幼兒園“拔苗助長”之風不可助

\"Transcribe Chinese vowels a， o， e ten times respectively； complete the worksheet of mental abacus calculation on page 4-5 before handing it to the parents for inspection； recite the content on page 15 which should be inspected and sighed by the parents.\" Every afternoon， on her way home after school， Ms Zhang will always receive the assignments for her daughter Miaomiao in the form of mobile texts. The first thing of Miaomiao， an only 5-year-old girl， upon going home， is to take out the textbooks and do assignments.

\"Is her assignment too much？\" Ms. Zhang asked me puzzlingly. As puzzling as her is Miaomiao herself， \"Mommy， I want to play. How about letting go of my homework？\" as a matter of fact， this is not an isolated case.

Recent days， Beijing Municipal Education Commission organized and hold a Special Workshop on Preventing and Rectifying the Trend of Preschool \"Turning Elementary Schools\"， reiterating the requirements of certain documents to prohibit this wrong trend. The meeting requires all districts and county governments to finish the self-inspection of preschools from the date to middle April. And the education department is responsible for supervision and examination. In fact， rectifying this wrong trend is not the latest measure and the State Education Department had issued bans many years ago. Then， why does this trend remains till now？ And did the ban only correct the shallow symptoms while neglecting the inner bane？ Worldwide， how does a preschooler spend his or her day？

“請將韻母a、o、e分別抄寫十遍；珠心算4-5頁練習完成后請家長檢查并簽字；第15頁背誦家長檢查并簽字。”每到下午苗苗放學后，張女士接孩子的路上老師布置的家庭作業就會以短信的形式到來。年僅5歲的苗苗，從幼兒園放學后的第一件事是掏出課本，開始完成作業。

“這作業布置的是不是太多了？”張女士困惑地問記者。與她一樣有困惑的還有苗苗本人，“媽媽，我想去玩兒，能不能不寫作業？”實際上，這不是苗苗一個人所遭遇的難題。

近日，中國北京市教委組織召開防止和糾正幼兒園“小學化”現象專項工作會，重申相關文件要求，嚴禁幼兒園“小學化”傾向。會議指出，要求各區縣從即日起至4月中旬，完成幼兒園自查，區縣教育部門進行專項督查。事實上，治理幼兒園“小學化”并不是最新的舉措，多年前中國教育部就對此下過禁令。那么，為何這種風氣會屢禁不止？嚴禁的禁令是否又是“頭疼醫頭腳疼醫腳”之舉？在國際上，幼兒園的孩子又是怎樣度過自己的一天的？

Preschool \"turning into elementary school\"

“小學化”之風吹進幼兒園

\"Sitting around the table， eating the candies\" will recall many people's memories in China， especially those days at preschool. Usually， preschool teachers would let the kids sit in a row and hand out stuff， like food， drawing paper， pencil， etc... While the trend of so-called preschool \"turning into elementary school\" refers to the phenomenon that let the preschool kids receive cultural course intended for elementary students and teach them arithmetic， Chinese， English， calligraphy in the form of classes. Some preschools even set the teaching goal of \"learning 1，000 Chinese characters， reciting 60 ancient poems， and skillfully calculating plus and minus operation lower than 100. In fact， \"turning into elementary school\" amounts to making kids study the knowledge which are planned for elementary school students prescribed by law.

Parents awaiting kids outside the preschools when school is about to be over seem have more resonance over this trend. In three or five they cluster and chat， \"I heard your kid Xiaoxi already can calculate minus and plus operation beyond 20？\" \"The assignment yesterday is a bit of difficult， what about Dongdong， he finds it easy？\" and the chats are more about interest-oriented class. \"Do you sign up the piano class for your kid？ Do you pay for the calligraphy class？ Do you think we should register more other interest-oriented classes？\" …These remarks recur a lot when I pass by a certain preschool.

“排排坐，吃果果”，在中國，提起這句話就會勾起很多人的回憶，尤其是學齡前階段的幼兒園時光。通常，幼兒園老師會讓孩子們坐成一排，然后分發物品，如食物，繪圖紙，鉛筆等等。而所謂的幼兒園“小學化”現象，特指“讓學齡前兒童接受小學生文化課教育，以上課方式學算數、語文、英語、書法等，甚至有學校提出‘認讀1000個漢字，背誦60首古詩，熟練進行100以內加減運算’等教學目標。實質上，‘小學化’就是提前了法律規定的小學生學習課堂知識的年齡。”

對這樣的現象，聚集在校門外等待孩子放學的家長似乎更深有體會，他們三、五個聚在一起，更多討論的是“聽說你們家小西都會20以內的加減法了？”，又或者是“昨天老師布置的英語作業有點難，你家東東會嗎？”，還有更多關于興趣班的討論，“學校的鋼琴班你們報了嗎？書法班你們交錢了嗎？還要不要再報點其他興趣班？”……諸如此類的討論，在記者路過某幼兒園門口時，總會聽到。

In a random survey， six parents told me that they at least sign up two interest-oriented classes for their kid. Boys more likely register hard-tipped pen calligraphically works， while girls more likely sign up for language expression classes.\"The teacher asked every one of us to choose， at most two. If over two， fees are charged，\" said by a mother. \"I also sign up a dance class and a drawing class for my daughter at Saturdays and Sundays，\" Ms Li added. Then Ms Zhao said， \"my kid will sign up for Chinese Weiqi grading， and his teakwood now is already upgraded to greenish yellow level.\"

Sure， comparing with worries on which class they will sigh up for their kid， they showed more worries in assignments. \"it's a troubling thing for the kid to do homework，\" a parent opened his phone calendar app to the journalist， which shows that he barely has any time to rest after work， except those time to accompany his kid to the extra classes at every weekends. Also tutoring kids in assignment is also an staple task for him.

經過隨機采訪，有6位家長告訴記者，她們給孩子報了至少兩種興趣班，男孩子以硬筆書法類居多，女孩子以語言表達類居多。“學校的興趣班老師讓每人都得選，至多選兩種，超過兩種以上另外收費。”其中的一位媽媽表示。“我周六、周日還在別的地方給她報了舞蹈班和繪畫班”，一位李姓女士跟記者補充道。隨后，一位趙姓女士也向記者表示，“我家孩子5月份將會進行圍棋定級，他的跆拳道也已經升級到了綠黃帶。”

當然，在提起該讓孩子參加哪個興趣班家長很糾結的同時，家長表達了更多的憂愁，“平常，孩子做作業是令人操心的大問題。”一位家長打開自己手機的日歷表給記者看，除去每周周末和孩子一同上課外班的時間，他下班后基本上沒有多少可休息的時間。每晚輔導孩子做功課是他的必備科目。

\"Too much assignments， plus kids do not like sitting for too long， rarely can he finish homework before 9 pm.\"

\"Many assignments are too complicated， such as 'making a beloved toy with an easy-pull can'， how can he finish it without my help？\"

\"Except spelling out English words， I have to teach her to differentiate the pronunciation of Chinese consonants and vowels， and inspect her arithmetic work. Too much work for her that I sometimes want to do it for her.\"

...

When the school was over and the bell rings out， I found dozens of 4 or 5 year old little boys or girls carrying big schoolbags appear before their parents who were just pouring grievance to me.

“作業多，加上小孩兒沒什么定性，幾乎很少有晚上九點之前完成的情況。”

“很多作業設置的比較復雜，譬如‘用易拉罐制作心愛的玩具’，如果沒有大人幫忙，他根本完成不了。”

“除了拼寫英文單詞，教她分清聲母、韻母的發音，還要檢查算術題目。作業太多了，我都恨不得替她寫。”

……

當放學的鈴聲響起時，記者看到在大吐苦水的家長眼前，是一個個背著大大書包走來的或4歲或5歲的小男孩、小女孩。

The downsides of

\"Hurried kids\"

“拔苗助長”危害多

\"Do not transfer your own kids. They are born to be human and free and their freedom belongs to no one but themselves. Except them， no one has the right to dispose it，\" said by Rousseau， French englightment thinker in his work Emile. He stressed that education should follow nature and the instinct of children.

As it is well known， among children's instincts， one is the fondness of nature and playing. In China's traditional education， there is a bad example--\"Pity on Zhongyong\". The harms of \"hurried kids\" are also frequently mentioned by experts and scholars specialized in education.

Dong Xiuling from Education Bureau of Dongming County， Shandong Province， China once wrote， the preschool education \"turning into elementary\" arrested the instinct of young kids and grab away their joy. This practice deprives the kid the opportunity of learning， creating and exploring， and genius was killed in the bud. Besides， it is also against the normal health development of kids and jeopardizing the kids' health. For instance， focusing attention for a long time will cause brain fatigue and damage in nervous system； having normative studies too early and too much is harmful the development of muscle and bones of kids， generating malign symptoms like nearsigntedness， humpback， emaciation， etc.； and it will neglect the cultivation of non-intellectual factors and go against the formation of good habits of kids.\"

“不要轉讓自己的孩子。孩子們生來就是人，并且是自由的；他們的自由屬于他們自己。除了他們之外。任何人都無權加以處置。”幾百年前，法國啟蒙思想家盧梭在其著作《愛彌兒》中如是描述，他強調的教育是應該遵循自然，順應兒童的天性。

眾所周知，兒童天性中很重要的一條是熱愛自由，愛好玩耍。早前，在中國的傳統教育中，就有“傷仲永”之說，而“拔苗助長”的危害也被教育方面的專家、學者提及。

來自中國山東省東明縣教育局的董秀玲即撰文表示，“‘小學化’教育扼殺了幼兒的天性，剝奪了幼兒的快樂。‘小學化’的幼兒教育方式使幼兒失去了學習、創造、和探索的機會，天才被扼殺在搖籃之中；此外，也不利于幼兒身體的正常發育，危害了幼兒的身體健康。如長時間集中注意力，大腦容易疲勞，會造成神經系統傷害；過早過多進行規范性學習，不利于孩子肌肉、骨骼的發育，會導致幼兒近視、駝背、消瘦等身體上的不良癥狀的產生；還有，會忽視幼兒非智力因素的培養，不利于幼兒良好行為習慣的形成。”

In addition， kids' fondness of playing is matched with their attention. Research found that， the younger the kid is， the shorter their focus is which is in proportion with the age； at 3， it's 9 minutes； at 4， it's 12 minutes； at 5， it's 14 minutes. \"If staying focused on a certain item， brain fatigue will be triggered and harm will be caused to the nervous system. However， compulsory infusion education not only wastes the playing time of kids， but also cause damages to its creativity and imagination. To some extent， some kids may be weary of studying，\" said by an expert.

At the meantime， expert also said， the real education is to teach while playing， learn while playing， grasping principles in applied practice. Pointless transcription and reciting without understanding is only mechanic repletion and goes against the growth of kids.

此外，提及幼兒緣何天生愛玩耍，是與其專注力相匹配的。有研究發現，與年齡成正比，年紀越小專注力時間越短：3歲約為9分鐘，4歲約為12分鐘，5歲約為14分鐘。“若長期專注于某個事項，對幼兒來說，無外乎會引起大腦疲勞，對神經系統造成傷害。而強制性灌輸教育，既浪費孩子玩耍的時間，又無疑對其創新能力和想象力造成損傷，某種程度上會使得幼兒產生厭學情緒。”有專家對此表示。

與此同時，專家還表示，真正的教育是寓教于樂，在玩耍中學會知識，在實踐運用中掌握原理。無意義的抄寫，沒有理解性的背誦只是機械式的重復，對幼兒的成長不利。

Moreover， some statics in a 2011 survey targeted at 500 parents and 100 preschool teachers in Wuhan， Beijing and other cities showed that， 70% of the teachers said explicitly that imparting knowledge ahead of time to the kids is not good for the growth of kids. Pressing pressure in advance will also obliterate kids' imagination. The physical and nervous system of kids are both very fragile. This trend do harm rather than good to the physical and mental development of kids.

Fu Zhifeng， Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Education Commission intonated in an interview that， \"preschool at all level and of all genre should pay attention the body and mental health of kids， cultivate good behaviors for kids who should feel rules in games and activities and understand the surrounding work， so as to strive for a healthy and joyous growth environment of the kids，\" which also testifies that this trend is nothing but a tie-up for the instincts of preschoolers.

此外，相關數據顯示，2011年中國社會調查所對武漢、北京等地500名幼兒家長和100名幼兒教師進行調查，有七成教師明確表示超前傳授知識不利于孩子成長，提前加壓還會抹殺孩子的想象力。幼兒的身體機能和神經系統都很脆弱，“小學化”傾向對幼兒的身心發展有害無益。

北京市教委副主任付志峰在接受媒體采訪時強調：“各級各類幼兒園應關注幼兒身心健康，培養幼兒良好的行為習慣，在游戲和活動中感知規則，認識周圍世界，為實現幼兒的健康快樂成長而努力。”這也印證了幼兒園“小學化”，是對幼兒天性的禁錮。

Why \"hurried kids\"

recur all the time

“拔苗助長”緣何屢禁不止

Since the society already has a consensus on the harms， why does the trend of \"turning into elementary\" still run wild？

I particular look up the Notice of Prohibiting and Correcting the Trend of \"Turning Elementary\" issued by Ministry of Education of PRC three years ago， which stated \"preschools should follow the development rules for the body and mental health of kids， and correct the teaching material and approaches that 'turn elementary'. Preschools （including kindergartens） should make nursing and teaching work plan scientifically according to the features of their age and law of somatopsychic development of kids， arrange and organize kids' daily life reasonably.\"

Besides， the notice also mentions that \"stick to use games as the basic activities， employ multiple forms including teams， groups and individual activity flexibly to exercise kids' body， stir their inquisitive quest and learning interest to have good ethos and behaviors， and practice， cultivate positive socializing and cooperating ability to boost the harmonious development of body and mental health of kids.\" The notice forbids to teach kids elementary curriculum. \"Preschool should not hold interest-oriented classes， specialty classes and experiment classes and conduct all forms of in-advance teaching and exercise， and should not assign homework.\"

既然，社會對幼兒園“小學化”教育危害有著普遍的認知，但幼兒園“小學化”教育的風氣卻為何仍然屢禁不止？

為此，記者特意查閱了三年前中華人民共和國教育部就關于規范幼兒園保育教育工作防止和糾正“小學化”現象發布的通知：其中，明確強調要“遵循幼兒身心發展規律，糾正‘小學化’教育內容和方式。幼兒園（含學前班）要遵循幼兒的年齡特點和身心發展規律，科學制定保教工作計劃，合理安排和組織幼兒一日生活。”

并且，通知還特別提到“要堅持以游戲為基本活動，靈活運用集體、小組和個別活動等多種形式，鍛煉幼兒強健的體魄，激發探究欲望與學習興趣，養成良好的品德與行為習慣，培養積極的交往與合作能力，促進幼兒身心全面和諧發展。”通知更是嚴禁幼兒園提前教授小學教育內容。“幼兒園不得以舉辦興趣班、特長班和實驗班為名進行各種提前學習和強化訓練活動，不得給幼兒布置家庭作業。”

Till now when interviewing parents about governments' new measure against this trend， they replied unanimously， \"no use， inspection is only for a time period， everything return to the old track after that，\" some parents even said， \"Do not teach spelling， and arithmetic？ Then teach what？ What if other preschool still teach these， then my kid will fall behind？\" \"The world is so competitive， there is no way out but learning more. Yes， too much assignments， but later we will finish，\" said by some parents.

An experts signed， the reason for the hurried education is partly ascribed to the lack of inspection and weakness of punishment. Besides， some parents who hold high hopes for their kids do not want their kid lose in the starling line only add fuel to the fire， and the ban is only to little avail.

During the 2015 NPC and CPPCC， Yuan Guiren， Minister of Ministry of Education of PRC said， \"Ministry of Education will take forceful measures to enhance education equality.\" Experts point out that， the scarcity of high-quality primary schools cannot meet the needs of accommodating all preschoolers， which makes some primary school enrollments privately set up entrance exams which do not correspond to the education policy. Preschools and parents want preschoolers to study primary school knowledge so as to prepare for the exams. Hence， the \"hurried kids\" recur all the time.

時至今日，記者對于北京市再提及幼兒園教育“小學化”傾向的話題進行了采訪，家長中普遍的反應是：“沒用的，督查只是一段時間內的，一過了督查時間估計就重回原樣了吧。”甚至有家長表示，“不教拼音，數學，那學什么？萬一別的學校還學，我們家孩子豈不是落在別人后面了嗎？”“社會競爭這么激烈，不多學點怎么能行，作業多，慢慢寫能寫完的。”也有家長這樣表示。

有專家感言，對于“拔苗助長”式教育很大一部分原因在于監管的缺位和處罰的疲軟。另外，加之一些家長“望子成龍”不愿自己的子女輸在起跑線上愿景的推波助瀾使得禁令收效甚微。

在2015年中國全國兩會期間，中華人民共和國教育部部長袁貴仁表示，“教育部將采取有力措施促進教育公平。”對此，專家也指出由于優質小學資源的稀缺，使得在幼小銜接的過程中出現僧多粥少的局面，由此帶來的小學招生私設不符教育政策的入學考試，繼而引發幼兒園、家長要求幼兒在幼兒園期間學習小學知識以應對，也由此導致了“小學化”教育之風的屢禁不止。

Lessons from German，

Japan and Australia

德日澳學前教育借鑒

As a matter of fact， the practice common in the world is that： Playing is also learning.

According to China Youth News， the preschool of Hamburg， German， is specially designed for preschool （5-year-old） kids whose mental and physical development， and behaviors do not correspond with their ages and their families are unable to give proper education. The aim is to enable these kids to adapt to the class environment and live with harmoniously classmates when entering primary schools. Preschool classes will help these kids to learn not to run wild， behave randomly or interfere with others in class time， but to cooperate with others， grasp the cognition， communication and reading ability， etc.， which other kids of their age should learn.

China Youth Paper recorded a field trip to the Preschool. \"When the light-hearted music rings out， teacher asks the kid to lie down on the gym mats with their eyes closed， to conduct brain imagination exercise as the teacher vividly narrates the view of trains passing through mountains， forests， wilderness， towns， rivers and lakes. Teacher keeps reminding the kids， now do you see the wild flowers on the grassland？ The small houses in the forests？ The fish in the river？ Two parent volunteers sit around to record the performance of every kid. Later the teacher told me， this is thinking imagination class especially for 4 to 5 year old kids， which aims to lead the kids to think quietly and wildly in the form of games. Every lesson should record whether the kids quite down into imaginary language description， etc.. The records will again return to the parents who will be familiar with the kids' mental and physical developments so as to conduct better family education accordingly.\"

實際上，在國際上的通行慣例是，玩——也是一種學習。

此前，據《中國青年報》報道，德國漢堡小學的學前班，是專門為一些心智發育行為舉止與年齡不符而家庭又無法給予合適教育的學齡前（5歲）兒童提供幫助而設置，以便他們入小學后能夠順利適應上課環境，與人和諧相處。學前班會幫助這些孩子學會在課堂上不能亂跑、亂動妨礙影響別人，學會與人交往合作，掌握這個年齡段孩子應該具備的識別能力、語言交流能力、閱覽能力等。

另外，該報還報道了記者親身參與德國幼兒園的實地教育情況。“輕快的音樂響起，老師讓孩子們躺在體操墊子上安靜閉目，隨著老師繪聲繪色地講述火車穿過高山森林原野農莊河流湖泊，進行大腦想象訓練。老師不時提醒，看見草地上的野花了嗎？看見森林里的小房子了嗎？小河里有沒有魚？旁邊有兩位自愿助課的家長，幫忙記錄每個孩子的表現。后來老師告訴我，這是專門針對4至5歲兒童進行的思維想象課，以游戲的方式引導孩子們安靜思考，豐富聯想。每次課須記錄孩子能否安靜下來進入想象語言描述等等。記錄還要交給家長，以便家長熟知自己孩子身心發育情況并配合以進行家庭教育。”

According to some statistics， related requirements of Japan on preschool education， teaching of language， arithmetic， and English is forbidden in classes. The main education goal is to cultivate kids with good living habits， common sense and ability of living in a group and with others. Meanwhile， kids can learn necessary knowledge through games， sports， handworks， etc.. Of course， what's worth mentioning is the big feature of Japan's preschool education： multifarious outdoor activities to make kids closer to the nature and cultivate healthy mind and body through fun and games. Japan also emphasizes guiding the education methods of parents. For instance， they opened moms' class， parents' class. It is learned that learning classes are divided into two kinds， one is targeted at parents of children and infants， and the other is targeted at parents-to-be. The study curriculum mainly comprises infant psychology， physiological hygiene， family education principal， and so on.

While in Australia， preschool features on human and flexible cultivation of children. The main job of teacher is to let the kids have fun in preschool so as to build an independent personality and a partnership with their peers. Besides the teachers， assistant nurses for little children will help teachers to look after infant's diet and daily life. Kids can positively learn the world by experiencing personally and demonstration in games and entertainments.

此外，據相關資料顯示，在日本國內幼兒教育有相關規定，不能在課堂上教授文字、算術和英語，主要教育目的是讓孩子養成良好生活習慣，懂得基本生活常識，通過集體生活學會如何與人相處。與此同時，孩子們可以通過游戲、體育、手工等方式逐步學習所需知識。當然，值得一提的還有該國幼兒園教育的一大特點是：進行五花八門的戶外活動，讓孩子們親近大自然，通過玩樂來培養他們健康的身心和與人相處的能力。與此同時，日本還是個注重對父母進行教育方式引導的國家。比如，開辦了母親班、雙親班等。據悉，學習班分兩種，一種是以嬰幼兒的父母為對象的學習班，另一種是以即將做父母的人為對象的學習班。學習內容大致是幼兒心理學、生理衛生、家庭教育原理等。

而在澳大利亞，該國幼兒園的特點是人性化、自由化的對兒童進行培養。幼兒教師的主要工作是讓孩子在幼兒園里玩得開心，從而培養他們獨立的人格，幫助他們更好地與同齡人建立伙伴關系。除了教師之外，還設置幼兒護理助理來協助教師的工作，負責照顧幼兒的飲食起居。通過身臨其境，以身示范的方式讓兒童們通過游戲和寓教于樂等方式來積極認知這個世界。