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"mainly served as a safe social space for children to learn to get along with others" That's exactly what pre-school is supposed to be. Now it's "If you don't

"mainly served as a safe social space for children to learn to get along with others" That's exactly what pre-school is supposed to be. Now it's "If you don't get into the right pre-school, you won't get into an Ivy League university, so you'll be a failure!".

watty 9y ago
This has got to be regional as my kids are in preschool and I've never heard anything remotely close.
- sidlls 9y ago
  It's possibly a Bay Area (and similar regions) thing. There are waiting lists years long for some schools, especially those perceived to offer that "leg up" on the academic career path. Some of this may be due to deficiency of supply, but some is definitely due to academic pressure.
- madengr 9y ago
  Probably so. I just thought of an article I read about the hyper-competitive pre-school scene in NYC. The parents hired a coach for their 4 YO's pre-school admissions interview.
  - rb808 9y ago
    NYC has an exam for 4 year olds to get into 'gifted and talented' kindergarten classes. Of course there is a test prep industry and ridiculous numbers of preschoolers now qualify. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/nyregion/as-ranks-of-gifted-soar-in-ny-fight-brews-for-kindergarten-slots.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/nyregion/as-ranks-of-gifte...
    - rconti 9y ago
      Suddenly toddlers and tiaras doesn't sound so bad
    - imajes 9y ago
      The delta between a good school and whatever you get assigned seems to make this worth it.
- athenot 9y ago
  In my area, this is definitely a common feeling. It's not expressed in quite that way, but there's an underlying tone of stress among parents that want the latest buzz for their children, lest they suffer failure later on in their life. Sadly, those parents are often the ones who eschew quality time with their toddlers. Yes it's tiring after a full day of work. Yes it's demanding. But that's also how as parents we help our little ones develop healthy emotional responses. Just as with startups, children can suffer from vanity metrics. I'm always impressed when my 3-year old can use a 5-syllable word, but I'm acutely aware that it's a vanity metric. What matters to me are healthy emotional foundations which will help my child cope with all the setbacks that will happen when trying to learn.
lisper 9y ago
That can actually turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy completely independently of any actual change in the structure of the preschool curriculum. In fact, it can (and often does) become a self-fulfiling prophecy with regards to any externally observable characteristic of a person, whether or not that characteristic has any predictive power at all with respect to anything that anyone should actually care about. Skin color is the canonical example.

watty 9y ago

This has got to be regional as my kids are in preschool and I've never heard anything remotely close.

sidlls 9y ago
It's possibly a Bay Area (and similar regions) thing. There are waiting lists years long for some schools, especially those perceived to offer that "leg up" on the academic career path. Some of this may be due to deficiency of supply, but some is definitely due to academic pressure.
madengr 9y ago
Probably so. I just thought of an article I read about the hyper-competitive pre-school scene in NYC. The parents hired a coach for their 4 YO's pre-school admissions interview.
- rb808 9y ago
  NYC has an exam for 4 year olds to get into 'gifted and talented' kindergarten classes. Of course there is a test prep industry and ridiculous numbers of preschoolers now qualify. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/nyregion/as-ranks-of-gifted-soar-in-ny-fight-brews-for-kindergarten-slots.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/nyregion/as-ranks-of-gifte...
  - rconti 9y ago
    Suddenly toddlers and tiaras doesn't sound so bad
  - imajes 9y ago
    The delta between a good school and whatever you get assigned seems to make this worth it.
athenot 9y ago
In my area, this is definitely a common feeling. It's not expressed in quite that way, but there's an underlying tone of stress among parents that want the latest buzz for their children, lest they suffer failure later on in their life. Sadly, those parents are often the ones who eschew quality time with their toddlers. Yes it's tiring after a full day of work. Yes it's demanding. But that's also how as parents we help our little ones develop healthy emotional responses. Just as with startups, children can suffer from vanity metrics. I'm always impressed when my 3-year old can use a 5-syllable word, but I'm acutely aware that it's a vanity metric. What matters to me are healthy emotional foundations which will help my child cope with all the setbacks that will happen when trying to learn.

lisper 9y ago

That can actually turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy completely independently of any actual change in the structure of the preschool curriculum. In fact, it can (and often does) become a self-fulfiling prophecy with regards to any externally observable characteristic of a person, whether or not that characteristic has any predictive power at all with respect to anything that anyone should actually care about. Skin color is the canonical example.