William Crain, professor of psychology at the City College of New York, graciously contributed the foreword to the 3rd edition of my book Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom, Ages 4-14 (NEFC, 2007).

I have long been an admirer of Dr. Crain’s major textbook in child development, Theories of Development which I certainly recommend.

Here I’d like to draw your attention to Dr. Crain’s 2003 book, Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society.

Here is a book for parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers who question and are uneasy with the steady march toward state and eventual national standards in every academic subject area that mandate increasingly proficient performance for all children at every grade level.

These standards demand that children be able to know and demonstrate skills at younger and younger ages, with little consideration for developmental readiness or a developmental ceiling at certain ages.

These standards seek to leave no child behind as they progress through the grades, but states and the federal government are not providing the financial support necessary to make resources real for schools with the neediest children to either differentiate instruction nor to provide tutorial or remedial help adequately.

Dr. Crain points out that equally important to standards are the actual emotions and attitudes of children as they grow and develop.

He asks us to carefully consider children’s interests, concentration ability, tranquility, independence, exuberance, gracefulness; aptitudes that are not measured on any standardized assessments, but that are essential for both educational planning and family support of children’s developing personalities and skills. Here is a book that has your children in mind on every page whether you are a teacher or parent or both.