Kindergarten Smarts – What is it all about?

This post is a response to the recent article, “QUIZ: Are You Smart Enough to Get Into Private Kindergarten?” by Amy Zimmer. The article highlights new trends in educational testing for private school entrance exams.Parents are now faced with having to prepare their young children for a test – and resources are becoming more and more available, such as TestingMom.com. Eleane N. McCoy, Immanuel Christian School’s Primary Team Leader, has provided a thoughtful response to this trend, and asks poignant questions to today’s parents.

Okay, so how many moms clicked on the popular website, TestingMom.com, which claims to “make your kid smarter,” just to see what it was like? It is natural as mothers to be curious about our children’s future.  Will he be a rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief?  Taking these exams and trying to predict the future for a four or five year old is like predicting the future through the childhood rhyme repeated as one counted out the buttons worn that day.  Every day is a different number of buttons; thus, a different future!  So it is with a child’s future. Unpredictable.   Through the careful watch of parents and caregivers, each day brings new and exciting knowledge built on yesterday’s adventures. But what should that knowledge entail?  That is the true question at hand.

Children hold a wealth of potentiality, and it is the parents’ responsibility to care for and protect them as they mature into healthy adults. Look around for healthy families.  You will be able to spot them.  They are building for their children’s future by committing to building character, correcting and modeling social behavior and developing communication techniques at home that will make a difference in the world. Note the emphasis on the word commitment. This really means, “I will love you no matter what your IQ or your testing shows.  I am committed to raising you to be part of a society that values the same things I value.”

So, we must ask ourselves as today’s parents: What it is that we value as a society? What are we telling our children when we begin preparing them for testing at two years of age?  What does that show we value the most?

I can’t help but turn to God’s Word for the answer to the age-old question, “What are we here for?”  According to Psalm 73: 25-26, “Who do I have in heaven, but You?  And I desire nothing on earth but You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.”  We are on this earth to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  To that end, we should be preparing our children on what it means to, act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6: 8).