It's approximately three months before the start of an exciting and enriching time for a group of children who are entering Primary school next year. Yet, the nail-biting anxiety has begun for their parents.
Very often, we hear the desperate cries from concerned parents: "Will my child cope well in school?" "My daughter doesn't know how to write an essay!" "My son didn't learn multiplication in kindergarten! Should I send him for lessons?" "Should I send my daughter for enrichment classes? She dislikes Math to the core..." Sounds familiar? If you are a parent, you might have heard these questions before, or are having these worries now.
Tuition, otherwise known as enrichment classes, has become part and parcel of almost every student's learning journey. Due to the ever-increasing standard of exam questions set by the Ministry of Education, and the challenging syllabus that is revised every five years, it has become a steep uphill task for most students to excel in their academics. In order to improve their grades, parents pay for supplementary classes that claim to have that 'extra something' for their kids to outperform others.
Although my business is affiliated to a tuition agency, it is my responsibility to tell you that you may not need to burn that hole in your pocket. Extra-curricular lessons should be necessary and appropriate.
The necessity of tuition or enrichment classes should be considered before enrolling your child for them. When I was a form teacher in a Primary school, I remember an instance when a student, who consistently did well in her tests and exams, failed to maintain her grades when she advanced to Primary 5. Concerned and puzzled over her sudden deterioration in grades, I asked her mother during our regular parent-teacher meeting for a possible explanation. Her mother said that she was as confused as I am regarding her daughter's performance, considering that she now sends her for extra classes during the weekends. That answer jumped out at me instantly for I realized that the student had been deprived of her rest days to recharge in preparation for the school week ahead. Thankfully, her mother heeded my advice to withdraw her daughter from the extra classes (since they weren't working anyway) and her grades were back on track after that.
Another factor to consider before registering your child for lessons in tuition centres is the suitability factor. I had another student, Jack (fictitious name to protect the identity), whose mother sent him for classes in a tuition centre which claimed to improve one's chances of getting into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). To her disappointment, not only did her son fail to enter the GEP, he barely passed his Math end-of-year exams. Apparently, Jack could not fully grasp the basic concepts in class, and the tuition centre's accelerated programme only demoralized him further.
If, after mulling over these two factors, you still believe that your child would be better off with tuition, then proceed to look for a private home tutor who can give your child individual attention. Good tutors are hard to come by and a tuition agency is a superb channel through which you can find one quickly and conveniently. However, that would mean having to choose a reliable tuition agency in the first place. With the numerous tuition agencies online, how would one know which tuition agency to request a tutor from? Does size matter? Does experience matter? These issues shall be left for another page.
What matters most after reading this article is that as a parent, you make an informed choice about sending your child for additional classes, be it at home or at a tuition centre. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, relieving your child of extra-curricular lessons may be the key to improving your child's grades. Also, forcing your child to learn at too fast a pace will only cause him/ her to lose interest and confidence altogether. And I'm sure that will be the last thing you want to see happen.
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