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Friday, August 5, 2016

No One's Kid Is Ready for Kindergarten, According to This School's Checklist

What Kids Should Know Before Starting Kindergarten - Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten?:

This List of Requirements for Incoming Kindergarteners Will Make You So Mad

​This more than a little bit unrealistic.

 One surprised parent took to Reddit this weekend to share a letter she had received from her child's elementary school. The letter included a list of 11 things that the Hamilton County, Tennessee, school says children should be able to do before starting kindergarten — and we have to say, it's unbelievably unrealistic.

According to this school's requirements, incoming kindergartners should already know how to write their names, use scissors correctly and identify colors and shapes (among other things) by the time they walk through the door on the first day of school. Take a look at the full list here:
unrealistic list of requirements for incoming kindergartners via imgur

You might have noticed that the note also includes "identify 30+ letters" as a requirement, which leaves us a little confused. Although it's probably safe to assume that they're taking both uppercase and lowercase letters into account, Reddit user zarideremery said what we're all thinking in this response to the post: "I can only identify 26 letters :( I'm not ready for kindergarten." Apparently, none of us are!
Ultimately, this ridiculous list leaves us with just one question: Isn't learning these things what kindergarten is for?