Are We Setting Up Our Children For Failure?

Nowadays kids are inundated with learning programs. Disney Junior, Nick Junior, Baby Learning channel. They are overwhelmed with learning from a very young age. Parents place their children in front of TV as a mean of child care but are the TV programs geared towards the rigorous school curriculum?

As the education requirements for students have increased intensity, kids are becoming more overwhelmed with the school system. They spend hours a day after school doing homework problems and get frustrated because they don't know it.

There are children I babysit for that get so frustrated they don't want to continue with their homework after they are picked up from daycare. One child is in Kindergarten and has three assignments a day as school homework from Monday through Thursday. They have to read a book and do a book report on it as well.

The question is are we setting up our children for failure? Are we overwhelming them too much while they are young and in school and have we lost the value of childhood and what is really important for children?

Yes, yes and yes!

 By having such overwhelming school curriculum, kids are being forced to grow up sooner. They are given these learning lessons where they aren't open to understanding the questions.

Kindergarteners are learning about rhyming and phonics which are normally taught at the first and second grade levels. Kids days are getting longer and longer. Most parents need to be to work earlier and are commuting longer for jobs. This leaves children in before school care starting at 6am. Their babysitter picks them up from after school care around 5 and then the parents get home around 7:30 pm. The children are going to bed later and getting up earlier, making them mentally exhausted and difficult to absorb new material. Lost are the days of kids learning through play.

Kindergarten used to be a time of learning numbers, letters, being read to, learning colors, animals, shapes, etc. Now they almost have to know that before going in. It seems like Kindergarten screening should be a test of what the parents (or if the parents are well off and can afford daycare, the daycare) has taught them. More pressure has been put on parents to ensure the kids are learning what they need to know. They need to know as much as possible to not be left behind or hate school at a young age.

Teachers are held accountable for the "No Child Left Behind" but at the same time, are putting more pressure on the parents that the kids learn the lesson work. What is the education system coming to? Is it homeschooling?

Food for thought.
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As always, these are my opinions and are no way affiliated with anyone or any programming mentioned.