laremy.sg

Teaching kids to talk back increases family harmony – but only if you do it right. (via)

When I was in Sec. 3, they wanted to retain me because I wasn’t doing well. When I told them the reason why I wasn’t doing well was because I couldn’t study at home, they sent me for counselling instead. (Ed: the speaker meant that home wasn’t a conducive place to study in because of disruptive parents.) At counselling, the lady kept on talking; she didn’t even give me a chance to speak. When she’d finished, she told me that whatever had transpired was between me and her. Then she called my mum to go down to the school.

As far as I know, that discussion never went anywhere. Parents and teachers said a lot about it; a few doctors chirped up about the importance of adequate rest; some principals were interviewed for their opinions; and a few eccentric people even talked about the necessity of the hardship of getting up early as an essential character-building tool. But in the end most primary schools continued to start at the traditional time 7:30 am.

Back to the future. Recently my wife and I attended the orientation programme of my son’s primary school (he begins Primary One next year). We learned that while the school officially started at 7:30 am, all the kids were to be in school by 7:10 am sharp.

– Mr Wang Says So, The Little Kiddies and their Beauty Sleep.

Personally, I believe school should start later, and my belief is backed up by scientific evidence:

• Start school later in the morning, say sleepy teens.
• Schools Waking Up to Teens’ Unique Sleep Needs.

However, this whole debacle about school start times can be (again) effectively eradicated if the idea I proposed yesterday kicks off.

On the subject of protecting the young on the Internet, Frontline’s documentary Growing Up Online tries to explore the Internet teen culture and the gap between parents and teens in the US. If you are interested in these issues, I recommend you watch it. Some thoughts after watching it…

Read On…

– g, Daily SG: 10 Sep 2008.

An interesting read which I thought this tied in very well with what we’ve been learning so far about online literacy in terms of educating and creating awareness in students about the Internet.