This article by Dr. Chong appeared in the Education Column of Nanyang Siang Pau, 30 August 1991. Click Here for original Mandarin text.
Parents are the Greatest Sensei
It is not difficult for parents to take for granted a child’s education, for the race towards financial wealth. It is typically assumed that by sending children to school, one’s responsibility as a parent is fulfilled. Grooming a child, is responsibility of the school teacher. If this resonates with you, do give this a ponder: how much time does a child spend at home, as opposed to the school? If your child is one of the luckier ones who get teachers coming to every class as scheduled, teachers are still required to look after an average of 50 students per class. The amount of attention that each student gets, is obvious.
While there can be endless reasons for the shortcomings as to our care for a child, the consequence comes in the form of a delinquent young adult one day, that you may blame its cause on the teacher, or even the society. Yet end of day, it is the parent who suffers the most.
Only parents are able to provide children with the most suitable guidance. While teaching methodology adopted by school teachers are effective towards most students, there are still a good number of exceptions. If your child belongs to either extremes of children with above average intelligence or (similarly) children with learning disabilities, there is a chance of them developing into a problematic student. If their own parents are not supporting them, who else would?
How to Help Your Child in Their Studies
In the case of an average student with parents who do not give much attention to their studies, it is quite likely that their result from primary up to high school would be fairly average too. It is crucial to realise however, that this predicament could be overcome. If parents were to cooperate with teachers to assist children in focusing their attention to studies, help with regular revisions, provide support, encouragement, and instil confidence, you can too nurture your child into a successful talent!
Here are a few techniques to help children improve in their studies:
1. Nurture children into self-initiated reading
This could be nurtured from primary one onwards, where parents could regularly take children to bookstores or the library to pick up books of suitable interest and literacy level, to nurture the child’s interest in reading. If parents have a reading habit in a home where children reading materials are readily available, kids would naturally pick up a reading habit.
2. All students are equal
Typically, students of different skills and ability receive different sort of teaching. A good number of teachers focus their attention on the better few in class. For instance, in a question and answer session, a student gives a wrong answer. If the teacher exhibits even the most subtle body language indicating dissatisfaction, the student would feel it and deter himself from raising his hands again in future. A good teacher would however, in the situation above improvise on the question while provide further explanation to assist the student until he gets the answer. If this is not practicable for every children in school, it would be up to the parent to take up the role of a good teacher then.
3. Nurture children into understanding what they learn
Is your child learning to merely memorise information, or how to apply that knowledge? By understanding what is being learnt, its concept, principles, and apply that knowledge to life, the child would naturally be able to remember well what they have learnt.
4. Revision before imparting any new knowledge
Before learning anything new, it is crucial for the child to first have a good understanding of what was learnt in the last lesson. Short regular tests for instance would encourage students to revise their newly learnt knowledge.
Home Education Outweighs the School Syllabus
5. Getting the right education at home is more important than school education
In a healthy family, parents would put children’s education as priority over fun and entertainment. Parents would nurture children’s inquisitiveness while reward good and right acts of the child. On the contrary, if parents were always busy chasing financial wealth, while busy watching TV during weekends and holidays, or even constantly quarrelling at home, what are the chances of the child putting his focus on studies?
Dear parents, for the sake of your child’s future, do what is right.