Cogito Program Mount Pleasant School

The negative posters do not actually have kids at Mt Pleasant. I now have, after switching my kids’ school. Having experienced many programs (5 kids ranging from elementary to adult), at many different schools, we are blown away by Mt Pleasant. This is education at its pinnacle, with kind, caring teachers who are committed to their students’ excellence. They offer a classical liberal arts education, with emphasis on numeracy and literacy, but a good grounding in everything else. I really appreciate the efforts to foster public speaking skills and good character and work habits along with excellent academics.
Your kids don’t have to be brilliant to get in (mine were pretty average), just at grade level with demonstrated ability to focus and work responsibly. The entrance test is pretty easy. I think after testing for basic skills, the real thing they’re looking for is behavioural info to see if the child can focus, or whether he will have a hard time sitting In a desk and will disrupt the rest of the students.
The teachers take responsibility for making sure your kids learn and do their work, unlike the prevailing ethos at many schools where parents are considered the main educators. My kids have really responded. For the first time, they don’t say «recess» or «lunch» is their favourite subject. Now they are excited about science, or LA or math or geography, and so proud of their accomplishments.
I used to be so worried about my kids’ education and had to put so much effort into teaching them at home. Thanks to Mt Pleasant, I can totally relax and be certain they will have the skills and habits to thrive at junior high, high school and in post-​secondary.

Okay, I’m not blood-​related to any of the kids who attend the Cogito Program at Mount Pleasant Elementary. But I used to work at the after-​school care here, and saw what the kids are like after a hard day of Cogito.
Cogito is a special academic program that uses explicit phonetics and repetition strategy to get the material into the kids’ heads. They have regular homework everyday, and often the kids would do their homework in the daycare before their parents picked them up. I don’t know about you, but I was never that diligent when I was seven years old.
While I’ll admit the program works, because these are some of the smartest kids I’ve ever seen, it does take a toll on them. The poor children are probably mentally exhausted, and want nothing more than to unleash all their pent-​up energy from the whole day. Unfortunately right after school hours, when they’re with the daycare staff!
I think it’s important to remember that all kids learn differently, so while Cogito may work wonders for some, it may not be the greatest for other kids, especially the ones who need to learn through hands-​on activity. On that note, I will add that it’s great for getting kids to read early. There’s nothing like a five-​year-​old teaching you the difference between the «a» and «ai» phonemes!