Comments written to the response to_ The race to the top begins at kindergarten
Yes, I was put on the racetrack by fate. But as there were no tuitions when I was young, I got time to enjoy my childhood. Only when I was in 10th standard, the class teachers’ tuitions I had noticed but ignored and always won over all of them in the younger classes since I arrived St. Peter’s at six standard became famous into U Cho Bu’s Chemistry and Gone Htoo U Thein Naing’s Burmese tuitions. I attended one section for about U Thein Naing’s tuition and decided that it took a lot of my study time to learn few facts I could learn myself. I quit U Cho Bu’s Chemistry Tuition after a couple of months with the same reason.
But I was lucky to have a chance to attend the Government District Education Officer (Science) discussion cum lecture in our school, the No. 9 SHS. His words, advising us, to read the prescribed tax books, esp. the Chemistry (by Prof U Aung Khin) in detail, about the “conditions” about the chemical reactions helped me score 99 marks out of 100 in Chemistry.
Our Burmese teacher, Daw Khin Aye, who transferred from St. Joseph’s Convent (8 SHS) used to tell about Nu Nu Lin (Dolly Lin) who used to read the whole English text book daily also made me to read the tax books repeatedly instead of relying the commercial notes and lectures sold in the market. So I scored English 71/100 just missed Distinction with 4 marks.
Some of my classmates used to recite the quotation or sentences from Theikpan Maung Wa and U punya, pushed me to revise or read the prescribed taxed books repeatedly.
For the Maths, I got an Essence of Maths (by ? Key) and we used to tease or exchange the questions. As many friends attended various tuitions, they supply me with their Maths home work, which I was always happy to help them to get answers rewarded me with 100/100 in Maths.
I had written about my mother’s pressure to keep me at the top when I was in Kg and Primary School also helped me to try hard. And my medico- social conditions which pushed me was also written earlier. Lu Yae Chun competitions and the rewards and results also pushed me. Esp. because won the alternate year for three times always pushed me to try harder and harder and later I won 3 successive year, making me 5 times winner. (Present Rector Prof Dr Than Win also got five times like me as he was one year junior to me. We were always together at he same camps.
My poor results in High School Final (we are the last batch to sit that as the centralized Government examination), just passed without any distinction also pushed me to try harder at 10th std.
My Racial and Religious Discriminations experience in the IMM also give me the bitter stronger determined heart and mind not to surrender but to always try hard.
When I learnt the new concept of the (?US) Education system that Primary and Secondary schools are meant to keep the children away from getting bad habits on the road and prepare them with moral and extra-curricular education only, I regret my student’s life this part of the world but anyway, if too relaxed and without any examination, I am not sure I would have a good habit of Perseverance. Anyway, on the second thought I like my achievements, and would not like to change back my student’s life even if I were given a chance to use a time machine to live all over again. Although I could be younger, I am now old…and tired ……..to run that rat race again. I thank Allah for rewarding me with a lo of rewards and success some even as blessing in disguise. I cannot score that achievements again.
Malaysian Insider article by Anita Anandarajah, “The race to the top begins at kindergarten”
FEB 28 – Education kills. Someone should put that warning on the back of a school enrolment pack.
To be more precise, I am referring to the pursuit of education. So great is the pressure to perform that the race to enter the best school sometimes ends tragically.
Earlier this month, a mother threw her four-year-old girl from the seventh floor of a shopping mall before jumping off herself because the girl had not qualified for a place in the school of choice.
The little girl survived the ordeal when the safety net broke her fall but the mother fell through, and died.
Newspapers reported that the child’s parents had been arguing about her education before the incident.
The girl is a student in an English Schools Foundation kindergarten but had failed to win a place at an ESF primary school. A student at an ESF kindergarten is only ensured of an interview but not a slot in primary school.
As a result, the mother, a clerk, wanted to enrol her daughter in an international school but the father, a mechanic, said he could not afford the fees.
They had already forked out $51,000 a year for the ESF kindergarten fees. There are three years of kindergarten in total.
In response, the mother replied that since her child had no future, she might as well end her life there and then.
Parents put themselves through enormous pressure to ensure their children enter the right schools. Local schools set rigorous assessments to gain entrance and the intensively competitive environment.
International schools offer a tempting alternative with a wider curriculum and less high-pressured learning environment. Parents see the former as better equipping their children for university studies abroad. However the fees are prohibitively expensive for the average family.
The third type of school, the ESF school, is therefore an attractive alternative as it is subsidised by the government.
It was set up to provide education for English-speaking children who cannot access the local system but has become very popular with locals who want western-style education for their children. However, places are limited.
As a parent of a toddler who has just taken his first tiny steps into this treacherous field, I am already suffering the sweats.
I am beginning to understand the madness, the stress that seizes a parent whose life mission is now to provide the best education on a finite budget.
You see, I missed the deadline to enrol Ishan into what should be his first year of kindergarten beginning this August in a nearby school.
Incidentally, this school is popular as the medium of instruction is equally divided into English and Mandarin unlike local schools which are fully Cantonese.
And we all know that Putonghua is this generation’s passport to world domination.
The word around town is that there is a waiting list of up to eight months at said school so parents tend to register their child a year ahead.
One parent I chatted with raised an eyebrow when I expressed surprise at the “kiasu-ness” of this strategy.
So now I worry that he will be completely lost with the Mandarin half of the syllabus if and when he enters that school several terms later.
School aside, there are the extra-curricular activities that parents invest in to ensure their child’s school portfolio is nicely padded. Some of Ishan’s playmates have signed up for swimming lessons, ballet, piano and soccer.
I have also heard of children who attend two schools simultaneously, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Ishan just turned two. He has “playroom and/or playground at 4.30pm” and play group twice a week on his list. Am I being paranoid about him falling back?
I want to be able to lean back and watch my son enjoy his childhood and develop to the best of his natural ability. Yet I can’t help but feel I should push him a lot harder.
My husband tells me that we will take it all one step at a time. We are not sure how we will cope with the highly competitive environment but we will. This is, after all, part of the experience of living in Hong Kong.
For now, I will take a tip from The Karate Kid (1984) sensei Mr Miyagi: “Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don’t forget to breathe, very important.”
Wax on, wax off, people.
Anita Anandarajah is a stay-at-home-mum who lives in Hong Kong. She longs for the grassy playgrounds of her childhood.
