Short takes III

Apparently this is a real problem among Manhattan's educated class: preparing your kids to ace the competitive exams for kindergarten.

The NYC public schools have special kindergartens for gifted children -- 70 throughout the city -- plus an even more limited number of elite kindergartens -- 5 in all -- for the really really gifted.

Kids are selected for these programs by their score on a competitive exam -- you have to be in the 99th percentile to get in some schools. Competitive parents have been around for some time. The new problem this year is that these parents have been sending their little children to test-prep programs and getting private tutoring -- so they will ace the exams. And they have.

Scores have soared: test scores jumped by 10% this year, while those qualifying for the even more exclusive, elite programs increased by 33%.

This is kindergarten admissions, not college, fer cryin' out loud!!! Sending little 3 year olds to learn how to test well strikes me as child abuse.

So what is the purpose of these special kindergartens? To have a bunch of little geniuses sitting on their floor mats discussing Einstein and Kant? Story time readings from Finnegan's Wake?

Let them play.

Let them learn by playing. That's the business of childhood, not taking tests so they can learn higher mathematics and philosophy before they're six.

Ralph