3 July 2006
Bully!
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Commentary; News.
Two vicious cases of school bullying have got everyone talking. Both cases -one involving boys (Kota Tinggi), and the other girls (Miri) – were recorded on phone videos and widely circulated on the internet (on YouTube too, until it was removed!)The Malaysian Psychological Association wants to propose the implementation of a bullying intervention programme developed by Dr D. Olweus. “The programme attempts to restructure the existing school environment to reduce opportunities for bullying. We have submitted our proposal to the ministry (of education),” said Malaysian Psychological Association council member Datin Dr Noran Fauziah Yaakub.
The programme has met with success in schools where it is used in Scandinavian countries as well as the US. Basically it’s all about increased supervision, more parent-teacher interaction, a curriculum of courtesy and respect, and sanctions for aggressive behaviour (which I imagine are all a given in the first place). Schools are also expected to do the following:
- Place primary responsibility for solving the problem with the adults at school rather than with parents or students.
- Project a clear moral stand against bullying.
- Include both systems-oriented and individual-oriented components.
- Set long-term and short-term goals.
- Target the entire school population, not just a few problem students.
- Make the program a permanent component of the school environment, not a temporary remedial program.
- Implement strategies that have a positive effect on students and on the school climate that go beyond the problem of bullying.
Anyway, I say go ahead and give it a shot. What piqued my interest however was the first point – we’re to expect adult teachers at school to deal with bullying. The programme assumes that if bullying occurs, very likely the parents of victim and aggressor are not informed, or do not recognize the signs. That’s when schools step in to talk to all parties involved. There’s some merit in having an outside party to take charge, but it won’t amount to anything if the student and his/her family do not also take as firm a stand as schools.
I think it all boils down to character, which in the final analysis, is best inculcated at home. Why then are parents failing in their job to instruct their kids in basic decency and respect? Why do we keep hearing about the importance of ‘socialising’ when the only social skill kids are picking up at home and school is to ‘look out for number 1’? When a cynical media in an indifferent society displaces the basis for values and virtues, we should not be surprised when our kids turn violent. We make the world what it is today.
I can almost hear you ask: what if the parents are unable or will not do their job?
22 June 2005
Kicked out of kindy
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Child Development.
Take a look at this news report from the Baltimore Sun about the first nationwide research conducted by Yale University’s Child Study Center on preschool expulsion:
After surveying 52 state-financed prekindergarten programs in 40 states, the study found that about 10 percent of teachers had expelled at least one child in the previous year and a handful of those teachers had expelled as many as four children. The estimated total of students kicked out of preschool was 5,117 out of a total estimated enrollment of 766,907. In Maryland, about 38 of approximately 6,390 state-subsidized preschoolers were kicked out, for an expulsion rate that was below the national average.
The study also found that the likelihood of being expelled increased with age, as 4-year-olds were 50 percent more likely to be kicked out than 2- and 3-year-olds, and 5-year-olds were twice as likely to be expelled as 4-year-olds. Black children were twice as likely to be expelled as white or Latino children and five times more likely than Asian-Americans. Boys were expelled at more than four times the rate of girls. The researchers reported that children were expelled most frequently because of antisocial behavior, particularly aggression toward other children, such as kicking or biting.
Preschool/Pre-Kindergarten expulsion is not as uncommon as you think – even in Malaysia – and I know of parents who have had similar experiences and who finally decided to homeschool. One case involved a preschooler who was ADHD who obviously demanded more out of his Kindy than the teachers were prepared to provide. He was expelled from 3 other schools. Another was a mother (who’s now an unschooler) who couldn’t get her daughter’s Kindy to ease up on the academic in favour of a simpler curriculum.
In any case, I have my reservations about kindy anyway. My views are that children at the ages of 3 – 5 years are best nurtured at home. Why the hurry for pre-K and Kindy anyway? Expulsions are all about keeping pre-K and Kindys in the good books of parents and prospective students, which as a business proposition seems the way to do things. But for the child who is expelled, there is nothing but trauma, and possibly a long-term disdain for formal education or learning in general.
Whether early childhood education or kindergarten is necessary or not has been debated for years. Sheri Oden has published a book called, Into Adulthood: A Study on the Effects of Head Start which cites encouraging findings on a 17-year follow-up study on 622 adults who did or did not attend Head Start (using the HighScope Curriculum). Since I haven’t read the book, I can’t say much except that the study suggests effective outcomes involving children at risk and those from low-income homes.
I am not saying there is no place for pre-K or Kindys, because extenuating circumstances and a host of other factors do require specific attention. But I’d like to think they must be the exception and never the norm. Parents need to know that just because “everyone’s sending their kids to Kindy” does not make a done thing the better deal.
Meanwhile, the controversy rages.
28 September 2004
Bullied to death
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: school violence; Special Needs.
9-year old Martin (not his real name) has just been diagnosed with severe dyslexia; it was the severity that surprised his parents. His aversion to letters and words, his inability to read or want to read had his parents stumped, and at first I too thought it was merely an issue of learning readiness. Sure we’d all like every boy and girl to read and write, appreciate Shakespeare, but we’re simply not all the same. And we needn’t be, too.
But Martin is doing just fine if you ask me. His parents are homeschooling him and three other kids, and I have always thought they were among some of the better-behaved kids I have ever met. His parents are a little perplexed of course, and who wouldn’t, when professionals like Martin’s child psychologist suggests that school would do him good. Martin needs interaction, ‘socialisation,’ where he can build his self-esteem, so his parents were told.
Now, this I don’t understand.
Schools can be one of the most hurtful places for a child who’s different: if you’re slow, you’re tagged ‘dumb’ and if you’re clever, you’re a nerd or a show-off. Haven’t we heard enough about kids who were bullied out of their wits in schools? Have we forgotten Columbine?
Recently, the papers reported a suicide pact between two young girls in England. One survived, but 13-year old Laura Rhodes who died left a 1,500-page letter detailing her anguish at being bullied and teased because she was overweight. Laura’s parents in deciding to release the letter said: “The reason that we want people to read Laura’s story is that we want them to understand how demoralised, belittled, and helpless a bullied child feels.”
Laura saw herself as “ugly and worthless.” In one especially painful passage she wrote: “I moved through the people trying to ignore their nasty comments: ‘Oh my God look at the sight of her.’ ‘Yeah I know, she’s a dyke too.’ I had this every morning, lunchtime and the end of the day.”
I’m happy for Martin because he won’t need to put up with all that. I’m really glad he’s being homeschooled.
4 May 2001
Divine economics
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Uncategorized.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir recently unveiled the 8th Malaysia Plan: 2001 – 2000, which incidentally addresses targets set out in the Third Outline Perspective Plan or OPP3 (2001-2010). It’s a broad template spelling out macroeconomic strategies with all the requisite catchphrases and statistics to assure Malaysians that the ship’s afloat, the captain’s on board, that we know where we’re going. Looking at the development thrusts, one can’t help but detect an indignant clatter not unlike that of an engine revved alive on a cold day. It’s an unenviable task; someone’s got to do the job, but enough about my old car…
My attention was particularly drawn to the part about education, which in the New Straits Times was ominously headlined “More Jobs Will Be Created: Education system to be responsive to needs of industries.”“to unite the people” and that a total revamp was pretty much due. Now I get goose bumps when I hear announcements like this, but it’s probably just me. That’s not unusual as governments the world over are known to view education as some kind of utilitarian apparatus plugging human resource needs. Earlier in the same month, newspapers front-paged the PM’s lament that the education system had failed
Meanwhile, as if to drive the message home, newspapers highlighted two shocking acts of violence in our schools on the heels of that report: In the first case, a teen was stabbed during a school assembly, in front of teachers and students who were too stunned to react. In the second, another teen who was literally hammered on the head, landed in hospital with a broken skull.
Clearly the state of education in the country is way beyond “I-told-you-so,” the service and sacrifice of dedicated school teachers notwithstanding. Who’s to blame? Is the pit it has descended one we dug for ourselves? A revamp is undoubtedly urgent, but schools can only do so much. That’s why I believe homeschool makes more sense.
Nevertheless, if school reform is all about shuffling human resource more efficiently into the marketplace, I’m afraid that’s selling our children short. It seems to me when cultivation of virtue is sacrificed at the altar of economic or political expedience, there is hell to pay. So, why do parents still insist on measuring their children’s worth (and their own) according to the nuts and bolts of our materialistic culture?
I remember in a conversation not long ago when Sook Ching mentioned in jest that our son Elliot’s interest in insects could well lead to a career in entomology. Better to be a geneticist, a leader helpfully advised; entomologists don’t make money. The world we live in may increasingly resemble an impersonal technopolis or a gigantic machine, but it does not follow that we should become cogs in the wheel. Sure, competition is tough and society scoffs at losers.
Thankfully people count for more in God’s divine economy, and I’m glad He’s the one keeping score.
“But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.” 1 Corinthians 3:10~13