Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Can you learn self-control from a certain kind of play?




In the article "Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?" by Paul Tough, it explains how most children in preschool or kindergarten have a hard time controlling themselves. The nation took many surveys to see how big this issue is and one of them was that  46% of kindergarten teachers have said that half if not more kids in their classes have a hard time following directions. In the article Pul Tough states, "In another study, Head Start teachers reported that more than a quarter of their students exhibited serious self-control-related negative behaviors, like kicking or threatening other students, at least once a week." Also, a professor who works at Yale's child-study center, Walter Gillian estimates that each year about 5,000 kids get expelled from pre-K programs or classes. I know that there are kids who misbehave but thats just ridiculous! I understand that one or two kids might have problems at home that effects them and they don't know how to act in school in a mannerly way but not only is 5,000 students a lot of kids to get expelled, but these are pre-school students who aren't older than 5 or 6 years old! Its not like they can do much illegal stuff!
   But there are people out there trying to fix this! A psychologist, Angela Duckworth has been spending the last seven years at the University of Pennsylvania trying to improve children's self-control! So thats good! Even though their tests have been failing, its good to see that people are taking action to try to solve this problem!

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