To enrol or not? With the school year starting soon, a dedicated tuition teacher and a disbelieving parent present their case on this perennial problem.
YES
YES! But not just because I’m a tuition teacher. Our school system is examination-based; from the way the timetable is planned to see how much of the syllabus can be covered before public exams (UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM). Even non-examination year students are affected.
At the end of the day, it is the results that matter, never mind what people say. When they compare schools, they compare results.
Most education administrators are really politicians. They don’t know or care about education at all. At the end of the day, the authorities only look at how many units you have to decide which course you get into at which university, stressing on paper qualifications, not how good you are at extracurricular activities.
Knowledge by itself is of no use, unless that knowledge can be applied to answering exam questions. You cannot compare the quality and level of school exams to public exams. School exams are full- dress rehearsals. A lot of teachers don’t understand that. They set questions that do not resemble the real thing.
Too many teachers these days are not doing what they are supposed to be doing in school. Don’t get me wrong. There are still good teachers in school but a big portion these days act irresponsibly. To them, dedication is about punctuality and teaching what is in the textbooks, rather than preparing students as best as they can.
The adult world is so competitive today. Say, there are 10,000 students with straight As but only 500 places available for that university course. Can it ever be too early to prepare your child to excel? Tell me, which parent doesn’t want his or her child to have a good start in life? – M.C. Cheah, Maths tuition teacher with 30 years experience
NO
I BELIEVE that tuition is mostly a waste of time. It gives children an excuse not to pay attention in class. Tuition then becomes something to fall back on. It is like in the working world. If you have to work to survive, you will definitely put in the effort because you know that if you don’t, you won’t live.
I’ve experimented on my own children from the time they were in Standard One.
I told them: You better work hard. Any problems, come and tell me, but I won’t send you for tuition unless you really need it; and you come and ask it of me.
My daughter, who finished secondary school just two years ago, has never attended tuition in her life. My son took only one tuition class, and that was for BM (which is a compulsory passing subject), because he said he couldn’t cope.
Anyway, he only took it for five months in Form Five. Now, he speaks like a Malay. Both scored straight As in their exams.
I don’t believe in tuition. It is a waste of money. I’ve never gone for tuition. I studied with brilliant people before and I find that they are inconsistent. They think they are good enough and that makes them too confident. The word is “cocky”.
Studying is like a decathlon – you just have to be hardworking, consistent and organised. It’s better to be a Jack-of-all-trades than master of just one. It will help pull up your overall grade points.
Being disciplined helps a lot. That’s where parents come in. The parents must help them by constantly reminding them to study.
See, children are like clay, you must mould them when fresh, and teach them by example.
A lot of lessons are unspoken. If the parent is disciplined, the child will be too. – Chuah Lip Peng, father of two
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