Learning to Love Learning

by Wong Wai Leong

Suicide among Malaysian children is rising rapidly. The main cause, according to a consultant paediatric psychiatrist Dr Lai Fong Hwa1 is parents kiasu-ism. “In the past, I seldom get any child depression cases,” says Dr Lai. “Now, I am getting at least one every week. It’s alarming.”

Tremendous pressure is placed on children to excel academically. This is causing more and more psychological problems like severe depression and thoughts of suicide. Some children today have a tight schedule, arranged by the adults. There is just no time to rest or do anything else.

A principal of a kindergarten told me that parents in Malaysia are afraid that their children will not be able to compete when they grow up. They want them to learn as much vocabulary, mathematics and grammar as possible. Having earned her degree in the Montessori approach and also with a few years of teaching experience in UK, she lamented that she will never be able to put what she has learned into practice in Malaysia. “This kindergarten will shut down in three months,” she says, “if I try anything that deviates from reading, writing and counting.” She says that in China, the government has banned all forms of homework at pre-school level. Similar trends can be observed in the developed countries. “We are at least twenty years behind,” the principal adds.

Consumer is ‘king’. The market dictates what is, and what is not, to be produced. Unfortunately, parents who are not well informed and ruled by fear [read kiasu also], often make decisions that are detrimental to the natural development of the child. Children who are pushed to their limits may grow up contrary to their parents’ expectations. They may develop psychological problems like depression, lose interest in learning altogether and even grow up to be selfish adults interested only in their own welfare.

For children though, learning should always be something exciting and fun. It should not become a chore. Neither should it be an obstacle to their love for video games and television.

“One of the main aims of pre-school education is to create interest in learning, in reading books, and to foster a love for coming to school. It is about stimulating the creativity and the inquisitive mind of the young,” says Ms Low Pooi Yin, Vice-Principal of Tadika Seri Soka. “Therefore, we try to do things a little different around here.”

Tadika Seri Soka uses the thematic learning approach. Each week, the Tadika will set a theme, for example Volcano. Learning becomes exciting when a mock mini volcano and the stimulated eruption are shown to them. Through the activity, the students also learn to pick up a lot of new words, like lava, ashes, river, fertilisers, etc.

The thematic approach however, requires a great deal of preparation by teachers - creative planning, cutting papers, preparing props and so on. However, the teachers at TSS believe that this is one of the best approaches to stimulate a keen interest in learning among the children. Children always look forward to their next lesson.

This flexible, interactive approach stands in contrast with workbooks, which tend to be structured, and even boring. Although workbooks are a great help to many teachers, an over or total dependence on them for teaching can stifle the inquisitive mind of the young.

There is also another kind of learning that takes place in Tadika Seri Soka, and that is learning relevant life-skills which helps children prepare for the real world.

For instance, children in Tadika Seri Soka learn to cook. Do you cook with real fire, gas stoves, and let the children handle the knives? And do you use real food? “Of course we do,” says Low, “Everything is real. And we make delicious soup.”

During these enjoyable and fun cooking sessions, the children learn not just how to cook - but also about safety, hygiene and even mathematics. The number of tomatoes, potatoes and onions, as well as the amount of water that is required will make the understanding of mathematical concepts relevant and fun. The cutting and preparing the ingredients will teach them on the safety aspects and the proper way to handle sharp and dangerous objects.

In the process of preparing the meal, the children also realise the amount of effort required. As a result, they appreciate their food, and also their mothers more. Parents are also invited to come and help out in the cookery class which become an important part of the education experience of the children. The beautiful bonding scenes between mother and child, working together, are common at Tadika Seri Soka.

It is not easy to implement a holistic and humanistic approach to learning in pre-schools. Kindergartens such as Tadika Seri Soka have continued to uphold their approach because they believe that rather than merely having a mastery of academic skills, children must first experience and cultivate a love for learning and life. This is one of the best ways to ensure that the latent and creative abilities of each child will be fully realised.

Ultimately, it is the parents who must choose what is best for their children’s education. As parents, we should be wary never to fall into the kiasu-ism trap of treating our children as an extension of our own egos. If we do and push our children beyond their limits, we will not only deprive them of their childhood, we may never see them bloom into the beautiful flowers that they really are.

[ Courtesy June 2007 Cosmic]