Building Boys Bulletin 2-21-22
About that Tennessee preschool study...
I’m not surprised the Tennessee preschool study didn’t show academic gains.
I’m angry.
I’m angry that so many academics, legislators, and others are shocked by this study. I’m angry that, in the time my kids have gone from pre-K to college, our country still has not recognized (or systematized) the simple fact that kids learn best via play.
Didn’t Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street teach us that years ago?
Every early childhood teacher I know has lamented the academicization of preschool and kindergarten in recent years. Once upon a time – when I was child – preschool and kindergarten classes were play-based (and half-day). Children painted, colored, built with blocks and engaged in imaginary play. In kindergarten, I learned to recite nursery rhymes. Today’s kindergartners spend six or more hours a day at school and are expected to read emergent readers texts with purpose and understanding.
Over the past two decades, in an effort to increase the standardized test scores that are so often used to judge the effectiveness of schools and teachers, many schools have cut back on recess time and upped academic instruction. Preschoolers now routinely fill out worksheets. They stand in lines and are expected to sit still and…no wonder at least 250 children are suspended or expelled from preschool each day .
No wonder the pre-K-attending students who were “better prepared for kindergarten – significantly so,” in the words of Dale Farran, the Vanderbilt University researcher who led the study, had significantly lower academic scores, more behavioral problems, and more special education referrals than their non-pre-K-attending peers by the end of sixth grade.
“Better prepared for kindergarten,” it turns out, doesn’t equal “learning” or “excited for school.”
I took my oldest son out of first grade nearly 20 years ago when I realized that the educational system was hurting him more than helping him. In school, he didn’t have freedom or support to explore topics of interest to him. He wasn’t allowed to learn at his own speed. He was required to sit still and follow directions, regardless of his physical or emotional state.
Within weeks of withdrawing him from school to homeschool, I learned that he hated reading aloud (“I’d rather figure it out in my own head!” he said) and really wanted to learn multiplication. Freed to follow his own interests and progress at his own pace, my son flourished.
Our experience taught us something that Farran, an emerita professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, and other academics have been slow to realize, something many parents and on-the-ground educators have been screaming for years: school attendance doesn’t equal learning. In fact, for many kids, school inhibits learning and kills curiosity and motivation.
For many students – particularly boys – time in school is far more likely to led to disciplinary action, self-doubt, and disengagement than self-discovery or robust learning.
Neuroscience has shown that male and female brains develop at different paces. Generally speaking, the parts of the brain that handle language mature later in boys than in girls. And generally speaking, boys’ fine motor skills – you know, muscle coordination necessary to hold a pencil -- take longer to develop than their gross motor skills. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that inhibits impulses and is intimately involved in executive functioning, the higher-order cognitive processes that help humans focus, follow directions, and manage time, matures more slowly in males than females.
In most publicly funded preschools and elementary schools, four-, five-, and six-year-old boys, girls, and nonbinary students are routinely expected to sit still and be quiet. They’re expected follow directions and keep their hands to themselves AND THIS IS NOT HOW LITTLE CHILDREN LEARN.
Kids learn best via experimentation and experience. They notice something. Get curious. Touch, explore, and learn. Small children are natural scientists who are continually forming and testing hypotheses.
The best educators know this and build on children’s curiosity and wonder. Parents know this too, so well-off parents frequently pay for private play-based programs that emphasize art, movement, music, and nature. In contrast, the public preschool program in Tennessee – like so many in the U.S. -- focused almost entirely on literacy instruction. And transitions, or moving students from one part of the classroom and building to another.
In hindsight, Farran told NPR that, “One of the biases that I hadn't examined in myself is the idea that poor children need a different sort of preparation from children of higher-income families." It’s possible, she says, that we might get better results from simply letting little children play.
If we let little kids play, boys might not account for 83% of all preschool suspensions and 85% of preschool expulsions . More Black boys – 18% of male preschool enrollment, but 41% of male preschool suspension – might view school as a safe, welcoming place, rather than a stop on the school-to-prison pipeline.
Our current education system isn’t really serving anyone well (see: the recent spate of teacher resignations) – except, perhaps, those with the means to opt out and pursue alternatives that better fit their needs. It’s time – past time! – to discard developmentally inappropriate educational practices and build a child-friendly system.
It’s time to listen to parents, kids, and in-the-trenches teachers.
Here’s to building boys!
Jennifer
P.S. I sent the full, paid-subscriber version of Building Boys Bulletin to every subscriber this weekend because I think it’s so important that we boy parents & advocates understand the importance & implications of the Tennessee preschool study. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it…
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IN THE NEWS
Bias Against Boys? The Gender Gap in Schools
Highlights:
“Brown University Sociology Professor Jayanti Owens…said the lack of time for play in many schools can be tougher on boys in particular.”
“Data show boys are disciplined more often and more harshly in schools than girls, starting as early as kindergarten.”
“Nationwide, just 82% of boys graduate from high school compared with 88% of girls. Women also now outnumber men in college: 60% of incoming college students are female, while 40% are male.”
What it Takes To Get Support for a Black Boys with Special Needs
Highlights:
“As Tophs’ mother, I’m never just advocating for an undiagnosed child whose challenges don’t follow any script; I’m also a Black mother advocating for my Black son in a room full of people who don’t look like us.”
“…righteous rage burned in my gut. My son wouldn’t be another who slipped through the cracks of the system or was pushed off a cliff.”
“Imagine a young Black man, who isn’t an auditory processor, who doesn’t always know where his body is in space, who would stand in the middle of a road if he thought someone might need help, who isn’t diabetic but is hypoglycemic, who will become clammy and heavy as stone if he misses a meal, having a run-in with a police officer.”
Kids Won’t Listen? Science Says Music Might Help
Highlights:
“Like many children, my boys are rowdy, loud and easily distracted. But in the sometimes painful slog of parenting, I’ve discovered that music is more than just a way to command my kids’ attention and encourage them to follow instructions. It’s a way to connect with them…”
“Music taps into the emotional and memory centers of the brain, so information and instructions delivered through song are more likely to stick’… The way it works is reminiscent of Ivan Pavlov’s dogs. Children hear a specific tune, and they know what to do.”
“Whether you choose to sing pop culture hits or bang pots and pans, synchronizing with children through musicking triggers the brain’s reward system. The result: Your children may be more agreeable, and you may be less likely to snap — at least in theory.”
The Word with Real Magic in It
Highlights:
“’Let's’ is the word with real magic in it. ‘Let's is… not a command nor a question, but rather an invitation and in the mouths of children it's most often used as an invitation to play.”
“’Let's’ is always an invitation, one that contains all of the open-ended possibilities of human beings together.”
Highlights:
Research found that “pleasure-based [sex ed] programs had an overall moderate, positive, and significant effect on condom use—that is, the sex-haver was more likely to use one—in comparison to interventions that did not also teach about the role of pleasure in sex.”
“Pleasure-based sex education can take a number of forms, but at its core is devoted to normalizing sexual activity and teaching individuals that sex is supposed to (and should) be an enjoyable experience.”
How Does Social Media Affect the Body Image of Men? The Dangers of Instagram, Explained
Highlights:
“ while teenage girls are widely understood to be susceptible to negative messaging about body image, research shows that teenage boys and men are also vulnerable.”
“Social media isn’t always negative for everybody, and it can help people develop healthier habits and/or impact useful fitness advice….But, as with everything on social media… ‘it’s important to vet and fact-check any person/advice that you are going to follow.’”
ON BOYS podcast
Empowering Boys w Laurie A. Couture
On Building Boys
Reasons Why Your Son Might Be Behaving Badly at School
It’s the moment every parent dreads. The phone rings or a letter drops into the mailbox, and it’s news from the school that their child is behaving badly at school. In less extreme cases, the parent might be notified of their child’s upcoming detention, and they might be asked to meet with the class teacher to discuss any problems. In more extreme cases, suspension or expulsion may be on the cards.
…when you are doing all you can as a parent to raise a decent human being, you might question why your son is acting out in such ways. It won’t be because they are a ‘bad kid.’ Despite the reputation they might garner for being naughty, there has to be a reason somewhere….
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I am so glad to have found you on Substack. You have a critical voice and important insights. This piece about play is spot-on. Thank you!