So long to childhood for the time being. We'll raise "rational" little
beings if it kills us, and it probably will.
Phil
At 10:25 25-06-99 +0100, you wrote:
>We live in interesting times:
>Martin
>The Guardian, London (alas no longer Manchester)
> 23 June 1999, The Guardian, p.5
> Play is out, early learning is in / Home News
> John Carvel, Education Editor
>
>
>"Minister backs structured nursery schooling and warns days of children
>colouring and cutting are over
>
>Children should start learning to read, write and count as young as three,
>and should have mastered the rudiments before the end of their first year
>in primary school, the government said yesterday as minister set out to
>bury the idea that early childhood is a time for carefree play.
>
>Margaret Hodge, the education minister, said children from disadvantaged
>backgrounds deserved the
> well-structured nursery education that was seen as a matter of course in
>middle class homes.
>
>Play in playgroups and nurseries should be "purposeful''. The days of
>toddlers "colouring, cutting and pasting''
>are over. "
>
>
>"Targets for toddlers
>
> Naming and sounding all the letters of the alphabet;
>
> Reading a range of common words and simple sentences
>independently;
>
> Showing comprehension of stories;
>
> Holding a pencil effectively and forming recognisable letters;
>
> Using phonetic knowledge to make plausible attempts at complex
>words;
>
> Writing their own names and forming sentences, sometimes using
>punctuation;
>
> Counting reliably up to 10 everyday objects:
>
> Recognising numerals 1 to 9;
>
> Understanding the vocabulary of adding and subtracting;
>
> Asking about why things happen and how things work."
>
>
Phil Graham
p.graham who-is-at qut.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8314/index.html