In Vietnam, parents who want teachers to pay more attention to their children pay extra money to kindergarten teachers monthly. And when parents don’t abide by the unwritten rules of this “envelope culture,” kids can suffer.
“Hoang Thi Yen in district 8, HCM City, said she has to give VND200,000 [about 12 U.S. dollars] a month to both of her daughter’s two teachers for a ‘present’” VietNamNet reports. “Yen said that all the parents she knows also give extra money to teachers. Yen is afraid that the teachers will not take care of her child if she doesn’t do this.”
Another parent reports that when she picks up her daughter from school and is not given a warm welcome, she understands that it’s time to give an envelope to the teachers. “Teachers change their attitude towards me and my child if I’m slow in giving money.” Two months ago, says this parent, she was having difficulty persuading her son to go to kindergarten. Her son said he did not want to go to class. However, after she gave envelopes to teachers, her son all of a sudden liked going to school. “The teachers’ attitudes make me feel that they just want money, while they don’t care for children,” she said.
Children who were most prepared for kindergarten in a San Francisco study tended to be older girls who attended preschool, had no special needs, and mothers who went to college, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The mother’s education was the most closely aligned with a child’s readiness, trumping all other characteristics including family income, ethnicity and English language ability. The study didn’t address why these characteristics were associated with being ready for kindergarten, but only noted the connection.
Researchers who evaluated 447 of last year’s kindergartners across San Francisco schools found that while half lack at least some needed skills, 11 percent were deficient both academically and socially. They also found that preschool experience was a common trait among kids who showed up ready to learn, the paper reports.
Waiting until children are 6 to enroll them in kindergarten is having a negative impact on academic achievement, and potentially the U.S. economy, according to a new Harvard study. The New York Sun makes front-page news of it:
The practice has grown substantially: In 1968, 96% of 6-year-olds were enrolled in first grade or above. In 2005, the number had fallen to 84%, according to the paper by the Harvard researchers, part of a series issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
“Children across the country are entering primary school at older and older ages — and opening themselves up to a likelier possibility of dropping out with less education,” report the Sun, which also notes that public school kids are much more likely to be affected by “redshirting” than their private school peers. It also means one fewer year that the children, once they are adults in the workforce, will pay into America’s Social Security system, the authors report.
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