Quote:
Originally Posted by DapperButch
1) My client was telling me about this intense project that her 3rd grader had to do...seemed more fitting for a 7th grader to do. There is NO WAY that she could have done this project without a parent. What do the kids do who don't have parents that want to help them? Just fail?
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as both a parent and child development professional, i'm horrified at the way our educational system is going. there is what is called a "push down" curriculum in which children are expected to learn things earlier and earlier, BEFORE they are developmentally ready. often people making the policies, the people implementing them, as well as the teachers do not have any child development training. now to make things worse this no child left behind crap, the pressure is really on the teachers children are getting less and less of what they need in elementary school social skills, creative development, problem-solving, conflict resolution skills, physical activity, etc, and are instead overloaded with academics that they aren't ready for. the result has not been higher test scores and in some of the poorer schools the resulting decrease in funding has been devastating. the trend is to push it down even further so that children in preschool are going to start learning academics..it's ridiculous. so to answer your question, it probably was above the child's level and the teacher's reason for doing it probably had to do with required curriculum, and yes, at most schools due to the lack of funding and available resources, the child without parental help (for whatever reason, be it a language barrier, lack of resources, time and energy or simply disinterest) that child would probably fail. ...on the other hand, what are the children who's parent's complete the project for them getting out of it? besides a passing grade?