NO tuition success stories to share?

[radiantmum]

Just wondering ... anyone with kids that are/were doing reasonably well in schools nowadays WITHOUT tuition help OR any pre-school academic enrichment "pumping"? Would be happy to hear from you folks.

I guess I am looking for inspiration and perhaps "sanity" over this rat race that I am supposed to be suck into. Make me feel less guilty perhaps?

[FMz]

u already quoting rat race....so why plunge in?

nowadays example....I dun hv..... 20+ years ago I have

a boy, kena force by parent to go tuitions until pek chek....yet still end up in the middle stream of cohorts...of coskena nag by parent......

so he one fine day, he just tell his parent to save the money.... he will study himself & if he fail to do better.... he will listen to them.....

He got 2nd & 3rd in class for the next 2 years......

I am tat boy.

[Jennifer]

any pre-school academic enrichment "pumping"?

I was kiasu n kiasi. My elder boy attended a few pre-sch enrichment (abacus and Kindermusik) before he started pri sch education and some more English enrichment when he was in P1 to P4.

Now he is doing reasonably well without tuition in English/Math/Science. I feel that this is so becos of the foundation we laid in his early years.

We neglected to provide such foundation for Chinese as we thought there was no need since we are a Mandarin speaking family and the child would get sufficient exposure at home. But we were so wrong. The standard of Chinese required to do well in school far surpasses our standard at home, hence the need for weekly tuition now.

[clarabella]

Hi radiantmum
I have a couple of young cousins who survived their entire primary school journey without any form of tuition or enrichment. They did pretty well and are still doing well now in the top IP schools. No tuition at the secondary levels too!

[skunk]

Just wondering ... anyone with kids that are/were doing reasonably well in schools nowadays WITHOUT tuition help OR any pre-school academic enrichment "pumping"? Would be happy to hear from you folks.

I guess I am looking for inspiration and perhaps "sanity" over this rat race that I am supposed to be suck into. Make me feel less guilty perhaps?

there will always be success stories, the problem is whether we can replicate it lol

Just like we see success stories of school dropouts becoming millionaires later, doesn't mean much when fact remains that most school dropouts do not become millionaires.

Question remains whether we are the "rare" ones or the "common" ones? No point fighting against statistics!!!

[tony]

Radiantmum, my cousin didn't have tuition. He got into the top schools here and later graduated from MIT. His sister did well too in NUS.

They are a very easy going family. To be fair, the entire brood of cousins has done well, but he's the most outstanding. Family gatherings are always about games and food. There was a mix of tuitioned and non tuitioned kids. It really depends upon the personality of the kids involved. The cousin who did super well had a bookish, quiet personality.

[ChiefKiasu]

Just wondering ... anyone with kids that are/were doing reasonably well in schools nowadays WITHOUT tuition help OR any pre-school academic enrichment "pumping"? Would be happy to hear from you folks.

I guess I am looking for inspiration and perhaps "sanity" over this rat race that I am supposed to be suck into. Make me feel less guilty perhaps?

Dear radiantmum, there will come a time when we realize that we have to let go and let our children live their lives. The best we can impart to our children is the love for learning and self-discovery - the tuition and other enrichment services we give to our children are only useful if the kids themselves appreciate them and put in their own effort to do better in class. If we continue to hand hold and provide crutches to our children, they may limp for the rest of their lives.

[EN]

hi radiantmum

Both my kids did not have pre-enrichment classes to pump them up before primary school. But I did spend a fair bit of time with dd (daily at night) before she embarked P1. 1st child, parents more kan cheong, so all attention to her. Given the choice, I should be kiasu and be sucked in the rat race for her. She's struggling but still pull through her exam.

With so much time spend on dd, I spend lesser time with my second child, ds. But when I tried to teach, he seems to know it or grasp the concept very fast. So, no tuition and no enrichment before P1. P1, he requested to join English enrichment class since his sister is telling him how fun the class is. That is the only enrichment class & I cringe when I think of the unnecessary fee wasted.

He does well. Exam marks for both English and Math fluctuate between mid 80s - 90s. Not strong in mother tongue. But marks improve to the 70s. I don't see him studying at home but he's the type that will clear up work first and play later. 15 pages of homework cleared last Friday before 2pm (no school last Friday). If he doesn't understand a question or need helps, he will approach me. Otherwise, nothing more from me. Saturday, Sunday and today, he is either playing with his yo yo, PSP, watch tv, reading or help to clean up the house. No revision.

Spend time with ds teacher in PTC, teacher spend 20 minutes every morning to drill students on math. She said, majority in ds class, struggle in math but strong in language. So, ds is lucky to have such teacher this year. But DS is not one success story to quote. He is just P2 and there is still many more years to go.

I am sure, other kids with very hands on parents fare better and will be able to quote you it is not necessary to send for enrichment classes. Parents can be a wonderful teacher if they have enough time and skill to do it.

But not all parents are not able to teach and if a child needs the enrichment, one on one coaching before P1, it will be better to do so. Don't think of it as a rat race but think of it as helping the child to cope with the current vigor of school curriculum.

[ChiefKiasu]

... With so much time spend on dd, I spend lesser time with my second child, ds. But when I tried to teach, he seems to know it or grasp the concept very fast. So, no tuition and no enrichment before P1. P1, he requested to join English enrichment class since his sister is telling him how fun the class is. That is the only enrichment class & I cringe when I think of the unnecessary fee wasted. ...

EN, I think you are blessed with a son that is not only intelligent, but with a maturity to understand why he needs to do well in examinations without much prompting to anyone. That is something that all parents want, much more than striking the million dollar big sweep

[EN]

Thanks chief. That's a mighty praise but he still have long way to go.

Dear radiantmum, there will come a time when we realize that we have to let go and let our children live their lives. The best we can impart to our children is the love for learning and self-discovery - the tuition and other enrichment services we give to our children are only useful if the kids themselves appreciate them and put in their own effort to do better in class. If we continue to hand hold and provide crutches to our children, they may limp for the rest of their lives.

Such wisdom.

Success story that I can think of from this forum is lizawa's son and vanilla cake. I remember both saying there's no tuition nor enrichment.