In the United States, kindergarten has generally been considered an educational setting that provides opportunities for children to ready themselves for the academic and social worlds of formal education. However, the twenty-first- century drive toward increased academic standards has been felt even in the earliest grades, leading some researchers to express concern that the kindergarten experience is being compromised. Write an essay that synthesizes and develop your position on the extent to which, if any, kindergarten should be transformed into a more academic environment than it has been in the past.