Editor’s Note: The WW-P Board of Education is scheduled to vote on proposed curriculum changes — most notably the elimination of the Accelerated & Enriched math program for grades 4 and 5 — at its meeting on Tuesday, December 15. Superintendent David Aderhold will also hold a town hall meeting Monday, December 7, in the High School South theater. The event is free but registration is required. Parents and former students have reacted strongly both in favor of and against the proposed changes. Here are their letters.
#b#Support the WW-P Administration#/b#
I am writing as the founder of the Take Back Childhood movement in support of common-sense measures to address the toxic culture of hyper-competitiveness and stress in WW-P schools. I appeal to the Board of Education and WW-P community to support the administration in restructuring the math program for upper elementary students.
Consider the irony in demanding that we continue administering a test to third graders that determines whether they will be eligible to take math courses at Princeton University as seniors in high school (which is essentially what the current A&E entrance exam decides). Given the public outcry against “high stakes testing,” why should the administration protect a testing practice that prods elementary school kids into scrambling for a seat in an Ivy League classroom nine years down the road? Common sense would suggest this kind of pressure is emotionally inappropriate for eight and nine-year-olds.
When a first grader insults a classmate’s intellect by insisting the child will not get into an Ivy League school or even a second-tier college, it is time for school leaders to modify policies that feed into the misguided and premature obsession with admission to elite universities. When a fourth grader comes home from school crying, as my son did, lamenting that he “will not amount to anything” because he has “nothing to put on [his] resume,” it’s time to take action to protect a degree of innocence among our youngest children. To those who have argued that the pressure is coming from the kids themselves or from their parents, I would suggest it is the administration’s duty to fight against the trend, regardless of the source of the problem.
As the parent of a former A&E math student, I believe the program as it stands now is developmentally and educationally inappropriate for all but a highly select few students in the program. When young children are up until 10, 11, and even midnight doing math homework, as is often the case with A&E students, the fact that the children might truly love math is no justification for maintaining the status quo. Common sense tells me the curriculum is out of whack, and the recent American Academy of Pediatrics report on the harmful effects of sleep deprivation reinforces my concern.
Some parents have claimed 4th and 5th grade A&E math is beneficial because children need to prepare for the stiff competition they will face later in life. I disagree. Industrialized nations long ago came to an agreement that young children should be protected from exposure to adult labor environments. International labor laws acknowledge that children shouldn’t be subjected to the same working conditions as adults. Encouraging young children to work long hours, under stress, so they can prepare to survive in the adult world runs contrary to the enlightened belief that adults have an obligation to treat childhood as a privileged status deserving of protection. Our school district should not create the conditions of an intellectual sweatshop in elementary school.
I call upon the Board of Education to listen to common sense and follow the administration’s lead in supporting instructional models that provide developmentally appropriate, differentiated instruction for all children. The Board of Education’s role should be to make sure the administration provides adequate funding, resources, and professional development to properly equip our teachers to carry out this mission.
I ask WW-P parents to trust that the administration is acting in the best interest of children with regard to math instruction. District leaders are not proposing that we do away with A&E math, nor are they proposing that gifted math students be held back from reaching their potential. The changes are intended to improve math instruction for all children while eliminating a destructive source of stress for the youngest. Delaying the testing and identification of A&E students is a modest, common-sense approach to improving the learning environment for the children of WW-P.
Catherine Foley
#b#Kudos to Aderhold#/b#
Kudos to Superintendent Aderhold for trying to make the school system in West Windsor less stressful.
Too many parents in the district act like they are jockeys on thoroughbreds at the Kentucky Derby in the way they pressure their kids to get straight A’s, perfect SAT scores, become master violinists by age 6, and the like. Some kids get tutors when they get an A-minus instead of an A-plus. When I was in school you only got tutors when you were not doing well, i.e., less than a C grade.
Children who are bullied at home to that extent lose out on a big part of their childhood and young adulthood. They are not meant to be house cats who are expected to achieve perfection in everything they do. Everyone should learn lessons from not doing well or failing once in a while, that is what makes one a better person. Even Edison, Ford, and Einstein failed at one time or another.
All parents want their kids to be successful, of course. But relentless pressure is not the best way to achieve that.
Brian Reilly
#b#Let WW-P Admins Do Their Job#/b#
I do not have children in school — they are adults — and had successful educations. But I have taken an interest in the correspondence in local newspapers about the changes that are happening in our school system. I have been involved in education over the years and think that parents need to give the professionals an opportunity to do their jobs.
I have talked to students as well as to teachers and have been aware of the unhealthy stresses many parents have been placing on their children, especially demanding top grades and more and more advanced classes, thereby essentially limiting what we used to call “fun and relaxation.” I admire the professionals for recognizing this situation and for trying to protect our children and their health.
From what I’ve read and heard, the goal of the professionals is healthy, balanced children and a learning environment that fosters education, without the past undue competition for grades and advancement. And in my experience, that kind of planning results in better learning and happier and healthier children.
Do not fear, WW-P parents. Your children are in good hands. Trust their education and their experience and most of all, trust their caring interest in your children. These changes were not taken lightly. That is their job.
Phyllis Spiegel
Plainsboro
