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I think the OP statement expresses resentment that some people still value education. We live in a competitive world and education and knowledge and skills will continue to be the ticket to success and America just may lose that race......George Bush and John McCain boast and joke about their lack of academic achievement and hold up their failure as a badge of courage....that is an unfortunate example for American kids.
We don't have Kumon schools, but I've bought Kumon development books (check them out on Amazon), with mazes and connect-the-dots, and cut-out crafts. I would agree that there are no new principles than in any other book you can get in a $1 store, just more pages and attractive graphics. It does strike me how thin exersize books (other than Kumon books) are for pre-schoolers.
I guess I'm not as worried about math as I would be if I didn't have a degree in Math. I know my kids will have a free in-house tutor
Actually, I personally think there are too many college-educated young people nowadays, who are under-employed. Except for those having medical degrees.
And so many vacancies in the blue-collar jobs. Carpenters, welders, automotive technicians, oil rig workers now can demand $30-40-50+ hourly wage. And the nurses shortage!! All these vacancies are very extremely painful in the area where I live.
Though I come from a college driven world, I guess I've changed. I wouldn't mind if my kids go to a community college. My almost 4-year old son was practicaly born with cars in his hands. All 4 years of his life he's towing 12 hours a day - this is much more severe than in an average boy. If he becomes an automotive technican, that would be OK with me. Though probably I would encourage him to get a degree in mechanical engineering. But I wouldn't bend him if I see he's not the academic type.
I also come from a very strongly pushed academic family. Comm college would be stared at in awe from the hs I graduated.
But, as I've grown up & the world has definitely changed as has the global market place, I hope that I raise my children with PURPOSE. I don't want them walking around indifferent to life when they are 25 but I will also be ok if they are not a lawyer. I just hope they have goals & purpose & are striving for those things, whatever they may be.
Too many US college kids end up $20,$30,$40,$80k in debt after taking 6 years to graduate from a 4yr program & then take a completely different route in life. If comm college gives them the stepping stone to better answers & decisions, they can go on to get the BA or BS & have more clarity & possibly not as much incurred debt that could take 10-20yrs to pay off.
I think the OP statement expresses resentment that some people still value education. We live in a competitive world and education and knowledge and skills will continue to be the ticket to success and America just may lose that race......George Bush and John McCain boast and joke about their lack of academic achievement and hold up their failure as a badge of courage....that is an unfortunate example for American kids.
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Originally Posted by padcrasher
These kids "in general" are going to get the slots in medical schools, the kids are going to get into the better colleges, these kids are going to get the more lucrative careers. And because your kid wasn't pushed hard enough they can fend for what's left.
What I think the OP resents is the fact that this kind of push push push mentality has been brought to our country and is therfore going to affect the way we raise our kids.
Yes, our children do compete for spots in college. Only the best applicants get the spots. There is no certain level a kid has to be at generally, it is all percentage based. If the ENTIRE country had a dismal "C" average in High school, then colleges would consider the "B" students the cream of the crop and they would get the spots. If everyone has an "A-" average, then the kids with the "A" and "A+" are going to get the spots, all other factors being equal. It is all about rank and percentile.
The resentment here, is that certain groups of people, yes generalizing here, I know, are pushed/trained to study in a very different way than the general popluation of this country. While I spend monday, tuesday, and thursday afternoon and sat/sun taking my kids to dance, acrobatics, karate, cub scouts, soccer and swimming, some other kids would be putting in 12 hours of studying. So in the end, my child who is probably a more well rounded individual, is probably not going to have the GPA as these other kids who didn't have a life.
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Originally Posted by beanandpumpkin
But that's not waht you said. You said "you can forget having YOUR KID (speaking to the non-Asians who don't send their kid to Kumon) go to medical or engineering school with these people (Asians who do send their kids to Kumon) around." I read it as "with all of these Asians infiltrating my white neighborhood with their Kumon lessons, they are stealing my kids' future educational options!" Really, what someone else does has very little impact on your child. Don't sweat it.
Absolutely untrue. Medical schools for example take the cream of the crop. Best grades (plus activities) count, and if there are kids with better grades than your kid, then you can forget it. What someone else "did" just affected your kid.
My husband is a DR. and didn't study well for the MCAS. He didn't excel, and therefore didn't get into the 9 schools he applied for. Rather than bust his ass studying to take it again, wait a WHOLE additional year, only to do the exhausting application process again, he went to an american med school in the caribbean. Let me tell you, 99% of the students were from US, except for a few locals there on scholarship, but there were a lot of indians/pakistanis/non-american born kids in general, a way higher percentage than in the general US population. MOst of the students at this college were kids that didn't get into the mainland schools because they are SOOOOO competative.
(btw my husband is from abroad and his parents wanted him to be a Dr all along, they pushed him towards it. in his county it is super competative and very difficult. Almost every kid goes to private tutors, some parents taking on second jobs to pay for them. over there, there are exams the last two years of high school, and the results dictate what college you can go for. These exams are so difficult that the kids study for the 24/7 for months before hand. My DH didn't go to his own brothers wedding because he was studying for his exams That would never happen in America.
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Originally Posted by 121804
I can see where you are coming from.
Question: What do you plan to do in order for your child to have the skill set to be competitive in the international community?
I don't mean this as a sarcastic comment. I am curious to know if you have an alternative idea or method.
You have a point. And a good point.
But, since you don't literally have to send them to Kumon, what are the other choices? Your child can still be successful & competitive with other methods!
Yes, parents can be more proactive with their child's education. Push them, encourage them, work with them, help them, motivate them, supervise them, KEEP them on track.....
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Originally Posted by beanandpumpkin
I have a question. I am going to try to tread lightly here.
If you do not think that the school is going to prepare your child properly for the rest of his/her life, then why are you sending him/her there? Is there anything you could do to make your child's educational experience better/more enriching than sending him to school for 7 hours and then to Kumon afterwards, then home to do homework?
Is there an alternative?
People are sending them there because there aren't many alternatives. Sorry, but I cannot afford a fancy private school (and yes I just said my DD is a Dr.) but no, I cannot pay $1,000's per year in private school tuition.
And no I am not going to homeschool. I don't feel qualified to do so and I for one am not going to risk my child's education.
So, no there aren't many alternatives.
The only thing we can do as parents if we cannot afford private or homeschool is try to locate ourselves in the best public school district. When we bought a house, the first factor that i looked at was schools. If the schools weren't good, the option of the town was out. we chose a town from the list of those with good school systems.
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Originally Posted by NYMD67
I just have to say.... I have TWO Asian children and I have no idea what Kumon is???
LOL LOL LOL. that is funny. This is why we admit that we are stereotyping. Not every asian and indian will be bringing their kids there.
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Originally Posted by nuala
Actually, I personally think there are too many college-educated young people nowadays, who are under-employed. Except for those having medical degrees.
And so many vacancies in the blue-collar jobs. Carpenters, welders, automotive technicians, oil rig workers now can demand $30-40-50+ hourly wage. And the nurses shortage!! All these vacancies are very extremely painful in the area where I live.
Though I come from a college driven world, I guess I've changed. I wouldn't mind if my kids go to a community college. My almost 4-year old son was practicaly born with cars in his hands. All 4 years of his life he's towing 12 hours a day - this is much more severe than in an average boy. If he becomes an automotive technican, that would be OK with me. Though probably I would encourage him to get a degree in mechanical engineering. But I wouldn't bend him if I see he's not the academic type.
My son is the same way. He has been interested in any sort of repairman that has been to our home/apartments since he was 1.5. I have always said that he might be an electrician or carpenter and I would be perfectly happy with that
You must be in the top 10% of your High School Class to be accepted to the University of Texas.
I do not believe this is correct. The 10% rule is automatic acceptance, but acceptance is not limited to the top 10%. And there are other choices in Texas besides UT....or t.u., as they say at the university I attended....
When we bought a house, the first factor that i looked at was schools. If the schools weren't good, the option of the town was out. we chose a town from the list of those with good school systems.
Geez... I can see I'm moving backward in comparison. Not only I remove myself from metropolitan areas, I also end up in a scarcely populated place (a retirement spot, essentially, with not many kids). In the woods, basically. The elementary school my daughter goes to, houses 76 children up to the 7th grade. After the 7th grade, they have to be bused much farther to high school in a town of 8,000.
I don't have the fear of my kids not succeding in life, somehow, tucked in a far corner. Why is it? I think for many reasons - for once, as one of those pushed kids, I got to be a programmer to only be burnt and realize very late that wasn't what I wanted. So I know that the competition has a dark lining. Second, as 121804 said, "everyone should live for at least a month in another culture" - and I've done it, lived for decades on both sides. Maybe it gives me assurance that I would be able to show my kids a wider world. And third, as I said in the pre-school topic, I'm happy with the slow life here, with the Kindergarden being a traditional Kindergarden instead of a drill school. I know that up to about 12 years old, it doesn't really matter whether a kid learned equations at 7 or 9. And the last reason, I'm happy for them running freely in the woods, having chickens, watching wild life and seeing how things grow.
I don't live in a metropolitan area either. we had a bear in our yard a few weeks ago.
if your school system isn't as good as you like, you can make up the difference at home.
the school my son went to preschool in was very bad from a testing stand point. lots of low grades. But his teachers were wonderful, and he excelled. If we had stayed there, I would have had to do a lot with him to make sure he was ahead of the eight ball, but he would have been fine to.
That doesn't mean that I'm going to intentionally move somewhere with a crappy school system, we just had happened to live there before. Of course I'm going to go where my kid will have the best opportunity.
And smaller classes can be much better. At the med school I mentioned, there was a day school for the students who had children there. there was about 4 kids in 4 classes, from grades K-12, and some of the teachers were not even certified. the school paid for curriculum for thesse teachers, and most of the kids were AHEAD of their grade level when they came back. I attribute that success to the extremely small class size and personal attention.
I am not pushing my kid farther than he needs to go at this point. He's in second grade and about all he needs to do is get his homework done and memorize his spelling words. But I will monitor him and push him as necessary. Had my parents pushed me a little more I would have more options available to me now. Too much pushing is not good, to little isn't either.
I think the OP statement expresses resentment that some people still value education. We live in a competitive world and education and knowledge and skills will continue to be the ticket to success and America just may lose that race......George Bush and John McCain boast and joke about their lack of academic achievement and hold up their failure as a badge of courage....that is an unfortunate example for American kids.
But this isn't knowledge for knowledge sake. It's primarily math. Or whatever instruction helps you pass standardized tests. It's a means to an end. A lucrative career in medicine, law, or engineering. My mother valued education but she loved history, political science, literature, geography. These parents would be shocked if their children told them they wanted to pursue careers in these fields.
But this isn't knowledge for knowledge sake. It's primarily math. Or whatever instruction helps you pass standardized tests. It's a means to an end. A lucrative career in medicine, law, or engineering. My mother valued education but she loved history, political science, literature, geography. These parents would be shocked if their children told them they wanted to pursue careers in these fields.
First, there's more to life than a lucrative career. Health, joy, balance, love are all at least equally important in life.
Second, you don't say how old your children are. If they're young, they're probably not focused on a particular career. If they become more focused as they get older THEY (not you) will be able to decide to apply themselves.
Don't worry, it won't be too late.
Third, if you're worried about the top 10% thing and they're smart, send them to a crappy high school. Seriously.
Finally, don't forget to enjoy your kids. Play, laugh, love. They are young for only a very short time.
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That would never happen in America.
