I'm not sure if I posted this already or only thought about it, but I've said before Koreans take education seriously.
Korea was my first experience with kindergartners. I often felt bad for these little 5 and 6 year olds, and wished they could be more like kids. However, I was constantly amazed at their abilities. I had to remind myself that they were not native English speakers, and they were kindergartners. Especially when I taught my second year students, I could converse with them and change little about my voice. They understood English. They could easily read books in English. They could write in English. They wrote book reports and diaries IN ENGLISH. These are KOREAN kindergartners. They don't use the same alphabet. THEY READ AND WRITE IN ENGLISH!
I've subbed a few days in different kindergarten classrooms around here. What I have seen has really made me think that American parents need to take some tips from the Korean parents, and that the American school system needs to revamp their kindergarten curriculum, and probably their school system in general.
I taught in a K classroom around Thanksgiving. The kids did not know their letters. They could not read a lick. Math was not even mentioned. Their mid morning snacks were things like store bought cookies and fruit snacks. They had two solid hours of "centers" aka playtime, in addition to a half hour lunch, two recesses, and gym. Basically the only "work" they did was a few coloring, cut, and glue pages. And they could barely do that. This was late November. They had been in school from 8-3 since mid-late August. What had they been doing for 7 hours a day the past 3 months? I'm not sure, but I know it wasn't reading or math.
I got called this week to sub two days in another K class. I was excited, because I got to see a different school's kindergarten program, and a few months had passed. I thought maybe the class I'd taught back in November was just an exceptionally bad class. Nope.
About 3/4 of these kids could BARELY write numbers, and at least 1/3 of them could not write their own names. A few months away from first grade, and they cannot write their names?!? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? At least we did some math at this school. In two days, we did 10 basic addition problems, and as I just said, the majority of the kids really struggled to write numbers. As far as easily identifying numbers over 19, forget it. We did some reading flashcards. These few months away from first grade students were sort of reading words like it, red, you, and have. They could not answer the question "What day is it?"
I had an interesting conversation with the other kindergarten teacher while we were supervising afternoon recess during the second day I was there.
KT: I got a really good class for my last year of teaching.
ME: Oh, you're retiring this year?
KT: Yes, after 37 years of teaching.
Me: Wow, have you been teaching kindergarten all this time?
KT: Yes, mostly. I taught first grade for a few years when I started, but otherwise it's been kindergarten the whole time.
Me: Wow.
KT: Well, I don't care for it as much now as I used to. All the work they make these kids do now...
Me:...
KT: Yeah, a lot has changed.
I could bite my tongue no longer.
Me: Well, I actually taught kindergarten in Korea, and compared to the Koreans, these students have it easy.
KT:...what?
Me: Yeah, they are very serious about education. They do lots of writing, learn to read in English, etc.
KT: Well, those kids are not as young as these ones.
(Where did she get that idea?)
Me: No, they are the same age. Some are even younger. The youngest student at my school had just turned 4 years old when he started.
KT:...
Me: It's just a kindergarten, all taught in English so the kids can have a better understanding of English when they start elementary school. They have little science lessons, math lessons, geography lessons, etc.
KT: Well, with all the stuff they make us do here, we just don't have time for that. (but Koreans who are in preschool 4 1/2 hours a day can manage to squeeze it in?) Plus, we get no support from the parents. They expect us to do all the work, and many of them do not help the kids at home at all. They don't care what goes on at school.
I am sure the teacher is right when she says they do not have time for other stuff. And I am also sure she was telling the truth when she said the parents don't care. Most of these parents obviously did not take the time to teach their kids their kids anything before starting school. I'm not saying the parents should have sat down and tried to get their 5 year olds to read Finnegan's Wake, but come on, the alphabet? Is that too much to ask? By February, shouldn't a kindergartner be able to write his/her name? Shouldn't he/she know the days of the week? Shouldn't he/she be able to write the numbers 1-10?
Sigh. If I ever have kids, it makes me want to home school them, at least for kindergarten. Because even for the parents that did teach their kids some basics before starting school, the kid's still stuck in school for 7 hours a day doing cut and paste work/art sheets, rather than learning anything really useful. These kids are being babied, and while they are young, they are not babies. All of the Koreans are not born smarter than American children. They are pushed (too hard, yes) and they learn. I think it's okay to try and make kindergartners learn, and do a little work in school. America needs to set the bar higher.
(not?) Oddly enough, when we played around the world with the reading flashcards, one student was obviously a better reader than all the other students, and easily made it "around the world" with hardly any students giving her real competition. Her last name-Myong. One guess as to what her ethnicity is.
