Which education and parenting systems are the most effective?

This article from the New Zealand Herald is an eye-opener.  It compares parenting and education systems from different countries and cultures.  It's well worth 10 minutes of your time to read it.

Tiger mums' little trophies

Erica Lee lined up in front of the blackboard with her classmates, put out her hand and waited for the smack from the thick wooden ruler. "Not good," the teacher told her as he slammed the ruler down on her tiny palm. "You must work harder."

Lee was 6 and had not failed an exam. She simply hadn't achieved the results her teacher at the primary school in South Korea had promised her parents.

Outside, the grades and names of the children deemed to have not performed well enough were pinned on a board for the community to see.

It was a lesson in disgrace and one that the teachers in South Korea felt was never too early too learn. Success was expected and anything less would not be tolerated.

"The pressure to succeed was intense right from a young age," says Lee, now 19, living in Auckland, and studying to become a doctor.

"There was a lot of tension. I went to school all day, then on to a maths academy for two hours in the afternoon and then often on to an English college. I would get home at 11pm.

"At home I learned the flute. There was no outdoor play, no games. My life was all about learning and achievement."

Lee's family emigrated when she was 11, her parents motivated by seeking better opportunities for her in an English-speaking country.

"When we moved to New Zealand in 2002 it was very different. I couldn't believe it when I went to school here. For me the whole day was like playtime. School was fun."

Lee finished high school with straight As in biology, chemistry and physics and is now in her second year of a bio-med degree at the University of Auckland.

The debate over whether children learn best by rote and with rigid discipline or, as is more common in Western countries, if they should be encouraged simply to work hard and "do your best" has been ongoing for decades.

But it has been fiercely reignited by a best-selling new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by 48-year-old Chinese-American Yale law professor Amy Chua, which has created an international furore.

In the book, Chua, a self-confessed "tiger mother", describes how she forced her 7-year-old daughter, Lulu, to practise the piano through the night, without even toilet breaks or a glass of water, until the child could play it properly. She did not let her daughters go on school trips, have sleepovers or take part in school plays.

She publicly called her older daughter Sophia "garbage" after the child behaved disrespectfully (Chua's father had done the same to her), and she even rejected a card Lulu had made for her birthday on the grounds that she hadn't put enough thought or effort into it.

In China and other countries, such gruelling training is considered par for the course. Top marks equal top jobs, which equals monetary success.

In New Zealand and countries where it's popular to profess, "I just want my kids to be happy," such behaviour would be seen as bordering on child abuse.

Certainly Chua has been pilloried across the world. "The way she raised her kids is outrageous, where is the love? She's a monster," declared one US television reviewer.

Others branded her rigid, boot camp style as appalling, and said it was likely to produce children who knew the answers to academic questions but had no sense of how to think for themselves. In other words automatons.

But Chua, who says her daughters (now teenagers) are well adjusted and happy, has her defenders too, particularly other immigrant mothers who believe such relentless discipline is not only necessary, but that it is doing the best for their children.

So which mum wins?

Immigrant communities throughout the Western World are known to push their children hard-particularly those parents from countries which have been historically impoverished and where anyone who fails to get top grades, and a good job, gets no second chance. And many are shocked at the apparently relaxed "as long as you're happy and do your best" attitude they claim to find among some parents in New Zealand. According to the 2006 census, the most recent figures available, 354,552 Asians, including Chinese and Indians, are living in New Zealand, almost 10 per cent of the population. That figure is expected to more than double by 2026 when it is predicted Asians will outnumber Maori.

Dr Carina Meares of Massey University is managing a six-year Foundation for Research Science and Technology research project on economic integration by Korean, Chinese, Indian, South African and British migrants to New Zealand, due to wrap up next year.

Her research throws further light on why newcomers are often so dedicated about ensuring their children excel in education.

"Across all cultures, one of the main reasons people give for moving to this country is to give their children a better future," says Meares. "They believe that living in an English- speaking country like New Zealand, with a good education system, will lead to their children's health, wealth and happiness - the thing that will make them successful global citizens.

"They have often made huge sacrifices to move here. Many are well skilled, well-paid professionals in their home countries and they find they can't transfer those skills. So they take up lesser employment to fund the future for their children. That is their investment.

"The paradox is that they want a safer, healthier world for their children and a more relaxed environment-but they often impose the same rigid discipline at home as exists in their home countries."

SU-Lee, in her 40s, came to New Zealand from China in the late 90s with her daughter. She says she has struggled with the cultural differences.

She was a doctor in China but has not been able to work in that profession here.

She didn't allow her daughter to do most of the extra-curricular school activities, banned sleepovers and kept a close eye on her daughter's friends.

"I was extra strict because not only was the culture very different here, but I couldn't always understand the language so I wanted to keep big discipline in my family," she says.

"I wanted my daughter to get good grades, be able to play a musical instrument and be a good person. I don't like it when young people are allowed to smoke and drink and not study. It is not the way for children to have a happy future."

Another reason Chua's book has provoked such strong reaction is that it fuels debate over whether the West, with its more relaxed attitudes, is in danger of losing ground to China, with its increasingly skilled workforce and its Tiger economy.

But does punishing discipline produce the kind of high-flying achievers many parents dream their child will become?

Studies by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) across 30 countries, conducted at three-yearly intervals since 2000, comparing the literacy of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science, show New Zealand does rather well, particularly considering it spends less on education than many of its competitors.

But in 2009 - the first time China took part - Shanghai leapt to the top of all three tables. New Zealand slipped to seventh place in science and maths and plummeted to 13th in reading.

Some educationists saw it is a simple equation. Yong Zhao, assistant dean of the University of Oregon in the US, remarked at the time: "When you spend all your time preparing for tests, and when students are selected for their test-taking abilities, you get outstanding test results."

But another Chinese lecturer, DinYi, vice-principal of Shanghai's Jing'an Education College, expressed concerns.

"Since China opened up to the world we found children in foreign countries were relatively more creative and better at solving problems in real life."

The principal of Westlake Boys High School, David Ferguson, feels strongly about the issue. "It's all about balance," he says. One of his students, Jason Dong, who is Chinese, beat candidates from 160 countries to be ranked top in the world in biology, chemistry and maths in last year's Cambridge exams. The year 11 student also topped New Zealand in business studies.

Dong has achieved dazzling results without being chained to the text books. He manages to fit in time for violin, badminton, basketball, debating, singing and the Duke of Edinburgh scheme around his studies.

Another Westlake Boys' student, Prasad Navi, who is from an Indian family, came second in New Zealand in Cambridge results.

"We have terrific ethnic diversity at our school with more than 70 nationalities among our 2200 boys," says Ferguson.

"It's a great representation of the ethnic diversity of Auckland, and indeed New Zealand, but we don't find particular attitudes to study attached to any one ethnic group.

"All our students, from all the families, know that exams are the most important thing. But across the board they recognise other activities, such as music, sport, debating and the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. It is all about balance," says Ferguson.

Family therapist Diane Levy says it is all too easy for mothers and fathers to feel confused about how strict they should be - particularly if they have differing attitudes to discipline. "As parents we've been shuttled backwards and forwards as to what is more important - extreme values such as the Victorians had, where only discipline mattered, or recognising that children have feelings and wanting them to be happy."

Levy likes the term "backbone parent" - being loving and firm, helping children acquire skills but also being flexible.

"It's important children feel loved, but they need guidelines," says Levy. "They need a range of opportunities but there has to be balance. I do think there are a few over-programmed children who have a different activity after school every afternoon. There has to be time for the socialising and simple play.

"China-after the Cultural Revolution, for example - produced terribly skilled musicians. But then they realised they performed without soul. It's the same when it comes to equipping children for life."

Levy says Kiwis generally do not have a very elevated sense of discipline and obedience and many of us do not work particularly hard. "But there is also no benefit in tormenting the hell out of kids."

The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Allen & Unwin) goes on sale in New Zealand in March.

By Camilla Keane

Behaviour management advice from Bill Rogers

Throughout 2010 Lakeview School ran a series of in-school professional development sessions based on the work of Bill Rogers.  An outline of these sessions can be accessed through the professional development page our school website. 

There is some particularly good information on setting up routines at the beginning of the year.  Click here to check out the notes that were collated for each session.

New Zealand's education system is the best in the world

Based on three criteria the Legatum Institute Prosperity Index has announced New Zealand's education system to be the best in the world.  The criteria are:

Access to education
Quality of education
Human capital

Three key factors to enhance student learning

Three key points that are introduced in this thought provoking TED presentation from Diana Laufenberg are:

1. The benefits of experiential learning
2. The power of student voice
3. The need to embrace failure in the learning process

Why we should be using iPhones in the classroom

This article highlighting what can be achieved using an iPhone 4 (it could also be done on a new iPod Touch) is well worth a read.  The technology that is readily and reasonable inexpensively available for schools is quite incredible.

The next Golden Globe winner could be a student in your classroom!

Watch out; the Internet could make you stupid and lazy!

As stated in an earlier post along a similar theme, I am a huge fan of the Internet and all that it has to offer.  The likes of Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, etc provide a wealth of information and services at our fingertips.  However, this article in the Independent should sound warning bells on the risks of becoming too reliant and dependent on the technology that is available through the Net. 

My concern is, just as having someone go to the gym and exercise for us will not lead to us becoming fitter and healthier, having online services complete our sudoku puzzles and translate conversations from other languages is going to have a negative impact on our cognitive development and mental fitness.

We don't want to become the equivalent of a Cr-48, needing to be hooked up to the Internet to be functional.  We want to make the most of the most incredible computer in history; the human brain.

How to engage boys at school

In this TED presentation Ali Carr-Chellman pinpoints three reasons boys are tuning out of school in droves, and lays out her bold plan to re-engage them: bringing their culture into the classroom, with new rules that let boys be boys, and video games that teach as well as entertain.

Financial Education in Schools

This article appeared in the New Zealand Herald today.  It made me think about financial education for school students.  Perhaps we should look beyond complicated programmes and simply look to introduce and reinforce to students the Seven Cures for a Lean Purse, as outlined in the financial classic The Richest man in Babylon:

FIRST CURE: Start thy purse to fattening.

SECOND CURE: Control thy expenditures.

THIRD CURE: Make thy gold multiply.

FOURTH CURE: Guard thy treasures from loss.

FIFTH CURE: Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment.

SIXTH CURE: Insure a future income.

SEVENTH CURE: Increase thy ability to earn.

Cloud Computing Fundamentals

I have long been an advocate of cloud computing.  I strongly believe that it is the way of the future for schools, with the benefits for schools in terms of collaboration, administration and reduced financial costs being considerable.

For an overview on cloud computing fundamentals, read this excellent article from Grace Walker, an ICT consultant from Chicago in the United States. 

Three benefits that are highlighted in the article are (which, from my own experience, I fully agree with):

• Reduced cost: Cloud computing can reduce both capital expense (CapEx) and operating expense (OpEx) costs because resources are only acquired when needed and are only paid for when used.
• Refined usage of personnel: Using cloud computing frees valuable personnel allowing them to focus on delivering value rather than maintaining hardware and software.
• Robust scalability: Cloud computing allows for immediate scaling, either up or down, at any time without long-term commitment.

How to overcome procrastination

The solution to overcoming procrastination requires only a few minutes.  Ironically, though, the first step requires starting a task that has been put off in the first place.  Once a job has been started with just a few minutes work the mind becomes anxious and will refuse to rest until the job has been finished, therefore setting in place the motivation to complete the task.

Think of how this could be applied to something such as homework.  Rather than simply setting homework, give students time in class to start assignments.  This will enable tasks to be clarified, either by the teacher or a supportive classmate.  So often things aren't done because they appear too hard, or overwhelming in terms of the size of what is required to be done.  These factors will be overcome through a dedicated time to get underway with tasks that have traditionally caused students to procrastinate.

Can we learn from Chinese mothers?

This article  from The Independent is well worth a read.  Whatever you may think of Amy Chua, you can't fault her commitment to her children.  Interestingly, though, New Zealand, with (generally) a far more relaxed approach to parenting achieved a similar level of success in the OECD survey of 15 year olds.

'Chinese' Mothers:  a lesson to us all

Mother knows best; but which mothers know best of all? According to Amy Chua, a professor at Yale University, the answer is obvious and irrefutable: Chinese mums. Professor Chua has produced a book which seeks to prove her point, entitled Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and last week she trailed it with an essay in The Wall Street Journal, provocatively headlined: “Why Chinese mothers are superior”.

American parents were duly provoked by Chua’s contention that they were hopelessly lacking in the effort they put into educating their children out of school hours, and in instilling discipline: well over a thousand comments hurtled in, many accusing her of racism, and some pointing out that if the American way was so deficient, why didn’t she take herself and her high-achieving family back to China?

To be fair to Chua, she admitted to using the term “Chinese mother” loosely: “I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify. Conversely, I know of some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers.” But then she went on: “All the same, even when Western parents think they’re being strict, they usually don’t come close to being Chinese mothers. For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practise their [musical] instruments 30 minutes a day. At the most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It’s hours two and three that get tough.”

That the Chinese style of parenting helps produce the most extraordinary results can’t be doubted. Last month the OECD produced its annual assessment of global academic performance, based on its own independent testing of 15-yearolds in reading, maths and science. China came top. British children, by the way, came 25th in reading, 28th in maths, and 16th in science. Ten years ago Britain came seventh, eighth and fourth in those categories. These results throw a very cold shower of water over the claims by the New Labour government that the vast extra sums of public expenditure they devoted to the infrastructure of the state education system had improved our international competitiveness.
Last week I discussed these figures on BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight programme with Sir Richard Sykes, the former rector of Imperial College; he is convinced that British exams have become “dumbed down”, compared to those of countries such as India and China, and that as a result we were living in some sort of fool’s paradise.

I also interviewed some pupils from Westminster School, who had been on an exchange trip to China. Although Westminster is one of the highest-performing schools in the UK, these pupils were stunned by the dedication and sheer hard work they had witnessed on their exchange. “It’s a completely different culture and attitude towards work,” one of them told me. The word “culture” was well chosen: that is where family life plays a dominant role, and where what goes on in schools flows naturally from the home environment.

This is also where Amy Chua’s theories seem to bear fruit; and their validity can be seen in some remarkable statistics produced last year by our very own Equalities and Human Rights Commission. The Commission had sought to discover the extent to which educational outcomes in this country were a function of economic circumstances, and of race. Accordingly it divided up results under ethnic categories, but also by whether pupils were eligible for free school meals.

Among both white and black children, there was a dramatic difference in outcomes: for example, only 15 per cent of white boys eligible for free school meals gained five or more A* to C grades at GCSE, compared with 51 per cent among those not eligible. However, among Chinese boys and girls, those eligible for free school meals did every bit as well as those not so poor; equally perplexing for those who believe that relative poverty is the biggest determinant of educational attainment, Chinese pupils on free school meals, both boys and girls, had far better results overall than white pupils who were not eligible.

Game, set and match to Professor Chua? I imagine that many British parents who read the extracts from her book in last weekend’s Sunday Times might well say they would rather have lowerachieving children than follow the recipe set out in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. For Chua began by stating: “Here are some of the things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do: attend a sleep-over; watch TV or play computer games; get any grade less than A; not be the number one student in every subject except gym and drama; not play the piano or the violin.”

Such a regime runs completely counter to the presiding doctrine of modern Western parenting, at least among the middle classes, which is to do nothing that might damage their children’s sense of self-esteem; and given that it’s not possible for every child to be “the number one student in every subject”, aren’t Chua’s methods setting children up for potentially crushing loss of self-esteem when another child comes top?


That seems a bit harsh – no parents, except for the most derelict, are content to see their child turn out “badly”. Yet Chua is pressing her finger on a very sensitive point: could it be that much of the laissez-faire parenting of the modern West uses the idea of enlightened liberality to give an intellectual justification for what is actually a form of laziness?

After all, the kind of discipline and perseverance which Amy Chua practised with her own daughters required an extraordinary amount of effort on her part – and also a certain amount of conflict with her husband, a non-Chinese, who might well have thought that she should have been spending more time with him, and less standing over their daughters while they practised the violin for three hours in the evening.

Most Western parents would say that all they want is for their children to “be happy”: and if the little darlings are browbeaten in this way, they surely can’t be enjoying themselves – and might grow up to hate their parents for forcing them to play the violin. Who knows? Happiness is the most ephemeral of phenomena and certainly not something which can be achieved at will. Besides, as Freud observed, neurosis is the mother of creativity.

As for the “Chinese mother”, I can’t pretend that I am sorry not to have had one myself. My own mother was extremely indulgent, and sublimely indifferent to whatever exam results I achieved; my father was more “Chinese”, which was probably necessary for the balance between unconditional affection and discipline.

Perhaps Amy Chua’s children are grateful, too, that one of their parents is not “Chinese”: at least they had someone to run to for sympathy, when mother’s strictures became intolerable. On the other hand, if it’s results you want, then the Chinese mother does indeed know best.

Mythbusters - making science interesting

Check out this article from the Sunday Herald (originally featuring in the Independent) titled 'Show making science exciting again'.  The only thing I don't agree with from the article is the word 'again' in the title.  I don't remember science ever really being exciting as in my experience, particularly in college, the emphasis has always been on endless theory and very little practice.

This article is a nice follow up on my earlier post on the same theme, dated 28 December 2010.

Show making science exciting again

5:30 AM Saturday Jan 8, 2011

Barack Obama challenged Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage to dispel an ancient myth. Photo / Supplied

There are many questions that occupy the mind of Barack Obama. Is there a lasting solution that will bring peace to the Middle East, will the US be able to enter into a new nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia, and is it possible to polish a turd?

Obviously the faecal matter might not be at the forefront of his mind but it's likely to be a question he has considered, because he is a fan of one of the most successful science programmes ever broadcast, MythBusters, and the "turd" idiom has been tested by the show in the past.

In November the President appeared in a special episode and challenged presenters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage to create a death ray using mirrors and solar energy.

Legend has it that the weapon was used in 212BC by Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse in Sicily to ignite the sails of Roman ships.

Obama appeared on the show to highlight his Administration's commitment to science in education and during his appearance he admitted he often watched the series with his daughters.

The presidential seal of approval is testament to just how influential MythBusters has become. It has spawned a genre of science-as-entertainment programmes and is credited with changing the way science is taught in some schools.

Now in its eighth year, the show, which is broadcast in New Zealand on Sky's Discovery Channel, rode on the crest of nerd-culture popularity and was one of the first science and entertainment crossover shows.

It has spawned copycats such as Brainiac and Bang Goes the Theory. It has been vital to the popular science movement in America and has also been credited with attracting a generation of young people to scientific study, which it presents as dynamic, exciting and fun. The often complex theories the show investigates are peppered with explosions, stunts and special effects.

The theme of MythBusters is simple. The two presenters use scientific methods to test the validity of rumours, myths, movie scenes, adages, internet videos and news stories, and to conclude whether the supposition chosen to be tested is true or false.

The subject matter is diverse and ranges from questions such as "Are elephants genuinely afraid of mice?" and "Can a human voice shatter a glass?" to "Is it possible to plunge your fingers in molten metal without being burned?" and "Will the pressure 100m underwater really squeeze a deep-sea diver's body into his helmet?"

Although the show is unashamedly entertaining, it is underpinned by sound scientific theory.
Savage and Hyneman dipped their hands in molten lead to demonstrate graphically the Leidenfrost effect, whereby a layer of cold water creates a temporary protective shield around an item being immersed in a liquid of a specific heat.

Executive producer Dan Tapster explains that scientific theory and method are intrinsic to the show.
"The scientific integrity of what we do is vital," he says. "Every episode has a logical scientific progression. The myth is our hypothesis, our plan, is our method, and within that method we test data and interpret that data to get a conclusion about our hypothesis.

"That logical scientific storytelling is always the same in every show."

The show's popularity is evident from the viewer interaction it elicits. It has more than three million Facebook followers and the Discovery Channel's message boards are full of debate about each set of conclusions.

Many of the myths tested are suggested by viewers and if fans disagree with results they can request that the subjects are retested and suggest method refinements.

The Archimedes death ray myth, which Obama challenged the show's makers to prove or disprove, has already been the subject of two previous shows.

As Tapster explains: "The President genuinely felt that we had messed up previous attempts. We first tested the myth in 2004 and used descriptions from history books to create a single huge mirror. It did not work.

"Viewers wrote in and suggested that we should have used hundreds of single mirrors, so we produced another show in collaboration with the engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where we used lots of bronze mirrors placed on stands.

"Again it failed, but President Obama argued that the one thing ancient Greeks had in excess was manpower and that we should have used hundreds of people holding individual mirrors."

Because of the range of scientific theorems tested, MythBusters, which is made mainly in San Francisco and edited in Australia, calls on expertise from the scientific community.

In the case of one show which tested the myth that an empty bottle causes more damage when smashed over a head than a full one, a neurologist was consulted.

And as for Obama's possible conundrum? Yes, you can polish a turd using the ancient Japanese tradition of dorodango, which involves working water into ground dirt and forming a ball with your hands.

This sphere needs to dry and then the moulding/polishing process has to be continually repeated until a sheen appears on the ball.

* MythBusters screens on Sky's Discovery Channel at 8.30pm on Mondays
- INDEPENDENT

How to be successful ... (Part 2)

Here's some more great advice from prominent and successful New Zealanders that you can share with your students:

1. Don't be afraid to ask questions no matter how silly they sound.
2. Dictionaries should live on tables (or desks), not tucked away on shelves, so they can be used every day.
3. Observation is the key to innovation - never stop looking and imagining what might be hidden in the obvious.
4. Be the one who determines your destiny. Let no one else decide what you can and can't do.
5. Stay fit and get enough sleep.
6. Take time in life to enjoy what you are doing at the present; don't always look to the past and future, just be in the now and enjoy it for what it is.
7. Set a goal, add self belief and a lot of hard work, it is amazing what you can achieve.
8. Be yourself.
9. Save 10% of your income.
10. Smile and world smiles with you.  Kick and you kick alone.

How to be successful ... (Part 1)

Often I hear people say; 'if only I knew that when I was younger'.  Well, here is some great advice that has been given by prominent and successful New Zealanders that can be passed on to students in your classrooms.  Maybe one or two ideas will stick and inspire, leading to them sharing their own advice in the years to come as future success stories.

1. Circumstances don't matter because you get out of life what you put into it, not what was given to you.
2. Never be afraid to pipe up and ask if you don't understand.
3. Just keep living till you die.
4. Go to university.
5. Never be embarrassed by success.
6. Forget what other people think; if people don't like what you do, or are rude to you, it's just one person's opinion.
7. Don't give up - learn to understand and appreciate change.
8. Keep on writing and keep on reading.
9. The will to win is never as important as the will to prepare to win.
10. Don't worry if you don't have much experience - just audition, they'll see the potential in you.

The original list is from The Listener Magazine.