Hi Nancy,
I agree with what you say here about the issue of "immaturity". I find that
it's
a very subjective term and open to a lot of interpretation. My middle daughter
started prekindergarten when we moved to Ecuador from New Orleans in 1996
even though she was to start kinder in a Montessori school in New Orleans
if we hadn't relocated to South America. The counselor who evaluated her
refused to put her in kinder saying she was immature. By April of that year
her teacher was asking us why Maya was in prek and not in K, that she seemed
bored and was getting into squabbles with the other kids. With less than three
months left of school we moved her to the kinder class where she was challenged
both emotionally and academically and was with the appropriate group of kids. I
suspect that there are times we use immaturity as a way to shake responsibility
for moving kids along. Remember, I said we so I'm not excluding myself from the
mix. I think boys are more often labeled "immature" than girls yet I know that
growth, both academic and emotional, happens over time and sometimes we don't
see it in the year that we are with our students. That's why Elaine and
Sally's
comments regarding teachers being limited by the confines of the grade they
teach
is a very telling comment.
Elisa Waingort
Calgary, Canada
Could someone please define this word "immature" for me? I see it used all
the time and have heard teachers use it as the main reason to retain, but it
seems to me to be a pretty illusive term and often based on subjectivity.
Sometimes it even has to do with physical characteristics.
I agree with Elisa about the difference in boys. I am a mother of girls.
Now I have a grandson. Before, I would have thought many of the boys in my
classes over the years "immature," but now I just see the way they act as "boy
behavior." Does the fact that they don't sit quietly and aim to please like
many girls mean they are immature?
Nancy
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