SchoolhouseMy son gets 20 minutes of recess each day.

He gets gym class twice a week.

He’s working on sight words, phonics, addition, and subtraction.

He’s 5, and he’s about one month into kindergarten.

During the last few years, I kept hearing about the push to offer universal pre-K and wondered at the phenomenon. I have nothing against Pre-K and think it is a good fit for some families, but I also know many parents who want to keep their children home before they start elementary school.

But now I get it.

If I’m looking for a gentle introduction to school….a place to play, to read stories, to learn a bit about numbers and letters and a lot about sharing and friends, pre-K is the place to be.

Kindergarten now plunges students straight into the academic world, complete with homework, grades, and desk time. Kindergarten is the new first grade.

I don’t consider myself an educational expert (although I do have a music education degree, so there’s that). Is this what we need to fix our system? More desk time?

I love my son’s school. His teachers and his principal are remarkable people who have built a strong academic culture. They have to keep up with the current educational currents.

But I wonder if those currents are taking us a bit off course.

What do you think? Is the new educational culture what we need to keep up with the rest of the world, or is it counterproductive? Perhaps somewhere in between?