To the editor:

Re: (Sept. 1, p. A3)

If the new B.C. government really wants to move to the forefront of public education in Canada, it needs to look to Finland, where all children have access to free, full day daycare (up to age 5). Full day kindergarten begins at age 6, and Grade 1 begins at age 7.

According to world-renowned family therapist and parenting author Steve Biddulph, full day kindergarten for 5-year-olds is too long, and any younger is a big mistake developmentally. Decades of research has shown that most boys (and some girls) are slower to develop fine-motor and language skills.

Isa国际传媒檝e asked a number of kindergarten teachers: sa国际传媒淲hen reviewing your class in June, are there any children you feel are not developmentally ready for Grade 1?sa国际传媒� Responses from teachers typically range from zero to four children, depending on the class. But in the current educational climate itsa国际传媒檚 extremely rare for a child in Canada or the U.S. to repeat kindergarten.

In his web article, We Can Do Better By Boys, Biddulph writes: sa国际传媒淚n English-speaking countries, boys make up more than 80 per cent of all remedial classes. In Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and many other countries where school [Grade 1] does not begin until age seven, this gender gap in literacy does not existsa国际传媒� Professor Kathy Sylva at Oxford University recently reported findings that starting school too soon creates a failure mentality, while kindergarten sa国际传媒� which used to be a year of play, activity, and social learning sa国际传媒� has succumbed more and more to pressure for skills learning. This compounds the problem.sa国际传媒�

Why is Finlandsa国际传媒檚 school system the envy of the western world? Finland has consistently been among the highest scorers worldwide in the international assessment for student performance.

Carl Honor茅 writes in Under Pressure: Putting the Child Back in Childhood (2009): sa国际传媒淭heir [Finnish children] early childhood is spent at home or in nursery programs where play is king. When they finally do reach school, they enjoy short days, long vacations and plenty of music, art and sports. Apart from final exams at the end of high school, Finnish kids face no standardized tests. Teachers use quizzes, and individual schools use tests to track their pupilssa国际传媒� progress, but the idea of cramming for SATs is as alien to Finland as a heat wave in winter. This presents a delicious irony: the nation that puts the least stress on competition and testing, that shows the least appetite for cram schools and private tutoring, routinely tops the world in PISAsa国际传媒檚 [Programme for International Student Assessment] competitive exams.sa国际传媒�

I believe if we adopted the Finland model in B.C.sa国际传媒� enrolling kids in kindergarten at age 6sa国际传媒� by the time they enter Grade 7 or 8, at least 70 per cent of learning assistance time (and money) in an elementary school could be eliminated simply because most children wouldnsa国际传媒檛 require any! Most of the learning assistance teachers, who spend their day working with individual students and small groups, could transition back into the classroom and assigned an entire class of students.

In Michael Mooresa国际传媒檚 2015 travelogue-style documentary, Where to Invade Next?, he observes: sa国际传媒淔inlandsa国际传媒檚 students have the shortest school days and the shortest school years in the entire western world. They do better by going to school less.sa国际传媒� (Google the movie trailer)

If a Canada-wide survey was done of parents who sa国际传媒渞ed-shirtedsa国际传媒� their own kids sa国际传媒� waited to enrol them in kindergarten at age 6 sa国际传媒� Isa国际传媒檓 certain the vast majority would say it was one of the best decisions they ever made as parents.

David Buckna, Kelowna