Cram school for kids

[dimwit]

My wife wants to send my son to Kumon. Any FG's have had their children go thru Kumon? Is it good, bad or a waste of time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[AssKissinger]

My wife wants to send my son to Kumon. Any FG's have had their children go thru Kumon? Is it good, bad or a waste of time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I used to work at a Kumon teaching a few lessons once a week and I also took Japanese classes there myself. I've taught lessons at other juku as well. Compared with other juku I guess kumon's not so bad. It's just a big homework/study center really. They have these worksheets and you can't go on to the next one until you get 100% on the last something. The teachers walk around with stopwatches because you have to be able to read or do some problems under a certain amount of time to get to the next level. It's not that bad a system. They got a way figured out to get the kids to work on their own at their own pace but inspire them pretty well to not be a total slack about it.

That fair evaluation being said:

FOR FUCKS SAKE DON'T PUT YOUR KIDS IN JUKU. One school a day is enough. I do believe that eikaiwa and juku can actually hurt a kids education by making him so sick of it all he never tries in school or juku. I'm interested in the subject even though I don't have kids myself. I ask the kids at aschool if they go to juku and a lot of the best students never went inside one and a lot of the fuck ups go everyday. I know association doesn't prove a correlation and it's all case by case and all that but for real man... just think about it...after school going to another school. Any kid is gonna think that sucks and rightfully so. I know a lot kids claim to like juku when they really don't just because they know it's what their mothers want to hear.

[GuyJean]

My wife wants to send my son to Kumon. Any FG's have had their children go thru Kumon? Is it good, bad or a waste of time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I tend to agree with AK; I think kids need to be inspired to learn.. Going to cram school after school doesn't sound very inspiring to me. And I'm an adult.. Sort of..

I've heard there are more 'creative' cram schools now though; more activities, thinking games, art mixed with physics/mathmatics, etc.. But I'm not sure where I heard that.. Maybe I dreamt it..

GJ

[yellowlightman]

I'm not sure how different Kumon is in the States, but based on what AK said it seems pretty similar to Kumon in Japan. I took some math classes at Kumon back in junior high school, and they helped me out a lot when I was falling behind in my classes.

[dimwit]

I'm not planning to have him study math there. I am specifically interested in having him learn both reading and writing Japanese (Kanji) which I am not qualified to teach him and my wife being a doctor doesn't really have the time to do so.

[AssKissinger]

I'm not planning to have him study math there. I am specifically interested in having him learn both reading and writing Japanese (Kanji) which I am not qualified to teach him and my wife being a doctor doesn't really have the time to do so.

Doesn't he get that at public school? Has he had part of his education in the States or something? Is he behind for some reason?

[dimwit]

Doesn't he get that at public school? Has he had part of his education in the States or something? Is he behind for some reason?

In simple answers No, No and Yes. He hasn't started Kanji yet at school and is only learning Hiragana at the moment but he has a great deal of difficultly with it, and is certainly behind the other students. I'm worried that he may have some reading problem which the school system is not very good at dealing with.

[AssKissinger]

Doesn't he get that at public school? Has he had part of his education in the States or something? Is he behind for some reason?

In simple answers No, No and Yes. He hasn't started Kanji yet at school and is only learning Hiragana at the moment but he has a great deal of difficultly with it, and is certainly behind the other students. I'm worried that he may have some reading problem which the school system is not very good at dealing with.

Well if that's the case Kumon might be the right call. The best thing about it for that kind of situation is like I said before every kid finds his own pace and they build from there. Also, they're very good at finding the right level to start at. Generally, I'm against juku and eikaiwa in principle, despite the hypocrisy of teaching at them myself, but this might be an exception. Good luck to your son.

[gomichild]

Actually a number of kids I used to teach preferred juku classes to school classes - mainly because the classes were more fun and smaller.

[Charles]

There was just a big story on the CBS news last night about US cram schools. One educational expert said that you should not put kids in cram schools until they're in jr. high at a minimum, before that, their development is best served by copious amounts of play time, something they won't get if they begin cramming.

I'll take this opportunity to plug an old video on my website, showing parents forcing cram school on their preschool kids to prep them to get into a prestigious kindergarten.

[AssKissinger]

their development is best served by copious amounts of play time, something they won't get if they begin cramming

I believe that 100%.

Disinfotainment
Unpopular Opinions from Charles Eicher

That is really funny!

[Charles]

their development is best served by copious amounts of play time, something they won't get if they begin cramming

I believe that 100%.

Watch the video, there's a scene where a woman is instructing her child on how to play properly, because the kindergarten entrance exam will watch the kids at play to determine if their playtime behavior conforms to the school's rigid standards.

[Skankster]

-
-
YET

You cannot deny the need for focus on basic education.

I would go with the after Jr. High principle... but there are programs (mostly stateside) tghat allow kids to play and learn simultaneously (singing, dancing, drumming, etc.)

[Charles]

..He hasn't started Kanji yet at school and is only learning Hiragana at the moment but he has a great deal of difficultly with it, and is certainly behind the other students. I'm worried that he may have some reading problem which the school system is not very good at dealing with.

I suppose we should return to dealing with the actual problem instead of going off on a topic drift.

Have you had your child's vision tested? I mean REALLY tested? Let me tell you a weird story.
When I was about 38, I started having trouble reading furigana, especially the tiny nigori (i.e. hiragana po and bo). So I had an eye test, and had a very interesting conversation with the opthalmologist, it went something like this.
Opt: Let me ask you a question. Haven't you ever had your vision tested before?
Me: Sure, plenty of times, even back when I was a little kid, they always said it was perfect.
O: Well let me ask you another question. When you were a little kid, did anyone ever diagnose you as dyslexic?
M: Actually yes, they put me in a special speed reading class, and now I have no problems, I devour books at an astonishing rate.
O: Well it turns out you weren't dyslexic, just farsighted, and have been farsighted since you were a little kid. If they'd just have given you glasses, you wouldn't have had any problems.
M: I can't believe it! I was tested every year in elementary school, and they always said my vision was fine.
O: Vision screenings aren't very good at detecting farsightedness, just nearsightedness. You would have needed a professional exam to detect it.

[AssKissinger]

Charles that was a decent post but it's shit like this...

I devour books at an astonishing rate.

The only things you're supposed to brag about are J-pussy and chemical consumption. OK?

[Charles]

Charles that was a decent post but it's shit like this...

I devour books at an astonishing rate.

The only things you're supposed to brag about are J-pussy and chemical consumption. OK?

Oh put a sock in it. I'm not trying to brag, I'm merely recounting a discussion with my opthalmologist, asserting that I was diagnosed as dyslexic but with special training my reading skills became above average, and that all of that training might not have been necessary if I'd just gotten eyeglasses.
The moral of the story is that many "learning disabilities" are merely misdiagnosed vision or hearing problems, and easily treated. If by recounting how I overcame my own troubles, I can help some poor little kid who is struggling in school, then I guess you'll just have to bear with this insufferably intolerable anecdote.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

Charles that was a decent post but it's shit like this...

I devour books at an astonishing rate.

The only things you're supposed to brag about are J-pussy and chemical consumption. OK?

Oh put a sock in it. I'm not trying to brag, I'm merely recounting a discussion with my opthalmologist, asserting that I was diagnosed as dyslexic but with special training my reading skills became above average, and that all of that training might not have been necessary if I'd just gotten eyeglasses.
The moral of the story is that many "learning disabilities" are merely misdiagnosed vision or hearing problems, and easily treated. If by recounting how I overcame my own troubles, I can help some poor little kid who is struggling in school, then I guess you'll just have to bear with this insufferably intolerable anecdote.

You spelt ophthalmologist incorrectaly (coming from a real dyslexic:p)

Oh and you cant use two adjectives together like that.

[Skankster]

-
-
As I said b4... go back to the basics.


Try spending YOUR time with YOUR kid and I promise you that will make a difference. Do at a picnik at the park using large flash cards as your flying a kite or something)

and remember the old saying:

If you cannot get anything done right... Do it yourself!

[tatsujin]

-
-
As I said b4... go back to the basics.


Try spending YOUR time with YOUR kid and I promise you that will make a difference. Do at a picnik at the park using large flash cards as your flying a kite or something)

and remember the old saying:

If you cannot get anything done right... Do it yourself!

I agree Skanster. I think at the end of the day the best education a child will receive is from his home environment and parents- how his/her parents interact, how to develop/maintain human relationships (brothers/sisters/friends), responsibility, learning to enjoy a bit of hard work, seeing other people point of view etc...

Its especially obvious in Japan the amount of people who have absorbed tomes of educational text but have no social framework to apply them to, i.e. they end up as bureaucratic vending machines spewing out nonsense.

I've a number of friends who didn't grow up with the best education but had solid parents - most of them now have grown up as good people with really successful jobs.

Sorry for getting on my soapbox, but I think its terrible the way kids het "moulded" in some cultures.

[AssKissinger]

I don't have any kids but if I did I wouldn't fuck up their minds trying to teach them Japanese. Can't teach what you don't know.

[tatsujin]

Charles - is the link currently down? Can't seem to get a connection

[dimwit]

As far as reading and writing go, I think rote study is valid especially as in the case of my son where there may be a problem. I would never send my son to study...say history at a Juku. If I could teach him Japanese capabily most certainly would.

[Kuang_Grade]

Oh put a sock in it. I'm not trying to brag, I'm merely recounting a discussion with my opthalmologist, asserting that I was diagnosed as dyslexic but with special training my reading skills became above average, and that all of that training might not have been necessary if I'd just gotten eyeglasses.
The moral of the story is that many "learning disabilities" are merely misdiagnosed vision or hearing problems, and easily treated. If by recounting how I overcame my own troubles, I can help some poor little kid who is struggling in school, then I guess you'll just have to bear with this insufferably intolerable anecdote.

I'd suggest that the moral of the story is get always second opinion when it comes to dyslexia and have proper professionals examine your eyes on a regular basis (Ophthalmologists are usually more expensive but worth it in my opinion...your eyes are not the place to play it cheap)

I'm not picking a fight, Charles but I'm dyslexic and it affects my life everyday. I've developed approaches to deal with it, and despite coming very close to being labeled mildly retarded due to my poor language skills as child, I've succeed by most standards and have 2 BAs and MA degree under my belt.

While it has become trendy to label US kids as LD, I'd say it is a stretch to suggest most of them just need to be told "hey kid, you just need glasses or a hearing aid". Because that's what they said when I was kid, and in my case, they were dead wrong.

It is a complex issue and it impacts people in different ways/levels of severity. However, I think we would both agree that proper vision and hearing checks should be done prior to any diagnosis of dyslexia.

[Charles]

Charles - is the link currently down? Can't seem to get a connection

I was doing a huge download using almost 100% of my downstream bandwidth, it shouldn't have affected the upload bandwidth but there's always a possibility it did. Try it again, and let me know what happens in more detail.

[Charles]

I'm not picking a fight, Charles but I'm dyslexic and it affects my life everyday. I've developed approaches to deal with it, and despite coming very close to being labeled mildly retarded due to my poor language skills as child, I've succeed by most standards and have 2 BAs and MA degree under my belt.

While it has become trendy to label US kids as LD, I'd say it is a stretch to suggest most of them just need to be told "hey kid, you just need glasses or a hearing aid". Because that's what they said when I was kid, and in my case, they were dead wrong.

I'm not attempting to minimize the seriousness of learning disabilities, or say it isn't a real problem and you just need glasses or whatever. I'm just saying to doublecheck if there is a more common, easily treated, often overlooked problem first. Occam's Razor, you know.