Teach Less, Learn More

[buds]

Aaaaah yes Funx3, i am indeed a woman...

A wholesome one too. :rotflmao:
If ya get what i mean.. :evil: :evil:
Two wholesome in fact... err... :idea: ...
what i meant was \"too\" wholesome. :lol:

[buds]

Happy Mama:

buds:

[quote=\"Happy Mama\"] This is a very nice way to describe them.... more compassionate and less condescending...

Well done, Buds! :celebrate: You have gained my respect! :salute:

Happy Mama, my children and i have personally volunteered with a group of under-privileged children and if i can be honest, we have first hand experience working with them. Being under-privileged aside... these children have serious family issues having come from dysfunctional
families. These children didn't ask to be there. They were born into
these families. They cannot choose not to be there. But if more of
us care enough to give our time, they can be rescued... but from
my experience... they do need to want the help.

Thanks for sharing Buds. It's very insightful... :love: :celebrate:

Wow, you are really kind and compassionate to volunteer to help the under-privileged children. DH and I have always wanted to help out these under-privileged kids, but I guess not anybody can do so, am I right? You need to join some social bodies to be able to volunteer?[/quote]I garnered my own friends and pitch to pilot one of our own... with the
help of a few friends from a non-profit organisation... and since the
sponsors took time to confirm their contributions, my small team
of only 3 or 4 of us plus our children went ahead with the idea
anyhow... with our own funding. The non-profit org acted as the bridge
to connect us with the ones that needed help and we had abt 15 children
we could work with. As for those who pm-ed abt the volunteer service, it
has since ceased unfortunately due to time constraints on my end and
also my team. I can empathise with this group cos i've had some form
of contact with a very small sample size of them... there are so many
more. I do find that some people tend to say they want to understand
or in the hope of helping the so termed \"under privileged\" group before
actually even understanding what being privileged truly means.. One
should truly understand the nature of life at the other side of the valley
to even begin to quote such terms.. And before anyone of you beat me
in saying it.... here's saying.. yaa i know i know... :roll: ... i have two of
such valleys lar k?

[Chenonceau]

buds:

Happy Mama:

[quote=\"buds\"] Happy Mama, my children and i have personally volunteered with a group of under-privileged children and if i can be honest, we have first hand experience working with them. Being under-privileged aside... these children have serious family issues having come from dysfunctional

families. These children didn't ask to be there. They were born into
these families. They cannot choose not to be there. But if more of
us care enough to give our time, they can be rescued... but from
my experience... they do need to want the help.

Thanks for sharing Buds. It's very insightful... :love: :celebrate:

Wow, you are really kind and compassionate to volunteer to help the under-privileged children. DH and I have always wanted to help out these under-privileged kids, but I guess not anybody can do so, am I right? You need to join some social bodies to be able to volunteer?

I garnered my own friends and pitch to pilot one of our own... with the
help of a few friends from a non-profit organisation... and since the
sponsors took time to confirm their contributions, my small team
of only 3 or 4 of us plus our children went ahead with the idea
anyhow... with our own funding. The non-profit org acted as the bridge
to connect us with the ones that needed help and we had abt 15 children
we could work with. As for those who pm-ed abt the volunteer service, it
has since ceased unfortunately due to time constraints on my end and
also my team. I can empathise with this group cos i've had some form
of contact with a very small sample size of them... there are so many
more. I do find that some people tend to say they want to understand
or in the hope of helping the so termed \"under privileged\" group before
actually even understanding what being privileged truly means.. One
should truly understand the nature of life at the other side of the valley
to even begin to quote such terms.. And before anyone of you beat me
in saying it.... here's saying.. yaa i know i know... :roll: ... i have two of
such valleys lar k? :P[/quote]TWO valleys? That's FOUR or THREE hills/mountains... At the back oso got hah? :scratchhead: :evil: :evil: :politebleah:

[Funz]

Chenonceau:

TWO valleys? That's FOUR or THREE hills/mountains... At the back oso got hah? :scratchhead:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I was just thinking that. 2 mountains make 1 valley. And Buds said TWO valleys? Hmmm......

Front or back, budhubs sure has his hands full. :rotflmao:

[buds]

:stupid: Doh! :slapshead:


My bad. :clubmyself: Now why the heck i go open up ammo abt the other cheeks..

Now seriously got to chain the Haagen Daz Belgian addiction liao. :idea:

[buds]

Funz:

Chenonceau:

TWO valleys? That's FOUR or THREE hills/mountains... At the back oso got hah? :scratchhead:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I was just thinking that. 2 mountains make 1 valley. And Buds said TWO valleys? Hmmm......

Front or back, budhubs sure has his hands full. :rotflmao:

I know it's rude to say oi.

But Oooooii-yee! :nunchuk:

Got this kind of stori then u surface arh? :rant:

[Mum1113]

buds:

Funz:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]TWO valleys? That's FOUR or THREE hills/mountains... At the back oso got hah? :scratchhead:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I was just thinking that. 2 mountains make 1 valley. And Buds said TWO valleys? Hmmm......

Front or back, budhubs sure has his hands full. :rotflmao:

I know it's rude to say oi.

But Oooooii-yee! :nunchuk:

Got this kind of stori then u surface arh? :rant:[/quote]Sorrie to interject.....BUT u pple r 2 funnie... :rotflmao:

[Funz]

buds:

Funz:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]TWO valleys? That's FOUR or THREE hills/mountains... At the back oso got hah? :scratchhead:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I was just thinking that. 2 mountains make 1 valley. And Buds said TWO valleys? Hmmm......

Front or back, budhubs sure has his hands full. :rotflmao:

I know it's rude to say oi.

But Oooooii-yee! :nunchuk:

Got this kind of stori then u surface arh? :rant:[/quote]

Been lurking lah. But with so many HEAVY weights BOUNCING off their ideas I felt kinda intimidated.

I this kicik ikan bilis, got neither mountain high ideals nor valley deep opinions so just be the plateau that I am and observe and learn.

And you see, true to the spirit of the thread and indeed as you have said you wanted the discussion to go back to teach less learn more, you have accomplished that without even having to lift a finger, now we know, do not only see what is in front, look behind as well. 2 mountains really can result in more then 1 valley. :rotflmao:

[Chenonceau]

Mum1113:

buds:

[quote=\"Funz\"]

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I was just thinking that. 2 mountains make 1 valley. And Buds said TWO valleys? Hmmm......

Front or back, budhubs sure has his hands full. :rotflmao:

I know it's rude to say oi.

But Oooooii-yee! :nunchuk:

Got this kind of stori then u surface arh? :rant:

Sorrie to interject.....BUT u pple r 2 funnie... :rotflmao:[/quote]No need sorry lah... You have more salt and vinegar to add? Actually, it's really 'cos Buds is great fun to hang around with in a thread.

[buds]

Chenonceau:

Whilst I am convinced that Teach Less Learn More will help, its faulty implementation means that in schools across the nation, parents like me, who are not used to picking the slack, have to do so. Kids without parents like me are left bereft unless there are well-meaning if transient volunteers (and kaypo relatives) to help them along. Even then, how much can one help?

I did pick up the slack from one year which was last year. A helluva
slacker this one was too! I share example k.. DD1 came back all of
excitement written over her face and she exclaimed..

DD1 : Mommy mommy, teacher did an experiment with us... finally..
(I came down hard on the teacher for teaching the science subject so
broadly... read:hands-off-read-from-pathetic-textbook-yourself) :x

After she described in detail the experiment procedures and the stuff
needed and all that, i asked what she learnt from this fun experiment?
What was the objective of that activity?

Her reply.

DD1 : Teacher said go back ask your parents to tell you the answer.

I didn't know how to react first.

:frustrated: or :rant: or :faint: or :nunchuk:? Sigh. :roll:

Faulty implementation, yes, perhaps too gung-ho...
Too trusting of our teachers' calibre and their receptiveness to this idea?

Too bo-chap teachers.. yes too. :rant:

Other teachers did a few similar experiments like DD1 did but they went
thru the why's at least but hers was totally blaah. How dare he you noe
what i mean?

That said however, i chose to encourage DD1 the power of research and
the internet... so it didn't entirely turn out to be volcanic over at my end
eventually.

Chenonceau:

At the end of the day, not only do poor kids need us in the now. WE need them in the future because their talent can contribute to the nation. The system should be independent and sufficient without parental involvement.

Hokay... *calming down a bit now*... that teacher aside... we've had other
teachers who were not at all like him in any way when it came to teaching
or teachers' initiatives; DD1 was without parental involvement. Those times
that there were... it was just me being kaypo. :oops: And like rocklee... aft
see oredi, then a certain standard got to be set liao.

Most occasions DD1 would say i should be able to manage but if i can't i'll
tell you. Teacher says must do on our own. Right or wrong doesn't matter
cos this is still practice papers, so teacher will go through one by one.
Teacher says when we learn from our mistakes we can hopefully remember
better. So it's okay mommy if i don't get it right this time, i will learn from it.

At that point, once again... i went like.. wow! :salute: I held my tongue...
held the urge to help... cause i was supposed to be hands-off in the 1st
place. :politebleah:

Still.... i had to ensure the teacher DID explain right? Typical parent me..
I didn't have to ask apparently. DD1 came home and showed me the paper
all with whatever corrections required and all that she had to write in green,
she explained to me why it was incorrect... why certain open-ended questions
were not acceptable and all that. I can truly accept then, that she is in good
hands this year, thankfully... after last year's stint with the #$@*&%!
one she had. Luck does also have a big part to play in all of this..

ksi:

Agree.... :celebrate: Only privileged buds gets the good experience now. Generally the sentiment is we are not there yet.

Now now, ksi. Don't you go labelling on me now uh.. My girls are
the privileged ones.. her classmates are the privileged ones too! :celebrate:

Not me.

Butttt... thinking of it in another perspective, it is a privilege for i have more
time to come in here and lor li lor sor here with you all. Hee.

I do not go slam dunking all teachers in general for i have had good
experiences with a handful... great ones with a few... and also some
hits with terribly awful ones. So yes, while the idea takes shape and
ain't perfect... we gotta stop to think that humans in general ain't
that perfect, hence we are all in this discussion where the majority
thinks it may suck due to the human-variant that contributes to it...
and not the system entirely.

Let's instead band together to discuss how it CAN work or we can also
petition for ministry to go back to boring-cramming-textbook-learning,
and give due credit to those who painstakingly did make it work.

As to whether Teach Less Learn More is a success story or not at this
point cannot just be based by one person and one child. It is across
the board... across all other schools... neighbourhood and banded
ones included. It could be just one teacher we had the misfortune
of encountering with but that's not to say all the teachers in the/your
child's school is that bad, right?

I seem to also notice a trend where there seem to be more parents
from banded schools expressing this concern, at least from the cry
for help i get when i was teaching... cud it also be an expectation
level issue?