Students fail to perform and parents start playing the blame game. Fingers start pointing at the education system, the social climate, the teachers, violence on TV, video games, porn... Rarely, if ever, do they consider their own role and influence on their child.
A recent study based in the US showed that Mormon teenagers fared best in school. The same study also showed that conservative Christians and [...] Protestants bested Mormons in [...] their high rates of belief in God. It would seem that their academic performance is not a result of being more religious .
Mormon parents "expect their children to do well, they invest in their education and encourage them to perform services for character building rather than for pay."
In contrast, Asian parents often portray academic diligence as a means to wealth, a good life and all that jazz. In his secondary school days, when my brother slacks off, my mum would overtly threaten him with the possible future of making roti canai (or roti prata if you're Singaporean). I can't say if it is the right or wrong approach since the kids in my house all turned out okay.
Perhaps it is because we did not fall into the trap of believing that wealth is the most important accomplishment to life or more simply, that wealth measures success. While we not well-off and had some difficult periods during the 80s recession, we were never really lacking. Sure, I probably wouldn't mind having more spanky toys and dolls but I never really felt the need to own anything in particular.
I attribute this lack of material desire to those tight years when my dad was working as a cab driver. We were going through all my mum's emergency funds that she had prudently accumulated and one of the things I learnt then, was not to ask for anything. I was about 10 years old. I grew to derive pleasure from window shopping alone. Trips to stationary shops were one of my greatest treats. I would look enviously at all the fancy pencil cases I knew I could not afford. But I never asked my parents for anything. At least not as I remember it.
I believe that it is important for a child to develop strong internal believes especially when they are young. Many young people today are led by their hedonistic desires. Together with the easy availability of credit, this has resulted in an increase in bankruptcies among the young in Singapore, as well as the US and UK. The lack of a strong set of principles, I believe, is also what leads to mid-life crisis as people find that what they've been pursuing -- wealth -- is not as important as they thought it was, leading to a restructuring of their life-long goals.
People need to stop blaming external forces and expecting governmental or educational reforms to fix their problems. Instead, try some introspection and identify problems that really arise more from within than without.
A recent study based in the US showed that Mormon teenagers fared best in school. The same study also showed that conservative Christians and [...] Protestants bested Mormons in [...] their high rates of belief in God. It would seem that their academic performance is not a result of being more religious .
Mormon parents "expect their children to do well, they invest in their education and encourage them to perform services for character building rather than for pay."
In contrast, Asian parents often portray academic diligence as a means to wealth, a good life and all that jazz. In his secondary school days, when my brother slacks off, my mum would overtly threaten him with the possible future of making roti canai (or roti prata if you're Singaporean). I can't say if it is the right or wrong approach since the kids in my house all turned out okay.
Perhaps it is because we did not fall into the trap of believing that wealth is the most important accomplishment to life or more simply, that wealth measures success. While we not well-off and had some difficult periods during the 80s recession, we were never really lacking. Sure, I probably wouldn't mind having more spanky toys and dolls but I never really felt the need to own anything in particular.
I attribute this lack of material desire to those tight years when my dad was working as a cab driver. We were going through all my mum's emergency funds that she had prudently accumulated and one of the things I learnt then, was not to ask for anything. I was about 10 years old. I grew to derive pleasure from window shopping alone. Trips to stationary shops were one of my greatest treats. I would look enviously at all the fancy pencil cases I knew I could not afford. But I never asked my parents for anything. At least not as I remember it.
I believe that it is important for a child to develop strong internal believes especially when they are young. Many young people today are led by their hedonistic desires. Together with the easy availability of credit, this has resulted in an increase in bankruptcies among the young in Singapore, as well as the US and UK. The lack of a strong set of principles, I believe, is also what leads to mid-life crisis as people find that what they've been pursuing -- wealth -- is not as important as they thought it was, leading to a restructuring of their life-long goals.
People need to stop blaming external forces and expecting governmental or educational reforms to fix their problems. Instead, try some introspection and identify problems that really arise more from within than without.
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