Serving Bread

It’s not that I don’t love my daughter, but I don’t think I’m spending the amount of money I’m supposed to be spending on her to make sure she gets into a top-notch university.

Time Magazine profiled a growing industry of tutors for toddlers. Parents all over the country are enrolling their children to be tutored as early as the age of two. With the explosion of the “Baby Einstein” stuff, this is just the natural evolution of making sure we don’t miss the boat on capitalizing on these important developmental years.

The article quotes a researcher skeptical of this development, saying: “Identifying a flash card at an early age isn’t reading, Wolf notes. It’s what researchers call paired-associate learning. That may sound impressive, but, she says, ‘a pigeon can do it.’”

Critics (and I agree) claim that this may make the child smarter in the short run, but in the long run, she will have a warped view of learning and education. These children will be work-horses, but will lack a value for life-long learning.

I want the best for my daughter and we do look for creative ways to make learning fun. We are content with her development, and frankly, I’m pretty impressed. But to enroll her to be tutored so that she is ahead of her class is ridiculous. (Back in the day, tutoring meant to catch up and be at standard, rather than above standard)

My child may not get into Harvard if I don’t follow the prescription set out by these advocates, but then again, my secret desire is that she’ll grow up and partner with her dad to love CSUN students