Our National Policy on Education refers to primary education as the education given in institutes for children aged 6 to 11 plus. There are lots of 4year olds beginning formal school (primary 1) . Have you noticed this trend? Age appropriate learning takes into consideration the natural developmental stages of childhood. Students learn faster and develop a life-long love for learning. It makes learning less of a chore.When teaching students the correct skill that matches his/her developmental level, they learn very quickly. If you teach something before the student is ready and able to process the learning, they will get frustrated, develop low self-esteem and come to hate not only that subject but also the whole process of learning. They will take that throughout the rest of their schooling. You may find that the 'rush-starters' (beginners at 4) fare far less due to the pressures of an early start in the long run. About 2.2% of the world's population are geniuses......let's leave the obvious statistics. About 98% of us are regular people. Geniuses learn far more effortlessly OR is Nigeria now full of geniuses?
Another nice article,nicely written,keep it coming sis.
ReplyDeleteI share the same view. I don't know where this new trend emanates from as one of my sons is a victim. He's only 11 but going to JS3. I could feel the pressure and stress on him and I vowed that non of my children would be given accelerated promotion again.
ReplyDeleteThank you YInka for sharing your thoughts on this matter. It is important for parents and stakeholders to understand the essence of age appropriate learning in education.
DeleteĀ beautiful write up. Вυт considering ЪŦ we live ιη ā jet age where kids these days assimilate fast and are exposed at an early age one cannot but wonder Ђδω many geniuses are amongst us.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.... LC!!!! I am of the same opinion. As much as I would like to see my children move out of the house and get jobs..:), it won't be done to their disadvantage. Maturity at each level of education is extremely important.. I hope parents (especially mums) look into this. We don't want half baked members of society.. Well done LC!
ReplyDeleteGood to know there's someone out there talking/blogging on this very important aspect of our Education. Cool
ReplyDelete@ Deji. Yes we live in a fast paced world. But the human anatomy hasn't changed. The rate of development I doubt has increased. (I am no expert o, so don't quote me.) All I am trying to say is there's time for everything. Let's not be in too much hurry....:)
ReplyDeletehmm,i tire o!as far as i am concerned,we are back to the same old point and that is parents are too in a hurry to take their children out to school either due to work,disturbance,competion with other fellow parents or even mere laziness to be wt them.these has made them send their children earlier than should be.parents, we need the formative years of our chidren and that involves u and i.those years are most achieved positively by us wt little or no help of the teachers,or are we now leaving this most developmental stage of their lives to the teachers alone?remember,it takes a fortune to score the goal even if it seems easy.if we miss it at this stage,we loose it for the most part of our lives.what do u think LCCCCC?
ReplyDeleteThank you Chioma. I think that the fundamental goal in giving our children a 'good' education is for them to develop a strong sense of self esteem and be relevant in the society. The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you. However, you can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. He most likely wont have a desire to seek more if the entire process is thought of as a brain draining task.
ReplyDeleteThanks LC!!! I agree that teaching by creating curiosity in children will create life-long learning but we must also bear in mind that children learn at different pace(individual differences) and that doesn't make the fast learner is better and it doesn't mean that the slow learner will not learn what the fast learner as assimilated eventually but it becomes the duty of parents and teachers to observe the pace at which their children/pupils learn and avoid the menace or rushing them thereby avoiding frustration and killing the intrinsic motivation in the children!!!
ReplyDeleteWe should remember that at every stage of learning,entry behaviours or previous knowledge are important.A child is supposed to start primary education by the age of 6 according to the National Policy.This means it is expected that the child has acquired some forms of prior education at home to ensure easy transition from home to school.There are "Developmentally Appropraite Practises" that stipulates at what age a certain child should be introduced to a certain concept because research has proven that it is only at that age the brain can cope with the concept without the child being under any kind of pressure or stress.Teachers respond to the calls of parents because they pay for these services but unless parents are enlightened on these facts,the trend is likely to go on.Someone early mensioned rightly that despite the changing times,the body anatomy remains the same.The major factor responsible for the difference in previous years and now is that children these days are exposed to a lot of technology we didn't have the previlage to be exposed to.That should account for the beliefs that all kids these days are genuises.Kid are better exposed!!!
ReplyDelete