Aside from academic achievement (addressed earlier), what other considerations should weigh on the debate between full-day and half-day kindergarten?
Here are a few thoughts. Please add your own.
How important are teaching patience, empathy, compassion, honesty, and kindness? Who can do this best? As schools across the nation have switched to full-day kindergarten, what has been the trend in behavioral problems, bullying, etc? I honestly have not studied this, but I have a hunch based on my own personal observations. Can anyone provide links to research on this topic? Could students develop more respectful behavior patterns at home?
"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." -- Abraham Lincoln
As part of a Boy Scout activity I attended the BH-BL board meeting last week. One of the reports was on a presentation about how education needs to change for the 21st century, in light of modern technology, etc. To my surprise (and the surprise of the asst. superintendent giving the report) the speaker did not talk about open courseward, e-texts, or the Internet in the classroom. The speaker spoke about how empathy is emerging as the biggest need in education in the 21st century. This is at least partially because technology can hide the faces of the people we interact with, leading to cyber-bullying and that sort of thing.
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