Did anyone read Melinda Messenger's Interview in the Take5 Magazine free with the Daily Star Newspaper today, I have read numerous articles from Melinda regarding her 7 year old son and his reading. She has sparked controversy by revealing that her eldest son, Morgan, 7, cannot yet read. She moved her children from a mainstream school to another school called Waldorf School where the emphasis is less on academid education and more on personal development. She thinks that kids are put under too much pressure at school to perform in tests and reach certain standards at maths and English. She said that kids should be having fun and developing themselves and their interests instead of being foced to sit at a desk and write. I was just wondering if anyone has got any views on this topic?
I can remeber sparking up this conversation a few years back regarding my nephew, then 3 (now 6), who wasnt speaking. I rememberr that in france children are tought in this same way where there is much more emphasis on children developing their social skills rather than reading and writing. And the result from such schools teaching in this way were the same and in some cases better by the time they left secondary school.
I am all for it, I think we encourage our children to grow up too soon.
If it became compulsory to stay in education unti 18, than another few years at the begining without readind and writing would probably be insignificant anyway.
I personally think that 5 for a compulsory age is too young (many children actually starting at 4 - like my son). Compared to most other western european countries our children are extremely early starters in the classroom. England, Scotland, Wales, Malta and Holland are the only countries that start at 5, 6 in Austria, belgium, czech republic, france, germany, greece, hungary, iceland, ireland, italy, norway, portual and span and 7 in denmark, estonia, finland, latvia, lithuania, sweden and poland. I heard that summer-born children, their parents can now be given the right to delay entry by a year. My son was born middle of July, so he is one of the youngest, I do not believe he was ready at the age of 4 years 8 weeks or so, no way. He is 6 now and he has extra help with his reading as he still finds it difficult. He is very well behaved and participates in all activities, he just struggles with his reading and the teachers are pressuring him so much, he sometimes says to me that he thinks he is stupid when he cant read certain words, and I assure him that he is not, his reading has massively improved. Are children mentally and physically ready at 4-5 years of age?
Apparently Finnish pupils start education at 7 and then enjoy 11 week summer holidays (I think that is way too long though - some people may not think so) and they apparently have ended up with the highest educational standards in Europe? The same with Poland. I think the UK should really take a good look at other European systems and learn from them and devise some changes, obviously most parents have to work full-time, I work part-time and and parents would find childcare very costly, so maybe the government should help working mothers and fathers a bit more and introduce better childcare schemes - just a thought!
Originally posted by Brum Tina: Did anyone read Melinda Messenger's Interview in the Take5 Magazine free with the Daily Star Newspaper today, I have read numerous articles from Melinda regarding her 7 year old son and his reading. She has sparked controversy by revealing that her eldest son, Morgan, 7, cannot yet read. She moved her children from a mainstream school to another school called Waldorf School where the emphasis is less on academid education and more on personal development. She thinks that kids are put under too much pressure at school to perform in tests and reach certain standards at maths and English. She said that kids should be having fun and developing themselves and their interests instead of being foced to sit at a desk and write. I was just wondering if anyone has got any views on this topic?
I have to agree with Malinda Messenger and i havent read the artical about her. But if you had seen her in a T.V documentary this week then it might make you understand why she is not forcing her children to grow up and be put under such pressure that the children of today are going through. Especially now days with so many children commiting suicide and killing one another. And the way Malinda Messenger broke down crying you could see her heart went out to all those people who were suffering in the way she was after she had her first baby. Every mother needs to take a leaf out of her book .
I know this is an oldish post, but Melinda was on tv again yesterday singing the praises of Steiner education. I wonder how much she really knows about the background of the school her kids are at- it is based on some very weird and strange philosophy called anthroposophy and is all about reincarnation and spiritual worlds. The schools are at great pains to cover this up and sell the education as a natural holistic curriculum, when in reality i tis very rigid and follows the teachings of Ruidolf Steiner as a cult would follow a guru.
There's been much about the Steiner method on chatboards recently. We took our kids out, (having had them in Steiner for around three years) when we realised ALL decisions are based on these weird beliefs- for instance our left handed daughter was made to knit left handed and "encouraged" ( ie , felt it was wrong no to) to use her right hand, because left handedness is a sign of karmic weakness. And bullying is all but ignored, because it is a past life issue, needing to be played out, or the karmic path will be interrupted. I'm not joking! There are far more sinister and shocking things to do with racial hierarchy too. Parents are purpousely kept in the dark. Recently on mumsnet , a teacher said that"educating" parents about anthroposphy is a major problem for them. On the TES forum, two teachers describe that during their training, they are told not to tell parents about it. I wonder if melinda will ever realise- it's perfectly possible to go through the whole education without a clue.
Very much their own, I can tell you! They make a great effort to cover up the weirder aspects, until your kids have been at the school for a while, and you are deemed ready to be "educated" about anthroposophy, and then you are "invited" to find out more. Some people are nerver "ready". Teachers are trained ( in the teacher training courses) how to deflect from difficult questions, and concentrate on the aty crafty holistic child stuff. Actually, the curriculum is rigid, foloowing Steiner's rules, and very very boring; the children spend alot of time copying from the board, (sitting in rows too), the art is copied and very prescribed, only certain colours are allowed, no lines (NO LINES!) there are no lines in the spirit world you see. It's actually highly UNCREATIVE, and the children are required to take all the teacher says as that, no asking questions or inquiring, that's discouraged. I could go on, but you might fall asleep.....
Oh, I quite like Melinda Messenger actually.I think it's a shame she's been sucked into Stein er education; she thinks she's doing the best for her kids, giving them what she thinks is a creative, wholesome natural education, when really these schools are a front for a pseudo religious cult like organisisation called anthroposophy. Steiner schools in many people's opinions, should be called anthroposophy schools. I feel sad for her. Her kids will be bored and undereducated; if they move to mainstream they will be far behind. But the teachers won't let on that anything is ammiss because it's their karmic destiny.
