I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it twice. I’ve heard it from someone else and I’ve heard it from myself. Pre-school and elementary students’ lessons nowadays are too advanced.
If we based it on the lessons we had, less than 30 years ago… of course today’s curriculum is far too advanced. I didn’t solve word problems in pre-school math and I learned to write cursive only by the end of my first grade. Last week, I was teaching my first grade daughter about Roman Numerals. 1-3 were easy but 14, 40, 19 and 90, and others, were way too confusing for her. My problem is, I can’t seem to explain Arabic-Roman numeral conversion without having to explain the process of adding and subtracting double digits. Then I remembered, they were not yet taught how to add and subtract double Arabic digits yet. So why do teachers expect them to write 298 in Roman Numeral? On top of Math, she had to memorize 2 English poems and 1 tula for a graded recitation. Talk about child stress!
My daughter is doing well in her other subjects, she actually topped her pre-school class last graduation. But I still think that her grade school lessons are too fast-paced, if not difficult. Some people, like the owner of the learning center where she studies thinks so too but then she said, “It’s already the standard. If we don’t follow it, we’ll get left behind.” Quite true.
According to reports, the Philippines is left behind, perhaps, too far behind, by its Asian neighbors in Math and Science. I heard someone justify the advanced lessons as a response to this situation. But I think there should more to it than just teaching difficult math problems or English lessons. Methodologies should also be developed so that no matter how advanced, like asking grade 1 students to solve algebra-like problems, understanding it won’t be too hard on the kid.
Maybe I’m just venting out my math-o-phobia. Or maybe I’m just not aware that there are drills or activities to make studying Math a piece of cake. Or maybe it’s me who’s pressured because I want to her keep her academic standing. Maybe I’m pressured because I’m beginning to think she now needs a tutor because I haven’t help her much in studying due to various reasons.
Wherever this pressure is coming from, I hope I get over it. For crying out loud, she’s only in grade 1!
