IntroductionThe article The new first grade: too much, too soon? by Peg Tire discusses the recent evolution of the preschool years and how children are required to master reading and math skills at increasingly younger ages. It also describes how lessons that were once taught in first grade are now taught to kindergarten children. Regarding this topic, I believe that today's society has become so competitive that parents put more and more pressure on their children to become academic stars and lose sight of what is truly important: encouraging their children to be the best that he or she may be.Article Summary In kindergarten, there has been a significant decrease in the amount of time spent playing and an increase in the time spent learning math and reading. Activities previously common in preschool, such as story time and crafts, are replaced with worksheets and reading groups. The number of tests administered to preschool children has also increased. Children are tested every 10 days to monitor their progress. Many parents are willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money on their children's education in the hope that they will become Ivy League candidates in the future. They enroll their children in after-school tutoring and implement a significant amount of outside schoolwork for their children. Parents aren't just concerned about their child being successful, they're determined to make sure their child is "the best." Therefore, parents force their children to acquire learning skills at younger and younger ages, believing that the younger children are when they learn a skill, the more successful they will be later in life. This notion is not only false, but it can cause... middle of paper... parents to think their child is the best. However, I was surprised to learn about the concept of “red shirt”. The fact that parents go to great lengths to ensure that their children are one step ahead of everyone else is quite amazing. There remain a number of questions on this topic that future research should address, such as: Are most schools like this, or is this an overstatement? Is it limited to a certain region of the country? Is this problem seen in other countries as well, or is it only seen in the United States? Hopefully, future research will address these and other questions and help us reform the current education system. Works CitedBee, H.L., & Boyd, D.A. (2009). The developing child (12th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Tyre, P. (2006, September). The new first grade: too much too soon? Newsweek, 148(11), 34-44.