for the teacher or the student??? don't know in America however in Aus they have special Early Childhood qualifications which are much the same as a Bachelor of Education just specialising. In terms of the kids, well here the only qualifications they need here are being four years old before the middle of the year.
I really have to say upfront that I don't know how the system works there but here Kindy is 4 years old, followed by preschool then grade one. Kindy is FOR learning how to hold a pencil right and even grade one kids are still learning how to write their abc's (though they tend to know them verbally by then if they are getting the right sort of stimulation at home...books, a desire to learn etc) . Kindy is probably a great way for kids to learn the social skills neccessary for interaction in a classroom. There should be no pressure to be achieving to any particular level...if a kindy is doing this they tend to be looking at some deeper sorts of issues that might be facing the kid and trying to iron them out before things get slowly more serious.
