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Show THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 1, 1988 Friday, January Kindergarten methods result in controversy By LEE MITGANG against future success by souring children on school. AP Education Writer HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -At the Mary M. Hooker School near some of this city's tough- Leading this counterattack are early childhood experts such as Tufts University's est housing projects, Irma Zsitvay's kindergartners sit g David Elkind whose book, "The Hurried Child," urges parents and schools to take it easy on preschoolers and kindergartners. He and others argue that to sit forcing 5-- and quietly at desks all day doing pencil and paper work is simply inappropriate and flies in rethe face of search by the late Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and others on how youngsters that age learn. Last month, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Elementary School Principals said they would join forces to find ways to ease the mounting academic pressures on very young pupils. "There's a growing tendency in early childhood education to 'hothouse' children, to push best-sellin- quietly in neat rows of desks, laboring over letters and words on sheets of lined paper. No games or toys clutter the floor. The walls are unrelieved by decoration. Zsitvay lectures and tions. Her - and ques- 5- listen and answer. "I'm strict," she tells a visitor. Just a few doors away, Odile Mikutajtis teaches a very "We're pushing kids too hard too soon, and they're getting turned off to the whole process of schooling." dif- ferent sort of kindergarten from Zsitvay's, whose brand has in recent years grown in favor in American schools. Mikutajtis' 15 pupils learn by playing, as in kindergartens that predominat"old-fashione- ed a generation ago. They don't have to struggle with lessons or worksheets. To learn about Thanksgiving, she said, "We built the Mayflower, colored in Pilgrims. We sailed the boat. We actually did it." This clash of educational philosophies is increasingly "make-or-brea- tion for the Education The conflict pits the many school districts and parents who believe kindergartners can, and should, handle more dergarten has its roots in the Sputnik era of the 1950s when Academically oriented Sandra Longfellow Robinson, an associate professor of education at the University of South Carolina who surveyed school officials about kindergarten in 1974, 1981 and 1986, said 23 states offered kindergarten to at least 90 percent of eligible children in 1974. By 1986, 46 states offered it. In 1982, only Florida required kindergarten attendance. Four years later, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, early-childhoo- HELP this year. The idea is to remove the stigma of failing and give less developed youngsters who probably would have failed regular kindergarten an extra year of less pressured "adaptive K." One hint of early success: daily absences in adaptive K have been averaging just one or two children, compared with six or seven a day in other Hartford kindergartens. In New York City, the American Reading Council is in the midst of a five-yeproject called Open Sesame to reshape elementary education at P.S. 192, an overcrowded central slant characterizing the majority of her city's kindergarten programs simply isn't working. Board of Education report A last February found fully of Hartford's kindergartners were being retained for a second year. At the Hooker school, the figure was one-quart- er 49 ar percent. Cancer screenings promote awareness By MARGARET HAMMERLAND Herald Staff Writer nodule or mass and had some enlargement. From among the group exmained for testicular cancer, two were found to have a nodule, four had a cyst and one with an enlargement. 12 Building community awareness was one of the main objectives of a recent cancer screening at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. advantage of the free screening. From that total, there were 95 patients examined for breast cancer. Five were found to have a mass or lump, 10 were found to have a thickening; three had some sort of nipple abnormality and one had a cyst. There were 48 patients examined for prostate and testicular cancer. Of those examined for prostate cancer, three had a A total of 162 people took GUESS WHO'S NEW we're fighting "The more exposure -- iron only only Carmel wlhtepring HfiQ Carmel trundel Carmel iron iron only $279 only M95 li $249 Cordova 1135 315 355 wtn,notl 435 54 wlmkspring r 319 I with trundel $399 with LIMITED iron only 2 malts 2464. They Last! 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Toning Salon "We're pushing kids too hard too soon," he said, "and they're getting turned off to the whole process of 0 W)M SUPPLY Introducing The Fun-Tasti- c reading council. When Compain walked into a classroom one recent morning, the children burst into cheers. Some ran up and hugged her. As she explained to a visitor, "I'm the one who brings in the new books." By June, youngsters who barely spoke English at the start of the school year are fluently usually able to read and aloud stories that they and their classmates made up together. Irving Lazar, a professor of human service studies at Cornell University, said the yardstick of kindergarten success should be "smiles per hour." We need to clear out our previously leased and rental items in stock! In addition we've got great savings for you on new TV's VCR's, Stereos and more with credit terms to fit your budget! with trundel $238 1035 T7S. use our new toning eouiDment everyday during January II you wisti! n, a children's librarian since 1947 who is running the program for the ONE WEEK ONLY! Jan. 2 9 $109 $1C9 "Contributions of car seats and wheelchairs to the nonprofit hospitals are tax deductible," Schneiter said. "And we will be happy to issue charitable contribution receipts to do- 335 239 w!inkswing with TONING INTRODUCTORY OFFER iilililHIIMathes HOMl ENItHIAiNMtN! in 9am-5D- children for children who never had it," said Rita Com-pai- people have to Cordova $69 tm Monday thru Saturday "We try to create the bedtime story milieu of middle-clas- s Stoneman said. Diana iron Schneiter said that the three hospitals distribute about 60 car seats a month, only a few of which are returned. Aw6 ished, replaced by such "real" books as "Silly Old Possum" and "Mrs. Wishy Washy" that children relish. cancer screenings, the more apt they are to come in and take care of themselves," Valinda available." IN worksheets have been ban- MM and garages help no one but they could be helping many people in need if they were 373-44- less stressful atmosphere. vourufe Those at the screening who were found have some sort of problem were referred to their own physician. Follow-up- s were scheduled to be made with every patient to make sure they contacted their doctors. "One of the main reasons screenings are so important is that the earlier cancer is detected the better the outcome will be," said Eva Stoneman, cancer education nurse at UVRMC. car seat donations Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, Orem Community Hospital and American Fork Hospital. "We want to make Utah County residents aware of the need, so that others might benefit," Schneiter said. "Car seats and wheelchairs in attics homes, to Local hospitals seek Utah County citizens are being asked to contribute wheelchairs and infant car seats no longer in use to local hospitals so they can be made available to those who need them. Paul H. Schneiter, director of the Central Utah Health Care Foundation, said the items are in short supply at 92 per- cent of the pupils come from ffiamtfia Stoneman said a lot of people don't recognize or they ignore the cancer symptoms they have. Some find it easier to participate in a screening than to actually go to their doctors and express concern about a problem. In addition to those screenings, 104 people were examined for skin cancer. Six were found to have basal cell carcinoma, five with squamous cell carcinoma and one with melanoma. d "adaptive kindergarten" classes begun by Project reporter that the academic South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia made kindergarten mandatory, and New Mexico will this year. Building blocks, toy stoves and easels have given way to desk work and mimeographed worksheets children take home at night, a tangible sign to kin- the Soviets stunned America by launching the first space satellite. The event led to widespread changes in U.S. curricula, including rigorous academics against critics who believe academically oriented kindergarten is a mistake that actually works k" ter." of Open Sesame emphasizes reading, but with a twist: boring "basal readers" and phonics have already missed so much." Often the impetus for change has had to come from outside the school establishment. In Hartford, the Travelers Corp. and the University of Hartford have teamed with the public schools in Project HELP, which assists the programs. Mikutajtis' class is one of 14 with the Sputnik period, said she had seen gradual changes throughout her career. "Play was once the work of kindergarten children. But then I saw play corners disappear. They introduced reading materials and worksheets. The boards of education started to lean on the administrators. Then tney leaned on teachers," said Gunning. "It seems that every time there is national distress, the community puts it on the backs of children, even the very youngest. We end up frightening parents," she said. Alice Davis, in charge of Hartford's early childhood programs, freely admitted to a ginning levels. More states have recently concluded that "earlier is bet- Young Children. ners themselves are often less than eager to face a day of academics, she said. "The dropout syndrome begins at this age," said Davis. "By the time you get to third grade, the kids are lost. They kin- dergarten teacher from Ithaca, N.Y., who administered early childhood programs beginning kindergarten years and clamor for a return to "basics," even at such be- Marilyn Smith, executive director of the National Associa- country, with kindergartens like the two at Mary Hooker the battle ground. nonsense. Ann Gunning, a retired has gotten a second wind in the 1980s as reformers decry the "mediocrity" of U.S. schools, declare preschool and children to acquire skills they're not ready for," said being played out around the anxious parents that their child's kindergarten brooks no get-toug- well-establish- ed and where reading test scores are among the lowest in the city. As in Hartford, the strategy is to return kindergarten to a n, dren to school. And kindergart- Educators and parents alike concluded that the earlier children began learning to read, write and compute, the better. h This philosophy Harlem school where 3 In kindergarten, the seeds of failure are often said Davis and others. Some are already logging as many as 50 or 60 absences a year. Parents, often young, single and immature themselves, fail to get their chilwell-sow- Irving Lazar - Page in HOME FNTFRTAINMFNT CENTER 248 E. 1300 S. OREM 226-398- 8 SelesService RentalsLeases 1 I |