Many parents now enroll their child in prestigious nursery schools as soon as the pregnancy isconfirmed. And once the child is old enough, they coach the child for the screening interview."When they count everything in sight, one nursery school director said, "you know they have been drilled before the interview."Parents believe that only if the child gets into this or thatprestigious nursery school will he or she ever have a chance at getting into Harvard, Yale, or Stanford. For the same reason, our elementary schools are suddenly filled with youngsters in enriched and accelerated programs.
怀孕一经证实，现在的许多父母就会在几所赫赫有名的幼儿园给孩子先报上名。一旦孩子稍大一点，他们就给孩子做筛选面试的指导。一位幼儿园的园长说当孩子们给眼前的东西数数时，你就知道他们在面试前已受过训练。”父母们认为，除非孩子进了这所或那所有名的幼儿园，否则将来就决不会有机会进哈佛、耶鲁或斯坦福大学。由于同样的原因，我们的小学也突然充满了进强化班和快班的孩子。
It is not just in academic study that children are being pushed harder at ever-earlier ages. Some parents start their preschool children in sports such as tennis and swimming in hopes that they will become Olympic athletes. A young man who attended one of my child development lectures stopped by afterward to ask me a question. He works as a tennis instructor at an exclusive resort hotel in Florida and wanted to know how to motivate his students. When I asked how old they were he told me that they ranged in age from three to five years!
孩子们在越来越小的年龄就受到越来越紧的逼迫，这种情况不仅限于学习方面。有些父母还让他们的学龄前子女开始从事体育训练，如打网球，练游泳，希望他们能成为奥运会选手。一位听我儿童成长讲座的年轻人课后留下来问了我一个问题。他在佛罗里达州一家旅游胜地的豪华宾馆里担任网球教练，他想知道如何才能激发学员的学习兴趣。当我问他他们多大时，他告诉我他们的年龄在三至五岁之间！