Child's education!

If you are truly serious about preparing your child for the future, don't teach him to subtract – teach him to deduct – Fran Lebowitz

The beauty of powerful quotes is that they succinctly articulate and resonate with our deeply held beliefs. Unfortunately, quotes tend to be pedagogic in nature, more concerned about how things should be, rather than how to walk to talk.

A child's education amidst today's lifestyle is fast becoming a complicated and troubling affair. The way I see it, there are three parties involved in a child's education – Teachers at school, parents and the child.

While the teacher at school is instrumental in setting the study rhythm and providing the structural foundation for education – it is simply impractical to expect that a teacher will be able to give personal attention to each and every child in class. Self study starts becoming effective starting from 5^th-7^th grade, before which a child benefits more from assisted learning. So, at the end the onus of imparting quality education squarely lies with individuals who can devote dedicated time with the child – parents or private tutors.

It is important to appreciate the challenges faced by a parent in taking on the role of a serious educator. 

• Knowledge complexity – In junior school (say till 3^rd grade), the complexity of knowledge involved is manageable by most parents. However with higher grades, parents start getting overwhelmed with the complexity of knowledge.

• Volume and time management – What starts of as 4-5 subjects, quickly blossoms into 10-11 full fledged subjects by the time a child enters 7^th or 8^th grade. Assuming, each subject has 8-10 lessons, we are looking at approximately 100 lessons in a full term. Given that a child will hardly get on an average not more than 2 hours of focused 'at-home' study time per day, we are looking at a time management issue of healthy proportions. This leads to 'skimming the surface' or 'exam mode' style of coaching.

• Frustration – After a long day, patience level of both the child and parent is at a minimum. Of all the constraints, frustration and stress both for the student and child is one of the major contributors to ineffective education.

If you could relate to the above, it would be interesting to read the following quote and wonder how far from the reality it is for a common parent.

If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn – Ignacio Estrada

Assuming, for the sake of argument that a parent overcomes the above challenges. The next formidable question to answer is – how do we know the coaching / teaching / learning is effective? What is the definition of 'effectiveness' when it comes to teaching?

Is it the school grades? Appreciation in school on the child's performance? Seeing the child enthusiastically studying? Hearing the child ask involved questions?