5 May 2018
Expository Essay
When a child grows to the appropriate age that is old enough to perceive the world, it is the best time for education to start. Many parents decide that the time should be prior to the child’s birth. Reading books, playing classic music, and announcing family expectations are things that most parents would do to the fetus that is still developing in the womb. For parents, education for a child starts right a way; there is no stop nor pause to learning. The cruel truth is, however, the “education” that parents did before a child’s birth does not have significant effect to the child, yet the fact could not convince parents. I have to admit that I have done the same thing for my first son, who is now twenty-one, before I know about the fact, but believe it or not, I still did the same thing to my second son, who is now studying in eleventh grade.
For the children, education starts when they can perceive the signals and messages of the outside world, triggering their imprinted learning method—imitation. Children imitates the actions and words of the people around, but they do not necessarily know the significance of such actions and words. Take learning to speak the work “mama,” for instance, the child would eventually learn how to pronounce word, but the child does not necessarily know that it is appropriate to call his/her mother “mama” instead of his/her uncle. Education requires patience. Children, or even adults, cannot learn a thing though a snap. The process of learning takes time since it constitutes countless trail and errors. By exploring the so many ways that a thing could work, testing the right and wrong ways to do a thing, one can learn one or more ways that a thing can work. The children have to take time to grasp the significance of the actions and words that they have imitated. During the process of understanding and comprehension, parents have to be patient about the process, encouraging the child to learn.
Though teaching children could be tiring, the major part of teaching should be delightful. Watching children learning concepts from knowing nothing to mastering the basic pronunciations is awarding and pleasing. The same should be true for the children. The nature of learning and teaching is, actually, mutually delightful, making the process of learning easier than it actually sounds. As children grow up, the time needed for learning will gradually decrease, however, the amount of patience will not decrease. The amount of distractions that the children face will significantly increase and become an obstacle of learning. In the mean time, parents should direct the children to focus on their interests instead of the distractions.
Noticeably, many parents view their children’s interests as obstacles to their education. When my first son was in seventh grade, he was in to skateboarding, yet I viewed skateboarding as a waste of time, and, of course, a barrier to his educational success. But through careful consideration and serious conversations with him, I found out that skateboarding is not a distraction to him. Instead, it is his interest which he can expand upon. Sometimes parents like us can easily misunderstand the intention of kids. The high expectation of achieving educational success and “having a better future” often blur our definition of what is a obstacle and what is an interest that can be developed. Have face-to-face conversations with the children, understand how they think and view their “interest,” and do not judge too early will significantly help solving potential family conflicts and provide maximum respect toward the interests of the children.
One’s interest plays a crucial role in one’s education, yet many educators neglects their significant positive effects. A true interest lasts, and it lasts long; a true interest gives motivation for learning, and it is more effective than other incentives; a true interest should not pose worries to parents, and it never would. Respect the children’s interest will demonstrate the respect as a parent and as an effective educator. Failure to demonstrate such may cause family conflicts and may significantly discourage the children since you, as their parent, should have given them the freedom of selecting appropriate interests. Interests serve to evoke the children’s enthusiasm toward an arbitrary subject regardless whether it is academic-related, sport-related, or hobby-related.
Although interests and enthusiasm are important to the whole learning process, intelligence and practice are also vital for one’s learning process. Without the intelligence, one could not comprehend the knowledge that is required to excel the field; without sufficient practice, one could not fully utilize the precious advantage that other may or may not possess. Sure, intelligence is one of the major factors that dictates the direction that one will develop in; however, intense practice can make up the disadvantage comparing to one who has talent. Thus, practicing the subject that one is interested in and is excelled in will bring one extra good for education.
Beyond the interests, education should be targeted to specific student’s habit and behavior. By specifying the educating technique to specific student, that is, being one-to-one, the quality of education significantly enhances and enables the student to maximize their productivity on exploring their interests. Although it might be problematic and tiring to target to every student in large classrooms, it is crucial to recognize the student’s need of individual and personalized education and their different ways of comprehending knowledge. By targeting to their learning habits, the educator can nail down specific learning strategies for the students and thus making the student’s learning process much easier.
With no further delay, let us, the students’ parents, understand the essence of education: interests, enthusiasm, practice, and intelligence. Let us, apply the wisdom of nature and education to make our teaching method more suitable to the students. Respect your child’s interests, establish their enthusiasm toward their interests, encourage them to practice upon their interests, and remind them that they have the talent to do it!