New Straits Times Spell-It-Right contestShafiq Akmal paused only a minute before spelling the word “international”.
As soon as his English teacher announced that the spelling was correct, thunderous applause from his classmates filled the classroom.
“English is my favourite subject ...,”he said.
Shafiq, a Year Five pupil from SK AU Keramat in Lembah Keramat, has been reading up on difficult words ever since the New Straits Times announced its Spell-It-Right (SIR) challenge.
Yesterday, the entire class participated in a mini spelling contest organised by his English teacher, Mahainiza Abd Ghani, to identify representatives for the nationwide spelling challenge.
Congrats to Shafiq for passing the test. But I am sorry to state that it's not a joy to know that, these children are in Standard 5, that is, in their 5th years of formal schooling, and maybe more if these children had attended 2 years of Kindergarten schools.
Arkrit Jaswal was reading Shakespeare at the age of 5. Sofia Yusof, her brother Isaac and Iskandar were doind A-levels at the age of 7. James Harries was doing business at the age of 10 and by 14 had written a book called "From Rags to Riches. Ruth Lawrence entered Oxford University at the age of 12 to study Maths and was a professor at the age of 19. William James Sidis passed an Anatomy exam at Harvard Medical when he was 8-year-old and was lecturing by 11. Is it because they are whiz kids?
I had a friend who had a son age 5 and a daughter age 3. The son reads books on Anatomy and Science, learn and practices arithmetics. The daughter could read many English books intended for children at primary school. The fact is, her two children are not super-kids or whiz kids; they are normal children with normal intelligence. But the difference is that the mother gave her children books to read and write when others gave their children toys and TV.
A baby does not know about toys unless you gave it to them at a very early age and developed their likings and appreciations of those toys from the very beginning. The same child would have love books and writing if the mother had given the child books and exercise books from the age of 2. And if you put a baby in front of the TV to watch cartoons, Batman, Superman or Spiderman, then the child will grow up to prefer them. By the age of 7 or more, it will be too late to re-educate the child and the task becomes onerous.
If you love your child and wants them to be scholars, then ponder what I said. But if you think it is too wicked and unfair to the kids, then go ahead and give them cartoons, toys, and Spiderman, or even toy guns and plastic swords so that they can learn Kung Fu fighting; or let him/her watch Edison Chen to understand pleasure and fun.
As soon as his English teacher announced that the spelling was correct, thunderous applause from his classmates filled the classroom.
“English is my favourite subject ...,”he said.
Shafiq, a Year Five pupil from SK AU Keramat in Lembah Keramat, has been reading up on difficult words ever since the New Straits Times announced its Spell-It-Right (SIR) challenge.
Yesterday, the entire class participated in a mini spelling contest organised by his English teacher, Mahainiza Abd Ghani, to identify representatives for the nationwide spelling challenge.
Congrats to Shafiq for passing the test. But I am sorry to state that it's not a joy to know that, these children are in Standard 5, that is, in their 5th years of formal schooling, and maybe more if these children had attended 2 years of Kindergarten schools.
Arkrit Jaswal was reading Shakespeare at the age of 5. Sofia Yusof, her brother Isaac and Iskandar were doind A-levels at the age of 7. James Harries was doing business at the age of 10 and by 14 had written a book called "From Rags to Riches. Ruth Lawrence entered Oxford University at the age of 12 to study Maths and was a professor at the age of 19. William James Sidis passed an Anatomy exam at Harvard Medical when he was 8-year-old and was lecturing by 11. Is it because they are whiz kids?
I had a friend who had a son age 5 and a daughter age 3. The son reads books on Anatomy and Science, learn and practices arithmetics. The daughter could read many English books intended for children at primary school. The fact is, her two children are not super-kids or whiz kids; they are normal children with normal intelligence. But the difference is that the mother gave her children books to read and write when others gave their children toys and TV.
A baby does not know about toys unless you gave it to them at a very early age and developed their likings and appreciations of those toys from the very beginning. The same child would have love books and writing if the mother had given the child books and exercise books from the age of 2. And if you put a baby in front of the TV to watch cartoons, Batman, Superman or Spiderman, then the child will grow up to prefer them. By the age of 7 or more, it will be too late to re-educate the child and the task becomes onerous.
If you love your child and wants them to be scholars, then ponder what I said. But if you think it is too wicked and unfair to the kids, then go ahead and give them cartoons, toys, and Spiderman, or even toy guns and plastic swords so that they can learn Kung Fu fighting; or let him/her watch Edison Chen to understand pleasure and fun.
15 comments:
Maverick,
A baby's education can begin while they are in the mothers womb. Playing soothing music or talking to it is claimed to have an effect on its later development after birth.
There is no hard and fast rule of when to begin educating your children as they can be done informally at their own pace. In today's age where excellence is better than mediocrity in order to do well, an early start is an advantage be. Great piece from you.
you cannot rush the formative years, but you can guide them. don't take the childhood away from the child.
a lot counts from the parenting quality. its the parents that need to read about their jobs, doc, not the kids, ..... its from what the parents can glean from the books (or elsewhere)they read that the children can benefit the fruits thereof.
in many countries you would see aged people reading in mass transit, planes, even while waiting. i failed to see this amongst our population.
all the kids you mentioned had great parents. note none of them (the parents)were riding motorcycles in the night committing crimes ,.... now, that is another blog don't you think?
and btw: the hearing capability of foetuses are underdeveloped, they cannot hear Mozart,.... sorry that is debunked.
Zawi,
You are right to say early education is an advantage; but it's not about advantage; it's about building the intellectual system of a child.
Jefus,
Educating a child early is not about taking away the childhood. Giving toys to a child is not a childhood requirement. Putting them in front of TV is not a childhood necessity. Books and knowledge are equally relevant to a childhood passage in life.
I agree. Educating children should start from when they are young and also we must bear in mind that children imitate what we do. We should lead by example.
Parents should start reading too, and the child will follow. Nowadays most parents are too busy to pay attention to such details that they resort to buying more and more toys to entertain the child - kinda like taking a short-cut to parenting - give them toys and they will be quiet.
Come on, what so special about reading Shakespeare at the age of 5 without knowledge to learn the real meaning of it? Snow White are just as thrilling as Shakespeare(jealousy,hit man,murder,etc) ;)
Famous writer JingYong has mentioned, you may find genius in math and science, but never in intellectual writing. Rag to riches just confirm Jing Yong thesis.
It is interesting that European papers love to report Asian 'early' child education. But the education system never follow the leap. For example, Germany kinder garden are not fond to teach for children below 5 years old except simple spelling. Alas, EU country follow similar education as Germany but they are still highly competitive.
Nevertheless, I must agree TV are stupid box. It curb the children imagination they gain from book, or even simple toy.
let him/her watch Edison Chen with or without the 7 female stars?
It should be kindergarten and not kindergarden!
Thanks Anon; I made the mistake and i will correct it now. Thanks!
primary 5 and can spell international correctly is something to be proud of? after 6-7years of schooling? malaysians yardstick really super low heh? but just to read without understanding, no point :)
hahah... now i know why i am a book worm. my parent had given me a library membership when i was seven. very rare in my times but for that one deed i am forever indebted.
Bongkersz,
It is NST's pride that they had done so much to assist these children to spell "International".
SeeFei,
You had a wise parent.
Maverick you have your points there but I must say one should not discount on toys and their part in a child's up-bringing.
There are good toys and bad toys. Good toys would help the child develop logic and creativity.
Before a child comes to a stage of picking up language, toys can be used as means of education.
Unfortunately parent's aren't selective in toys these days. :(
Same applies to books. Books are great, yeah sure - but parents MUST be selective in the books they give their children.
Goldfries,
Ya, I do agree that there are toys that promote child education. But often, we can observe that toys given to children are Spiderman or Superman, sword or guns, and all those that resembles violence and fictions.
Yes, which is why I mentioned parents' aren't selective in toys these days.
swords and guns are useless. spiderman and superman are useless.
when I was a kid, I had toys like
1. transformers - i learn how to read instructions and follow.
2. zoids - i learn how to read instructions and assemble it
3. mask - i read instructions and how to play it
4. lego - i read instructiosn on how to setup the set, then i disassemble it to make something else of my own.
besides that, my parents were generous enough to fulfil my desires when i request for non-curricular reading material (joke books, knowledge books, magazines of interest).
I'm not sure if many parents these days would even consider buying anything that's out of study syllabus. :(
I'm not from a rich family but I have parents who are willing to spend for the better of their child based on what they can afford.
:)
Goldfries,
Thanks for your explanatory notes; I agree with you now.
But you can observe that many parents don't give books to kids between age of 2 to 5.
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