I recently received an e-mail from a former student who is an early childhood educator. She wrote that she first taught in university lab schools, and then returned to college to earn a social work degree. She now works as a social worker in 0-5 programs and as such attends a lot of parent-teacher meetings.

For many teachers, parents and children, homework is a fighting word. Some people regard homework as all good, and as reinforcing good work habits, discipline and responsibility. Others see it as all bad, as rote, meaningless, and a major contributor to children’s dislike of school and learning. Both positions ignore the fact that there is a wide variety of homework practices, some of which are very supportive of positive attainments, and some of which probably do harm.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, some children are born liking schooling, some children learn to like schooling and some children have schooling thrust upon them (like the young man who told me that the best thing about school was “lunch”). Another way of saying this is that some children have a harder time getting ready to go back to school than others. For all children going back to school presents at least some challenges.

At a recent talk with parents I was asked about the value of full day Kindergarten. I replied that I thought that it was a child care initiative and not an educational one. And I went on to explain that in this country we do not have the affordable, accessible and quality child care that two parent working families so badly need. Schools are safe; teachers are well trained, and there are ample educational materials and play areas.

A recent report from Cambridge Assessment, an organization associated with Cambridge University, has reviewed the literature from 1990 to the present regarding the readiness of British four and five year-olds to begin formal schooling. The report concludes that children of this age may suffer serious stress and anxiety that can damage their educational prospects. The issue of summer birthdays arises because most kindergartens enroll children in the later summer of fall.