Children are losing out on childhood

I have a 4 year old, so he's getting near the age for kindergarten. Boy when I looked up qualifications to enter kindergarten I felt I was looking at first grade qualifications!
Before a child can start kindergarten they must know their alphabet, I remember learning the alphabet IN kindergarten. Must be able to count to at least 50, WHAT!
Must be able to distinguish all the colors, shapes and tell if something is bigger or littler. He even has to be able to spell his first name!
Last I knew all these things you learned in kindergarten! I mean if they have to know all this just to start, your taking away the early childhood years just to start learning at like age 2 to qualify!