, and even planning for college way before they can really have any idea what they're really talking/thinking about.
Does this help model behavior towards higher aspirations, or just create more pressure on kids? Some kids at this age even start talking about grades, test-scores and how they relate to their college and/or life plans! And feeling pressure to "perform"--as opposed to learn and do well because they want to or are inspired. That can't be a good thing.
Somehow it seems to me that little kids should be free to say something like "I want to be a fireman" or "I want to be a bus driver" without being told they should "aim higher"! (A fireman probably has a better career track than an unemployed philosophy major too, but that's really a separate issue...)
Does this help model behavior towards higher aspirations, or just create more pressure on kids? Some kids at this age even start talking about grades, test-scores and how they relate to their college and/or life plans! And feeling pressure to "perform"--as opposed to learn and do well because they want to or are inspired. That can't be a good thing.
Somehow it seems to me that little kids should be free to say something like "I want to be a fireman" or "I want to be a bus driver" without being told they should "aim higher"! (A fireman probably has a better career track than an unemployed philosophy major too, but that's really a separate issue...)
3
There is another way. I am a former public high school teacher from a great school in Maine and helped many students through the college application process.
I am now live in Toronto where I have worked for a program supporting high school students living in low-income neighbourhoods. I also have a grade 12 daughter who is applying to universities in both the US and Canada.
In Canada, there are no standardized tests for University admittance. In most cases there are no college essays or long lists of extracurricular activities. Instead colleges and universities look at the top 6 grades in academic classes. That is it.
My daughters Canadian applications took a couple of hours (tops) of filling out forms. A week after applying she was accepted at one of Canada's top schools. It is affordable.
Is she typical - no.
But the students I was privileged to work with from low-income communities went through the same process.
Canada has the highest post-secondary education attendance rates in the OECD.
Absolutely build aspirations for higher education among all students, but the obsession with test prep and college applications is not the only road to success.
I am now live in Toronto where I have worked for a program supporting high school students living in low-income neighbourhoods. I also have a grade 12 daughter who is applying to universities in both the US and Canada.
In Canada, there are no standardized tests for University admittance. In most cases there are no college essays or long lists of extracurricular activities. Instead colleges and universities look at the top 6 grades in academic classes. That is it.
My daughters Canadian applications took a couple of hours (tops) of filling out forms. A week after applying she was accepted at one of Canada's top schools. It is affordable.
Is she typical - no.
But the students I was privileged to work with from low-income communities went through the same process.
Canada has the highest post-secondary education attendance rates in the OECD.
Absolutely build aspirations for higher education among all students, but the obsession with test prep and college applications is not the only road to success.
8
First grade? Have we all gone nuts?
6
College For Every Student (www.collegefes.org) has been working in both rural and urban elementary, middle and high schools nationwide for over twenty years to improve awareness of college among students and their families who might not normally think of a college education as an option. Among the three practices that are a part of the CFES program in every school with which it works is "Pathways to College" which pairs each school with a local college partner. Though each partnership is unique, almost all of them involve college visits by students. I had the privilege of serving on the CFES Board for 11 years and as its Chair for five. In addition, I also served as a CFES Program Director for school in North Dakota and Arizona. This model works and early college visits can provide inspiration for students and their families.
2
How come the American educational system looks more and more like child abuse?
13
Another dimension of American exceptionalism: Children are treated to acts of genuine sadism in the name of education. Not that it does much for actual education, but no doubt the education business is kept humming. Who needs a childhood.
4
To a kid, College is impressive but it's hard to imagine ones self there. What I think would work better is what I experienced in the town of New Deal Texas when I was 8. All of the grades, 1 thru 12 and I guess probably kindergarten to were on one campus. I remember walking across a football field to get to the cafeteria in the high school, where we ate every day. I don't remember it but I imagine the science geeks, the football stars and others being held up as role models for the younger kids. I remember going to pep rallies for the high school teams.
The point is the younger kids had role models. Members of their own community they could look up to. The older kids had a sense of responsibility to the kids looking up to them, or at least that's the way I imagine it and I think it should be that way.
We separate the kids from each other by age, when we should be encouraging a sense of family within the community.
The point is the younger kids had role models. Members of their own community they could look up to. The older kids had a sense of responsibility to the kids looking up to them, or at least that's the way I imagine it and I think it should be that way.
We separate the kids from each other by age, when we should be encouraging a sense of family within the community.
1
If there was ever a teacher that deserved to be fired, here she is.
I'm sure she is very proud of her education. Too bad, before being in a classroom of young children she never learned much about child development, the significance of a good education, other than a good job and the difference between educating and brain washing!
Are there worse teachers? Of course there are. But she certainly fits into that category.
I'm sure she is very proud of her education. Too bad, before being in a classroom of young children she never learned much about child development, the significance of a good education, other than a good job and the difference between educating and brain washing!
Are there worse teachers? Of course there are. But she certainly fits into that category.
6
This is all a bad joke, right?
4
This is sick. As the father of a college-bound high school senior, the priorities for this country regarding higher ed should be: (1) containing/reducing the cost, so no one leaves college with debt, and (2) developing alternatives to the traditional 4-year bachelors degree, akin to the German apprenticeship system, that equip millions of people for well-paying careers.
61
"College awareness" is a fine idea, but it makes no sense developmentally to begin the push in early childhood (before age 8). At this age, children should be focused on playing in all its forms, learning social skills, and building language and critical thinking skills.
Furthermore, it is absolutely appropriate for a six-year-old to dream big, even unrealistic dreams about the future; it is NOT yet time to start pondering "How will I there?" or, worse, "I won't be able to get there unless I do this, that, and the other..."
Grade 5 seems like a great place to begin learning about college in earnest; it makes sense because students are on the cusp of a big cognitive and academic transitions. Don't force this stuff into early childhood.
Furthermore, it is absolutely appropriate for a six-year-old to dream big, even unrealistic dreams about the future; it is NOT yet time to start pondering "How will I there?" or, worse, "I won't be able to get there unless I do this, that, and the other..."
Grade 5 seems like a great place to begin learning about college in earnest; it makes sense because students are on the cusp of a big cognitive and academic transitions. Don't force this stuff into early childhood.
15
At the start of The NO child Left Behind Act my vice-principal, to kick off the start of the new school year, said this, "Some of you creative teachers are going to have a hard time adapting to the new law. You creative types that love your units where you teach your kids about medieval times and get them to build Trebutchets and what not. That nonsense has to stop. Teach to the test!"
Getting children to dream big is precisely the point. As a teacher I want my kids to grow up to be architects and engineers and poets and historians. Not test takers.
Being concerned about "a college frenzy" should be the least of our worries.
Getting children to dream big is precisely the point. As a teacher I want my kids to grow up to be architects and engineers and poets and historians. Not test takers.
Being concerned about "a college frenzy" should be the least of our worries.
12
After reading this, I'm so glad I'm not a kid.
11
Gross. People need to give it a rest with this. It's literally about NOTHING more than the ego of the parents.
4
Any discussion about college, at whatever age, is absolutely appropriate. Pressure to fit into the college-bound mold is not. I have clients (from all socio-economic backgrounds) who are being steered by parents into the academic life after high school when they are just not ready for it. There is no harm in working for a couple of years, or ideally, going to the local community college to take a class or two while also working. From personal experience, I know it's hard to allow teens to create their own path: I have one Ivy-leaguer and one considering enlisting. We just have to get away from the "brand name" and focus on the best path for our students to develop the strengths and skills necessary to be the best 21st century citizens possible. What is so encouraging is there are now many ways to "hack" your education!
2
This trend serves only college prep tutors and child therapists, two groups that should not be allowed to sow panic among families in order to line their pockets.
4
I am officially speechless.
We've lost our way so badly that we may not even be aware of what we've lost anymore.
We've lost our way so badly that we may not even be aware of what we've lost anymore.
10
My third grader already has anxiety from all the homework she has. This is a bit much. I have three degrees but my interests grew out of my natural curiosity. I would have surely rebelled even more than I did if I had the kind of helicopter parents that we see today. Poor kids.
31
Rush, rush, rush. And this can't wait until, let's say 8th grade? When at least the kid knows what the word college means?
5
this is so misguided as to boggle the mind. let them be KIDS for a couple years.
6
This is insane. That we don't recognize how insane it is is only shows how far down the rabbit hole we are.
189
If you come from a low income or working class family where no one has attended/graduated college, I doubt that you would feel this way. Middle and upper class families with college graduate parents consciously and subconsciously expose their children from birth to many of the things that teachers in this article are trying to impart to less advantaged children. How do I know these things? I have lived them.
22
I and 151 others agree it is insane
The stress starts now.
16
"Is it ever too early to plan for the future?"
I do know it's always too late to plan for the past or present, so the future seems to be the only option.
I do know it's always too late to plan for the past or present, so the future seems to be the only option.
7
Oh my gosh. Why can't we let these kids be kids?? Go play!
118
I don't see anything wrong with teaching elementary school kids, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, that attending college is a legitimate and normal goal. However, comparing it to training for the Olympics is way over the top and squarely aimed at the helicopter parent who will pay for tutoring and college preparedness training. Kids who need the message and the extra help should be the focus, not affluent parents trying to make sure their private-school kids will get into "elite colleges."
90
First I thought , ugh. Are there any more ways to mess up childhood and school? But I am not so sure. They shouldn't be obsessing about name colleges in kindergarten. But people in areas where there are role models and most people have college an professional background have children who absorb not only values, but understanding of the process that doesn't come easily to children who live in poorer areas, less well funded schools and who don't encounter role models daily. I am always wary about proprietary programs being sold to schools, but if it can be used in a helpful way, good.
We don't gain by making 3rd graders miserable if they think every test and every class measues their life worth; we do want children who can imagine a future that can be theirs.
We don't gain by making 3rd graders miserable if they think every test and every class measues their life worth; we do want children who can imagine a future that can be theirs.
51