Learning: Preschool vs. High School

It has begun.

Class has started. I don't know exactly what I expected, but I am quickly learning to drop those unsaid expectations.

My class has five students, one teacher, a paraprofessional, and me. What proportionality. 5:3. Where is that in high school? More importantly, why is it so different from high school. Yes, it's preschool. That's why.

High school is so much more difficult than being four, but four is so much more vital to development (according to some psychologists). I don't remember much from AP Psychology my sophomore year, but I do remember the importance of development.

Today I eavesdropped on a conversation between Naomi (for privacy, I'll give students different names) and Ms. Fuller (teachers as well, I guess). It went a like this:

Ms. Fuller: "Naomi, what makes you sad?"

Naomi: "Me."

Ms. Fuller: "Oh, well what makes you happy?"

Naomi: "Me."

What a life that must be like. But more importantly one-on-one conversation with a teacher. Wow. When did that escape us? The closest I get to discussion with my teachers is shooting and email or a quick question between classes. I get that everything starts to move at a faster pace as we mature, but what a curse that is.

There is no longer room for connections or reading leisurely.

Instead it has been reduced to: have a socratic seminar, open up, what language in the piece made you come to that conclusion, read this by next Tuesday, you have two quizzes for my class this week.

In my AP Literature class we're talking a lot about philosophy. I find it most interesting. Today, as I was in my preschool class I got the overwhelming urge to bring up philosophy with them. That obviously wouldn't go over very well. But, why? Who came to the conclusion that four year olds shouldn't be exposed to what we are as high schoolers?

History is my favorite course. The earliest memory I have of learning history in an educational environment was the third grade when I learned about Martin Luther King Jr. I don't think I learned anything of significance. Why didn't I learn about the amendments to the constitution until Junior year?

Awhile ago I briefly studied the "best way to learn a language." Turns out a lot of European countries are teaching new languages by incorporating it into their everyday teaching. What that means is in your kindergarten class you would learn how to tie your shoes, but in Spanish. What a concept! It's working. Why are we waiting to do that in the United States? Why limit it to just language?

The education system is obscure and has lots of room for improvement. I just want to teach my four year olds about the Jamestown settlement of 1606—maybe I would start somewhere that doesn't end so abruptly, but you get my point.

Okay, I'm done with my tangent on that. On a much more positive (or less protrusively inquisitive) note, my preschool class is very focused on independence (too bad not the 1776 kind of independence). I'm happy to be in an environment that encourages individual responsibility and accountability. These are the kind of life lessons that it's okay to learn at four.