Students in Dien Bien province deliver a folk performance.(Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese parents are renowned for their highexpectations for their children, especially when it comes to education.
Once a child starts in education, they begin a long and arduous road, ledby ambitious parents.
“Anyone let your kids learn at a maths teaching centre? My child is afirst grader and is slow at maths. I want to enroll him in a maths class as itis supposed to improve his way of thinking and make him learn better,” wroteone anonymous member on a parenting forum.
Answering the question, some parents said that their kids started learningmaths at the age of four.
While some children are hoped to achieve better studying records, othersare expected to boost their intellect, a vague concept indulged by mathsteaching centres that interests many parents.
However, disappointment soon follows.
“My child calculates fast and accurately yet does not understand theessence of mathematics,” H, a parent whose child is a first grader at Hanoi’s LeNgoc Han Primary School told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper.
Professor Do Duc Thai, editor-in-chief of mathematics books in the newgeneral educational curriculum, said doing maths and thinking mathematicallywere two different things.
“I used to solve math problems in an online contest for primary schoolstudents and found myself slower than other contestants. However, parentsshould not be satisfied with their children’s results. To achieve prizes, manyparents create different accounts and ask their children to practise as much aspossible. Practice made perfect, they might get what they want, but it mightnot help to improve their way of thinking,” he said.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is anemerging trend at Vietnamese schools.
Many parents, with great expectations, are pushing children into thesesubjects, regardless of their interest and ability.
“At the beginning of each semester, my child’s teacher introduces severalcourses on applied sciences, product design and development. Everyone talksabout Industry 4.0 and how children should learn science as soon as possible.However, it seems like we need to learn thousands of skills in the digitalera,” said a parent of a seventh grader at Cau Giay Secondary School in Hanoi.
On an online parenting forum, a group of parents discussed about how theyfeel impatient when around them “others’ children seem to learn things relatedto science.”
A member said that she registered her child for three STEM courses, hopingto help him develop comprehensively.
Besides the STEM rush, foreign languages are another cause for demandingparents.
As from 2 to 6 years old is the “golden time” to learn languages, manychildren are forced to learn English at kindergarten.
The phenomenon peaks in public secondary schools that prioritise admittingcandidates who hold international English certificates.
Chu Cam Tho from the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Scienceshas developed a maths learning method through experience and said that thinkingmathematically started with observing, imagining and playing games.
Children will learn to compare, generalise, specialise, analyse and formtheir own ways of thinking for different maths problems.
She said that many parents had the misunderstanding that having extramaths classes would help their children earn better scores.
Nguyen Quo Hung, an English language expert, stressed the individuality oflearning.
By pushing children down certain paths, adults create pressure andobstruct the natural learning process, Hung said.
“Children need to be taught based on their capacity. Expectations cannotdo anything but make children scared of studying. Their potential can only beunleashed whenever they can learn what they are interested in,” he added.-VNS/VNA
Once a child starts in education, they begin a long and arduous road, ledby ambitious parents.
“Anyone let your kids learn at a maths teaching centre? My child is afirst grader and is slow at maths. I want to enroll him in a maths class as itis supposed to improve his way of thinking and make him learn better,” wroteone anonymous member on a parenting forum.
Answering the question, some parents said that their kids started learningmaths at the age of four.
While some children are hoped to achieve better studying records, othersare expected to boost their intellect, a vague concept indulged by mathsteaching centres that interests many parents.
However, disappointment soon follows.
“My child calculates fast and accurately yet does not understand theessence of mathematics,” H, a parent whose child is a first grader at Hanoi’s LeNgoc Han Primary School told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper.
Professor Do Duc Thai, editor-in-chief of mathematics books in the newgeneral educational curriculum, said doing maths and thinking mathematicallywere two different things.
“I used to solve math problems in an online contest for primary schoolstudents and found myself slower than other contestants. However, parentsshould not be satisfied with their children’s results. To achieve prizes, manyparents create different accounts and ask their children to practise as much aspossible. Practice made perfect, they might get what they want, but it mightnot help to improve their way of thinking,” he said.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is anemerging trend at Vietnamese schools.
Many parents, with great expectations, are pushing children into thesesubjects, regardless of their interest and ability.
“At the beginning of each semester, my child’s teacher introduces severalcourses on applied sciences, product design and development. Everyone talksabout Industry 4.0 and how children should learn science as soon as possible.However, it seems like we need to learn thousands of skills in the digitalera,” said a parent of a seventh grader at Cau Giay Secondary School in Hanoi.
On an online parenting forum, a group of parents discussed about how theyfeel impatient when around them “others’ children seem to learn things relatedto science.”
A member said that she registered her child for three STEM courses, hopingto help him develop comprehensively.
Besides the STEM rush, foreign languages are another cause for demandingparents.
As from 2 to 6 years old is the “golden time” to learn languages, manychildren are forced to learn English at kindergarten.
The phenomenon peaks in public secondary schools that prioritise admittingcandidates who hold international English certificates.
Chu Cam Tho from the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Scienceshas developed a maths learning method through experience and said that thinkingmathematically started with observing, imagining and playing games.
Children will learn to compare, generalise, specialise, analyse and formtheir own ways of thinking for different maths problems.
She said that many parents had the misunderstanding that having extramaths classes would help their children earn better scores.
Nguyen Quo Hung, an English language expert, stressed the individuality oflearning.
By pushing children down certain paths, adults create pressure andobstruct the natural learning process, Hung said.
“Children need to be taught based on their capacity. Expectations cannotdo anything but make children scared of studying. Their potential can only beunleashed whenever they can learn what they are interested in,” he added.-VNS/VNA
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