Victory for early entry in Victoria
Monday, 09 February 2009 20:16
For those who do not know, I have a gifted consultancy with a website, and I can be contacted via email through the website. As it is available on the world wide web, I sometimes get email enquiries from other parts of the country. Last August I received an email from a mother in Ballarat, Victoria, who thought she had a very gifted little girl, and had read my article on early entry (available on this website). She wanted more information, and I sent her some advice.
I suggested that she should have her little girl's IQ tested, so that she had some credible evidence to show the school where she intended to enrol her child. Yesterday she contacted me again to thank me, and to let me know the outcome of her attempts at enrolling her daughter in a school. Suffice it to say that the first school would not enrol her child, as they thought her too young. But mum did not give up, and finally found a school principal who was willing to enrol her child. She writes that her daughter had no problem settling in, and was more ready than some of the older children who are in her class. The story made the front page of the Ballarat Courier. Please find the link for the local news story at http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/school-great-when-youre-just-four/1422825.aspx.
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Surely there is no magic formula. Some people hold their kids back until 6 years old to get a leg up. Some others push their kids into schools as early as 4 to free themselves to go to work or just to show that the kids are gifted. But years down the track, at grade 3-4 where it really matters, the kids are pretty even up. Those who start too early or too late may encounter some odd problems. For example the early starters may end up with learning too much by rote as they tend to rely heavily on memory when they were too young. The late starters loose their higher performance as the others catch up.
I am more in favour of letting kids have a lot of fun and a wonderful childhood when they are under 6. Start them in formal education when they really want to go. There is always time to catch up and to compete.
Some people turn the giftedness of their kids into a curse heading only down the academic path. Others use that to the kids' advantage. The kids don't have to work hard academically and spend more time playing and doing sports and the arts. Eventually they become well-rounded and perform at high level in all areas and become a superior performer later in life.
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I stumbled across this and the above comment by Ungifted. I am currently doing my PhD and there is a colleague down the hall whose specialty is myopia. I just wanted to say that the latest research on myopia points to a decrease of exposure to light intensity being the reason for the increase in myopia. It has been proven that there is no correlation to 'close work' and myopia. It is the amount of time you spend inside or outside. You can do the same 'close work' outside and reduce your risk of myopia by up to around 90% (i think, can't remember the exact percentage, but drastic!) This has been shown were in the country's that have 90% myopia, they do the same school work for an hour a day outside and the percentage of kids with myopia drops to more like 1-2%. The problem is that children (especially in Asia) are spending less time outside. I just wanted to clarify this, I think it is important not to spread misinformation whether accidental or intentional.
My daughter is 2.5 years old, all she want to do is play and hang out with children who are 5,6 and 7. We have just moved her to a private preschool for this reason. She hated daycare were she was with same age kids and cried and pretended to be sick to not have to go. She is now happy and having a fantastic time with kids 2-3 years older than her and not crying on the mornings she has to go to care. I too ' in favour of letting kids have a lot of fun and a wonderful childhood when they are under 6' but I think it is important to understand that every child is different and just because you think that sports and art are fun doesn't mean that the precious reader isn't having as much fun with her books.
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