Things you hear in Kindergarten

This year at school we have a ton of kindergartners.  Classrooms should have around 20 -21 students.  Ours have 25 students.  The assistant is in the classroom for approximately four hours per day and this is broken up in segments.  One of the segments is lunch...Thank The LORD!  Imagine taking 25 -26 five year olds anywhere by yourself let alone somewhere to eat.  So just today I overheard some of the conversations going on around me during their lunchtime.  Some examples:

Do not karate chop your lunch box again...
Why did you put that ketchup in your nose....
Do not karate chop your neighbor either...
Please use your napkin and not your shirttail, honey....

Apparently karate chopping is really big in this one boys family.  I heard one of the teacher assistants say about 215 time. "Please, Lord Jesus, help me."  Apparently five year olds really tax her.  They do wear you out.  In today's school system unlike when my own girls were in kindergarten, there is no naptime, no center time, not a lot of coloring, very few field trips and a host of other things they no longer get to do.  I don't understand.  Kindergarten should be fun and a process of getting used to school.  Not just sitting at a desk or table and learning how to take a test by filling in little circles with a number two pencil.  Do they even make anything else???  Number one pencils or number threes???  School is so hard today and the sad thing about it is....children are not getting any smarter.  Not one bit.  They are so stressed and so pushed that they develop behavior problems and eating issues and sleep problems and a whole host of stuff.One little five year old this morning was close to tears when his brother did not want to eat breakfast with him.  I assured him he would be okay and he looked at me with big, tear-filled blue eyes and said, "But don't you understand...I am only five years old and I can't be left on my own."  He was right.  He can't but they are.  Forced to walk all by themselves from the car rider line to class.  Forced to do all this new stuff...alone.  For the first couple of weeks they should be allowed to have mommy or daddy walk them to class.  Allowed to have mommy stand outside of school to greet them and walk them to their car.  I did those things for mine and they have all grown up just great.  They can read, write and do everything else just fine.  If I could run the school system I would bring back naps and more playtime and centers and fun stuff again.  Life is hard and when you are five you really are too young to be on your own.