The Ridiculous Things People Say

"How will they ever learn to get along with people?" So many things are wrong with this statement. Schools are designed to separate children into odd little groups of people of all the same age and, in some schools, the same abilities. When else in life will one be surrounded by only their age mates, even spending "breaks" with only people of the same age? This doesn't teach children to get along in society, it contributes to society's ills. When people ask this question of me I always want to question whether they've read "Lord of the Flies".

"They'll be behind all the other children!" Right now, my four year old is reading. Not everything, he wouldn't be able to read this blog for instance, but he'd be able to pick out many of the words in it. His birthday is in the winter which means that he wouldn't be entering kindergarten this year, he'd have to wait until next year. When I was a kid, kindergarten consisted of review of the basics and then basic reading. I learned to read in an experimental preschool program when I was two so I was bored out of my mind and my birthday is late in the school year so I was one of the young kids in the class. I can only imagine the utter tedium that my almost six year old would face in a setting such as this with the level he is at now when he's four. So they most certainly won't be behind.