Our Hurried Children

Early childhood education is something that i find very interesting. I think it is probably because my mother works in a preschool that has done extensive research in early childhood education. I enjoyed reading Our Hurried Children by David Elkind because it shows the importance of having a childhood and what our society does to children. Even though this essay was written over 20 years ago, the material is still prevalent.

There is a balance that is lost when dealing with childhood. Sometimes there is immense pressure and stress put on children because it is thought that treating kids like adults is the best way to educate them. But then there is lost time to actually be a child in every sense. Children should not have to deal with the stresses of adulthood...schools are taking away play time and imaginations. And the opposite side is taking the approach that kids are mentally inferior and are not given credit to their amazingness. I know a child who, at 5 years old, taught herself how to play Imagine by John Lennon on the piano. She had no help whatsoever. This is an example of how much our society underestimates the power of the child brain.

I think our society needs to shift the views of children. I think we need to wake up and see that children have incredible power, and that they just don't have the outlets to exert that power. I know this must sound like some fanatic shpeel, but I really believe that we can learn so much from children. Just going to my mother's school and watching the children play and create things makes me feel so inadequate because I feel like my education has slanted my learning to just be book smart, and not be able to venture out into different mediums. The children are so well rounded, and happy. I think our educational system needs to be reformed to accommodate the different ways people learn.

So enough on education....

I'll do some more research and write another post soon.