Recently I was given a brochure on the home tuition that is available for Primary School Students for the Year 2009.
The first thing that came to my mind was…….. “Well, the new school year is just around the corner, so I will probably be getting more of these leaflets very soon.”
However, on a closer look, I read that “Classes commence on Nov 2008“ Oops! Is there a misprint here? Did it say NOVEMBER? NOVEMBER?!, which is when the school holiday starts?
First, the tuition is for PRIMARY school students. Second, the school year starts in JANUARY 2009. Third, its coming towards the end of the year now and many people usually feel in a jolly good holiday mood at this time of the year and the SCHOOL HOLIDAYS starts in mid November.
Why would anyone in their right minds want to send their primary school going kids for tuition DURING THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS for???!! I thought that tuition is supposed to be a guide to help students in their homework or assignments or to help them catch up in class when they don’t understand whats being taught or to prepare for exams.
However kiasu parents have taken it one step further. Now tuition is done during the school holidays, before the school year starts and before the subject is even taught in school, so that one can be ahead of their peers?
What do you think everyone? Are we kiasu or not? The fact that there are home tuition services like that around simply shows that there is a demand for it. Scary isn’t it, the level of kiasuness?
Wei, I used to run holiday camps (aka tuition for next year’s syllabus) and I tell you, it’s good biz. LOL!
Oh well, I won’t send my kids to holiday tuition, it’s just so pity that they can’t even enjoy their holiday and have to study all year long.
Yah, kesian have to study all year long!
gosh…the level of kiasu-ness is definitely rising. one thing for sure is that i’ll never jump into the bandwagon. let the kids enjoy their holiday…after all, it’s supposed to be a holiday 🙂
Yes, its supposed to be a holiday after all.
It’s been happening for awhile already. It think some parents are secretly happy to get rid of their kids during the school hols to attend these program – all in the name of enriching their knowledge!
Agree with you totally.
I agree with sesame. I think if my parents had had such “opportunities” while we were still kids, they would have signed us up. Reason being they both worked and there was no one to teach us/ help us use our time productively. We had a maids but they hardly had any education themselves.
For myself, I would rather sign my kids up for art or drama classes or things like that which would be more fun, and things beyond the classroom.
I think holiday camps to help the kids spend their time more productively with fun workshops and learning some other skills etc is ok but not serious academic form of tuition to prepare for the school year. All work and no play just isn’t right. Would our parents have sent us for these? I am not so sure really. Like Sesame mentioned, if I read her correctly, some may be only too happy to “get rid” of the kids during the school holidays because they are too busy but not all. Some make time for the kids even if they are both working and are very busy. It depends.
this is the trend in today’s world now 🙁
I even read about kids having tuition in K1. They are in K1 only! give them a break!
And we mustn’t forget that these days there is K1, K2 and K3 whereas previously there was only K. lol.
Nowadays very scary the way, these places are feeding into parent’s fears. I wonder whether the tuition is catering toward kids that are behind or kids that are ahead?
Not sure really. How do you know if they are behind or ahead even before school starts? 😉
My wife’s frens asked her if my dotter is going for yr 3 tuition. Their kids have already started going and they have also bought yr3 activity and workbooks which their kids have already started doing.
No wonder my dotter can’t compete with her classmates. When she’s trying to grasp the lesson taught today, the other kids are already familiar and well verse in it. They are always one step ahead of the syllabus.
Kiasu is the new way. 😛
Sometimes its the system I guess. Many parents want to get their kids in the best classes when there is streaming, to ensure better teachers etc.
Yes, I too have heard of this happening already and many parents in fact do so!
For working parnets, I think it is an option for them.
What choice do they have? However, I think they should pick one that focuses on other things besides academics.
if my kids got nothing to do, then yeah, i would send them for the tuition. if we r going away then i wld skip it. but its true, on holiday, and kids gotta go back to school. kind of pressure for them
I guess it depends on what sort of holiday program you send them for. If its tuition to catch up with learning, then a bit kesian to have to learn all year long with no holiday.
Actually, I do not agree that all parents who sent their kids to tuition during school holidays are kiasu. In fact, these classes are great for full time working parents like me. Where do you send the kids during the 6 weeks school holidays? People like us do not even have a month’s leave entitlement, what to say 6 weeks.
Rather than leave them at home with no one to tend to them, why not leave them in good care? What choice do we have? The only thing is that parents should ensure that it is not a full day tuition. There should be a good balance of learn & play. I send my son to a tuition school during school holidays too and besides classes, they have activities (ping pong) and playtime. In fact, it worked so well that my son would rather go to his tuition than to my in law’s place ;)I’m sorry but it’s unfair to label us as kiasu.
Oops! I do apologise. Perhaps I had been a bit too rash to label it all kiasu. I was referring to those strictly academic tuition for lessons, lessons and more lessons. I do know of some after school care and school holiday programs which offer other activities like the one your son attends. In fact, the kindy operator that my girl attends also operates an after school care program for primary school kids. She has synergy because I often see the older kids helping out in activities for the young children. For example, during the kindy concert, the older kids helped to decorate the place, during the school trip, the older kids help to watch out for the little ones, during kindy open day, the older kids help to organise the games etc for the little ones. I think the older kids learn a lot from these activities and I was full of admiration for that but I don’t admire those who send their kids for academic tuition to be ahead of their peers. So even if you have no choice, you can still pick the right programs as you have done. 🙂
Oh dear MG, sorry if I sounded a bit defensive here. It is just my point of view and seeing that we’ve been blogging for so long, I tend to get too comfortable on your blog. Thus, the bluntness 😛
No worries, I’m not mad. Everyone is entitle to speak their mind on their own blog 😉
Ok. Phew! *wipes sweat off brow* Hehe.
Mummy,
Are you surprised? Well…. this is only the tip of an iceberg…more to come…. 🙂
What? What? Don’t make me suspense like this lah. Haha.
I would not agree to academic tuition too before the start of the academic year. It is really silly. Sometimes I am not sure if we blame the system or the parents. I am beginning to feel that it is also a bottoms-up process. Because there is demand, there is the supply.
Not only tuition like this irritates me. Pre-school that tells me that at K2 (6 years old) they are doing Primary One syllabus so that children are better prepared for Std.One, makes me mad.
Oh yes. That makes me mad too. One principal of a famed kindy near my house said exactly that to me. “Our syllabus is equivalent to the Std 1 syllabus in school so our all our kids who leave here do very well in school.” Thats really ridiculous. First, the kids will get bored doing “revision” in Std One and secondly it creates a big gap between these kids and their poorer peers who come from poor families and can’t afford kindy. Sigh.
I feels that if the tuition is for revision of what they studied for the year and a preview of what they will be studying the next, should be ok. I mean rather than have the kids do nothing other than watch TV and play computer games. Having said that, I still think primary school kids should have more active learning rather than tuition. Hey, you only be a kid once 🙂
You are right. Active learning compared to tv and computer games is much better. 🙂
Haha..I never had any tuition when I was in primary school. I think we should not simply enrol our kids for tuition class unless they really need it. By the way, thanks for the visit. 🙂
I never had any tuition either but I guess its different these days. Its so competitive. And even worse in Chinese School, I hear.
It has been a trend for many years already. That’s why my mum is always busy even during school holidays, coz a lot of kiasu parents look for her to give tuition. I always complain to her and asked her to take a rest and spent time with us. 🙂
Well, for me, no tuition for my kids, I prefer to guide them myself.
So do I but I’ll find it very hard to guide in Chinese though. 🙁
I think I will be one of those kiasu parents who send their kids to tuition during school hols. My kids are the type who will listen more to their teachers, instead of to their mummy. Moreover, I feel it’s good that they spend some time during the school hols doing some revision so that when they go back to school, they brains will not get rusty.
Yes, the kids do tend to take their teacher’s words very seriously indeed!
I still can’t imagine sending my kid to any tuition at any stage, even the thought gives me a shudder. Anyway, we will see how it goes…
Think they start in Nov in school holiday also because I believe most tutors are teachers, so they are free that time to get extra income;).
I hope to hold off tuition for as long as I can. 🙂
I think I will need to send my kid to tuition when she enters primary school as I’m going to enrol her in a chinese school. This mummy here doesn’t know chinese to guide her 🙁
Btw, thanks for dropping by my blog.
I’m in the same boat as you. My girl enters Chinese primary school next year. If you check my previous postings about this, you can see how I’ve agonised over this decision because I worry about not being able to help her amongst other things. haha.
I would like to do some home school , but who really has the time? How many of us really take the time to check the school syllabus to see what is being taught when. My daughters primary , have now said they are considering sex ed at 5.Looks like the children will be teaching us a thing or 2!
Louise