Hacker News Reader

Comment by turtlebits | Hacker News Reader

Sorry, but 5 year olds don't need a tutor, let alone solo screen time. If you're giving your young child screen time, it should be with a parent, and then you might as well spend it offline.

IMO, tutoring is for when a kid is behind in curriculum and you don't see that until late grade school, if not middle school.

View on HN

One on one "tutoring" is the most effective way to make early education productive and it's not even close. Even the outcomes of parents spending 20 minutes a day reading to their infants and toddlers correlates with better educational outcomes. and I'm sure there are many here that share my own story. The only reason I was somewhat academically successful was because my mother took the time to teach me how to read when I was 3-4. Without that early literacy, I'm sure I would have never been able to achieve anything I've done, especially with ADHD. By the time I was in kindergarten, I knew how to read already, but, even there, reading was taught 1 on 1, with students taking turns with the teacher to learn. I don't think that's done anymore at most places, especially when you have 30:1 teacher ratios. 5 year olds can be way more capable than we give them credit for, but they need personal attention.

Why does early education need to be productive? At that age, I'd much rather my kids learn life skills, socialize, play, etc than any kind of "curriculum" learning.

There are a lot of studies showing that emotional intelligence is a better predictor of happiness than early academics.

They'll have plenty of time to be addicated to screens later on in life /s

It's not a dichotomy. My kids play with each other ~10-12 hours a day and I still taught my 4 year old to read. In fact, the more productive intentional learning is, the more time they have for play.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com