Too Much Tutoring

There is a craze beginning here that is quite curious to me. It's the fanatical zeal by which some parents want to educate their preschool children. Yep, we are tilting toward the Japanese model that demands high pressure and intense tutoring of babies. This I do not like or understand. Those parents with the resources and time to engage their babies in this early schooling experience swear it makes their little ones better equipped to handle school tasks they will face later. Too, they think the small brain needs to be stimulated academically, almost from the moment the child exits the womb.
Learning Centers are popping up all around the country (well, not in my wrecked New Orleans) that provide a preschool educational environment for the toddler. While educators say no evidence exists to show that preschool tutoring has any long-term benefit for kids without learning disabilities, a few specialists have convinced parents that the programs give their children confidence and important building blocks for school.
Ha! I think those programs give the kids mostly headaches, pressure and anxiety. Most toddlers are simply not "wired" for reading and other higher order skills. Their brains are not yet "ready", for instance, to understand the words they may "learn" (memorize, but not understand).
Yet these early programs do seem to have one benefit- not for the poor child who must sacrifice productive play and socialization, but for the parent who thinks he or she is neglecting junior if not enrolling him into one of those learning centers. That benefit is to make the parents more aware about what specific skills their kids will need in kindergarten and first grade, the time when their little ones will truly learn what mom and dad think they are now learning at those learning centers.
Too, Parents seem to feel pressured to enroll their kids early in formal learning classes because many public educational systems here are seen as inadequate. A classic example of this is the sign prominently displayed from the interstate expressway of a private school in my own Kenner. It says "Our preschoolers can read. Can yours"! How ridiculous! The majority of preschool readers do not have brains developed enough to understand the words they pronounce. Teaching them to read is an exercise in wasted time and expense because by waiting until they are 5 years old (in kindergarten) to teach them reading will produce the same results as "teaching them to read" as babies.
But then..parents can feel guilty if they do not jump start the formal education their little one. I think many kids could be damaged by those early formal schooling programs. The regimented learning center experience may turn off kids to education because little children best learn in a hands-on, active way. The "sooner means better" approach to education just is not correct because it contradicts everything we know about how little children.
Instead of be over anxious, those parents who want their kids to learn faster should provide an enriching home environment that gives their children plenty of creative play time. Little children learn best through play. Instead of wasting their money on learning centers, mom and dad should make sure their toddler has fun at home. That is the best way to ensure school readiness. Hmmmmm Do you agree or disagree with my view?