JOHN ROSEMOND | Parenting Jump-start programs don't work

Q. What is your opinion of the spate of computer-driven, academic jump-start programs for children as young as 3, if not younger? All of the mothers in my toddler's play group are jumping on this bandwagon, and if this is truly valuable stuff, I certainly don't want my child to start school at a disadvantage.
A. My opinion, in a word: worthless. There is no evidence whatsoever that the artificial gains produced by programs of this sort, whether computer-driven or human-driven, are lasting.
Research finds that by grade three, one cannot tell the difference between children who came to first grade knowing their ABCs, number facts or even how to read and those who came as academic blank slates.
The notion that exercises of this sort produce a smarter child or a child who consistently achieves at higher levels is bogus.
The fact is, these so-called jump-start programs are a huge waste of money and time. They appeal to parents who are desperate for what I call "trophy children" -- children they can show off, brag about and (it should go without saying) live through.
History lesson
The history of childhood in America also confirms that the teaching of academic "tricks" to preschool children is irrelevant to later school achievement.
Children who entered school in the 1950s -- my generation -- rarely came to first grade knowing what today's children are often expected to know before entering kindergarten. As but one example, I came to first grade knowing the ABC song, but could not have correctly identified more than three letters of the alphabet -- A, B and C -- and then only in upper case.
Yet we achieved at considerably higher levels at every grade than today's kids -- often while sitting in what today would be considered horribly overcrowded classrooms.
We were able to do this because the overwhelming majority of us came to school with the most essential prerequisite for academic success: good behavior. Our attention deficits and oppositional-defiant "disorders" had been cured long before we came to first grade.
Dangerous
Not only is it a waste of time to teach a preschooler academic skills (exception: the child asks, without prompt or push, to be taught and catches on without effort), it can be and often is downright dangerous to the child's intellectual health.
The research of psychologists Jane Healy ("The Endangered Mind") and David Elkind ("Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk") finds that introducing academic instruction prematurely, especially through computers and other electronic media, can be permanently damaging to brain development and even set the stage for learning disabilities.
Unfortunately, it has become nearly impossible for preschools to attract clientele unless they boast computer education.
In the very first paragraph of "Miseducation," Elkind bemoans the fact that although we know more about what is good and bad for children than ever before, we continue to justify doing what is bad.
Instead of teaching preschool children to jump through academic hoops, parents would do better to teach their children good manners.
Sadly, they give no bumper stickers to parents of children who say please and thank you and do not interrupt adult conversations.
XJohn Rosemond is a family psychologist. Questions of general interest may be sent to him at Affirmative Parenting, 1020 East 86th Street, Suite 26B, Indianapolis, IN 46240 and at his Web site: www.rosemond.com/.