The Mrs. ran into an old friend V today. V was formerly from RGS and a straight A student. She was bringing her P2 kid to I CAN READ on a Sunday morning. After the I CAN READ, its to BARRY for Chinese language lessons. On Sat, the kid has Math and Piano lessons.
The Mrs. commented that since V was a straight A student, she can just coach her kid instead of running around hurriedly. Unfortunately, it earned a rebuke from V.. haha...
I often wonder Y so many parents (or rather 99% of the parents I know) send their kids to all these lessons outside of school. If it's to swimming or dancing lessons or Taekwondo lessons which the parents are not equipped to coach, I understand. But if its to lessons that merely repeat and regurgitate what the teacher had already taught in class, I often fail to comprehend the need for it.
Aren't the parents themselves qualified to coach their kids? What makes the parents think that the teachers at I CAN READ, or I CAN MATH or WHATEVER CRAP I OSO CAN are better than them?? One of my son's Kindergarten teacher also moonlights as a I CAN READ teacher. So whatever she is doing at I CAN READ is already covered in class.
I suspect that many of these classes cater to the parents' sense of insecurity.
When I asked a friend of mine Y he sends his kid there, he mentioned that he wanted to have a rest on the weekends rather than spend time coaching his kids. But if he spends so much time traveling back and forth from these classes, how much rest is he getting? Is he even spending time with his kid during the weekends?
I have had numerous discussions on this topic with the Mrs cos' at times I feel that we are the only odd one out as all my friends send their kids to tuition classes.
We always feel that sending to kids to these classes at such a young age rob the kids of a chance to "grow their education muscle and develop their independence mind". It's like giving a crutch to a kid and asking him to use it way before he has a chance to find out if his muscles are strong enough to be used on its own.
Its like telling your child "YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH ON YOUR OWN so WE WILL HAVE TO COMPENSATE FOR IT"
Maybe its just me..
There are just my musings on a lazy Sunday afternoon