Tee-u-tion And Exams

The other day, Son No 2 asked me, "What is tee-u-tion?" Apparently, all his friends went for tee-u-tion and he was wondering why he did not.

Tee-u-tion is of course the local (mis)pronunciation of tuition.

I told him that he did not need tuition. Which is true and yet, not. This is because I personally coach him every weekday morning and so he does not need to go for tee-u-tion. At home, I take our coaching sessions seriously. We follow a fixed schedule: we start lessons at 9am every morning and end around 10-ish. When exams are near, we also do another short session at 9pm every night.

I have come to realise that, except for the really brilliant few, all students here do need tuition... for the simple reason that the young students are burdened with too many subjects. In the Chinese school that Son No 2 is attending, the students are expected to master 3 languages: Mandarin, Malay and English, besides other curriculum subjects, Math and Science. The standard of Mandarin and Malay are very high since both are pitched at the first language level. These two subjects alone take up most of our time. Language learning is really no joke. Luckily, Son No 2 reads a lot in English and has no problem there.

I have ranted endlessly about the system of education here. There are so many things that need fixing besides the curriculum. I have written to the press about it, many times, and even left my comments on the PM's webpage .... but this is not my focus today. Don't get me started! Coming back to Son No 2...

So, instead of engaging an external tutor, I am his personal tutor because I don't think anyone else can do a better job. Really. I am not trying to boast or anything... but the mother knows her child best AND the mother has the child's best interest at heart. Another advantage is that I can point out things to them that relate to their current learning, whether it is from the TV, newspapers or from the world around us.

Son No 2 is pretty disciplined himself and is a joy to teach most of the time, despite the inevitable ups and downs. He is now in the midst of his first term exams and he has been pretty pleased with himself the past few days.

When I pick him up after school, he would wear a big grin on his face. And in the car, he would be telling me what questions came out and how he answered them. Always seeking affirmation... and I would tell him that so long as he has done his best, that will be good enough. If he has made a mistake, it's ok, he just needs to learn from the mistake.

Son No 2 ever told me before that some of his friends were getting 3 marks, 14 marks, and so on, out of 100 marks. And I feel deeply for these children. Who will help these children? I know some of them are from disadvantaged background and I wish there's more institutional help for them....

But anyway, so Son No 2 is coping, despite the ills of the system. At the end of the day, the actual marks that he is getting is not that important. I just want him to maintain that positive self-esteem. That is reward enough for me.