Children and Education - Your feedback to Jonathan's Thoughts Jonathan's Thought for the Day - Monday September 4 BRITISH government 'experts' are issuing, today, a new set of guidelines for the education of children under five. Apparently, 'random play' is to be discouraged. All our little ones must be forced, as quickly as possible, to read, count and solve logic problems. Well, of course. Clearly, the universe is wrong to allow any child to enter this world with an open heart and the desire to have some spontaneous fun. This foolish quirk of nature must be rectified. I wonder why they don't just go the whole hog and declare innocent childhood illegal. Jonathan's Thought for the Day - Tuesday September 5 SEVERAL people have asked me why I feel so strongly about the British government's new educational guidlines for the under fives. What, they ask, is so wrong with a policy designed to produce greater numeracy and literacy at an early age? As an astrologer though, it is my job to foresee the future. You don't need a horoscope to see the outcome of this idiotic plan. Expect a nation of repressed, robotic young adults, twenty to thirty years from now, all of whom have no access to their intuition and no naturally developed ability to be imaginative. Jonathan's Thought for the Day - Wednesday September 6 WHAT distinguishes a human being from a computer? The ability to add up numbers? The ability to understand language? The ability to be logical? It is, of course, none of the above. It is the ability to play. Computers cannot have fun. They cannot fantasize. They cannot dream, they cannot experience emotion or summon intuition. These rare, precious qualities come naturally to every child on this earth yet they tend to be seen, by well meaning adults, as faults, foibles and failings. In pushing tiny toddlers to 'perform', we rob them of the ability to imagine. Jonathan's Thought for the Day - Thursday September 7 I find that it helps me enormously, in my work as an astrologer, to hold as few opinions as possible. The more preferences I have, the more prejudices I develop. The more biased I get, the less able I am to judge a horoscope objectively. I try hard to keep my beliefs to a minimum and to stay as open minded as possible. There are though, just one or two topics that I cannot help feeling strongly about. As you may have noticed from the way I have been ranting on this week, education is one of these! I'll make one more point tomorrow... and then I shall shut up! Jonathan's Thought for the Day - Friday September 8 Education matters to me, partly because I am a parent of five children and partly because I care about the future of the world. Nothing will shape tomorrow more directly and dramatically than the way in which the toddlers of today are taught. I fully understand the thrill of seeing a tiny child learn to read, write or count. I strongly feel though, that this is a cheap thrill. The most wonderful and useful thing that we can give our kids is the right to remain kids - for as long as possible. Innocence is a gift to be cherished, not a fault to be fixed. Thank you to everyone who wrote in - here's some of your feedback. Colin from Weston-Super-Mare in the UK writes: �Many thanks and much applause for speaking out so straightforwardly against our present government's proposed policy for our under fives. I'm a father of two super kids and they ENJOYED their infancy with freedom to run, play and think - without "help" from a nanny government. Thank you, and thank goodness for free speech!� Jan from � The Natural Child Project� takes a firm stand on education. �LOVE your response to the foolish new take on childhood. For an antidote, please read my short article, "Nurturing Children's Natural Love of Learning" at http://www.naturalchild.com/jan_hunt/homeschooling.html Here is our mission statement: "Our vision is a world in which all children are treated with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion. In such a world, every child can grow into adulthood with a generous capacity for love and trust. Our society has no more urgent task." I assure you that we are not the only ones who thinks as you do. Remember Schopenhauer's words: "All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."� Karon from California also believes government officials should find better things to do with their time. �I wish these government experts would go find something else to do! Random play is hardly random, from the child's point of view. You mentioned spontaneous fun and an open heart. Children learn so much about life and living before age five, including how to get along with other people, how to share and how to love unconditionally. Academic achievement, as important as it might be, isn't as important as living and loving. The pace of the world is already far too fast as it is. There is a time for everything. Including a time for play.� And so does Diane, also from the States. �I absolutely agree with you! Governments need to leave our children alone, especially during what I feel to be one of the most crucial periods during a child's development...namely between birth and when they first enter elementary school. Random play is ESSENTIAL for children (and adults I might add.) As a parent of a five year old and as an Aries (who never lost the ability to play and lose oneself in glorious imagination) I would feel compelled to protect my little ones against such outrageous legislation.� Kim in Montreal reports that little Canadians are facing the same dilemma as UK kids. �I don't live in the UK but am facing a similar situation here in Canada. My six year old daughter spends at least one hour each evening doing homework! By the time we arrive from work, prepare and eat dinner, finish the homework, have the bath - it is time for bed. From Monday to Friday she cannot play, have fun with arts and crafts or help me bake - heaven forbid that she should have time to herself - after all she did play before she was five! Shame on adults who have forgotten what the words 'child' and 'childhood' mean!� Val @aol agrees with Jonathan and had to fight with local school for her son�s right to play... �I was put under great pressure to send my son to school in Sept. this year even though he was only four on 2 August. It took a while to elicit from the school that he wasn't actually REQUIRED to go - all along they led me to think that I would naturally be sending him. I believe that it's important for him to remain at home playing and being essentially a toddler until he really has to go. He's bright and clever and I don't think it will do him any harm at all in the long run.� Linda from St Louis, Missouri, sees it slightly differently - but not early learning at the expense of play. �I have raised my three children with just a regular go-to-school-and-learn attitude, help with homework etc, and just the regular parent let-the- child-play attitude. I have a grandson age six and a half. I have read to him everyday since he was born, and by age four he could read certain words and now in first grade he is at a second/third grade reading level. I was too busy to see the value of starting early with my kids, but I see a vast improvement with my three grand kids because I started so early with them. I do not want the child to not have playtime, but shows like Sesame Street, etc. really make a difference and I am so into education that I can really tell you all the advantages.� Jennifer from California makes the point that playing is the best way to learn. �It became very clear during my masters program in Early Childhood Education (includes 0-8 year olds) that good old fashioned play is the best way for children to learn. They pick up what they are ready to learn, when they're ready to learn. That's not to say an adult can't or shouldn't bring ideas to a child's attention or experiment with concepts that they show interest in or seem ready to learn. Before age five (as well as after) one of the main goals for children is socialisation -- learning to get along, observe, mimic and just have fun. The trouble comes in mandating something without the full understanding how children develop and learn. I believe you're absolutely right when you say they'd lose their intuition, imagination and natural born instinct to learn through play and imitation.� Lilas from Washington adds more weight to Jennifer's argument. �I could not agree with you more. What is absolutely crazy about this idea is the fact that in this day and age that the educators in England are clueless about the rewards of free play. Play is where the children learn about every day life and how to create. They can not expect the adults of 30 years from now to grow a better England when they have no idea how to create or play. A Microsoft and A FedEx were developed with imagination of a better way and not because the inventors could add or read at a young age. England is loosing precious ground for addition and subtraction. We have calculators who can calculate for us and computers who can read for us. But England may not have the brilliant intelligent minds in 30 years to create or to continue to build a more harmonious society.� Click here for more