Some of the elite publics are less diverse than private.

I have noticed families using Kumon and other services to teach their child. Drilling their child with math facts, only letting their kid do educational games at the library etc. I really do not have a problem with people pushing their kids to learn or inquisitive kids that do a lot of learning outside of school. However, I am amazed at parents who take their kids to Kumon for extra work and then complain about how the school is failing their kid, their kid is bored and that the school needs more differentation for their child. The entire point of Kumon is preparation and keeping your kid ahead of the school curriculum so how can the school keep up. At some point when I child is outside the normon they either need to be accelerated to a different grade or left back.

People often use sports as a comparison but I do not recall the gifted athlete saying they need to create a special gym class for me or a special team for me or even more differentiation because most of the kids are not on my level. The gifted athlete is required to play with their peers and if they want more specialization then they can get it outside of school with travel teams and special instruction. At some point complaining at school about differentation is pointless and yes I have a kid who is often bored and works really quickly.

I do realize school is for learning and not athletics.

Anonymous wrote:Can we please just have a normal kindergarten with story time, picture journals, songs, fingerplays, a kitchen/house area, blocks, puzzles, easels and crafts, cooking, guinea pigs and raising chicks, sink and float and magnet experiments, and some cute plays like a Kindergarten Circus?

I'd rather she do what you mention than waste her time sitting around while other kids are developing skills she already has. I don't have benchmarks for progress, like reading Kant by 3rd grade. What I want is her to be developing some kind of skills, social, animal care, art, cooking, whatever, just not twiddling her thumbs while someone is trying to keep her occupied while other kids are actually developing skills.

... And not everyone has the option of private (or wants to limit the diversity of their kids' daily environment).

PP, I think this is an excellent point. I am torn about this myself. My child is/was one of the oldest in his grade and would have loved more of a challenge in K. On the other hand I do understand the point about not pushing the kids. Having fun is definitely a priority as well. Seems that there should be a happy medium, which IMO would be more differentiation.

K was really just a lost year for us which was a shame.