American Academy of Pediatrics Recommends Limiting Media for Children!

Dear Commons Community,

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy brief  that recommends limiting children’s use of  media including television, cell phones, and computers.  The report cites a Kaiser Family foundation  study indicating that the average 8- to 10-year-old spends nearly 8 hours a day with a variety of different media, and older children and teenagers spend > 11 hours per day.  The brief recommends that parents should:

  • Limit the amount of total entertainment screen time to 1 to 2 hours per day.
  • Discourage screen media exposure for children < 2 years of age.
  • Keep the TV set and Internet-connected electronic devices out of the child’s bedroom.
  • Monitor what media their children are using and accessing, including  any Websites they are visiting and social media sites they may be using.
  • Coview TV, movies, and videos with children and teenagers, and use this as a way of discussing important family values.
  • Model active parenting by establishing a family home use plan for all media.  As part of the plan, enforce a mealtime and bedtime “curfew” for media devices, including cell phones. Establish reasonable but firm rules about cell phones, texting, Internet, and social media use

The Academy is making an important contribution to our dialogue of media use and children.  I am not sure that we don’t need something similar for adults.

Tony

 

Forget Teaching to the Test — at this Washington Heights Elementary School, Parents Canceled It!

Dear Commons Community,

A Washington Heights elementary school has canceled the new standardized multiple-choice tests for its youngest public school students — after more than 80% of parents opted to have their kids sit out the exam.

In an apparently unprecedented move, Castle Bridge School parents — representing 83 of the 97 students — rejected the new city requirement that affects 36 schools that serve only K through second grade. As reported in the New York Daily News:

“My feeling about testing kids as young as 4 is it’s inhumane,” said PTA co-chairwoman Dao Tran, mother of first-grader Quyen Lamphere, 5. “I can only see it causing stress.”

The state now requires schools to factor test scores — in one form or another — into their teacher evaluations, which are new this year in the city.

Students at the 36 “early education” schools are too young to take the regular state reading and math exams, so the littlest kids are sitting down for different tests.

As the Daily News reported earlier this month, such exams, given to kids as young as 4, require students to fill in bubbles to show their answers.

It’s like the SAT for kids barely older than toddlers. And parents resent it.

“Our principal does a good job,” said PTA co-chairwoman Elexis Pujolos, mother of kindergartner Daeja, 4, and first-grader AJ, 6. “A test could not possibly measure what she is able to.”

Congratulations to the parents at the Castle Bridge School for being so involved with their children’s education and taking a stand against the insanity of high-stakes, standardized testing.

Tony