Toddler Testing??

I was watching a show this week and it was talking about the pressures of education and the effects it had on the students. Some really good students felt compelled to cheat so they could compete with the other high achievers for scholarship money. Not big news, I know. What astounded me was the moms of toddlers that were having their kids "tutored" so they could pass a test that would get their child into a really good preschool!!!??!! Are you kidding me? The actual test is $500.00 and who knows how much in tutoring. I guess if you don't get in a good preschool, then you won't get into a good private school, which means you don't get accepted into a good college, which means your kid is destined to fail.....and that all stems on a test that they took when they were three????? I think it would be money well spent for these moms to spend all this money on getting them some therapy for themselves.

I can remember when my girls were that age. I would try to teach them things like counting and ABC's. I would ask questions to test them on their knowledge. My oldest daughter was like a sponge. She readily learned and answered most questions with accuracy. I felt quite proud that I was raising such a smart child. With my youngest, well it was a completely different story. She didn't take it all in. Oh, she could recite her numbers and ABC's when prompted, but she wasn't too interested in learning or proving what she knew. I would be lying if I said I didn't think that she probably wasn't going to be as good as a student as my oldest. Case in point, both my girls were great students. Both of them earned several scholarships that helped A LOT with their college expenses. Kelly was just a little above average in high school ( she struggled in math ), but excelled in the top of her classes once she got to nursing school. Jamie graduated in the top 4% of her graduating high school class. I thinks she was #5 out of 123 students and her GPA was like 4.16. My point in all this is that it is ridiculous to label a child at that young age as to what you can expect from them. Every child develops and learns at different ages. Of course, we all want smart children - I mean you never hear a mom bragging how dumb her child is. The point is to remember that all kids come into their own in their own time. Sometimes, they need a little nudging from mom to get them going, but they sure don't need testing.

Train up a child int he way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6