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Heather Nielsen English 101 Instructor: Nell McCabe 20 April 2013 aaaa Children today have infinitely more knowledge than they did in the past. Much more is expected of them in regards to school work than was expected from previous generations. They are being introduced to more difficult and complex material at a much younger age. Schools today are pushing kids farther and harder than ever before but with all the pressure that is placed on them to succeed, children can feel inadequate or deficient. Fourth grader twenty years ago have an average of about twenty minutes of a homework a night. A fourth grader today has on average ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes of homework per night, which is an immense difference. If a child is involved in any extracurricular activities, this can make the work twice as frustrating due to lack of time. If a child is in school from nine am to three thirty pm and then the child goes to an afterschool program from three thirty until five, it may be around seven at night before they get a chance to sit and do their homework. Now, if a child starts his homework at seven pm and has two hours of homework, they may not finish until eightthirty or nine oclock at night. This can make it difficult to stay focused b ecause by that time the child may be tired and anxious for the day to end. In the article, How Much Homework is too much it says that fourth graders can expect about 40 minutes of homework a night that can be done independently. A typical night of homework for a local fourth grader here in Pittsfield Massachusetts

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consists of writing twenty sentences for their spelling words that are seven or more words, doing a double sided math worksheet containing algebra and/or fractions and doing a page out of a sample MCAS reading packet. At the end of the week when they have completed all four assignments out of the reading packet, it counts as a full quiz grade. The strain of having to complete so much work at home will eventually take its toll on someone so young. Another example of the school system pushing kids too far is the MCAS tests. The principal reason for the MCAS tests are to see where the district and school fall in terms of comparing it to other districts and schools in the state. The school is judged on a scale ranging from one to five with one being the best. If a schools students score well, the school is ranked accordingly and that school can then boast that they are a level one school. This is most likely why so much emphasis is placed on MCAS prep. In the weeks leading up to the MCAS tests the teachers devote most of the class time to MCAS prep. They change the curriculum entirely so that the sole purpose of the time is to study and be ready for this one series of tests. This takes away from things that should be an important part of the school day. They do not have other classes such as gym, music and art because they are not important when compared with the MCAS. During the week prior to the MCAS the schools send home a list of directions to help your child be prepared on testing day. They specify that your child should get a full nights sleep of at least eight hours, eat a healthy breakfast and refrain from any TV or computer use on the day of testing. All of this seem to be a lot in preparation for a test. When a child enters Kindergarten, within the first month they stay late one day to complete a series of tests. The tests are referred to as kindergarten ready tests. The

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children are tested on a variety of different things including letters, shapes, reading ability, writing ability and math comprehension. If a child does not do well on these tests, they can be put back into a pre-kindergarten program. This is a lot of information to ask of a five year old, especially if the child has no prior school experience. It puts unnecessary pressure on the parents to make sure their kindergartener is up to par and put pressure on the child. Schools in this area send home letters three times throughout the year, one in fall, one in winter and one in spring to notify you of your child progress. This is completely separate from a report card or progress report; this is what is called a benchmark. They take each child individually to test them on their math and reading skills and report it back to the parents. The letter starts by telling you where your child should be placing on these tests and then goes on to tell you where your child actually is placing on the tests. The purpose of the benchmark tests are to identify when a child is having a problem in either math or reading so that provisions can be made to help the child. Traditionally the childs teachers would identify such an issue, now it is a standardized test. Most schools have a strict attendance policy. Morningside Community School in Pittsfield Massachusetts has an attendance goal of ninety-six percent. Encouraging parents and children to reach this goal by making their kids attend regularly is a good practice. However, some parents are now afraid to keep their sick child home from school for fear of getting the dreaded warning letter from the school or having to suffer a worse consequence. This can lead to the spreading of more colds and flu as well as

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another added stress for both parents and children alike. Therefore, while attendance is important, placing too much emphasis on it can make parents uneasy or apprehensive. Though children today are coming out of school smarter and more knowledgeable about the world, they have taken a hard road to get there. My fear is that if the schools continue to push these kids so hard that they will eventually give up. The child with the ninety-eight on his test who did not get recognition from the teacher may start to think that he is not good enough and stop trying. There is a fine line between pushing for success and pushing for perfection.