M here to unroll a particular instance which i have personally encountered during my visit to India.
Its about my kid who is 2 and 3/4 years old at the time of January 2009. We had relocated to India for a short span of 5 months. Hence, i decided to put him in a Montessori school nearby. I was very specific with a Montessori school becos i want him to be taken care with great attention. There were plenty to say…n i chose “Kids Galaxy”, owing to the unavailability of seats with the much impressed montessori schools…n i found it comparitively better with the available ones. At the time of enrollment, i had to settle around Rs. 3200 as term fees and Rs.1000 as registration fees. This is quite a high emolument in Indian standards for a pre-school.
Before i move further, i wud like to give an account of my child’s interest in school. My child is born in India and brought to Singapore at the age of 4 and half months. I opine he enjoyed his milestone developements himself by learning and admiring things around him. So, i decided when he is at the age of 20 months i shd put him in a play school. And it worked. The very first day when i took him to the play school…he was literally eager to allow him inside…enjoyed the new environment. That made me to conceive that he will not be aversed to school…when i put him in the montessori in India. Contrarily, when i left him in Kids Galaxy for the first day…he was happy to be in..but when i went to fetch him…i cud see him taken aback. He cried for the first time being in school. I just thot..it might be due to the environment…and made his mind to get prepared for the next day. Surprisingly, the night before his second day school…he tried to convince me saying he doesn’t want to go to school. Days went by….and i cud never regain his confidence in school.
As a mother, i was unable to withdrew him from school…just as he says. I needed some time to analyse abt his progress and rule out what bothers him in the school. His rejection initially was…he wasn’t received by a teacher…a maid in the school receives the children.. Its a routine. My God! I’m totally against it..since i have a feeling always that, when a child personally received by a teacher..will have a gud tactility and affection towards the teacher aswellas the school.
Secondly, there were around twenty kids for a teacher and their learning goes in a group through out the period of 3 hrs. Not much individual attention, lacking with their creative part. Parent’s aren’t aware of the montessori materials (i have been told they are using montessori materials..but i haven’t seen one…eventhough i had an orientation with the school..and i was particularly told there wasn’t any refreshment classes). Whenever i ask my child, “what did u learn today in school?” he says “Alphabets”…And he is a kid..so i cud not much rely on him…perhaps he cud not remember things appropriately to update me..Alphabets might be the part of their lesson everyday..So, whenever i chk with the teacher, she says he learned counting..they did worksheets…dancing and colouring..a piece of craft…listening to rhymes and stuffs… M truely unsatisfied.. (Becos, my child was well aware of identifying alphabets, numbers from 1 – 10, basic shapes ..and colors at that age. And his vocabulary is quite good aswel). What is the point in making him learn the same alphabets n numbers? Sure i wud expect some new things they do with the same. They give a worksheet every weekend as a homework…which contains matching or counting or coloring or stuffs like that… Sometimes he did that correctly…n when it comes for counting and stuffs..at that age he found it difficult to accomplish…i did took an effort to teach him several ways…but he rather found it difficult…and i dont want to proxy him for the worksheets. So i came to a conclusion that he needs some time to consummate. But when i return his worksheets on monday…and inform the teacher that he cud not complete … cos he is unable to understand…she never agrees…rather she says he did that in class. Then asked me to wait for the parent teachers meeting that falls on the first monday of every month.
The parent-teachers meeting happened to be a real bull shit. I was expecting a lot abt his academic side and his progress rather than all those excursion discussion and those extracurricular activites for parents..Its a mere waste of time.. Those activites can be issued thru a circular.. I was worried i cudn’t gather updates on my child..other than the same response from the teacher. I waited until the end of the term for the “Open day” which was the actual parent-teacher meeting in their language. I was given a file which remarks with his skills.. n that was very consise. I was taken lil aback with that progress report, cos it was remarked in a way..that wasn’t cognizance with my child. I know where my child stands..but the report was there to impress me rather than his actual progress. I asked for the worksheet he had done at school..but there was none. They handed me a creative book which contains making pictures out of cotton, sand and stuffs like that…which he had already got used in his playschool in Singapore. I wasn’t expecting much progress from the child as i know him academic wise to my knowledge…though he was quite on and off to the school becos of his health reasons, he is real gud in picking up things ….but i wanted to know what kind of creative part he learns from the school that he hadn’t experienced from my side.. I believe they are answerable to me…since m paying high..i do expect much.
I wouldn’t say they dont have creative part at all. But they lack with it. Learning a rhyme and identifying alphabets and numbers everyday wudn’t be challenging for a child. Definitely a child needs more when he does masters with it. I believe they dint extend them with the practical and sensorial part.
Its been displayed as sophisticated..but actually not. I have been smothered with this and that…but deluded. Until the last day of his school, he wasn’t happy enough to pop into the school…he embraces me tightly whispering “never let me in” with tears rolling out his cheeks. But i know he doesn’t cry the whole day..somehow he gets accomodated to the place. But, sure therez scarcity in his volition.
This lack of observant care was much bothering me… According to me that wasn’t a montessori school to be contemplated. I consider study of teaching methods, including the aims of education and the ways in which such goals may be achieved. I count on the educational psychology about the way in which learning takes place.
Its widely known that, using the Montessori approach to teach is extremely challenging, but equally exciting and rewarding. And i have learned, Montessori schools have proven successful all over the world, with all kinds of children (blind, gifted, learning disabled, wealthy, poor, etc.) and in many different environments. I believe the Montessori system is based on belief in children’s creative potential, their drive to learn, and their right to be treated as individuals.
I have been depressed, cos i put lot of effort on him with his academic side at home and the school lacks with it. I suppose, the child learns a lot from school or outside home than from a mother. How could i prevail on these kind of schools.
The worst part of all is..he trembles with fear when i utter a word abt “Kidz Galaxy”. M back in SG now. I have enrolled him in a montessori school here..n i found him scared to go to school for the first two days becos of his aversion to school. On the way back home on his second day school..he said, “Mummy i like the school” , “I will not cry tomorrow” “and i like the teacher”. M happy he is tailored with care. Now he enjoys every bit of his schooling. He even asks me why is he not sent to school on weekends.
My earnest gratitude for the teachers in his SG school.
I sincerely advise the parents to run thru the schools with their literacy before enrolling their child and carefully heed their children.
After dressing up…we planned to take some family pics before leaving home. And, it came out well. We captured lot of funny pics..
