Apparently, in the UK, it's not enough any more to teach preschoolers how to recognize colors (sorry, colours) and numbers, to sing catchy tunes about hand-washing and the importance of dental hygiene, and perhaps to teach the brightest in the bunch how to master the fine art of shoe-tying (assuming, of course, that any non-velcro toddler shoes remain in existence). Now to the nursery school curriculum must, apparently, be added lessons about human rights (HT: Kathryn Lopez at the Corner):
The Unicef scheme is designed to promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that children everywhere have the right to survival, freedom to develop, protection from abuse and the opportunity to participate in society.Primary and secondary schools can already win a Rights Respecting Schools award from Unicef by putting up posters by the main entrance, signed by everyone from dinner ladies to the headteacher, which states their commitment to upholding the rights charter.
Each classroom is also meant to contain a set of pupils' rights and responsibilities, while wall displays are expected to continue the theme.
Pupils in one school made a poster showing the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk asking: "What about my rights?". It lists his "right to have a castle" and "right to be bad".
How about the right not to have childhood itself made a pawn in yet another liberal Utopian scheme?
Not everybody's happy with this development in nursery school lessons:
The move comes amid growing concern about the Government's "nappy curriculum", a set of 69 learning targets for under-fives which experts say will leave young children confused and demotivated.Sue Palmer, a former headteacher and author of the book Toxic Childhood, said: "Toddlers are still working at a very emotional level. They should be told stories and allowed to sing and play. That's what will turn them into normal people."
Dr Richard House, of the Research Centre for Therapeutic Education at Roehampton University, added: "The idea that this kind of learning is appropriate for nursery-age children is absurd, and betrays a complete lack of understanding of child development.
"Modern culture seems determined to treat children like 'mini-adults' in all kinds of ways, and with major negative effects in terms of their premature growing-up."
It's hard enough to teach toddlers such basic civilizational skills as the use of the toilet and the fine art in getting more food into their mouths than on the floor without deciding that we can teach them that they have the rights to select their own toys (which they do, anyway, and usually only when someone else is playing with the toys in question) and to petition for outdoor play time (again, which they do, very repetitively, and with the ever-present hope that "No, dear, it's raining" will miraculously change to a "Yes," at any moment). Which causes me to wonder whether the people who craft these rather silly notions about having toddlers discuss the rights of fairy tale characters and sign (presumably in finger paints) a joint declaration about rights with their teachers have ever actually known a toddler.
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No, of course not, John M., but I think of religion as a special case (not the least because it's true, but you know I'd say that). It would be just as wrong for conservatives to inculcate into very young children the idea that they ought to bring excess toys to school with the purpose of establishing a lucrative toy-rental enterprise, as this stuff is.
And Joey, I like how you think! :) Sadly, some learned person will come along and explain how the giant was a symbol of the oppression of the poor by robber-barons, or some such thing, and then the fun will be over.
Human rights are hardly utopian. But I'd think it's best to teach five year olds what five year olds are SUPPOSED to learn: how to be generous, how to share, sympathy for others, about nature, etc. From these basic beginnings they can learn about how other human beings should be treated. A year or two later kids can start learning what life is like in other countries, and be encouraged to extend the sharing lesson they learned with their classmates further afield, and donate small change to a charity. Later on in their education they can learn about the human rights which undergird a democratic society, and about efforts to encourage these rights around the world. And in our own nation!
Human rights have a place in curriculum. Just not in Kindergarten. We teach Kindergarteners to count, learn their colors, learn the seasons, learn their letters. There's a steady progression from there to algebra, painting, geology, and Shakespeare. You start small, because kids start small.
A great many educational fads seem to have been formulated by people with no actual first-hand experience with small children.
Anyone who believes that people are basically good has never spent any time with a group of toddlers. That is human nature at its most unvarnished; and it is not very pretty.
Toddlers are already highly aware of their rights; "NO!" "THAT'S MINE!" "NO FAIR!" are among the first words they utter, especially if they have older siblings. It's convincing them that OTHER people have rights as well, and that their own rights have limits, that is the tricky bit.
I would hazard that a good portion of the trouble in the world is caused by people who never learned how to share, take turns, clean up their own messes and use their words instead of hitting. Perhaps if we spent more time on those basic skills and less time on trying to get three year olds to understand the Geneva Convention, the world would be a better place.
Hear! Hear! You said it, Salamander.
I'm with zoetius here. The more time goes on, the more it becomes clear that homeschooling is about the best chance you've got of raising undamaged kids.
That, and isolation chambers...
Seriously, though, trying to navigate the minefields of idiotic curricula, crappy teachers, zillions of poor role models, peers whose parents think that dressing their little girl like Bratz is cool...?
When your moral system fails to match with the prevailing moral system (or lack thereof), isolation begins to look very attractive. I'd rather attempt to teach my kids chemistry and calculus myself than try to figure out how to let them spend all day in that environment and still spare them from the phenomenon you spoke about in this post called SEVENTEEN, Erin.
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/06/erin-seventeen.html
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