I’m pleased to report that three readers, who are accomplished educators, have already sent me their opinions on the article, “What Should Children Know and Be Able to Do when They Enter Kindergarten?” which I wrote about on Thursday. I will post a quote from each contributor and give his name below. If you wish to read their complete responses, you can find them in the Comments section at the bottom of this page.
Gary R Hargett started his response by saying: “Ms. Murray’s advice offends me.” He then wrote about his own good experiences in learning to read, and ended by declaring the extent of his disapproval of Murray’s advice to parents: “I want to scream.”
Paul Eck wrote that Ms. Murray’s expectations for kindergarteners “sound like second semester first grade to me.” He ended by declaring that ”Pushing first grade into pre-kindergarten is malpractice in my opinion.”
Allen Koshewa replied “It would be nice if all children entered kindergarten with these skills, but they are not nearly as essential as a sense of inquiry, playing well with others, and the ability to delay gratification.” He thought it would be better for children if “Ms. Murray could instead join forces with parents throughout the school year so that they could reinforce their children’s learning at home.”
There is still time for other readers to give their opinions. Especially, I’d like to hear from anyone who agrees with Ms. Murray. On Monday I will give my assessment of Ms. Murray’s recommendations and “The Hechinger Report”s decision to post it.
The Treasure Hunter 
This discussion makes me think of the “1000 Book Child” tenet of the New Zealand educational system. Upon entering kindergarten, ideally each child will have been read to 1000 times; and repeated readings count. The development or oral language, and the familiarity with “book language,” will have much more bang for the buck down the line than most of the isolated skills identified by Murray.
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