Ena Cusi Should preschool programs focus more on developing academic skills or social skills? Many people often use the terms “preschool” and “kindergarten” interchangeably; however, a great difference exists between the two. Preschool is optional and it comes before kindergarten, the first official year in the K-12 educational system. Preschools are expected to prepare children for kindergarten, consequently raising concerns for a child’s “school readiness”. And these concerns center on whether preschool programs should focus more on developing academic skills or social skills. While both are important, preschool programs should concentrate on the latter because “schools are social places and learning is a social process” (Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, and Walberg, 2004, p. 191). Firstly, children are active and need to play. Through play, they learn social skills, which lay as a foundation for academic skill development; and preschool programs that focus on this serve as a great environment for young children to become well-rounded beings. According to Mary E. Logue (2007), “through a play-oriented curriculum, children were socialized into …show more content…
Certainly, social and academic skills are both important in fostering young children to become competent adults; however, preschool programs should focus more on social skills as social skills lay as a foundation for academic skill development and positively correlate with high academic performance. Also, a playful, interactive focus towards learning allows children to be kids while they are still young, since later school years to stray away from that. Finally, social skills are more critical than academic excellence in life as success can be defined in more ways than just educational