I agree with the futility of expanding the current schooling paradigm. I do, however, worry that the foundations are laid before the kids even arrive at kindergarten.
How many words of in-person adult conversation does the child hear each week?
How many minutes of 1-to-1 direct, focused time does the child receive from an adult each day?
How secure does the child feel? What is their nourishment like? What is their sleep situation like? Are they taught age-appropriate amounts of patience? Do they believe that if they are patient that they'll still get whatever it is they're waiting for?
I'm doubtful of a government program being able to close those gaps in the 0.25 to 5 year old range and I'm doubtful that those early developmental deficits (especially around nourishment, sleep, and security) can be fully closed during the schooling years.
(Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not a child development expert nor even a dabbler in it.)
> I'm doubtful of a government program being able to close those gaps in the 0.25 to 5 year old range and I'm doubtful that those early developmental deficits (especially around nourishment, sleep, and security) can be fully closed during the schooling years.
I do think thibk you can cure it immediately, but I think you can narrow the gap a bit each generation; it's a long term project that's doable because the outcomes of one generation are the starting conditions for the next.
And ideally it takes improved non-schooling intervention in the before school years. But if you don't intervene to do what you can in the school years now, you've got a worse starting point than you could have for the next generation.
How many words of in-person adult conversation does the child hear each week?
How many minutes of 1-to-1 direct, focused time does the child receive from an adult each day?
How secure does the child feel? What is their nourishment like? What is their sleep situation like? Are they taught age-appropriate amounts of patience? Do they believe that if they are patient that they'll still get whatever it is they're waiting for?
I'm doubtful of a government program being able to close those gaps in the 0.25 to 5 year old range and I'm doubtful that those early developmental deficits (especially around nourishment, sleep, and security) can be fully closed during the schooling years.
(Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not a child development expert nor even a dabbler in it.)