Stress

Shortly after the year 2 examination, I attended a talk on child psychology, arranged by Euterpe’s school.

The lecture was amazingly good. Most of the points are well known but, to say the least, brilliantly presented.  You may not agree with the speaker’s theory (in that case you will be a supporter of teaching by a stick), but I’m sure we parents, without exception, would agree with the idea of spending more time with our children when they are young – before they have their own idea and live in their own world.

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Talking about children education, the main theory nowadays is, of course, to emphasize on reward and praising and avoid punishment. In short, children should not face too much stress; homework should not occupy too much of their time so that they have a chance to play and explore and cultivate their creativity.

I must say I agree with the idea entirely. Nonetheless, I also feel uneasy and confused. If primary school children are too young to handle stress and heavy work, when are they mature enough to do so? In recent years, I hear many educationalists saying that our medical students should not face too much stress and so forth. Are we doing good to our students, or are we treating them as primary school kids?