New $500 million government program to help 5 year olds learn to sit still in class.

[sarahtar]

I just might have a coronary.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/sebelius-early-learning-initiatives-need

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that the administration's new $500 million early learning initiative is designed to deal with children from birth onward to prevent such problems as 5-year olds who "can't sit still" in a kindergarten classroom.

Sebelius, adding on to comments from Asst. Education Secretary Joan Lombardi, pointed to studies done in her home state of Kansas, where she served as governor. “When we looked at 5-year olds--and we tested about half the 5-year-olds in a relatively homogeneous state like Kansas -- and found that about half of them were not ready for kindergarten at age 5," Sebelius said.

Thank you Federal Government for confirming my decision to homeschool my children.

This is just wrong on so many counts.

[Savoir Faire]

Don't forget teaching a group of wiggly 5-year-olds to stand in a line with their hands behind their backs. (I remember the old days it was a finger over the lips...but I guess that's out.) They need at least a million to teach that...

[Plummeting]

That's misleading. It's not just about sitting still, even though that's what they imply, leaving off the parts about reading, math, and social readiness. I do think it's stupid for anyone to waste money on trying to make all 5yo's ready for school, since that's so very young and what they probably need is just another year to mature. However, it's not true that it's all about sitting still.

[zebra15]

Has anyone looked at the development of a 5 yr old, physically, emotionally??  Maybe thats why the kids can not sit still... THEY ARE FIVE YEARS OLD!

I'm 37, there are days I can not sit still...Can I get $500M?

[sarahtar]

Originally Posted by Plummeting 

That's misleading. It's not just about sitting still, even though that's what they imply, leaving off the parts about reading, math, and social readiness. I do think it's stupid for anyone to waste money on trying to make all 5yo's ready for school, since that's so very young and what they probably need is just another year to mature. However, it's not true that it's all about sitting still.

"to prevent such problems as 5-year-olds who can't sit still." The term "such as" means "here is one example" and implies there are others, so I don't think I agree that it's misleading. The full article if you clicked on it mentioned the readiness in reading and math but still strongly linked it to the sitting still.

[Dar]

This isn't the forum to discuss school programs, so I'm locking this thread. Feel free to repost the link in Learning at School if you want to talk about it further.