Differing Cultural Perspectives Of School Readiness

Differing cultural perspectives of school readiness
Students Name
University Affiliation
Introduction
School readiness is at the heart of every parent for their children, there are those parents that that hold the believe that the caregiver should be fully in charge of their children. Friedman and Scholnick (2014), noted that, it is common knowledge that parents view schooling, according to their own experiences, they tend to favor any preparation that is geared towards what they are familiar and what they experienced themselves. A play based curriculum is sometimes a challenge to implement for teachers because parents are not comfortable with it. This system to most parents is unsettling because they themselves did not experience such a curriculum and they feel it is somehow chaotic and too child centered.
Early school or what is sometimes referred as preschool is a challenge to many parents and families can disagree sharply on the methods to be used for their children in preparation to joining the school. There are parents that want their children to join school as early as possible and others feel they need to be fully prepared at home by their caregivers before they are exposed to the school environment (Kolb,2014) .In both scenarios the parents push their point of view, there is a school of thought that believes when children are learning at home they become sharper than their counterparts, and when they join the school they perform exemplary well.
While this narrative can be adopted, professionals hold the view that parents should focus on developmental appropriateness of their children as they prepare to join the school. It is a hard agenda to convince families, but this is what really prepared them for school.
The different perspectives on learning and when children should start school arises from the different cultural backgrounds that the parents have. Henniger (2017), noted that, for instance, learning Chinese language is a difficult skill because children have to memorize alphabets. On the other hand, learning English is quite simple and easily understood by children. Therefore, for Chinese mothers, they will tend to favor an education plan where their children start schooling early because of their own experienced in learning the Chinese language.
This upbringing on the parents affects the children in a big way because first they wish that their children should not struggle through school as they themselves struggled(Gonzalez-Mena,2008).Therefore instead of engaging in play with other children they are subjected to long memorizing sessions. This does not help the children become better in school because it denies them an opportunity to be creative and learn from other children. The memorized alphabets are easily forgotten and children become bored and dull.
Teachers and parents at this stage engage in heated exchange because a parent thinks all learning without play is what is good for the child while the teacher is of the opinion that even play is part of learning. When both argue and do not listen to each others point of view what then happens is that the child loses (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008).
According to Peisner et.al (2014), Even if a parent`s opinion is outrageous it should be listened to and respected, teachers must realize that each parent desires the best for their children. They should always remain calm and listen to all parents` concerns and when the parent calms down they can engage them on their different perspective of learning. The purpose of holding a meaningful dialogue is to understand each persons viewpoint and appreciate it but never a competition or a win-lose game.
The secret in understanding different perspectives is on give and take, when a caregiver adapts to a child’s perspective and change their mindset the child also adapts to their mindset. The same happens to parents and teachers, they might have different opinions that are guided by the different backgrounds, but this will be overcome by the adoption of give and take mindset of the two groups. Children are very good in learning what they are taught in school and at home, they tend to be very flexible and these should be considered as positives not negatives.
Friedman and Scholnick (2014), noted in some cases, children are considered bicultural because of the different backgrounds and the different orientations they face. There is a different approach to the way adults handle disputes in children, by trying to reason with them. The truth of the matter is that children will always be children and will not do as you expect them because they are yet to get to a level of reason. Verbal emphasis starts at a very young age for children ,a child that is carried around most of the time will tend to send a lot of nonverbal messages but this is highly dependant on their orientation. You will find that most children will be oriented to communicate non verbally to their caregivers by their parents, therefore this is the language they have accustomed to.
Parents who lover verbal communication will likely orient their children to play with language at a very young age and will in most cases put a high value on the verbal communication. These kind of parents spend a lot of time interpreting what the children are responding to and what they are saying. They are always impressed when their children strike a conversation with them and see language development as the cognitive development. They associate word...