National Public Radio correspondent Eleanor Beardsley is based in France,
Image: Inspection de l'Education Nationale
where children start school at age 3 in full-day écoles maternelles. When Beardsley’s young son Maxim turned 3, she was wary of sending him to school all day, but, as she notes in the NPR story “French Preschools Aim to Please Toddlers, Moms,” she soon appreciated the French system.
“When Maxim started French preschool last September, my first thoughts were that3-year-olds are just too young to be in school all day. There was a lot of crying that month, but after Maxim and the other children adjusted to their new routine, I began to see some amazing things,†Beardsley reports. “Like the day he came home and at the age of 3½, recited his first poem. And I’ve been pretty impressed since then. With his class, Maxim reads and paints. He has learned to write his name. At Christmas, we parents were serenaded with a yuletide concert.  Maxim is learning a lot, but he is also taken care of in a stimulating and cozy environment. Every day he sits down to a hot lunch and has a nap in a tiny dormitory bed. It’s all part of the process of preparing young children to be students and citizens, says Sylvia Bernard, director of one of Paris’s 800 écoles maternelles.â€
In France, according to Marie-Catherine Glaser, educational affairs program officer at the French embassy in Washington, mandatory schooling begins at age 6 – the same age as Massachusetts. More than 2.5 million French children attended the popular preschool programs in 2009, the overwhelming majority – 2.2 million – in free public school classrooms. The rest enrolled in private preschools where, Glaser notes, the tuition is very low.
“Everyone starts first grade on an equal footing,†NPR’s Beardsley reports. “While the French do recognize problems with many aspects of their education system, école maternelle is held in high regard. It is one of the cherished symbols of the French Republic, embodying both equal treatment for all and the emancipation of women.â€
In Massachusetts, 70% of 3- and 4- year-olds attend a formal early education and care program. One-quarter of preschool-age children in the commonwealth have publicly financed early education – 11% in public school pre-kindergartens, 9% with subsidies and 5% in Head Start.
Very good article, the NPR report was moving in fact. I love the fact that the French teachers are interested in getting kids exposed to culture. Imagine the MFA doing a program once a year for each 3 year old who lives in Boston! We couldn’t even begin to do that. What about each Cambridge kid going to a child friendly docent led visit to one of Harvard’s many museums. It boggles the mind to think of this kind of exposure for each child.
I love the fact that they connect right up front the interplay between emotional and cognitive growth. We still see the two as separate strands. We seem to talk about one or the other. Witness the change in the names of our governing department over the last decade or more. Good programs can and do accomplish both.
But most of all I like the man who spoke the truth that you get what you can pay for in early childhood programs. It is a crime against children that we as a country, or even as a state cannot do this better.
I just spent the morning with our child care group at a park in North Cambridge, watching a city sponsored “circus”. At least 100 kids were there. Each child was well watched, well hydrated, attended to, noticed, and well behaved. The park met the multiple needs of the kids for getting wet on a hot summer day, having shade, climbing, running, riding bikes, meeting new children and being watched by adults who respected each other and all the children who were there. This kind of stuff wasn’t happening 25 years ago in the parks of North Cambridge. We have come a long way, and have far to go. It is nice to see that we have good models in places like France.
[…] experience with language. Most likely, she attends an ‘école maternelle’ [See “When in France…â€],  a public preschool with teachers whose pay and education are similar to those of elementary […]