Further to my post on T1’s school and Bahasa Malaysia, here is my response to some of the comments received.

I would gladly have a debate in Bahasa Malaysia with anyone. Just name your time & place!

As for attending tuition & enrichment classes, let me qualify that it was only meant for T1’s school. The school says that students at the school should NOT be attending tuition and enrichment classes as there is already so little time after school and really, there is no need. After school time is meant for Rest & Relax, a bit of homework, and QUALITY FAMILY TIME to recharge fully for an energetic next day of school.

Unfortunately, many parents from our school still send their children for lots of tuition to stay and get ahead, and for whatever reason; but this is not what the school encourages at all.

Having said that, if I had sent T1 to a Government School, I had already a budget planned out on what kind of ‘tuition’ she would be needing, because say what you may, good teachers in Government Schools these days are few and far between. Because they are poorly paid, some teachers don’t care about teaching at school and would rather make their money giving tuition after school instead. There are TONS of tuition teachers available in KL alone! But how many can really teach and are good teachers? I do feel sorry for the very few good teachers out there because not only are they hardly recognised, they get the slack from the rest of the teacher community who are really the slackers (pun intended).

I totally support parents sending their children out to spend their time more productively, and especially if they are active boys. I have seen how exhausted some of my friend’s become when they are home with boys too long and cannot wait to just let them out. Anywhere but home! Of course, this is a generalisation. Girls can be just as exhausting. Just look at mine. I also support parents who send their children out for tuition if they genuinely feel the need that the child is not coping due to lousy teachers or learning disabilities etc. But the best would be to coach them yourselves. Don’t know how? LEARN!!! No time? Make time if possible…..but if really you can’t, then you can’t. There is only 24 hours in a day and if you have 3 kids, let alone 4, 5, 6…..forget it.

I’m not sure I agree with you pay for what you get in education because there are some schools where you pay a lot of money for and still have a lot of issues, nor an education standard I would hardly consider good (or worth it’s money)! But yes, generally the better schools available in KL are just (@^#(@^#)&^)@ EXPENSIVE!!!! They are MILKING it because they know how poor our local education ministry/system is!!! I know people from our local education system from teachers to those at the ministry and their personal advice to me was to stay away if I could afford to. That’s not to discard the local schools at all, because to me, the biggest education comes from home anyway. It’s just that if you can afford better exposure for your kids because you do not have the time to expose them to such things, then paying for that kind of education is the trade off. I admit, I’m a slacker Mom. One of the biggest actually……

I completely agree that where scoring for exams is concerned, that it be dependent upon the effort of the child. Thus, marks are not a basis for comparison, nor is it the be all and end all. But certainly HARD WORK is a cause for all glory. It is important to praise your child’s EFFORT in doing something which she’s worked hard on rather than the end result.

I’m too lazy to think of starting a preschool but believe me, it is a lucrative business. There is also a good teacher shortage in KL so there would be that hurdle. But sure, you can do it with mediocre teachers and STILL make lots of money!

T1’s school also does community service whereby students cannot graduate unless they have done XX hours of charity work. That doesn’t mean that a child will turn out kind and all philanthropic but again, it is up to parents to instill such values into their children and not depend on the school for everything. And certainly by putting your child in a school where expensive fees are required, they are automatically exposed to an upper crust of society (and how rude and spoilt some of these kids are!); which is when again you as a parent need to take a proactive approach to not only keep your child grounded but allow her to be great friend’s with the housekeeper’s daughter, that orphan child at the orphanage, or any group(s) of children who are less fortunate, to offer some perspective. Teach empathy. Something my Mother always say I lack……

And to add to mingling with the rich kids whereby they compare parents’ cars and holiday destinations (thank God, this hasn’t started with T1 and I hope it never does, and BLOODY SHAME ON YOU, you parents who don’t have the time of day to teach your children how not to boast about their holidays and expensive pets), there are also disadvantages in local Government Schools when it comes to social problems – gangsterism, sex offenders, bullying, unwanted pregnancies, crime, drugs, violence etc. Of course, this can happen amongst all classes of society but you know what I mean.

Does that answer your questions? Bring it on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Who is Mamapumpkin?
Mamapumpkin spent 7 years in London committing crimes to gain her Bartlett degree in Architecture. She then spent 7 years as a Stay At Home Mom raising her children as documented in this blog of over 15 years thereafter returning to the Corporate World stronger than ever as the Country Director of a British Multinational. She sets out to prove to all, that you can have anything and everything that you want; if you have that fire of desire burning within and the drive to work hard. Even better with much love.

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She now impacts lives authentically with proven strategies amassed through the last decade of her own transformation offering online coaching programmes and always supports the underprivileged. She believes that we can all have a life of our own desires to enable real contribution into the world. But first, one needs to understand what this all means.

A beautiful life without limits.

If you wish to learn some tools to propel your life forward guaranteed, be brave enough to make contact as her life's purpose is to build people. She operates through a discovery call after which she will commit to helping you. Or not.

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Mamapumpkin is a living testimony that women really can have a lot. Being financially and time free has enabled her to travel the world anytime, anywhere, doing anything, and she spends most of her days with her children, having fun, and supporting others wherever she can. Also having fun.