Children Who Are, Intelligent in, Different, Ways

The school systems, that still zoomed in on the grades, and neglected how there are, the various kinds of talents, like the artistic, musical sides, of the students, and these students who don’t excel in the academia, gets, shunned, it’s the system that needs to shift its focus toward the fact that children are, intelligent in their own different, ways, that NOT every child learns the same way…translated…

The First Time I’d Made a Perfect Score, Ranked Top of My Class, I Was, Overjoyed, Let it Gotten to My Head, with No Sense of Awareness that Underneath the Glasses, There Was the Disappointments & Doubt…………

At the afternoon nap hours, I’d put my head on the desk, turned to my side.  The boy sitting next to me started carrying a conversation with me in a hushed, voice, suddenly, I saw his eyes, shut in a panic, and, without any time to react, that burning feeling, the four fingers of my instructor’s palm, imprinted onto my, right, cheek.

The male classmate wasn’t caught, he was the head of class, intelligent, well-behaved, excellent in the academia, no matter what he did, he will be all right.  In the elementary years, I’d often talked out of turn, wasn’t good in school, didn’t look at all or behaved as a girl would.  I’d asked the head of class, why he got to visit our homeroom instructor’s home?  He’d chuckled, “You can too, uh-huh……just keep on, dreaming and, waiting.”

My homeroom instructor’s handwriting was very beautiful, she’d stood very tall, with a slender, pointy face, her hair trimmed to short.  Every time she’d appeared outside of the classroom door, the air would freeze, and the naughtiest boys in class, didn’t dare to move a single, muscle.  I’d, wanted to, copy her handwriting, but, no matter how I’d tried, I couldn’t, duplicate her handwriting.

At nap, there were the teachers from the other classes, coming to visit with her.  The group of female instructors, tiptoed into the class, admired her newly purchased scarves, the accessories, and her silky dress.  They’d first, patted the turquoise colored, silk scarf, then tried on the agate, emerald necklace, and I’d, always, daydreamed and watched them in secret, in the glowing light reflected in from the glass windows, there’s that, simple wonder that transpired in the, classroom.

theory of M.I. by Howard Gardner…from online

The homeroom instructor had the head of class to enter into the recitation competition, he’d worn that ironed-to-perfect white uniform, with the curves of his chin, turned, the way our homeroom instructor looked upon him, I thought her eyes were, glowing.  She’d never used that sort of a gaze on any one of us.  There came, that strong feeling, and I couldn’t tell if it was envy, or admiration.  That made me longed to be looked upon like that too.

At the beginning of a new semester, our homeroom instructor encouraged us to improve our grades, and set the rules, of however made six one hundreds, then, the student will receive a huge present from her.

On the day the grades were, revealed, I’d recalled it lucidly, the miracle came to me, I stood by her desk, as she was, about to, hand me my graded, exam, from the gold rim of her glasses, she’d, glanced over at me.  That was, the very first perfect score, the first time I was, the head of the class, I allowed the joy to go over my head, without realizing, that there were, the doubts, the disappointment, that was there, in my instructor’s, eyes underneath her, glasses.  After that, I’d, started, hoping for the perfect scores, and her looks upon me, and day after day after day, I’d, gone from hopeful, to, disappointment.

On the final day of school, as I was picking up my things, readied myself to head home, my homeroom instructor called me, had me follow her into the office.  She’d, pulled out a trophy, that tiny gold person, was glowing, with the red and blue ribbons, tied into a, bow, with the word, “excellent performance” printed in bright red and bold.  My very first, insignia of, glory, she’d never, forgotten.

illustration from UDN.com

And, many years later, I’d seen the movie, “Happiness on the Way”, the female protagonist, Shu-Chih was punished to stand in the back of class because she didn’t enroll into the afterschool study program of her instructor’s, later her mother gave the high end fabric to the instructor, hoping to cover for the girl’s lacking.  And, suddenly, it’d, dawned on me, that in my homeroom instructor’s mind, we were, children raised in, different, means.

After the realization I had, that stubbornness that’s set in too long ago, started, diminishing.  And recently, I’d begun, part-timing as an instructor, and gotten an alternative perspective, understood firsthand the hardships, the trials, the joys of being a school instructor.  As I’d watched every one of my students, working hard, to achieve, maybe, they all are making, different grades high and low, due to their varied level of abilities, I’d hoped, that I can be that light to them, when they needed.

On them, I couldn’t tell the differences between one student to the next, only seen, those pairs of eyes, that are, shining, with the varied, light.

This is on, how every child is different, every child is, intelligent in her/his own way.  Some are good in their studies, and not in the physical activities, some are artistic, but not doing excellent enough in the academia, and that’s just it, the current systems of education, they do NOT help these kids who aren’t academically excellent to shine through, and they still, get degraded by the adults, because the STUPID adults don’t realize, that every kid is intelligent in her/his own, way.

Are the Students DUMBER, or Did the Instructors Get, More Intelligent?

How the students are, smart, and it’s still not calculated by the grades they made in school, the theory, combined with the applications here, and the courses needed to, catch up to the times too!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

My friend LINED me the article of the “Lain-Flats”, expressing his disappointment of the younger generations, this was similar to the worries over the “strawberries” from awhile, ago.  I was, doubtful of, these sorts of, stereotypes, I’d bumped into a young school instructor, and his observation, is worth, considering.

He’d told me, that he read a document from more than twenty years ago, on the notes of the school instructors, discussing the goings-on in their classroom in time, and, there were, the expressions of “students’ levels are declining by the year”, at the time, everybody is worried, that the students are not going to be as studious or hardworking as they used to be.  Come back to now, he’d, heard similar expressions from his coworkers too, it’s like, the younger generations are, sinking down into the abyss deeper, and deeper, quicker and quicker by the year too, the adults are all, worried.  But he’d not believed that this was son, and posed an example.

The instructor teaches “linear algebra” in the university level, this is a basic math course.  His evaluation of his students is, that on the skills front, the students fared worse than before, but, they are quite, active, enthusiastic of their own, learning.  He is a hardworking professor, other than focusing on teaching, he’d, become the T.A. for his classes too, and, set up a whole day, where he just, answered the questions the students have for his, courses, he’d hoped, that through the personal interactions he’d shared with the students, he can help them resolve  the problems that they’re, having in his class.  Some of his students weren’t from the science, engineering majors, with a diverse level of skill set, and although, they posed similar questions, but, there were, the items that they couldn’t quite understand, and he’d, personalized his responses to the students individually, helping them to understand the problems they may have.

He’d summed up, that he didn’t know how to define “the level of understanding of his students”, and, shouldn’t the drive to learn be included in the assessments?  He has student who’s not an engineering or math major, toward students like this one, he’d believed, that he only needed to have the basic levels of understanding in courses like the one he’s teaching, there’s no need to go into depth.  But the student told him, that if he wanted to understand A.I., then, linear algebra would be the prerequisite.  Later, as this particular student is working in his graduate studies, once he’d come to have a chat, thanked him for teaching him the drive to find the proofs of things, that it’d helped him later on in his, studies.  I was, deeply moved by how hard he’d, worked with his students, everything that the professor has to offer, the students can, feel it, whether or not the students tell you, it’s, a successful, passing of the, torch.

In my decades’ worth of teaching, I’d often heard the worries of my friends, of how the students’ level of understanding is, dropping down lower.  I’d always told them, it’s not that they’re, dropping in their level of understanding, it’s the “professors who’d gotten, smarter”.  When someone teaches a course for a whole decade, s/he would become, completely familiar with the topics, and, would easily misjudge the materials for being, too, simple, and, would misjudge that the students are becoming, dumber.  I would suggested these professors, to do the courses experimentally, to take a non-math subject course with their students together, then, they will, gain a, different understanding.

If the instructors can’t choose their students, then, they would have the obligations to know the students well.  To help the students get ready to learn the subjects, to move forward a little, then, the professor had, succeeded.

So, this is on the values of knowledge acquisition, the students aren’t getting smarter, the professors aren’t getting, dumber, or vice versa.  It’s all due to the differences of generations, like how the kids these days, they’re, agile with the A.I. technologies, with the older generations using the computing methods by hand or their own minds, and, it’s not that which way is better than the other, they’re both with the pros and the, cons, and, as educators, you must, know, that there’s no smarter or dumber of your students, but in how they learn, and, because a student can’t understand the material in a certain subject area, that doesn’t mean that the student can’t perform outstandingly in another subject.  Everybody has something s/he is, good at, it’s just if you’re willing to take the time, to discover what someone is, good at that will, make the, greatest, difference.

Accompanying the Children into the World of, Reading

Getting them into the habit of, growing up around the books, starting these children very young, and you can be sure, that they come to, love reading…translated…

Do your children love reading?  How do we, get them to, enjoy, reading?  I’d recalled when my firstborn was born, I’d started talking to him, whether or not he’d understood me, that doesn’t matter, I’d, still, orally, communicated with him, to give him the stimulation of the auditory, kind.

I’d followed the work of Dr. Dana Suskin, “Parent Nation”, the three principles of interactions (the Three Ts).

when they were infantile…expose them to, books…photo from online

The First T: Tune in.  The parents learn to focus in on what the children are tuned into, then, participate in it, to add to the connections between parents and children, through the verbal interactions, the exchanges, to stimulate the child’s brain.

The Second T: Talk More.  Not on the number of words of exchange, more importantly, the kinds of words, the way of expression, there is the need to get a variety of expression in a child’s daily life, to help the children understand the connection between the words and the, actions.

The Third T: Take Turns.  Encourage children to participate in conversation, whether if it’s started by the parents, or in response to the children’s, questions, always remember, to wait for and hear the responses of your, young.

In the infancy stage, the parents will do more of the first two T’s, with the children growing older, the third T became, ever the more, important.  The habit of reading, is closely related to the three principles mentioned, above, because in infancy, the children receive the stimuli through the parents talking to the children, including the frequency of the words to the children, the varieties of terms used in communication, the children came to, understand the, world, so, the parents can use the children’s toys and books, to have the children experience their “first encounters of, reading”.

when they’re a bit, older, read along…photo from online

When the child is walking, then, you can take them to the libraries to the children’s sections, to let them explore the books, even if it’s just, taking one off the shelves, flipping through it randomly, to patting the books, smelling the books; at the same time, used the reading times together, to get the kids to get acquainted with, books.

I strongly recommend this means of, parenting method, because the books not only take the children to discover a world, it can, help the children resolve the questions they may have, once this habit of reading began, it will be their assets, for life.

to help them become…book lovers! Photo from online

So, the love of reading, should start, very young, back when the children are still, in their, “I bite everything” stage of life, let them pat things around the house, put things into their mouths, to explore their world, because that, is how the kids learn, through the external stimuli around them, and, putting books in their way, is a great way, to introduce them to reading (well, TASTING and BITING first!), but, get them into the habit of, touching the books more, and, when they’re older, you can, read to them, tell them stories, this will to your closeness with your young, and it also will, help their brains, develop, in the language acquisition, language cortex.

The Holes in the Childcare Laws, Only Set the Teacher-Student Ratios Not Mandated that There Should be Two Early Childhood Certified Caretakers Per Classroom

The teacher to student ratio had been set, but, there’s no written rule of at least two early childhood professional caretakers per preschool classroom setting, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Preschool All Over the Island Has the “Half-a-Classroom Functional” Problems

Currently in the preschool classes here, there are usually two early childhood educators, to allow the instructors of the classroom to have the needed support from the early childhood educators, and vice versa, but recently, the N.F.T.U. received the complaints, that a lot of the cities and counties, when adding more preschools to the districts, would use the “half-a-class” human resources means, causing some of the classes with only one early childhood assistant, who can only keep the eyes on half the class, calling out to the Department of Education to amend the “early childhood education and care laws” to resolve the wayward situation of “half-a-class being taken care of” in preschools.

Based off of the current regulations, the student to teacher ratio for three-to-five-year-old preschool classes is one adult to fifteen children, with the maximum number of students being thirty, meaning, that two nursery workers per thirty children; the two-year-old classes, with a student limit of sixteen children, the teacher to student ratio being one to eight.

this is how foreign countries do it…but apparently, this “country” can’t catch up to the “games”…from onine

But the N.F.T.U. stated, that the early childcare laws only followed the teacher to student ration, without making sure of the two early childhood caretakers per class, causing there to be “half-a-class” in a lot of the counties and cities when they added more preschools to the districts, meaning, that they’re only taking in half of what’s required as the total of students, and only had one early childhood classroom help.

Based off of the survey conducted by N.F.T.U., it’d been found, that this is happening across the whole island, the C.E.O. Hou suspected, that this may be caused by how the local government saves up on the cost of hiring the early childhood educators, he can’t come up with other possible reasons for this.

The N.F.T.U. said, that children under age six needs the nursery care workers around them at all times, if there’s only one adult in a classroom, there’s no way of ensuring every child’s safety.  There are teachers who’d stated, that in the “half-a-class” systems, there are the sudden onsets of emergencies, for instance, a child vomited and needed to have the place sanitized completely, or a child has diarrhea, or arguments between children, with only one certified caretaker, there’s no way that the adult can manage an entire class full of children.  And this will get worse in the classes of two-year-olds.

On this, the Department of Education stated, that it will supervise the local governments, to have the preschools hire by the regulations of the law, and consider the actual needs of the schools individually, to adjust the number of teacher per classroom.

And so, this is still how SLOW the Department of Education is to response to this teacher-to-student ratio “thing”.  And, it seemed that the Department of Education, just like all the government agencies under the D.D.P., keep missing out on the “memos”, I mean, it IS, common sense that the younger the age group is, there’s the lower teacher to student ratio, and as the kids grow older, then, there would be more number of students getting supervised by a school instructor, and yet, this god damn government is slow to respond to this problem that is coming up to the surface in early childhood education here.

Lesson I’m Learning at the Moment, on Parenting

Allowances, to give or not to give, and, do we, allow our young to spend whatever it is we “paid” them regularly on what THEY wanted to own or not, that is, the QUESTION here!  How this parents, let go, and allowed her own son, to learn to manage his own, finances, of course, it’s only, in the smaller amounts of, allowances, acceptable to children…translated…

It’s Truly, Quite Difficult, to Pass the Knowledge of Financial Planning to the Children, Using the Reasoning to Convince Them that They Can Take in……….

Last year on Father’s Day, the kids received a frog piggy bank from the church.  We’d started handing them the coins to feed to their, froggy banks.  After several months, the kids loved hearing the coins, clinking against each other inside their froggy banks, and yet, I’d found, with displease, that from time to time, the kids would have less money than before in the froggy banks—as the kids took the money out to get them the snacks or the toys.
“How come your froggy banks are getting lighter and lighter?”

illustration from UDN.com

“Why did you guys take the money out again?”  “Don’t buy the candies, the toys, it’s too wasteful, do you not know that!”

Once the above emotion and order took me over, I’d found, that I’d become, more and more unwilling to give them their, allowances.  And yet, as I’d thumbed across the financial advice that parents can instill in children, and how the allowances can be used as a form of show of trust in our young, I’d become, willing again, to give them their, weekly allowances, I got reminded of my original belief of why I’d started, giving them the allowances—I wanted the kids to learn to manage their own money, and how to use their own allowances, that was why I’d, started, giving them the allowances.  Turns out, the key here is NOT in directing them on how they’re to use what we give to them, but how to train the kids to take responsibilities for their own actions, including teaching them which items they’re spending on, are good for them to have, which ones, aren’t, along with having the self-controls, to resist the temptations of snacks, and of the sweet drinks too.

As parents, trusting our young is something that doesn’t come easily, but we need to master this.  Especially when they entered school, what did they purchase?  What did they buy for foods?  The parents can’t have any control over, we need to clearly, pass the values of financial intelligence to our young, and we must use the reasonings that the kids can’t find the objections to, this is, truly, quite, difficult.  While I, am still, currently, on this, path to learn the ways.

One day, my eldest told me that he’d hoped he could carry some of his allowances on him, so he could have it to use as he wanted to.  Although I’d worried he might spend it all, but I’d, kept my lips shut.  Another time, he saw an item at the super convenience store with his favorite Pikachu on it, a coin wallet that’s close to a hundred and fifty dollars, without a second thought, he’d taken one up, stood in line; although I’d wanted to stop him, but I’d still, selected to, keep my, silence in the time, being.

PIGGY for the SLAUGHTER! Photo from online

A month later, I’d found, that every day my eldest would carry his coin purse.  He’d placed some money into his banks, and place some in his wallet; he’d not worked as I suspected that he would, spent up all his allowances, nor did he blow all his allowances away on the drinks, the snacks either, instead, when he’d wanted to spend his money, he’d, let me know first.

I’m glad, that I’d, bitten my tongue from before.  Had I begun in putting an end to his spending his allowances in time, not trusted him, or stopped giving him his allowances, I’m sure, I would’ve never seen the maturity he now showed, from his own, financial planning means, and I would’ve gotten stuck in that vicious cycle of that self-fulfilling prophecy of “I KNEW you would’ve blown al your cash away!”, and, I’m certain, that that would cause this huge tall wall, to get STUCK between us that can’t, get torn down again.

And so, this is on trusting ourselves, to KNOW, that we’d, raised our own young right, after all, if you’d, instilled these values of spending your money carefully every day or regularly in your actions (not just your words), your kids, I’m sure, would’ve had the financial senses, to KNOW how to save up the allowances you gave to them, besides, you’d given THEM their allowances, so it’s THEIRS to do whatever they will with it, and if you don’t let go, if you’d breathed down their necks, watched them underneath that MICROSCOPE, checked their backpacks for things that they purchased at school, etc., etc., etc., then, that would DEFEAT the WHOLE purposes of your handing them their, allowances in the first place, and so, this mother did right, by BITING her own TONGUE, when she saw her son first, squandered away the allowances, because he then, learned the values of the need to save up for what he wanted, by trial and error.

The Violence in the Classrooms, Blamed on the Disabilities, Resolved with the Parents’ Picking the Students up and Taking Them Home for the Day?

This is, hindsight, had the school, been aware of the needs of this, special needs student, and take the precautions, then, this “beat down” may well have been, averted, but it wasn’t, because the school lacked the foresight in preparation for these sorts of things in the classroom setting, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

A student in a high school in Taipei was suspected of feeling upset over how the instructor had, reprimanded him, he’d lost control, run up to the podium, spat in the instructor’s face, and started, beating on the instructor, the instructor sustained multiple swelling injuries, the school, afterwards, had the parents take the student, home.  The Department of Education of Taipei stated, that the student is a special needs student, and in the time being, the school already, counseled him, and the school is going to allot the funds for the instructor’s sustained injuries.  The experts pointed out, that when something like this happens, the instructor should try and sever the student away from the tension that s/he is feeling at the time, for example, lead the student out of the class to cool off.

Based off of understanding, the incident happened at the end of last month, as the disciplinary official, other instructors arrived in the classroom, they’d first, calmed the student down, and taken care of him emotionally, but the student was still emotional, started kicking at the door multiple times, and screamed out loud, to the point of retuning, to assault the instructor, again, and the other saw him, and rushed up, subdued him, the instructor’s clothes were torn, and sustained redness and swelling in injuries.

The school stated, that the student is emotionally troubled, and physically violent, special needs student, at the time, he may have lacked the means to communicate with the instructor, but the instructor didn’t have any bad intentions, that in the future, the school will hire outside resources to intervene, to help the student improve on his behaviors in the classroom setting.

The Department of Education stated, the school, in the shortest time, offered counseling to the entire classroom, and the student who’d acted out is currently taken care of and school at home, waiting until he became more emotionally stable, then, he will return to class, and the school had filed for the special needs resources for the student.

The experts pointed out, the special needs students usually have a combination of disabilities and emotional troubles, and may become extremely sensitive to the situation that they are in, suggested to simplify the classroom, to reduce the noises; and, in similar situations, the school instructor should “interrupt” the students from the students’ tensing up feelings.

some guidelines, for managing a classroom with special needs students…found online

The assistant director, the psychiatrist in Taoyuan Home of the Department of Health Sanitations & Welfares, Lee said, the children with a combined diagnoses of autism, may be persistent with certain rituals of their daily routines, for instance, if they’d heard loud noises in class, they may be worked up, had the instructor noted the student’s feeling agitated, it’s suggested, that the instructor takes the special needs student out of the classroom setting, or get the student begin something s/he enjoys doing.  And, when group activities are assigned, the instructor should prepare the student ahead of times, as the group activities may disrupt the ordinary routines that the students are already, used, to.

And so, this is how it works, when we tried, normalizing the special needs students, into the regular classrooms, and, there’s NO T.A., assigned to stay with this student specifically, as there should have been, and the lacking of awareness of the student’s tendencies, the not noting how the student was, already, getting, upset little by little before he blew up, all added up to the student’s acting out, and beating the teacher up.

Expectations, on Live-ing

Things that schools don’t teach us, the most important things we will ever learn in our lives, this parent had, let his own sons, learn on their own…on educating the next generations, translated…

We’d Originally, Thought, that by Doing This, We Will, Reduce the Pressures of the Kids Advancing Through the Grade Levels, but, the Quizzes, Exams Had, Filled Up Their Lives, the Competition Between the Peers, the Placements, are Alive and Right in Front of Them, it would be Hard NOT to Get Anxious about it All………….

The Compressions from the Continuation of Education

Started when my son was in the first grade, one day, he’d come to me with his assignment book, said, “the teacher wants the parents to write down the expectations they have of their children’s future and life.”, I’d written in a combination of Chinese characters, and phonetic spellings, “make a ton of good friends, grow very tall, loving sports, good in basketball, and that up to graduation, won’t become nearsighted, no glasses.”

illustration from UDN.com

It was like riding on that time machine, I’d returned back to the classroom of my former middle school, the 127 days until the high school entrance exams, written on the board.  I’d switched my seat, since then, I’m now, seated by the podium, in the teacher’s seat, I’m the nineth period’s parent on-duty tonight in my son’s school.  At age fifteen, I was in this same school as he was, the same desk, written the same exams….in a daze, I got, caught in the, memories, and, a ton of bitter sweet memories came surfacing back up, and, there were more of the grayed, heavy compressions of us, testing into the next levels of education with us.  Seeing how the kids had, scratched their heads, as they get stuck on the practice tests, in the end, the student teacher explained the problems that they all got stumped on.  After school, my son carried that five kilogram backpack on his back, walked next to me, as we carried on in conversations, we’d entered into the MRT station, thank heavens, he was, tough enough in built, that heavyset backpack didn’t cause him any dent.  The MRT trains after the nineth period of school became, packed with the commuters who are then, going home from work, too crowded, the air became, heated up.  The working class are now, able to, relaxed, my son and I were, heading, home, and yet, half of his classmates were, rushing to the bottom half of their nights for the cram school sessions.

Before my two sons entered into middle school, I’d set the rules down: first, don’t EVER stay up all night to study, go to bed by ten, 10:30 at latest.  Because they’re in their growth spur, and, there’s only one chance for them to grow in height, while there’s a ton of studies they will have to manage once they’re in the middle and high school years, and even if they fall a bit behind, that’s all right, they can catch up on their studies at any time.  Secondly, no cram schools, other than the tutoring in English once every week for an hour, focus on listening in class, review over the quizzes, and revise what they got wrong in the quizzes, and we’d, used the money we’d saved on their cram school sessions to take the family out on vacation.  Third, can’t do away with the leisure activities, unless there’s a major exam coming up, otherwise, we’d all gone cycling around the lake, to hike, to the farms to pick the fruits, or movies, or some other forms of leisure.  As for the grades, whatever they get, will be, all, right.

I’d originally thought, that by using this means of allowing them to relax can take away from the pressures of their school, but, their lives are filled with the major exams, the minor, quizzes, the competitions of the peers, and, the placements, right in front of them, pressing them hard, not easy to feel at ease.  My eldest, is the head of his school and classes, and so, his paternal grandparents, and my own parents would, tell him to go for the medical schools and of the three top choice schools for him, and I’d felt, extremely upset by this, but there was, nothing I can, do.  When my two sons turned one, I’d, intentionally, not had them do the rituals of grabbing items that might tell what they’re to do in their, futures, because, I’d HATED how the elders loved it when the kids would grab the stethoscopes, the abacus, the calligraphy brush, which will get the adults to expect that that would be the path of career they will have for life, I hated this sort of a labeling!

The Long Journey of Education

One day, this test taking student blurted out to me, “I’m so tired, after the sectional exams, in two short weeks, there’s the mock exams for the northern districts, and, after the mock, the month following, another, sectional exam, I lost track of how many sectional exams I’d already taken this semester…………”

I’d told him, “Surely, so many exams, it’d, caused you to not get to bed on time, recently, you’d, stayed up until eleven, this isn’t worth it, go to bed early, you’ll be up refreshed tomorrow morn, which will help you learn better.  Do you know mom’s expectations for you?” he shook his head, I’d told him, “my expectation for you, is that you live up to your own expectations of your own, self, and, if on the way to achieving your goals, you need my help, just let me know.  I think, you’d, already, set a goal for yourself, I’m not sure if it’s your first choice or top three, if you reached it, you must, accept it, then, don’t sell yourself short, and feel, that everybody in the school is better than you, because you were able to get in, you’re, worth it.  By the opposite, if you don’t get into the school, I don’t want you to feel that you’re a failure.  There’s no “fall out” in this, getting an education is a very long path, so long as you’re willing to learn, you will, make something of your, self.  For the long run, university, grad school, you may not have a career path in your selected major, the skills you learned, and acquired, that, would be the purpose of, education.  A higher degree doesn’t guarantee high pay, and high pay is not equivalent to a good life of happiness.”

The children is school surely are all, burning, out, and after the nine-to-fivers get off work, they get to relax, but the students, after they get out of school, there’s a ton of homework waiting for them, the test they have to prepare for for tomorrow, and, getting to bed by midnight, is a blessing for someone who goes to cram school, and they’d had to wake up at six and get themselves to school by seven-thirty the following morn.  We all need balance in our life, with our own responsibilities, and know how to time manage, there’s no need, to force the teens who are, already, imbalanced in their lives to pursue the grades.  I’m truly glad my son loved basketball, and took after me, shooting the hoops with perfect aim, looking handsome doing it too!  And, during the breaks they have in-between their studies, they get to play the cell phone games, to view some videos on TikTok or YouTube, so long as they don’t become addicted, I believe, it’s a good form of, leisure for them.  I’m onboard with both my sons dating, when they couldn’t understand why their girlfriends were upset, I’d become, the love master to them, to help them analyze the situation.  A lot of parents would prohibit their children from being in a relationship in their middle, and high school years, that they should start in the relationships when they’re in the university years, but this is, weird to me, ages thirteen to eighteen is when the children start to explore, and, there’s the too important lessons to learn about love, and respecting the members of the opposite sex, prohibiting the teens to fall in love, isn’t just against human nature, it’d also, taken away their experiences of youth.  The pressures from school are already hard as is, the dates of the young lovers, texting on Instagram, waiting for the responses, these are the memories that youth should not be, deprived, of.

Last night at around eleven, I’d gone to my eldest son’s room to check on him, the lamp on his desk, turned, off, his backpack set up.  He was blushing, talking on the phone.  I’d stared into his eyes, set my cell phone to five minutes, placed my cell phone on his desk, within three minutes, he’d gone out of his bedroom, into the bathroom to brush his teeth.  He’d stated, “it’s just for ten minutes!”, I’d told him, “I don’t like it when you stay up too late!”, I knew that talking to his girlfriend was one of those, tiniest blessings he had, working hard studying, saying goodnight to his girlfriend, with a smile on his face, he’s, headed off to, bed.  Child, you’d worked, too hard for the night!

And so, this, is on how the parent helped the son balance out his life, letting the children know, that grades aren’t, everything, because it isn’t, I mean, surely, grades will get you into a high-end university, but so what?  What does a degree from a prestigious university guarantee?  Success in life?  A good career?  Teaching the children to manage their own time, that, is way more important than these, nonimportant things in their lives, and, besides, we can’t stay with them, to watch over them for the rest of their lives, it’s best, that we instill these values of teaching them to manage their own time, to how to control their desires, to balance their lives out, that, is most, important.

The Elementary School Age Student from the Netherlands on Taiwan

What is gained, in the exchanges of sharing the experiences of difference of lifestyle here, and there…translated…

The sixth graders in town already, researched for a whole month on the subject of Asian countries, the school instructor had invited me to introduce Taiwan to them; other than taking the advantage, to sell the country to them, I’d also introduced to the kids, the differences of the lives of students.

From before when I still lived in Taiwan, I’d gone to her class, to share with the students our lives in the, Netherlands, at the time, the students were really, enthusiastic, they envied how the students in the Netherlands didn’t have any, homework assignments, and, that after school, they’d all gone to play with their classmates, or, neighbors, and, even if the students were in the afterschool programs, they didn’t have more work to do, but instead, got to, pursue their, individual, hobbies, reading the comics, the handiworks, or, just, play with the group of students who were in the classes.

illustration from UDN.com

This time, before I introduced a different topic, I’d, asked the local children about their own, life experiences, then, I’d, introduced them to how it was in Taiwan, and, through the compare and contrast, it’d, given the students, a real-time experience.

The students felt that it was so cool, riding the scooters to, school, because they’d had to, ride their bicycles, rain or shine, to go to classes every single day.  As I’d talked about the homework assignments, a young boy puckered up and started complaining, “We all have three pages of assignments to complete every week, that’s too much!”, I’d laughed at him, that he didn’t know how blessed he was.  The instructors in the Netherlands knew, that that way, she wouldn’t be stuck, in grading the students’ works, and will have the time, for other activities, such as having the students clean up the restrooms, as that, was the tasks, delegated to the students, during, cleaning, period.  Because there were the janitors hired for the schools to clean the toilets, and the instructors and the assigned two students were left in charge of, cleaning up the classrooms after use.

They’d also envied that there’s the free nutritious meals served at the schools, stated how amazing it was, to have hot meals for lunches every single day, that there were the sweet desserts served after the meals!  Wasn’t like them, had to pack the cold sandwiches, and the fruits from home.

There were, only, two major exams in the schools in the Netherlands, to not stress the students, out, and there’s no announcements prior to the test date, it all relied on what the students had, learned and, absorbed in class previously.  And, there’s only, the percentiles on the grade sheets, which was from the comparisons of the students of the same age across the country.  If a student is behind, then, the parents and the instructors would get into discussion; and, those who performed well don’t get rewarded, but instead, they were given the options, to challenge themselves in having a harder set of problems to do in class.  So, when I’d mentioned of the sectional exams, that the three highest scorers would get commended, that those who’d bombed on the exams may get punished by the parents when they got home, they were, amazed by this.

Then, I’d shared with them the sights in Taiwan, we all loved nature, we’d gone hiking, climbing a lot, swum in the local creeks, and, as the rice were, harvested from the fields, we’d started making a fire and baked the yams in the autumns.  These students in the Netherlands longed for it, because, the Netherlands are flat, with no mountains, so they’d felt that their home was, too, boring to live in, just, the grassy plains, no change, and some of the student even thought, that the Netherlands were, too, ugly!

This group of students had, helped me understood that the life we took to be, natural, is what others find, interesting.  In the songs that the students sung to see me off, I’d, exited their class, and, felt, that I was the one, learning, a lesson, today.

And so, this, is how life can be, so different, and, for those who didn’t get to live life here, they may envy the life that’s here, and, for those of us who live here, we want to, get out of here, because of, the multitude of reason, and, it’s not that one place is better than another, it’s just, that there are, the pros and cons of each and every place in the world, and we only envy someone else for the life somewhere else, because we hadn’t, lived there, yet.

Stories about My Mother

Stories that were, collected from before, now, printed into, book form, as a sort of a memory album, with the words…translated…

In my elementary years, I’d often gotten nagged, for throwing my shoes all over the places by my mother who was an elementary school teacher.  At home, she is my mother, and I’d, not listened to her at all; but one day, my mother used a strict tone, told me, “did your school teacher NOT tell you to put your shoes away nicely when you get home?”, soon as she’d mentioned “school teacher”, I’d, immediately put my shoes up inside the rack.

a memoir of her mother…like this…photo from online

In my forties, I’d still remembered the stories my mother told of how she’d interacted with her students in class, but, I’d always, listened, quite, carelessly, didn’t think of, writing all her tales down.  Until my mother retired, and started, writing out the tales of her teaching career.  As my mother finished drafting up the stories, she’d come to me excitedly, as an adult, I’d read them, and found them to be, quite, interesting, very touching at times, thought, how could there be, so many students, who’d loved my mother, whom I’d, lived with all these, years!

Seeing how she’d taken many nights and days, written out those stories in the thick stacks of draft pages, a thought came to mind, I’d wanted to, make the stories of her teaching days, collecting them into a book.  So I’d, started, learning the editing, learned how to use the software programs, spent the huge bucks on finding me a publishing company, and finally, printed three hundred copies of her memorable teaching stories, in hard cover, and full colors too.

the stacks of stories, collected…photo from online

As my mother received the book, the look of excitement on her face, I never will, forget.  I saw her, picking up the phones to call up the principal she worked under, her coworkers, her students too one by one, and busied herself, mailing the book out to everybody.  Seeing the joys that my mother found from the book I wrote about her teaching careers, the sense of achievement she feels, along with all the feedbacks from her former students, the effects of this books, was beyond my, imagination.

Thankful that my mother had, drafted up all these stories of her teaching days, and I’d, printed the stories into, book, and now, when I think of my mother who’s in heaven, I can, pick up that book, and, read all the stories about her, savoring her, memories.

And so, this record kept by your mother from her teaching career, eventually, became a sort of a book of memories she’d left for you, passing the legacy of a good instructor who cared and loved her students, using her own life, to touch the lives of others.

A Whole Class of Cherished Students

Each kid is with her/his, special, needs, and they’re all, unique, in their, traits, translated…

After I graduated out of the special education department, I was sent to the special needs classrooms of elementary school to teach, and it’d been, more than a decade since I was green.  Recalling how as I’d set foot into the areas of special education, everybody around me was, incredible, because from before, I was, really hurried, with absolutely, ZERO patience, while the students with the special needs, they’d needed, time, patience, and tolerance.  In the decades of teaching the classes, a lot of people said, that I’d become, more patient now, while it’s these, students who’d, changed the way I think, not that I’d become, more patient, rather than calling me their school teacher, they’d, taught me, more—they’d taught me reverse thinking, to let me know, that everybody has a designated reason for being here in life; more importantly, these children, helped me know myself more.

When Rui-Rui was only three, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s, in first grade, he could not, follow the rules of the class, during the class period, whatever he’d wanted to do, he’d gone, and done it, as he saw a bird flying, he’d, run to the outside of the classroom; and he’d wanted to play with the other children during break, but couldn’t find a right way to interact with them, and started, grabbing the toys from his classmates’, hands, and, the other students would tell on him, and he’d gotten, grilled by his teachers, and couldn’t understand, WHY he was, punished.  He is excellent in modeling after others, he’d especially loved the short phrases on the advertisements, his favorite of late was, “Global warming is worsening, I will, NOT have any more air-conditioning anymore!)

a special needs class…photo from online

Xun, when he was only three, was diagnosed with moderate mental retardation, his parents fell from the clouds to the lows then, and felt bad for not giving him a good mind, and only hoped that he is happy, learning in school.  As he’d entered into the first grade, he couldn’t write a single word, couldn’t speak in complete sentences, his most overly used words were, “good morning” and “bye-bye”.  Too many pen strokes in his own name, it took him a whole of three months, he’d finally begun, writing, legibly.  His cognitive development stayed in the sensor-motor stages, and, the words he’d blurted out often made people laugh, for instance, the teacher asked him, “What are you going to the gas station for?”, he’d always responded, matter-of-factly, “fill me up for the 95-lead free!”

Kai-Kai was a classic dyslexic, he could verbally respond, like other children, but when it came to the written assignments, he couldn’t do it, the Chinese character he’d learned during this period of class, he’d immediately forgotten soon as the bell for the break rang; sometimes, the teacher was teaching him, and he’d, immediately, forgotten what he was, learning, he’d often asked, “why do we need writing?”, but the heavens had been, fair, what he couldn’t accomplish in writing, he’d, excelled in the mechanical, every time there was a new toy in the classroom, as the instructors are still, figuring how the toy worked, he’d looked at the toy, patted it for a few short minutes, and had it all, figured, out.

illustration from UDN.com

These three young kids are only, a small group of the entire class, if I’m to tell the story of every child in the class, it would take, more than, a whole, month!  These students, due to the genetic anomalies, or what came to them after they were born, have great difficulties, learning in the regular classrooms, and needed the instructors to pay more attention to them.  But in my mind, they all have, different amazing qualities and strengths too, they’re closer to me than the other children, simple-minded and cute; so, my words for them, is that “they may be little DEVILS to the other instructors, but they’re, all Ms. Lin’s, angels.”

So these young children with special needs, are a blessing in disguise to this, special needs instructor, and although there are the difficulties in teaching them individually, but with the patience, the concerns for these special children, the instructor will find the ways that worked, to give the needed education to her group of special needs class.