Report card day is probably the scariest time of our school life aside from examination period.
However, these lucky students probably have the best parent ever for caring about his children’s well-being rather than just their grades.
Wasfi Ahmad shared his concern about his kids’ progress in school on Facebook, which has garnered a lot of attention.
Source: Wasfi Ahmad
He wrote,
“I told my children’s homeroom teachers that my children are becoming more stressed out with homework. As the days pass, they are becoming too bored of finishing their homework.
“Their characters also gradually changed with each passing day; they were cheerful and childlike before, now they’ve turned dull.
“As a father, I do not pressure my children to finish their overload of homework to the point where they can’t think anymore when it comes to completing simple tasks.
“Their minds, thoughts and sincerity are pressured to finish the homework, because if they don’t, they will fear attending school because their teachers will scold them.
“Usually when there’s a lot of homework, they will done by their mother.
“I told the teachers that I don’t care if my kids don’t get A’s or if they don’t become excellent students in school.
“I send them to school so that they can learn how to mix around with friends, learn how to communicate and enjoy their lives as kids.”
Source: Wasfi Ahmad
Wasfi feels that the current education system does not allow children to be cheerful and free to do activities that keep them happy as kids anymore.
As his post went viral on Facebook, many people were divided by his sentiments. One group felt that it was unfair for him to slam the teachers, schools and education system like that.
“Uncle, later when your children go into university, they have loads of thesis to do. At that point, are you going to scold the lecturers too? C’mon lah, uncle. This era is no longer the era to spoil people.”
Another group fully supported Wasfi’s words. They even cited the European education system, which equips children with hands-on learning.
Source: OneTreePerChild
According to Eurydice, most EU countries follow a single structure in their education system. This means that there are no transitions from one level of of education to another.
There are no specific exams that they have to pass in order to move on to the next level. Unlike in Malaysia, students must pass all subjects to be enrolled in a new education level.
Not only that, there is also the added stress of going for tuition classes, and music or sports classes after school. For most students in Malaysia, having a fun, relaxing life outside of education is quite rare.
Right after school, the typical student schedule would entail extra co-curricular activities, tuition classes, piano or dance classes, a short break for dinner, and more classes, before finally returning home late at night. By then, it’s already almost bedtime!
Once they’re home after a long day, they have to stress about completing all their homework too!
Worst of all, the weekends aren’t spared either. Even on Saturdays and Sundays when children should be taking a break from school work, they are still rushing from one class to another.
This boils down to the fact that the school life of children today definitely lacks the type of freedom that Wasfi envisions for his kids.
What are your thoughts about this? Do you guys agree with Wasfi’s words?
Also read: Kindergarten Teacher Tapes Student’s Mouth Shut, Tragically Ends Up Killing Her
