This teaching dilemma showed up in the survey where teachers were asked what the aims of kindergarten were. Davis could find no consensus among teachers. She found a mixture of goals that sought social behavior and habit formation; development of skill and technique (motor and physical, intellectual and thoughtful); factual information and aesthetic appreciation.
Similarly, another dilemma presented itself to Davis as she went through the 449 lessons. Teachers were conflict...ed over authority. Teachers who believed in a developmental perspective encouraged identifying and using childrens needs to guide children in planning each day. Yet to guide children to act as independent individuals, teachers must exert authority in the childs behalf. How much to leave to children to decide and how much for teachers to direct created tensions within teachers.
The core dilemma, however, that emerges from the stenographic reports involves choices between academic and behavioral preparation for the primary grades and holistic activities that blend reading, writing, arithmetic, and other skills matched to the students intellectual, social, and emotional maturity. Davis states that integrated skill work appeared naturally in quartering apples, counting napkins, and straws needed for lunch or writing on the blackboard the names of the fruit and vegetables that the children brought to school.
The two dilemmas were not made easier by the isolation of kindergarten from the primary grades. She found only three kindergartens in 137 schools where explicit cooperation occurred between the first grade teachers and kindergarten teacher.
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