Is our schooling robbing the childhood of kids?

[strivingobserver98]

By Nisaar Nadiadwala.



I was hosting a teacher's training program where a question was popped up. " How can I control the children in the class when most of them are inattentive, some restless, some sleepy while the rest pretend to be studying? I gave some clues but they kept on saying that they were not applicable. Suddenly I asked them which grade of students were they referring? Junior KG.

I concluded," Let them play in the class. Let them at least stare out of the window if not allowed to go out and play".

Finland has the best quality of education.The first age of entering school is 7 years. In countries like India parents panic about their children's career before they are put up in a school. In fact the concept of education is not clear in the minds of a majority of parents. Their children inherit this ignorance and apply the same to their children.

Ali bin Abi Talib (r.a.a) said : Till the children is 7 play with him. Next 7 years discipline him.

Many of us don't know that the pre nursery is a counter product of women's liberation. Working women in the West handed over their children to teachers many of whom might have excelled in academic but not in affectionate handling of soft hearts .

I was shocked to find a pamphlet telling me that, Your child can read at the age of two! It was an ad copy of pre nursery. It is really an issue of concern to see kids as young as three years taking private tuition along with tedious schooling hours.

In France, they teach French to non French in a natural way. I st year no book, no pen but only spoken language to hear and get familiar. That's how we have learnt our own mother tongues too.

If you prevent children from playing in the out then they will play in the class. The teacher might declare it indiscipline while the children may call it natural phenomena.

[greenhill]

It is a brave parent indeed to ignore school report cards.

But interesting article.

I think sis MuslimInshallah might have something to add. Home schooling, 100% brave! I wouldn't dare. Plus, I don't have the time. Leave to the professionals

[ardianto]

Different than my children, I did not enter junior kindergarten, but direct to senior kindergarten. That's happened in 1973 (in that time school started on January and ended on December).

What I learned in kindergarten?. Playing!, and other activities that similar as playing like drawing, coloring, singing, or making simple handicraft. There's no serious lesson like reading or counting. Different than nowadays which kindergarten students are learning reading and counting. Yeaahh, this change happen because parent's ambition which they want their children already 'educated' when entering elementary school.

Unfortunately this change made by parents from my generation who learned in the same way as me when they were in kindergartens.

[Muhaba]

I really hate the idea of putting very young children in schools.
Schooling is now regarded as forcing information into a child's mind instead of trying to make them understand and think. The focus should be on reading comprehension, writing, critical thinking and analysis, and math. Science, history, and other topics can be taught within reading. As long as a child is able to understand what he/she reads, s/he can learn anything on their own throughout life. On the other hand, no matter what or how much they are taught in early years, if they have trouble comprehending, they won't learn anything.

[czgibson]

Greetings,

There are many complex problems in education in the UK at the moment, and it's a disgrace that so many children leave school unable to read and write.

Government interference might be at the top of many teachers' lists of complaints. Every time a new Education Secretary appears, teachers are put in a position where they almost feel they are having to learn to teach all over again. Given that Education Secretaries very rarely have any teaching experience themselves, this can be a real nuisance.

I agree with the article that children are made to start school too young, and I think we could learn a lot from countries like Finland.

If you prevent children from playing in the out then they will play in the class. The teacher might declare it indiscipline while the children may call it natural phenomena.

People who want to comment on education really should make sure that their words are carefully chosen, and that they avoid obvious mistakes like the ones in these sentences.

If you find a mistake in what I have written, please feel free to point it out.

[ardianto]

Prevent children from playing out does not make them play in the class, but will make them passive, including passive in school. It can make them not good in socializing and interaction with other people. If a child often play in the class, it's because he/she has active character.

Did school rob my childhood?. No!. Even I am very grateful because I went to the school. I learned beneficial things like socialization, interaction, teamwork, etc, from my experiences in school. School also help my shy boy in socializing.

[MuslimInshallah]

Assalaamu alaikum,

(smile) I'm afraid I've been rather occupied with writing some rather important documents, so I haven't had so much time to participate on this Forum. (smile) But I do enjoy reading everyone's posts.

(smile) As greenhill surmised, I do have some opinions about schooling. Basically, I feel that the industrial model of instruction is a massive waste of children's time. Children (and adults, too, incidentally) need time to play, to think, to rest. Play is a form of learning. Thinking helps us to digest and put into use things we have learnt (and academics are only a small part of learning, you know). And rest sharpens the mind.

But because we spend so much time in classrooms, we have little time for learning. If you ask teachers privately (and I have discussed these things with some teachers), they are likely to tell you that their students are only doing a very little bit of actual learning everyday in school. That most of the time is spent in activities to ensure classroom management. This is why homeschooling is so efficient. The children only have to spend an hour or two a day in formal learning activities. The rest of the time, they can learn in less formal ways.

(smile) Muhaba is right: outside of teaching your children the fundamentals of language and math, children can pretty much teach themselves other areas. (smile) And it's fun! If they have easy access to reading materials… children tend to look at them. For example, leaving a short history book on the living room coffee table is a pretty good way of introducing your child to history. (smile) The parent's role is to find interesting resources (in the early years; later they can do this themselves) and to casually offer them to their children. (smile) Human curiosity will pull them to reading what they find lying around… if they are literate enough to read it, if the book is well-written, and if they have the time to idly peruse it.

(smile) Of course, each person has their unique character and interests. And some children will devour history books, and others may only read history a little, and feel passionate instead about logic puzzles or poetry or computer algorithms or cooking or music or… (smile) so all children will not have the same proficiency in everything. But they will definitely be drawn to some areas in which they will excel. (smile) Human beings naturally like to puzzle things out and do new things. When free from the daily grind of school, children are greedy little sponges for something or another. And because homeschoolers generally do not follow industrial modes of learning, the learning tends to be more child-centric and appropriate for that particular little human being.

Homeschooled children, I believe, also have a better opportunity to socialize than schooled children, because they have the time to deepen their social contacts. They can literally play all day with the same people, instead of rushing around and snatching play and conversation between activities. They also can connect with people of all ages, not just those of the same age, plus an adult teacher. (smile) Of course, in the early days of industrial schooling, the classes are generally more stable, and drawing on stable populations (that is, the children's families know one another often, and the children keep the same classmates through school). And in these circumstances, children can form deep bonds with other children. But in societies such as mine (Canada), communities know the members a lot less well, the members tend to move quite often, and the classes tend to be shuffled every year (there are often several, say, grade 1 classes in a school. A child is with one set of classmates in grade 1, but then the classes are shuffled for grade 2, and the child may find him or herself with a new set of children). In these circumstances, it is hard to form deep relationships with others. (sigh) And with daycare and extracurricular activities thrown into the mix, it is hard for even siblings to connect well.

(smile) Anyway, it's a long topic, and I can't delve very deeply into it right now. But if anyone is interested, there are many resources out there on homeschooling: online, in books, through homeschooling groups. (smile) If you are interested in exploring the idea, it is easily done (though some European countries, I know, can have very repressive laws against homeschoolers… the legal aspect needs to be explored by anyone who is contemplating homeschooling).


May Allah, the Giver of Life, the Oft-Forgiving, Help us to raise the children entrusted to us to the best of our abilities… and Forgive us our many mistakes.

[umairlooms]

well, certainly one can learn from successful models.

the best thing to do for a kid of any change, is to strive to help him find a passion and build that passion, whatever it may be.
this will certainly give meaning to their lives