Strollerderby
Competitive Kindergarten Admissions
As anyone who lives in New York City knows, getting one’s child into a “good” kindergarten can be a ruthless death sport. Parents often jump through hoops, hire private consultants, and interview at dozens of schools. As for the kids? They have to take IQ tests, be observed in a small group situations, and be interviewed themselves. All for the sake of getting into kindergarten!
This week, a new documentary called “Getting In A…Kindergarten,” will air on the cable network TLC. The program puts a new twist on the familiar Manhattan melodrama. At Dalton on the Upper East Side, 700 families vie for 90 spots; at Hunter College Elementary School, 1,300 families try for 48 openings. All the families profiled face difficulties, but rather than mocking kindergarten mania or bemoaning its hyper-competitiveness, “Getting In” raises the possibility that all the trouble is ultimately worthwhile.
Interestingly, no children– and no parents– are left bereft. The show demonstrates that, despite all the hyper-competitive madness, those who are rejected from their initial first choice often decide ultimately that they didn’t want to be there after all. A former head of the West Side Montessori School who is featured in the film, Marlene Barron, said that “”only a few people in the end aren’t where they want to be. It usually all works out.”
Despite the insanity of paying as much as $30,000 per year to send your child to kindergarten, it’s a fascinating documentary that I think many parents will find educational. In several of the cases, parents talk about how going through the admissions process helped them to better understand their children and enabled them to find schools that suited their interests and abilities.
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4 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amIt’s so sad the some parents think that kindergarten will ultimately decide if the kids will become successful in life.
regandbabe commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amBean’s mom- look into the public schools some of them here in nyc are just as good (sometimes better) than the top zillion dollar schools. Remember more often than not the teachers come from the same places whether you’re paying a zillion dollars or zilch!
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI just read Momzilla’s, and learned about the kindergarten/admission nightmare. Quite comical, but if you have to live it — what a nightmare.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amUgghh, I live in NYC and I am not looking forward at all to getting my little girl into Preschool or Kindergarten. Sometimes I wonder if all this getting the kid in the right nursery school/kindergarten hoopla is more for the parents than the kids. Consultants, admission essays, and a $30,000/yr tuition is just ridiculous. I didn’t go to kindergarten, and I turned out just fine.
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