by Gary Davis

Created on: June 07, 2007

No, school systems should not move to additional schooling at this early age. Let me share with you a true story.

My wife and I had our first child after we had been married ten years. An arrival which we were uncertain would ever occur, and, you can imagine how we read and interacted with our first son.

One day, when my son was about 2 1/2, I came home from work to find him reading a story book aloud. It was a book we had read to him many times, so I figured he had memorized it. Out of curiosity, I sat down with him and arbitrarily pointed out various words, which, without exception, he correctly identified. My wife and I then took a book that we had not read to him as often and verified that he had taught himself quite a vocabulary.

We didn't know exactly what to do. We certainly didn't want to short- change him if he needed to be "challenged" so, at the behest of well-meaning family and friends we went to a psychologist to have him tested. The psychologist was hesitant to test him because I.Q. tests were not standardized (at least they were not at that time), until a child had reached age three. However, after spending just a few minutes with him, she agreed he should be tested. He blew the numbers off the charts, and, the psychologist said it would be a shame if we didn't get him started in academics as soon as possible. The Montessori School was recommended and we promptly, proud self-congratulatory parents that we were, entered him into the school much as a horse owner would enter a prize colt into the Kentucky Derby. He blossomed; he learned; he wowed the teachers. As each day went by, however, his behavior and demeanor became sadder and more withdrawn. He would "act out".

That particular school had as "time out" what was known as the "quiet corner". When a child misbehaved, that is where they were sent to lie down and reflect. By the time our son was 3 , he, upon arrival at the school, would bypass the teachers and go straight to the "quiet corner". No amount of badgering would get him to participate. Of course, we pulled him out. He immediately returned to being a "normal kid". We talked to him about every four months about returning but he refused until he was about five. We started him at half-days and he was at that time happy. When we moved him to full days however, he once again became miserable and we backed it off to half-days.

My wife has always been a "stay at home mom" for all of our sons. I believe, after our experiences (and I could share many

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