Friday, July 29, 2005

Turning Kids to Happy Readers?

One cannot help but to notice the many buntings and banners in the city to "celebrate" the national reading month. Along with the theme of "Rajin Membaca, Pasti Berjaya" (Diligent in reading, guarantee success) plastered all over the city as well, I am wondered how much money was spent on this marketing campaign while there are libraries that are in dire need for new and updated books.

I am not going to comment about the libraries - how beautifully built some are, how many internet or hi-tech accesses there are and what smart card library system there exists. I will not dwell on some of the funny rules such children a certain age are not allowed in, skirt measuring some funny length are not allowed and how strongly some library enforces them - seeking these rule breakers out and chase them out of the library. I will also not talk about the librarians who do not know / love books and who are there merely because its a job. I will not talk about Dr Haji Wan Ali's promises of a new and better library next year neither will I participate in the discussion about producing more local writers, producing local books.

What I am curious is why is there such an obsession the celebration in the month of July. I am curious about teh need to spend extra money (not on books) in this months. I am curious about the additional talk shows on radio talking about reading. However, I am really concern about what will happens after that, or rather what will not happen - people reading.

I am concern that we do not recognize that the the reading culture is the result or symptom of our social environment. We treat this so called lack of reading culture as it is the end and the main problem. Should we look at our own social environment - an environment where we do not have serious emphasis on knowledge and information. With an education systems that pays lip service to "a learner-centered education policy based on the Constructivist principal" (education minister's speech in Taylor's college, March 2005). While not having the will to move away from spoonfeeding our children. The continued examination-driven culture has narrowed our focus to reading required materials, reading to pass exams and reading because children are forced to read. What about for knowledge and personal development. What are we doing about this?

What sort of a society are we? Skip to any radio channel (all channels) at any given time of the day and you will find almost all the channels are playing music or talking about celebraties with dotting of interviews before blasting away loud music the next moment.

Browse any Free To Air (FTA) television channels and count how much information, news and commentry we get? The crux is - entertainment sells. I dread to see what would happen when Media Prima takes over NTV7. We will have all the channels selling advertisment, spoonfeeding us with almost useless news in between.

Reading is a cultural thing, cannot be changed by putting banners, posters and running campaigns. It needs to be addressed from the fabric ouf our society starting from learning and education systems, if we are lucky we will evolve over the next two generations.

For now, the best bet is from within the family. Parents need to drive and be an example of these intrinsic values.

K V Soon

further reading, check out:
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s33/project/my-report.pdf (for a report of the 2003 celebrations)
http://www.pnm.my/ (homepage of the national library)

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Can children make their own decisions?

I came across an article by Ruth Liew in The Star (http://www.thestar.com.my) and it reminded me of a very engaging discussion with my friend a couple of days ago over this topic of getting children to make decisions by themselves.

My friend feels that children before a certain age (not sure what that age really is) - cannot make their own decision while I feel otherwise. He said that children needed to be pushed to achieve certain goals and have to successful. When I asked him what "success" meant, we move to another topic of discussion. I guess, we somewhat came to a point where we agree to disagree and our conversation drifted to the on-going British Open at that time, wondering if Tiger Woods would win the tournament of would Montie do a "come from behind" to statch a vistory.

I guess this is one place I could to share Ruth's article (below) with you with some of my own thoughts without having to abruptly change topic to golf.

I always feel that young children has the ability to choose, parents need to feed them the tools to make decisions that benefits the child and make them happy. I have always encouraged my children to choose - "would you prefer rice or noodles" and life is interesting. Sometimes they do not feel like making a decision, sometimes there are too many decisions to make. Whatever it is choices make life a little more fun.

However, somewhere in time things takes an abrupt change - usually when they go to school. Were children ever consulted if they wanted to go to school? If yes, what type of school? When they were in school, did they have a choice what to learn and how to learn them? Whatever it is, it is as if suddenly the children did not have to make decisions - not allowed to make decisions. Decisions were made for them. Will they every be able to make decision on their own as they grow older? Of course, some parents would argue that these are choices far too complex for a young mind. This is where the finer parenting skills and the philosopy of learning and teaching comes into play. Perhaps this is one of those reason and thoughts that made us embark on homeschooling adopting an "unschooling" approach - where children, basically, call the shots.

Radical thought! Some may think. Many will feel that it is easier to teach/tell/spoonfeed than to give children space and time to learn on their own. Getting kids to make decisions, learning from wrong ones, is a very long process. Usually fear steps in our minds - the parents - especially when we attempt to benchmark our children with other children. Fear arises when we think that other children are "ahead" - other could do such a thing while my child cannot. I sometimes have to remind myself that the process is long and we need to keep in constant touch with our children and to keep a watch of ourselves as well.

I totally agree with Ruth's phrase that states that "we must not change our children but ourselves". In this whole learning experience at home, I continue to question myself whenever I get impatient with my children - is it me or is it my children with a problem. If we think deeper, its usually the us parents, expressing out fears and insecurities. I find this piece of advise powerful as it forces one to look inwards. In our modern world, we sometimes have no time or no inclination to do so.

I guess there is still so much to learn about being a parent. It is so easy to listen to what other people tells us and how society dictates what is right and what is wrong - so much so that we lose confidence in our abilities as parents.

Perhaps it is about time we think about our own strength and weaknesses and not be afraid to face them. Lest, our children will learn our ways.

K V

Source: www.thestar.com.my



Learning from children

Children are gifts from God. They also bear gifts for us to help us understand our lives on Earth. For this, we must pause and ponder upon our role as parents to help children reveal their gifts to us.

The gifts children bring to us lie within them, waiting to be discovered. These gifts include compassion, generosity, kindness, love, care, cooperation, appreciation and forbearance. They cannot be taught but drawn out from within the child. Adults who know this allow children to develop without suppression and pressure to perform before they are ready.

Many children hardly have any opportunities to develop these gifts. They are hurried to achieve school success so that they can later get a good job and have a good standing in society. The success in life is measured by how much they make in life, not what kind of people they become.

Parents who send their children to preschool, ask the teacher: “Have they learned to read yet?” or “Are they able to do addition or subtraction?” They would never ask: “Did my son get to help his friends today?” or “Did she marvel at the beautiful dew drops on the flowers?”

Children have an innate sense of appreciation. They look at things around them and marvel at their existence. They have many questions about their world. Sadly, adults do not appreciate their keenness and would hurry the children to get on with things and do something useful other than observing the ant trail.

We must not change our children but ourselves. We must re-examine ourselves and our priorities. Children will behave negatively when they are forced to go against their nature. We do not emphasise on the values that they like to work on. They want to be cooperative but we tell them that it is better for them to be competitive. We want them to be the top student in class.

What do you do when your child shows compassion towards a homeless person on the street?

Do you tell your child that you are proud of him for assisting his classmate in a difficult task? Or, do you tell him not to lose his things in school and not to lend anyone anything?

A Year One boy I approached to borrow his class timetable told me: “My mother said I cannot lend anyone anything in school.”

I only needed to take a look at his copy of the timetable because my daughter had lost hers. When he finally relented, I praised him and asked him to let his mother know that he has helped a friend in need.

To draw out the gifts from our children, we must support them in the process of unravelling. We must give them time and space for them to actively participate in the making of humanity. We must not hurry them to learn the things they are not ready for. We must allow them to wonder and admire the forces of nature at work. Do not take on the role of teacher but be your child’s learner. He may teach you a thing or two about life that you have long forgotten.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

What should schools aim for?

On Wednesday, July 13, 2005, PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi said that the main thrust of schools is unity - to ensure the nations's continued peace. he said that the younger generation must be given early opportunities to understand the meaning of unity through ways and practices that would ensure the people were united and lived in harmony.

One thought immediately are came to my mind - what about helping our young generation acquire knowledge and personal development?

I quickly check with the educational philosophy of the the Ministry of Education and it states:

"Education in Malaysia is an on-going efforts towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holostic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intelectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonic, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large"

For over 40 years we have tried to build the foundation for national unity with all sorts of initiatives. Shouldn't the politicians seriously think and act on unity from the political parties and not load the schools? Isn't about time schools start giving focus on developing the individual?

KayVee


The STAR - Wednesday July 13, 2005

Aim for unity, schools told

SEREMBAN: Unity should be the main thrust of Malaysian schools to ensure the nation’s continued peace and stability, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

He said the younger generation must be given early opportunities to understand the meaning of unity through ways and practices that would ensure the people were united and lived in harmony.

“This is important. We want them to know what is unity. We understand there is a slight difference, as there are Chinese schools and also national schools.

“There are also students of different races in national schools but the number is small. As such unity must be promoted with activities that are beneficial to promoting unity,” he told reporters after launching the national-level Integration Plan for Student Unity at SJK (C) Chung Hwa near here yesterday.

Also present were Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, state executive councillors and senior officers of the education ministry and state education department.

Abdullah said unity must be imbued at an early stage, as today’s younger generation still had no prejudice against friends of different races and religions.

He ticked off parents who poisoned the minds of their children with unhealthy sentiments but said not all were responsible of such acts. He added that parents should support their children in activities that were aimed at promoting unity.

He said the older generation had long imbued the spirit of tolerance and avoided creating uneasiness among races, and this approach was adopted by the Government in various programmes aimed at promoting racial unity.

On the integration plan for student unity (Rimup) and its guidebook, Abdullah expressed hope that the programme would succeed in its objectives.

Rimup was introduced in 1986 when Abdullah was Education Minister. The programme, aimed at promoting racial unity through sports, co-curriculum and gotong-royong activities, was reactivated after nearly 20 years.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Converstion with my 11 month old Son


How can one have a conversation with a child who cannot yet speak? It is interesting to understand and appreciate the fact that children do understand and can respond if we focus our minds and attention to them - there is always something they are trying to say. There is also something I am trying say to my 11 month old son. I am trying to reach to him and acknowledge each other.



Over the last weekend, my wife decided to impart her wisdom and reminded me that, in order to connect with this little boy I will have to do things with him. I will need to get to the stuff he enjoys and make that connection. And last weekend I did just that. Spend as much time as I could to play and connect with him. Of course, the the key element is focus and committment to it.

When I finally did, I was overjoyed with the connection I got. I felt he was speaking to me, he was telling what he likes to do, how to do it and I am responding. I also expressed to him some of the things I did and how to do it - such as praying. He responded by gesturing my hands in the way I taught him

Over the years, as my older daughters grew up and got into more speech communication, I lost the non-verbal communication capability. Now my son is teaching me (again) the importance of this level of communication.

Until the time he blabbers away - I shall remain in this communications state, and enjoying it.