Preschool parents, put away those flashcards. As your child enters their first years of school, you might be trying your best to make sure they’re ahead of the curve. Look, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of AP course work. But, before you get to more advanced content, a teacher has a simple request: please, please don’t forget to cover the basics.
New York City elementary school teacher, and generally hilarious human Dutch, @dutchdeccc on TikTok, recently shared his plea to preschool parents.
“As a public school teacher, I’m pleading with you, if you’re sending a 3 or 4-year-old to school, they don’t need to know long division. They don’t need to know how to read chapter books. They don’t need to know how to code on a computer. They don’t need to know how to say hello to me in 20 different languages, if they can’t tell me their name,” he said.
“I need a little less future engineer, a little more current 3-year-old,” he continued.
While it’s great to set your sights high for your child, Dutch explained that a lot of the most basic, yet important, skills can fall through the cracks — making teaching quite the battle.
“Their resume should not read something like ‘Experienced sales professional who has driven revenue up by 150% on the playground; oversaw major mergers and acquisitions between the slides and the swings,’” he said. “What I could really use is ‘Able to not fling food, hot food, at teacher when upset with meal choice. Does not bite other individuals. Can zip up pants. Can keep pants on. Can keep shoes on. Can wash hands.’”
As a former camp counselor, I can confirm that the ability to keep one’s pants on is overlooked more often than you would think.
Dutch’s fellow teachers echoed his sentiment in the comments — some rather passionately.
“Do you know how many FIRST GRADERS I have this year that don’t know their own BIRTHDAY OR THEIR OWN LAST NAME?!!!!?” one commented.
“THANK YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!! I’ve been telling my parents they are FOUR!! Please lower your expectations 😭” said another.
His message appeared to get across to parents, too, with one even promising Dutch they would start prepping ASAP.
“Understood. Will start hand washing drills with my 1 year old TODAY!” one mom said.
So parents, take a breather — a lot is riding on these early years, but it’s more so your children’s basic habits than their entire academic careers.
“I have no doubt that your child is a future award winning author, bioethicist, all of this,” Dutch assured parents. “But, right now, they’re licking other children’s shoes — the bottom of other children’s shoes. So let’s just focus on washing the hands right now.”
