Thai education system is lost, let kids and parents lead the way
Re: “Parents urged to get more involved in educating their kids”, National, May 14.
The Thailand Education Partnership’s forum suggests that schools educate parents about raising their children, aiding their development and about the proper support to help children learn.
This recalls the wise words of former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, who said parents should encourage their children to learn according to their potential and interests.
But our education system seems to prize academic excellence as the ultimate goal, and ignore happiness.
Inevitably, children are pressured and stressed as a result of this.
The goal of education should instead depend more on the parent’s beliefs and children’s choice.
The following activities and environment might be considered as proper supports for children’s learning:
Create a home environment and activities that cultivate a love of reading. This is the foundation for children discovering what they are interested in. It also reduces the risks of “couch potato” kids.
To make core subjects like English and maths fun and understandable, parents should encourage their children to experiment and learn together, because both these subjects are the basis for learning sciences.
Having children help with household chores is also important, because it helps cultivate a sense of responsibility and “public spiritedness”, at least within their families.
Activities like sports, music or art help kids relax, concentrate and develop the courage to try new things and explore their potential.
Opportunities to learn outside the classroom with visits to museums and other cultural resources can inspire children and broaden their perspectives.
There’s no fixed formula for supporting children’s learning. Available instead are various ways to help them to learn happily and to accumulate experiences, competencies and potential while parents observe, give advice and encourage them, even if they are not academically strong. Most important is that the kids try their best and participate in making decisions about what they learn, guided by what they like and are interested in.
Sutipunt Bongsununt
