From TODAY, Voices
Monday December 15, 2008
By Melvin Tang
THE other day, after putting my son to bed, I entered my bedroom to find it a scene of desolate despair, hopelessness and surrender. Ok, I exaggerate, but essentially, it was the look on my wife’s face.
She had recently tried to enrol our 2-year-old in daycare. However, during her “chat” with one of the “Einstein-producing-factories” — admittedly one of the more popular schools — a member of the staff didn’t even bother to hide her laugh/scoff/you-must-live-in-a-cave-in- Pulau-Unknown disdain, as she explained to my wife that my son needed pre-nursery “education”. Unfortunately they were fully booked until the next Ice Age and had a waiting list of 200 eager toddlers.
We soon found out we were late and some “schools” are booked just as the baby’s head is crowning.
This got me thinking, what’s with the pre-everything?
My colleagues tell me their kids are taught to read and write at four, in both English and Chinese, and that’s because the school encourages (read: demands) such early learning to prepare the child for what’s expected of him or her at the next level.
And so, by Primary 1, he’s expected to be writing proper sentences, reading books and conversing eloquently in two languages. I looked up “Primary” in the dictionary and discovered it is defined as “ elementary: Of or being the essential or basic part”; and as far as I know, 1 is the first number after 0. So what Primary 1 really means, in my interpretation, is the first basic essential education your child requires.
PRE- IS FOR PRE-SSURE
But what about pre-primary? Well that’s just preparing for Primary, which is the first basic essential education your child requires. And Nursery? Well, that’s just preparing for pre-primary. So in fact, it’s pre-pre-primary. But when does this stop and is there an evolutionary chart that plots the emergence of pre-primary and pre- pre-primary?
What should I be expecting next? Pre-natal education?
It’s incredible that even before babies can learn to be toddlers, they are being prepared for the pressures of the year ahead because that in itself is insufficient preparation for the year ahead of that.
Just last night, as I read my son his favourite bed-time storybook, I looked at the pure innocence and amazement he expressed as I turned each page, and wonder if I should be reading him books meant for 3-4 year olds instead, just so by the time he gets there, he can start on his 10-year series.
I chose instead to pick up his favourite toy car and “vroomed” around the room with him until he fell asleep on my chest, still gripping the winning car from a race he will always win.
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