If it isn’t a race, will all kids win?
In May, the New York Times reported on the latest round of the “reading wars”: the ongoing debate about how to teach U.S. kids to read. Watching my son start school in Germany, I’m realizing it’s not just how we teach reading, but when.
When my son started kindergarten in Pittsburgh last year, he took a test during his second week. We soon discovered he was hopelessly behind on reading and would need to repeat the year.
That’s because the American system, his teachers said, presupposes that kids know their letters and can read simple words before they start kindergarten. Many of his peers could already do this. Some, we learned, were already reading at a third grade level.
They were five years old.
This year, my son started German first grade, the equivalent of kindergarten in the States. His peers, like him, are about six years old, a year older than his classmates in Pittsburgh.
During parent orientation, his teachers said that by June, students would know their letters and be able to sound out simple words. But most of all, they will know reading is fun.
In other words, German kids at the end of their first year of school will be where American kids are expected to be before they even begin school. And because German kids arrive a year older than American kids, they will be, by American standards, two years behind.
Yet, no one here seems concerned. The German model, his teachers told me, is different. Here, reading isn’t a race. Parents are discouraged from trying to teach their kids to read early because it’s easier if everyone is starting from the same place, and everyone gets frustrated when we make kids do something they’re not ready for.
And despite all the pressure on American kids, German kids score pretty much the same when it comes to reading according to the OECD.
Going slower may bring other benefits.
A psychotherapist I met said his peers are shocked by the poor mental health of American children. ADHD and mental illness under the age of 10 aren’t as widespread here, he told me, and are rarely severe enough to require medication. He wondered if part of the problem in the U.S. lay in school stress, especially the emphasis on early reading.
The German approach also suggests a different way of achieving equity. In the States, more and faster is always better. When it comes to reading, we drive resources to kids, hoping students with the least advantages will catch up—as parents with the most use those same resources to put their kids farther ahead.
In contrast, the German model seems to create equity in reading simply by waiting until kids’ brains are ready.
This model assumes many things, of course, that aren’t present in the U.S., like a strong social support system, paid family leave, better early child education, and greater social equity overall.
But not seeing reading as a race with "winners" and "losers" seems key.
If we didn’t see reading as a “race,” would more kids win?
