The Center for Imaginative Action. Take the next step.

Imaginative action is focused in the present and works with the untapped imaginative forces within all of us. At The Center for Imaginative Action we guide clients toward a fresh future of their own choosing.

The needs of our clients vary from people who are looking to invent or reinvent themselves, to those that desire a more meaningful life, to clients who choose toå retreat to Florence, Italy, a center of genius and the imagination, and away from the work-a-day world for transformation and renewal.


We dull our lives by the way we conceive them. We have stopped imagining them with any sort of romance, any fictional flair. -James Hillman in The Soul's Code.



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Fast Tracking Children? Letter to the New York Times








I wrote this letter to the Times in response to an article from Sunday, May 15. Here is a link to the original article. Photo from NY Times by James Estrin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/fashion/with-kumon-fast-tracking-to-kindergarten.html?scp=1&sq=fast%20tracking&st=cse

The article, Fast Track to Kindergarten (5/15/11) was concerning, at best. I once attended a lecture on Embryology by Dr. Otto Wolff, M.D. One perspective of measurement of this science is to observe an organism from conception to adult maturity. When one looks at the world of living things through this lens, it becomes obvious that simple organisms go from conception to adulthood very quickly. Conversely, the more complex the creature, the longer it takes for full development. An insect goes from conception to maturity in hours, days or weeks. Human beings take 18-21 years to reach adulthood. This perspective seems to be lost to “the sooner the better crowd.” Fast tracking of development is not congruent with what natural science teaches us about higher mammals. We are raising human beings not insects.

The other troubling quality of this fast tracking trend is that we are asked to trust the interests of CFO's who are in charge of rapidly developing franchise systems. Is it possible that they are exploiting parental fears for profit? Professor Gopnik’s statement regarding the benefit of these systems, “The best you can say is that they are useless,” should raise red flags for parents and educators. As a teacher of elementary children for 20 years, and now as a psychologist, I urge parents to reflect on the image of the tottering elk with overgrown antlers that is unable to walk. This may represent the best result you can expect from these fast track programs. I suggest we allow our children to have an old fashioned childhood. It contradicts our fast culture, yet it seems to be nature's way.

Lee D. Stevens, M.A. Depth Psychology

Mr. Stevens is a doctoral candidate in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California.


From the website of the Aspen Waldorf School
Here is a child in a Waldorf School Early Childhood Program (3-5)
"dishwashing" - a more appropriate activity for a 3-year old.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)