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| |    Why Is Preschool Important? by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. reviewed by Debbie Whitmer, Jeanne W. Lepper and Beverley M. Hartman The term "preschool" means, literally, "before school." Sounds simple enough, but this literal translation isn't quite right for two reasons. First, preschool isn't something that occurs before school, it is school. Second, the focus of preschool shouldn't be on preparing a child to succeed at "real" school later, but instead should concentrate on her educational needs right now. I am using "preschool" to mean the same thing as "nursery school," the schooling for children around three and four years of age. Professionals sometimes use the term "early childhood education" to mean the same thing. There is an important distinction, however, between preschool and child care. Child care refers to the day-to-day, routine care of children from birth to three years, and to those parts of an older child's day in which the primary focus is not on education. Preschool, on the other hand, refers to the portion of the day in which the main goal is developmentally appropriate education. (This isn't to say that there isn't some overlap, of course. A lot of what goes on in a preschool classroom involves taking care of a child's physical and emotional needs, and a lot of what goes on in a good child-care setting is, in fact, educational.) What do preschool children learn? While many three- and four year-old children are already old hands at child care, others must learn to feel comfortable away from home. Regardless of their past experiences with care outside the home, children face similar challenges when they enter preschool. They all need to learn to control their feelings and also to express them. They need to get along in a group and also to take their own ideas and run with them. They need the opportunity to be leaders, and also to let others lead. Preschools that include mixed-age groups especially encourage this sort of natural learning. Three- and four-year-olds are naturally very curious about the world around them, and they are capable of learning a great deal about its workings: how seeds sprout, how water flows, how clay feels when its pushed and pulled, how colors change when paints mix, what makes one block tower balance and another fall over, and so on. Good preschools give students plenty of hands-on opportunities to explore their world. More fundamentally, children in preschool learn an approach to learning itself; in other words, they learn how to learn. Depending on their preschool experiences, they can come to view learning as creative exploration, or as dull memorization. They can begin to see school as a place where they feel comfortable and safe, or one in which they always need to be on their guard against being made to feel dumb. Keep your eye on the prize In choosing a preschool for your child (or in evaluating the program in which she's currently enrolled), it helps to have a clear vision of what a truly excellent preschool is like. The articles in this section look closely at different aspects of preschool, with an eye to helping you to recognize and support the best qualities of the program.
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