2024 U.S Presidential Election Talk

2024 U.S Presidential Election Talk
Alexander Zhou
Some say, “Young children are curious, enthusiastic learners, with immense potential,” Others believe that the goal of this first school year is to develop the social and imaginative strengths of children.. There are countless debates on the academic incorporation in kindergarten. The debate largely comprises two distinct sides: play-focused kindergarten and academically-focused kindergarten. Both sides pose great arguments, though this matter shouldn’t be seen in purely black-and-white terms. While academics are beneficial, play can foster curiosity and also teach children crucial cognitive skills; both aspects should be a component of the system that is the development of children.

Incorporating academics in kindergarten improves one’s cognition development and academic grades, plus many students are ready to dive into deeper topics as they have already acquired previous knowledge. Aside from the obvious benefits of learning core academic concepts like reading and writing, cognitive development can also occur. According to an article by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, “When a child exhibits behavior due to a stressful situation, educators try to identify and … [r]eflect with children to help them learn self-awareness and ways to calm down…” Emotions are powerful, especially negative emotions; it takes practice for one to understand themselves and regulate their emotions. Exposing children to such emotions early in a regulated environment can benefit them for the rest of their lives. Speaking of benefit, studying more academics early can also help children get ahead, leading to better results during formal assessment later on. The BC ministry of education states that incorporating more academics in kindergarten will benefit students through many periods of their school career. Increased kindergarten academic education can benefit formal assessment later on like assessments in grade 4. Assessments are critical for both students and administrations. These assessments are the first stamp of a student’s academic performance, and administrations use these results to determine effectiveness of curriculums. This is further reinforced by the fact that as the number of children in preschool increases, children are being exposed to skills that they would have typically learned in the traditional model of kindergarten. Kids are learning kindergarten curriculum in preschool, which pushes teachers to teach advanced topics that are more time-consuming – now students are more prepared for assessments later, at the expense of less play time.

Fortunately, Unlike oil and water, learning and playing can mix. In fact, it is poor to completely separate playing from learning, especially at the level of kindergarten. Imaginative plays can actually aid in one’s academics learning and develop cognitive skills. “Imaginative play is the catalyst for social, physical, emotional, and moral development in young children”. This claim by Scholastic is backed by scientific evidence from the Ontario Government- neural pathways in children’s brains are advanced through the various actions happening during play. Cognitive development is an unignorable component in the development of a healthy child, and play leads to such development. Excessive focus on academics would mean a lack of play time, certainly something many wouldn’t want to see. Of equal importance, a major part of play is exploration, which at heart is fueled by curiosity. In an article published by the Ontario Government on Ontario’s Inquiry based learning, teachers “adopt an inquiry stance along with the children”. Teachers assist children to think and discover answers themselves. Ultimately, this skillset transfers to academic inquiries, enabling students to discover original solutions spontaneously. On another note, although imaginative play comes with various benefits, the takeover of modern media sadly allows for less time spent on imaginative play outside the classroom. In fact, A 2003 study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children under 6 spend as much time with television, computers, and video games as playing outside. The responsibility then falls onto school to provide children with time for such activities.

The development of a child requires care from all aspects. Heavy emphasis on any individual aspect can have great effects, both positive and adverse. Incorporating components of both academic and play in kindergarten can be beneficial and will allow for a balanced development of children. In fact, Many educational administrations have noticed the benefits and are employing curriculums with these concepts in mind. For instance, Ontario is employing inquiry-based learning, where play is the optimal context for learning. This could be a flagpole signaling change in the whole education industry, and only time will tell its effectiveness.