Americans test the academic capability and levels of children in every grade level. There are emotional tests and academic tests that are given to the children in order to classify their age and mental level. Children that do not score as highly or as prominently as the next are then classified into other groups and with other children who might also have the same learning disabilities; of these classifications, children are then labeled into their group.
In other countries, Finland especially, they have been able to rank highest in academic testing because of their testing procedures. Linda Shaw wrote, "Sahlberg's message, although he is too polite to put it so bluntly: Stop testing so much. Trust teachers more. Give less homework. Shorten the school day," (Shaw).
If anything needs to be tested more, it needs to be children's academic levels. Emotionally, children respond to their daily routines and their interactions with other people; school needs to be an area where children want to be. School is a child's main factor of their life especially because for a good majority of it, they spend it at school.
Linda Shaw.
Finland's educational success story: Less testing, more trusting. Seattle Times.
I believe a large stress factor for children could be violence and war. Violence and war can cause serious mental illness issues and can lead to other consequences in the future for those children exposed. Children in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq consistently see violence and war and it has gotten to the point where these children are used to their environment. This is not healthy and it does not give high hopes to the child to believe that there are other areas that are not consumed by this lifestyle. An article posted on War Child stated, "Growing up in Afghanistan today means growing up surrounded by violence, poverty and exclusion. Entire generations have never seen peace. Thousands of children have been separated from their parents, abandoned in national orphanages or forced into labour," (War Child).
This type of lifestyle does not give children the emotional growth they need. Their biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development has been compromised and they are forced to believe that they are supposed to be inducted into this lifestyle filled with violence and war. This representation of life should not be forced upon a child.
War Child. http://www.warchildholland.org/afghanistan
My Connections to Play
- "Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning." By Fred Rogers
- “The activities that are the easiest, cheapest, and most fun to do – such as singing, playing games, reading, storytelling, and just talking and listening – are also the best for child development.” ~ Jerome Singer (professor, Yale University)
- “As astronauts and space travelers children puzzle over the future; as dinosaurs and princesses they unearth the past. As weather reporters and restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters and gremlins they make sense of the unreal.” ~ Gretchen Owocki (childhood educator)
