As President Obama and Arne Duncan speak with great urgency about adopting a “race to the top” philosophy for public education, there’s an opposite movement underway by parents who are eager to slow things down. At least until first grade.

Peggy Orenstein wrote a wonderful piece for the New York Times on her quest to find a suitable kindergarten for her daughter, and in the process discovered a puzzling irony: while today’s parents hope to slow down the aging process for themselves (a la “40 is the new 30”), they are just as eager to hasten maturation when it comes to their own young children.

She cites as evidence the preponderance of kindergartens who proudly assign regular homework; the standardized tests, early-literacy measures, and reading curricula that five year-olds are subjected to on a regular basis; and a survey of 254 teachers in New York and Los Angeles commissioned by the Alliance for Childhood which found that average kindergartners are spending a whopping two to three hours daily enduring direct instruction in reading, math and standardized test prep, and less than 30 minutes enjoying free play.

I must admit I find all this very disturbing. I’m not shocked that parents in our highly competitive culture want to push children to excel and achieve, but I didn’t realize the race was already underway in kindergarten! As a preschool teacher I suppose I got an inkling that the starting line was moving younger and younger when nervous parents of my four year-olds were especially eager to meet with me midyear to discuss “kindergarten readiness.” But play was never a dirty word in my preschool classroom, nor will it ever be. When did “play”in kindergarten suddenly become synonymous with “wasting time”?

Study after study (not to mention personal experience) demonstrate that young children learn through play. It’s how they develop physically, emotionally, and socially. When you watch little kids play, especially when they’re engaging in imaginative play with each other, you see them hone their communication skills, experiment with language, learn to cooperate and empathize, develop gross and fine motor skills, and form a host of intellectual theories about how the world works which they will continue to test and refine as they grow. And let’s not forget cultivation of the un-quantifiable but most precious of skills: imagination and creativity.

Further, many studies (like the ones Orenstein mentions) show no long term benefits to accelerating kindergarten. Case in point: Finland delays formal reading instruction until age seven, and its children consistently score highest on international assessments. Granted, one could argue that Finland doesn’t struggle with the same achievement gap that we have here in the U.S. Which makes me wonder whether in an effort to close the gap and “race to the top,” this idea of forcing five year-olds to push ahead in math and reading will take hold in this country and start trickling down even further!

I know there’s been much talk lately about the importance of providing all children with “high quality” early childcare, and I couldn’t agree more, but does “high quality” involve less learning through play and more “drill and kill”? Are we talking about standardized tests in preschool here? No doubt the No Child Left Behind created a legacy of test obsession that will be difficult to undo. But bringing homework, assessments and hours of direct instruction to kindergarten while limiting play accomplishes the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to: it hinders growth. Not to mention stresses out children and their parents. Orenstein exercised her right to vote with her feet and sent her child to a school that doesn’t assign homework to kindergartners. I hope that more parents will recognize the value inherent in play and do the same.

(Photo: woodleywonderworks’ flickr photostream/ Creative Commons)