BUT Who Teaches The Parents
Whilst school is important I also think that school is always in session in the home. The kids don’t miss a beat as they observe and watch their parents do and say what they do, but who teaches the parents?
This article researched and written by the Herald Sun’s Suzie O’Brien brings to our conscious awareness the issue of how important academic education can be but what it doesn’t say is how on the other hand our standard education system should really be just the start and not an end in itself.
PUSHY Tiger Mums and Dads are on the wane, with parents of Indian and other Asian backgrounds having higher aspirations for their children than parents of Chinese heritage.
Despite this, children with Chinese, Indian and other Asian backgrounds have much higher numeracy outcomes than kids from families with Aussie, British and European backgrounds, a study of nearly 2000 parents found.
Researchers from Swinburne and Monash Universities, led by Sivanes Phillipson, found the value systems and thinking patterns available to the children with Indian, Chinese and other Asian backgrounds were more conducive to their children’s educational outcomes compared to other parents.
This led to family environments that value “the importance of education to ensure children’s academic success”.
Although children with Chinese backgrounds had better numeracy outcomes, researchers found their parents had adopted a more Australian educational mindset, having slightly lower aspirations compared to Indian and other Asian parents.
The high outcomes of Indian and other Asian parents were despite the fact they had “lesser access to finance and physical resources for their children’s education”.
Overall, those with the best outcomes, irrespective of ethnicity, looked at what their children could do rather than rely on the teachers and schools. “Communicating these beliefs may help to explain variability in their children’s classroom behavior and academic success,” Dr Phillipson said.
Haileybury College student Jacqueline Soon-Legaspi has grown up in a strong culture of academic achievement thanks to her mother Jowyn of Malaysia and her father Louie of the Philippines.
She could recite pi to 100 decimal places at five, and is now in the top few per cent of her year.
Her mother said Jacqueline attended a Shichida early learning centre before she was two. “We are doing what we think we as parents should do,” Mrs Soon-Lagaspi said. “We are very involved in her learning and I am very grateful to have had flexible work to allow me to be with her.”
Shichida Australia teacher Madeleine Lourdes said parental enthusiasm for learning had the biggest impact on motivation to learn.