The overschedulization of children has been a concern of mine for quite a long time. I have always believed that giving children free time, allows them to develop their imagination, creativity, intelligence and quest for knowledge. Not to mention gives them time to discover who they are and what they can do. Having time to investigate a blade of grass while playing outside can instill curiosity about the world in a child.

It's interesting that ADHD rates rise as time for imaginative play decrease. (I do not consider time spent in front of a tv, gaming system of computer terminal free time. It consumes your attention without allowing you time to imagine.) It was mentioned in the presentation that pretend play helps develop impulse control. If that is true, than maybe the risk of developing ADHD increases when children have not had plenty of opportunity to entertain themselves.

Even though all-day kindergarten may allow me find a teaching position (yes, most of the teacher candidates are excited about this), I can't help but feel the implementation of all day kindergarten may have some drawbacks. After logging many hours in JK and SK classes, I have seen how tired the children become after a half day of classes. I've also seen how difficult it can be for 1 teacher (and a parent volunteer) to manage 18 tired four year olds. I'm concerned that parent volunteers will drop off dramatically after ECEs are brought into the classroom, so the thought of upping the class size to 26 will be very tough on everyone.

From what I've seen, getting testing for potential ADHD, LD, mentally retarded and many other disorders is held often for years. It has little to do with teachers identifying at risk kids. Waiting lists for psyc evaluations often take years (8 years in the case of the son of a friend of mine), so the claim that all day kindergarten will assist educators in identifying at risk kids is meritless.

I'm also concerned that the students will be pushed a little too hard for their age group. The report commented that kindergarten should be a place to learn through play. That claim is idealistic. No matter how much teachers are not supposed to teach to EQAO, administrators are quite concerned with low scores and push teachers to prepare the kids years in advance. Will administrators start pushing the literacy skills even harder in kindergarten? How will December babies and slower learners keep up with the increased work load?