Anxious parents
Dear Sir,
The letter “Declining standards” (Gulf Times, May 21) by AF has got a few things wrong, I feel.
Throughout the letter the anxiety of the parent is clearly visible.
Every school and teacher will have a unique way of addressing their students and  the approach to curriculum and teaching methodology.
Considering kindergarten, importance has to be given to children getting adjusted to the system of classroom learning and detachment from their home world. The child has a year or two in kindergarten to finish his rhymes and other  fundamentals of education. There is no need to hurry the tiny tots.
Every parent should understand that each child is unique and will exhibit different characteristics and abilities. Please refrain from comparing your child with others or comparing teachers or schools  because, as I mentioned earlier, they all follow different methodologies. Also, twins, siblings, cousins all will differ in their learning and understanding abilities.
The letter writer, AF, compares the education practices of his school days with that of the present one. We parents need to understand that there is a huge difference between the learning systems and tools we had in our days and what we have today.
The learning process, we should realise, must continue at home too. But when both parents work, which is more often than not today, they have very little time to pay attention to their children and how they study.
Feedback from parents is of great importance in maintaining and monitoring the faculty, as AF suggests. But then most schools get regular feedback and try to implement or improve based on the suggestions they receive. These issues, I have found, are normally discussed in the PTA meetings.

Hisham Zubair
(e-mail address supplied)  

 

Changing standards
Dear Sir,
The letter, “Declining standards” (Gulf Times, May 21), reflects the tension of a parent about the way his/her child is being taught. This is understandable. Parents should take a keen interest in their children’s schooling and get involved in it. But this should not end up as an obsession. That will be unhealthy, both for the parent and child.
Here the letter-writer assumes that the education methods of his school years were the best and they should be followed even now. That is a wrong assumption. There have been many changes in the education methodology in the last several years. Rote learning is frowned upon now. Learning by heart was a key element of learning method of yesteryears. Now the importance is placed on a child’s understanding and using his/her creativity.

RH
(Full name and address supplied)