Private schools overburden students, parents with too much work

MANY CHILDREN enrolled in private schools and their parents are overburdened by school work. The students have very little time after class hours to indulge in recreational activities and enjoy their youth. Their parents, right from work, have to spend the rest of the day and into the evening helping their children accomplish homework and the learning process that should have been done in school. Not many parents hire private tutors to enable their children to cope with school requirements. Most of these children are above average in intelligence. Under normal circumstances, they should not undergo this unreasonably rigorous training. What should be done in the classroom (i.e., the drill and seatwork) should not be moved over to the home. Homework should only involve reading the succeeding chapter in the textbook just so students will have a fair idea of what it will be about.

There are too many subjects, too many textbooks, reading materials and workbooks that divert the child’s mind away from the true path of basic education. The school hours are sadly insufficient to cover the magnified field of what is perceived to be part of learning. Education in the grade and secondary schools is basic education. Research and premature introduction of college methods of learning at the grade and secondary levels are not justified; they deprive the learner of the time and opportunity to obtain basic education.

There should be fewer subjects and only an equal number of textbooks and learning materials. A child with a knapsack of books at his back and another larger bag (with rollers) filled with the same stuff going to school reminds me of the soldiers at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I find this atrocious!

There should be a comprehensive review of the educational system in the grade and secondary schools. Include the public schools. The educational system should not deprive the child of a normal life at home. The parents should not be overburdened with their children’s school lessons. The hiring of private tutors is a symptom that the school is setting standards that cannot be achieved within its premises.

I am a product of the pre-war school system. From the first day in Grade 1 through high school, the medium of instruction was English. In a few months, we were thinking, writing and speaking in English. The local dialects were never used to explain the meaning of English words. The use of the dialects never suffered because these continued to be the medium at home and the community. We had fewer subjects and only an equal number of textbooks.

Nowadays, the homework is far too much for children. Home reading of succeeding chapters in our books enables students to participate in the next day’s discussions and seatwork. Some high school graduates were even hired as teachers when not enough teacher-education graduates were available for teaching jobs. We were never inferior to today’s graduates.

—APOLONIO G. RAMOS,

42 Mindanao St.,

Marikina City