There’s No Fairness on This Path of, Life

This would be a FACT of, L-I-F-E, kid!!!  The conversation between a father and a son, translated…

Summer: The competitions today wasn’t fair?

Me: How was it not?

Summer: They were all sixth graders and we were, fourth graders!

Me: this is, more than, a fair situation!

Summer: How can it be?

Me: You’d played against the group that is older than you, and you’d, lost, that’s normal, and reasonable too, isn’t it?

On this day, the soccer coach at Summer’s school arranged a mix aged competition, the Panthers, a game of eight players, with the fourth graders as competitors of the U10 teams.  And, they were, playing against the U12 teams of fifth, sixth graders.

On the way to the soccer fields, I’d discussed with Sumer, that today’s competition will be a practice competition with the older kids in the school, that he should just, put his skills to practice, best as he can.  He’d started, nodding his head, seemed that he’d, understood me, completely.  Surely, the first game, four to, nothing, they’d, lost.  Then, Summer’s team, the Panthers, lost, ALL the way, game after game, got beaten, by his, U12 older schoolmates.  Using his own descriptions to describe the events: we got, electrocuted by the older schoolmates!

Losing one game, that’s, acceptable.  Two games, it doesn’t feel good.  And, by the third game that they were, losing, Summer immediately started, experience, that people can’t live with, losing all the time.  After losing the series of games, he’d strongly, expressed his, “minor upset” of the matters, felt, that the game has, NO fairness whatsoever.

Toward his upset, I’d thought, where’s the standards of what constitutes as fair and not?  In the competitive world, are there, really, the point of, fairness?  Do we need to, get down to the matter, and discuss it thoroughly the matters of: fair or unfair?  But, as he was, fuming up, I’d not, struck up this, discussion of the subjects.

Since he was little, in soccer, Summer has the will, and the drives to win.  When he’d won, he’d gotten all worked up, and, not hidden his radiant smiles over it, he would also, high-five his teammates, and hug them.  When he’d lost, he’d surely, felt displeased, and, there would be, the aftermath of his losing the games that came.  As the other young competitors started destressing themselves on the cell phone games, he was still, wiping away his tears, unwilling to admit, that his team had, lost the game.  Then, he would contemplate, why didn’t they win this time, and started, evaluating everything, and a few more tears would fall, still refused, to accept that he and his team lost.  This emotional response, more than natural, and normal too.  And normally, it would take a little while, like after we had lunch, or as he’d, gotten completely into the cell phone games, he would then, get himself out of the upset, and, reentering into the group of his teammates then.

For a short while, due to his emotional management when his team lost, it’d, affected the means of how the team played well together, we’d discussed the matter seriously, that if he’d needed to, drop out of the team, to find a new team to join, but he was, unwilling, to, sever off the rapport he’d already, established with the members of his team, and started, changing his behaviors, and, becoming more in tune with his own, emotional response to losing the games.

I kept on believing, that what Summer was upset over, was not because of winning or losing, but the matter of how the games were judged fairly or unfairly.  Winning or losing, was something he could, quickly digest, and accept as is, but back then, he still couldn’t, quite understand, the “difference of opinions on what’s fair and unfair”.

Let’s put it this way, back in the elementary years, he could never accept, why there’s, the existence of, unfairness.  For instance, why was so-and-so, so very, tall, it’s unfair.  Why does someone from class has a cell phone already, it’s not fair.  Why the team members are all leveled differently in their, playing skills, a bit, not fair.  The teachers looked out for certain students, a bit, unfair.

All of these, encounters of, unfairness that troubled him, or maybe, it’s, what he needed to, cross over, before the matter of winning and losing.  I think, even for me, I’d still needed to, introspect my own mind, and troubles, when encountering something that I feel was, unfair.  Fair or not?  This was, a question on the road to growing up, always going to be there, and it will, be a discovery journey we’re constantly on in life too, and will, continue to happen in our day-to-day lives.

And because of this, I wanted to tell him, as the younger graders are playing the higher graders, it’s, going up against someone who’s, out of your level of expertise, it’s only natural that you lose, winning, that would be, unfair, to the, older schoolmates.  Isn’t that right?  If you care about what’s fair or not, you will be more prone to, consider the opposite angles.  Because, you don’t need to get too serious about the fairness of things, because fairness, doesn’t really, exist as black or white.

On the road to life, there’s no, standards of fairness, it’s all interpreted individually differently.  As I finished telling him, Summer then, fell, silent, then, smiled, like he’d, finally understood, that winning and losing is only, in the results, and fair or unfair, that’s all, a false sort of a debate.  Any sort of a debate, there are only, the differences in points of view, it’s nothing on fairness.  I’d recalled, that I’d once told Summer, that in the future, if there’s something he wanted, he’d needed to, work hard to get it, and if he didn’t get it, he should, let go, after all, he had, tried, to attain it.  In the future, I suppose, that will, be how he would, handle things that come up in his life.

And so, this, is on the father’s teaching the son about, fairness, and, there is, no fairness, only the perspectives, the interpretations of what’s fair and what’s not, like how the soccer tournament was uneven, with this young lad’s team, going against older kids, and it’s expected that they don’t win, after all, the kids on the other team are stronger, older, more agile, trained longer than his age group, and this showed, how there’s only the personal interpretations of what’s fair and what’s not, and that’s based off of socialization, and everybody’s socialized differently, so, there’s no, one size fit all!

Cheng Who’s Learning to Control His Impulses

The techniques of behavior modification, positive reinforcement, and using the rewards system, it’d worked, in helping this young man to get rid of the unacceptable behaviors, translated…

Through Observations & Beating Around the Bushes, Xiang-Yun Chien Realized, that Reason Why Cheng Did What He Was Doing May Have to Do with His Mother’s Passing, and How He Lacked that Sense of, Security; Cheng was Very Anxious, Bitten All Ten of His Finger Nails to Out-of-Shape……………

Switching Tracks, All Because She Enjoyed Teaching

Everybody who knew the Bo-Ai Development Center of the First Social Welfare Foundation knew that the handmade soaps are a popular item, for the household chores, the essential oil soaps, the transparent soaps, are all good for gift-giving and self-use.  While, the woman who’d led these developmentally delayed youths to make the soaps, is the special eds instructor who’d worked for more than two decades at the Bo-Ai Foundation, Ms. Chien.

Chien majored in visual broadcasting, after she graduated, she’d worked in the related industries, but slowly, found that she was really interested in a career in teaching, so she’d, switched tracks, and started working as an afterschool program instructor.  Later, she’d gone up north to a church sponsored mix-aged development center to work as an early childhood educator, this was the very first encounter she’d ever had with children with Downs’s Syndrome, and she took to them very quickly.  With her getting more and more involved in early childhood education, she’d started wanted to improve her own skillsets, to provide more assistance to the parents and the children.

After hearing of the First Social Welfare’s Special Eds Specialists, Chien in an introduction of a friend, started at the Bo-Ai Development Center, at first, she worked as an educator of an early intervention program, later, she’d started coaching the students who are working with a skillset; as she got the tasks of making the handmade soaps, Chien went around, to learn the skills to make the handmade soaps, and used her visual broadcasting major knowledge on the handmade soaps, with her design, the handmade soaps made by Bo-Ai all had the visually appeasing looks.

But, for Chien, other than taking the students to make the handmade soaps, she’d wanted more to help them live on happy and healthy.  She’d used her heart of caring, concern, tolerance, and warmth to treat all of her pupils, hoping, that with her help, they will, improve their qualities of living standards.

Take Cheng in her class for instance, as he’d started at the center, he was easily worked up, whenever things didn’t go his ways, he’d started, screaming, to express his upset, and he’d also, done things that aren’t, allowed for the classes: taking the fees the class collected for the cleaning up, stashing the money inside the spaces between the trash can and the trash bags in the restrooms, or inside his own shoes, so nobody can find them.

early intervention programs like this is, absolutely, needed! Photo from online

Through observing him, and beating around the bushes with him, Chien found, that reason why Cheng was misbehaving, may have to do with how his mother died, and how he’d lacked that sense of secure attachment; Cheng was too anxious, bitten down all ten of his fingernails, and, as Chien got closer to him, he’d hug his head tight, and dodged her, like he was, a fearful animal.

To lower Cheng’s sense of alarm, she’d first, accepted, and accompanied him, slowly, build up their, relationship.  Later, Chien started using the “positive reinforcement” techniques with Cheng, every time he’d done something well, she’d immediately, praised him, “Wow, you’re so amazing!  You helped me so much!”, and, as she left the class to go to a meeting, she’d asked Cheng to take care of her belongings, to help him establish that sense of responsibilities that he needed to have, and built up his confidence level, as well as help him feel more secure.  And because of all of her praises, and affirmations of a job well done by her, Cheng became more, and more, stabilized.

Using the Right Means, to Help the Individuals Have a Good Life on Their Own

And yet, Cheng still had a behavior that gives everybody a huge, headache—taking without asking.  Normally, we all know, not to take things that don’t belong to us, even if we want to use the items, we must get consent from the owners of the objects, but, for some of the mentally decapacitated individuals, differentiating between what’s yours and what’s mine, is next to impossible, and, wanting it, so I go and take it is, matter-of-fact to them, even as they’d learned, that this behavior is improper, when they see things that they wanted, it would still be hard, for them to control their, impulses.

In the behavior modifications, there’s an important technique called “environmental control”.  Toward the impulses that Cheng has of taking things without asking permissions, Chien would do her best, to put away everything that may tempt him to take away, to reduce the chances of him taking things without asking, and surely, it’d, made his behaviors improved.  But, every now and then, Chien would left the items out on the tables, to test Cheng, and most of times, he would pass, but, there were, a couple of times he still,, couldn’t, control himself, and so, the scissors would be gone.  And, although she knew, that it was Cheng who took the scissors, but knowing, that it would anger him if she confronted him for it, so, Chien would ask all the students, “what do we do, when the scissors have, disappeared?  We can’t do what we need to do”.  After Cheng heard, he’d told her, “I have some, I’ll bring them tomorrow.”  And the following day, he brought back the scissors, with Chien’s name on it back.  Through small tiny inquiry, Chien knew, that she’d, gotten through to Cheng a little more then!

And, even though all the techniques employed with Cheng all worked so far, Chien still wanted to help him better his life more, by helping him to become more connected to and with, others.  She’d used the positive reinforcement techniques of the “Stickers system”, for instance, if Cheng was able to not get mad, not hit, not take without asking, he could get the points for good behavior for that day, and, as he’d accumulated enough points, he get to trade the points in, for some prizes he wanted from Chien.  All these rewards became Cheng’s goals, and naturally, it’d become, a huge motivation for him to control all his, bad behaviors.

Even though, there are still more problems that he needed to tackle, but Cheng is well on that path to being able to have more impulse control now, and, it’d made us all, who work in the Bo-Ai Center, to see that he will be able to, live on his own, one day in the future.

And so, this place not only gave these special needs students the life skills training, it also teaches them how to adapt to the outside world, so that one day, they may be able to, live in the world outside, and, what this woman did for this young man is, helping him get rid of his unacceptable behaviors using the techniques of positive reinforcement, and the young man trusts his instructor enough, to follow her words too.

The Technical High School Student Changed His Own and Everybody Else’s Grade to Passing, Hacking into the Systems

How the high school student should be punished more severely, to TEACH him the lessons, to NEVER cut any corners, but, the punishment of probation won’t do CRAP, in fact, it’s bound to teach this lad, that wow, he could get away, with bigger, harder, crimes in his futures, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

A high school student, Chiang from a public technical high school, worried that his and his classmates’ grades aren’t good enough, took advantage of his job at the offices of student affairs, logged into the computer systems, changed the seven instructors’ log-in passwords, then, successfully got into the grades management systems, and, was able to change the grades for himself, twelve others in a total of ten courses; the school thought that someone had hacked into the school computer systems, notified the police, the investigations chased the leads, and found that it was done by the student in the school.  The district attorneys considered that the student showed remorse over what he’d done, and his instructors are willing to forgive him, gave him only probation, fined him $10,000N.T.s, and he’s mandated to attend a seminar on the laws.

what he’s doing now…photo from online

The D.A. found, that the technical high school part-timed at the offices of student affairs, helped the head counselor with simple paperwork; last May, the head counselor collected the roll call sheet for every class, and, handed the ledger and the password of the accounts to Chiang, asked him to log into the discipline code systems, and help with the logging in the data for who had been absent.

As Chiang received the password, he’d found that he can log on to the “Web grades’ management systems”, he’d used the manager’s status, logged on to the systems, changed the seven passwords of seven instructors, then, used the new password, to log in, changed him and his twelve best friend’s grades in ten courses, to passing in all.

The instructors found that they couldn’t log onto the “Web grades management systems”, thought that the school system had been hacked, reported to the school, the school called the police, the investigative bureau in Kaohsiung sent the agents to chase the leads, reviewed over the log-in-data, the IP address of the log-in, found that it was done by the student, Chiang, and not a hacker.

Chiang admitted to changing the grades for his fellow students, claimed that it was out of goodwill, that he’d not wanted his friends to retake because they’d failed the classes. The D.A. thought that he showed remorse, and the teachers are all willing to forgive him, and so he was given probation.

and he’s bound to become…

photo from online

And so, guess WHAT this experience will teach this student?  That he can get away with bigger crimes, I mean, he did, get away, with only a SLAP on the wrist, for hacking into the computer system at his school, altering the instructors’ passwords, and, logging in to CHANGE the grades for himself, as well as his other, friends, and, because this punishment was, way too lenient, that’s why, he’s, bound to, escalate, and who knows, the D.A. just, made another high-tech criminal, and they don’t even have a single clue of how this young man will become, a hard criminal as he becomes, older.

The Levels of Reading Very Diverse for Children of Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds

This showed, the sharpened contrast, of how the families that are better-to-do, can provide their young children with more reading materials, which adds to their understanding of the world, versus how families in the lower end of the socioeconomic status couldn’t, and this extends into how the families are set up, separately, and due to this differences of availabilities of resources, the rich gets richer, the poor, become, poorer, and, illiterate too!!!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Entering into the fourth grader, Huang’s home in Taipei, books are everywhere, from literature, to general sciences, the assortments all the way, up and down in the bookshelves, to all over the floors, taking up all corners of her home; on the other end, the distant regions elementary school, Pinewoods Elementary in Tainan, in a lot of students’ homes, the only available “reading materials” consist of the farmer’s calendars.

The sharp contrast of desert and oasis of reading.  The nutrients from reading that differed of the children in better versus worse socioeconomic backgrounds is preset.  Who will help the younger generations, to help them gain access of more books in the desert of reading in these children from less well-to-do socioeconomic backgrounds?

And so, this points out the problem, of how the learning provisions, the resources are unequally provided, to the children in the cities and distant-region schools, and due to the socioeconomic background differences, those in the lower end don’t have the time to read to their own young, they’re already, working too hard trying to make their ends meet, they can’t have the mind, nor take the time out of their working life, to read to their young, and this becomes, that vicious cycle, because the kids are falling behind, due to the lack of resources provided to them, and they can’t get out from under.

Student: from Growing Up, When I Didn’t Do Well on Exams, I Got Scolded

Tracing down, to the roots of, why the students were, compelled, to, cheat!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The news of a public university’s students involved in the collective cheating of an exams, many of the students were noted as the “heads of their classes”.  The researcher of the Central Research Agency, Chen stated, that reason for why students cheat has to do with how they’re not, interested in the course, that they wanted to use the easiest means to get pass the exams.  There are also the scholars who believed, that from the values that stemmed from “Degrees meant everything, grades are the most important”, it’d driven the students to cheat to get a higher grade.

Chen told, that reasons why students would cheat may be related to how they’re disinterested in the courses.  The most important goal of university education is to instilled that love of learning in students, to help students find a direction of an area of interest that they will be pursuing.  Cheating is bad, but, the universities need to consider, that if they’d, instructed the professional knowledge way too soon, not allowing the students enough means to, exercise their interest profiles?

The Experimental League Foundation of Taiwan’s C.E.O., Wei told, that those with the beliefs of “Degrees ranks the top”, the values of “grades meant everything”, it’d caused the results of the students, working to get the grades, and not cared about how they got the grade they received, and, this sort of upbringing, will only cause them to have the wrong focus of pursuits in life.

The student of Central University, who’d directed the documentary of last year high school student, “1819”, Chen told, when we didn’t do well we get scolded this was, the common experience of students in Taiwan, “no matter what, you need to get your grades high” became, the rooted value across all schools.  And, even as the rules and regulations of the schools tightened up, it still, wouldn’t work, it would only cause the disagreements of professors, students to happen more and more often.

The C.E.O. of Taiwan Democratic Youth Association, Chang also believed, that the students are raised in the grades-oriented, testing environment, and even if the schools punished the cheaters, it’s still, fixing what’s broken after it’s broken.  Chang called out, that education should help students return to themselves to have them take the responsibilities for their own learning, other than strict discipline for those who were caught cheating, “counseling” is also, needed, he’d hoped that the schools can set up a supportive system, to help the students understand, why they’d not done well enough on the exams, and to give the students a viable outlet, so they don’t get crushed by their academic work, that way, they wouldn’t, cheat again.

The former head of Department of Education, Tseng told, that the school needed to view the cheating of students with a serious manner, to examine if the cheating were, isolated incident, or is it, happening all across the schools, what’s, trending?

And so, by fixing this problem, we need to figure out, what drove these students to cheat, and, if we don’t dig deep enough, and only punish those who were caught cheating, there will always be cheating, but, if we dig down deeper, to find out WHAT drove these students to cheat, we have a better means, to fix this problem completely.

Take Your Children to the Animal Shelters if They Ask to Have a Pet

Having a pet for your child, it’s, a wonderful thing, but there are, things that you need to consider, before you get that pet for your own child to have, off of the Front Page Sections, words of experts, translated by me…

The C.E.O. of the Kiwi Attention Learning Center, Liao and the secretary of Animal Protection Agency He suggested, through the illustrated books, to taking children to the animal shelters, can help the children know the animals more, to help them know if they really want a pet or not.  And if the families adopted a pet, then, the parents also needed to assist in the caretaking, to help the children get that sense of responsibilities build up, otherwise, children would give up on the feat easily, and, leaving all the caretaking up to the parents.

There are many benefits to having a pet for the kids, other than taking care of others, with that extra sense of companionship too, Liao stated, that hugging and patting the pets, it can increase the experience of sense of touch in your children, and can, calm them more effectively, and you can use the pets to teach the young about matters of life and death too.

He told, take for instance, the lifespan of dogs of thirteen-to-fifteen years, having a dog as a pet, can help your child experience the entire life cycle of the dog, it’s, too precious, a life experience for them.

like this…

photo from online

But, the training of your children’s responsibilities, and caretaking of the pets are, needed.  Liao told, other than confirming if your child has the drive to care for the animal, the parents can use the illustrated books to get the children to understand the habits of the animals they wanted to adopt, to make sure the children are, interested in having a pet.  And, if the family wants a pet, you can choose the options to adopt, and not buy.

He told, the parents can take a tour at the animal shelters with their young, many times, to make sure that the children really do want a pet, to NOT bring a pet home on the very first visit, and in the process of visiting the shelters, the children can become more educated on the life, the habits of the cats and dogs.

Liao told, that after a child turns nine, s/he will then become, completely, independent in her/his daily living routines, the parents should not hold too high an expectation for the child to care for her/his own pets on one’s own, that the thought of looking after the animal together is absolutely, necessary; if you’d demanded that your child takes care of her/his pet all on her/his own, then, your child will give up on the feat easily, and in the end, it would be the parents who will be, looking after the animals.

Liao told, that at first, you can get your children started off on the easier animals, like fish, turtle, insects, etc., etc., etc.  But, there are different caretaking techniques for the variety of animals, a lot of parents are fooled into thinking, that birds are easy to care for, actually, the younger children aren’t fitted to have birds as pets, because, the birds start eating nonstop when food became available to them, and the birds are often, stuffed too full that they’d died, because of the young children’s, overfeeding them.

He said, the mix breeds, the local dog breeds in Taiwan, are easier to care for, that if the child wants a dog, these could be, the options.

So, having a pet for a young child, it teaches them responsibilities, and it teaches them the lessons of life and death, because the child will outlive the pet, and, by helping your young children grieve over the death of a beloved pet, it helps them mature into being.  Having a pet is something wonderful, for all the reasons mentioned above, plus, it gives your child a chance to experience, to give and to receive, unconditional love, but it’s a huge responsibility, because if you don’t get the rules set straight, then you the parents, will be the one, cleaning up after the pets your children wanted to have.

The “Fruits” of Education, the Coffees that Turned Up White

The encounters of a school instructor, on a graduation trip, on how the government, @#$%ED up, in its, attempt to, “connect” with the rest of the world, advocating the importance of English education, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

I’d gone for the room checks during the graduation trip I’d taken my students on, my students asked me with his confusion, “Mr. Lin, is it normal, for coffees to turn out white after I poured in the hot water?”

I looked at the wrap, it had “Coffee Mate” on it, and I was, stunned, as his, instructor… “this is, not coffee!”, as he heard, he’d become, “ecstatic”, chimed in, “told you this is, milk tea!”, and I don’t know HOW I should or, could, react to that!

This odd scenario, is a true story that’s happened, in one of the, most, prestigious middle school graduating student, and, it’d made me think, of the reforms of education the government is pushing forth, and the blind goal of, dual-language country policies, so ironical.

The dual-language education allowed the schools to hire the instructors, certified in English language, and so, instead of counting out the numbers in Chinese, it’d become, a recitation of the numbers in English.  And yet, the students can’t even read “Coffee Mate”.

and, can we, blame the student, for his, mis-interpretation??? After all, there’s the word, “Coffee” on the pack! Photo from online

I’d remembered the school song from Teacher’s University, that first line, “The foundation of a country of education, Teacher’s University ranks at the top”, and now, the “foundations” of this country isn’t even set, it got, reformed out of WHACK, by the “expert scholars” inside those, ivory, towers, plus the politicians doing what they wished and willed, short-sighted, only wanted what benefited them, “Someone else’s child will die instead of our own”, pages after pages, of whacked out public policies, and what’s sacrificed, was the futures of, our own, future, generations.  We can’t even keep the foundations of this country, education rooted down firmly, and only, tried to, embellish the externals, wasting taxpayers’ hard earned money, and, damaging the citizens.  Looking at the frequently occurring acts of violence on the news, most of the perpetrators are younger generations, and it’d, alerted us: here comes, the consequences now!

I hope, that the individual in power, who truly cared about the wellbeing of the next generations can pull that stopping plug now, to stop using the excuse of “we won’t go backwards”, to refuse to examine the fails of the current reforms of education.  Walking down the wrong path, and keep going down this wrong path, it’ll, only, trap the country deeper, into, its own, mistakes, to the point of, never, turning back onto, the right paths again.

This is how education is, FAILING this next generation, of children, and, we are, going to be, ruled by them some day, and, we’re, totally, SCREWED, because this @#$%ED up government, messed up the reforms of, education here, thinking, that wow, we need to connect with the international fronts, so, let’s teach and learn in ALL-English, without realizing, that HEY, this is NOT an English speaking country to begin with, and English is, a second language here, for all of us, who’d been, raised in, this country!

Your Teeth are NOT Made for Biting Other People!

When we tell our kids, “use your words”, this is not, what we mean, that they should BITE someone else, translated…

The very first time my child got bitten by her classmate, it was one bite, the second time, three bites, reason for why my child was bitten was, the one who’d bitten her thought that my child was like, brad.

Thankfully, the external injuries weren’t, too severe, after I took my child in for tetanus shot, the second dose.  We’d blamed ourselves, for allowing our young to get bitten, twice, the first time he got bitten, we’d communicated with him on the angle of, “biting hurts someone”, that he shouldn’t use the “An eye for and eye, and bite the one who’d bitten him back, that he should call for help, and run away as fast as he could.”

I’d told the other parent, “it’s normal, that when kids play together, they may conflict, so long as there’s no serious injuries, and it wasn’t, intentional, we won’t pursue, but you still need to be careful, after all, children are cute sure, but, very, fragile too.” reason why I’d told the biting child’s father this, was because there was the incident of how this classmate who’d bitten another got scratched by the one whom he’d bitten, and, as soon as the father of the other child found out, he became, furious, I think, now that we’re, the victims, we should, take a, milder approach, with more tolerance, to make things easier for both.

like this, in young children…

and, guess what’ll, happen next??? that kid in black is gonna, CRY!!! Photo from online

The father of the classmate saw how we weren’t going to, pursue, and, let out a sigh of relief, asked if the teacher had, disciplined on the matter, and he’d told, “then, I won’t nag him anymore when we go home.”, and, it’s still because of this attitude, that my son got bitten, again!

We can understand, that biting is what happens at this age, and, the road to childrearing, isn’t an easy one to be on, we’d cared more of one another’s attitude on the matter, and the thoughts of it, that we needed to work together, and it couldn’t be that our child became “bread” to the other child, because of our, being, too tolerant.  And later, we’d, reached consensus, and my young girl’s father took her to apologize, and promised that he’ll, communicate how biting was wrong to his own young.

Later on, we’d bought the illustrated books, “Your Teeth aren’t Used for Biting Another Person” to teach, and in the same series, there were also the titles of, “Your Hands, Not Made for Hitting”, and “Your Feet, Not for Kicking Someone”, it’s a hard road we’re on, educating our own young, and we shouldn’t take it lightly either.

And, depending on the age, biting, is a part of normal development, and, a preschool age who continued to use her/his teeth to “communicate” with the outside world around her/him, may not have had enough oral stimulation in her/his own oral stages of development, that’s what causes her/him, to bite excessively, or, maybe, it’s because the child is upset, and s/he couldn’t find the right words to verbalize (as a kid that young doesn’t have a rich enough vocabulary bank yet!), that’s why this kid is, using BITING, to show her upset, and, the parents MUST find out what causes her/his own young to want to bite the classmates, to resolve this completely, and, don’t think, that oh, my son/daughter will, grow out of it, because it’s this sort of a, “I’ll just let time pass and see what happens” attitude, that will get you, SUED, because your child’s still a “minor”, and, whatever your kid did wrong or bad, it’s, on Y-O-U!

Can We Punish the Parents When the Children Behaved Badly?

By the professor of neurosciences here, on the functions of the families individually, and how the families affects the children in educating them, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

A few of my master students who’d graduated came back to school for a visit with me, told me that they wanted to host a thank-you banquet for me, because back in June, the epidemic just got started, and they couldn’t, return back to school then, and the classes, dissembled on their own, and now, the epidemic seemed to have slowed down, they wanted to gather, and they’d wanted to tell me, how they put what they learned in my courses to good use after their graduation.  As I’d heard, I’d, gladly gone to the meal, because as a professor, I’d cared of nothing more than the effects of my education on my students.

That day, a student told me, “Professor, had I not taken your course on brain and emotions, I wouldn’t have realized that ‘you are in control of your own emotions, nobody can make you feel unhappy, you’re the one, making yourself, unhappy.”, I would’ve gotten too angered too like that teacher on the news, tipping the desks over too.”

He’d continued, the parents are spoiling their young rotten, they don’t believe that it’s a big deal if the children plagiarize, skip school, or play their cell phone games in class, eating the snacks, sleeping during class is wrong, he got angered that he couldn’t, teach anymore.  The character education wase not instilled in the families first, the teachers are “lone armies of one”, and couldn’t exert any power, he’d read on the papers, that China is implementing the punishment of the parents for not educating their young well enough at home, he’d hoped that Taiwan could, do the same too.

But, no way that was, happening, so he can only adjust his own mindset, took the time he was angry, to get to know the backgrounds of these students who are making him upset, and that was when he’d realized, that these students who’d been, full on their disciplinary records, were only, looking for, extra attention, they needed the attention, needed the affirmations……………They fitted in to the classics of “learned helplessness”, are the children the schools, and the parents had, given up, on.

He’d remembered me telling the class, that exercise will kick up the production of dopamine in the brain, to elevate the moods, he’d thought, writing his students up will only make the students give up on themselves, because for a student with the sense of shame, getting a written up is a stain on his record; but for a student without any mind to care, it wouldn’t have an inkling of an effect, it wouldn’t make any difference to her/him.  Then, as a punishment, he’d made the student go and clean up the local communities.  And, as the environment became cleaner, the student gained the sense of achievement from the commends of the residents of the local community, and it’d boosted the student’s self-confidence, and self-confidence brings about that sense of self-respect, and that particular student no longer acted up in his classes, and he’d not needed to tell him to “BE QUIET!” every three minutes.

Another student told me, he’d found, that what helped him the most, was what I’d told the class out of the blue.  Turns out one day, I’d told the classes, that everybody has two persona, one in front of others, the other, when we’re, alone, that the best way to observe someone, is when the individual is living from day to day.  Back then, this student was into a female lecturer, in the school where he’d taught, but his families liked the woman at the matchmaking.  Last month, the school sent him and this particular instructor he’d liked to visit someone who’d fallen ill.  He’d told, that as this female instructor saw how the place was messy, she’d, immediately, rolled up her sleeves, gone into the kitchen, and started clearing up the bathrooms and the kitchen areas, and before they’d left, she’d told the elderly janitor thank you, for giving her chance to do something good for him for the day.  My student was very moved then, felt that this female instructor carried the “virtues of being a good wife”, that she was fitting to become the mother of his own young; and decided to drop the matchmaking call that his families had made for him, and marry this female instructor from his school.

I was moved by his “fitting to be the mother of my children”, if every couple can consider closely, their qualifications of becoming parents, then, why would we need the country to set up the laws to punish those, unfitting, parents?

The families, the schools, and the society, are three pillars that make up a country, any one missing won’t do, and it’s a domino effect, one falls, the rest falls with it.  Currently, Taiwan is in a awkward position in that game of tug-of-war between China and the U.S., rather than sucking up, why not, work hard, to earn back that lost respect.  We were once, the head of the four dragons of Asia a long time, ago, why are we, moving, backwards, to the, bottom, of that list?

“Brothers shared the same hearts, no need to get the inheritance from their parents”, with the parents acting right, the schools doing their jobs, teaching the students the right morale, the government officials taking the responsibilities………………, you can count on only you, and nobody else!

And so, this showed, how important, the education in the family is, because the family IS the most basic, functional unit of a society, and, if all these families that makes up the society started, falling off left and right, how can you expect the country to be great?  So, this is on how education should still starts, with the family first, education in the families is, way, way, WAY more important than anything we will learn from school, unfortunately, the families are, mal-functioning all over the places, and, these days, if you don’t have the ability to educate yourselves, then, society gets, totally, SCREWED, and that’s, why the world is, currently, this big a mess, because families are, not functioning properly, and, children these days, well, they lacked the abilities to, educate themselves, after all they grow up, without the proper, role models when they were young.

The Belief of the Elementary School Principal in Education, “Slow is Fast”

His beliefs about education: steady and slow, wins, that race!  A dedicated, educator, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The school principal of Jingwha Elementary, Tseng had been working for forty years to date in the realms of education, in the past, he’d pushed forth the teaching methods of the science subjects as closely related to life, as the 2019 education reforms were implemented, he’d hosted the seminars monthly, to help the instructors deal and cope with the changes in the new curricula, and given them advise on how to teach the classes, and, held firm to the beliefs of “in and out, living and learning”, to educate the students.  Tseng told, that this may be, ambiguous, but, the well-rounded beliefs of education leis that “simplicity will be everlasting, step by step, making the learning flow along more smoothly.”

Tseng told, that he’d been pushing forth the reforms of education of 2019, and now it’s finally, implemented, and the biggest differences of the former curricula and the current is in the “directions of the lessons”, for science, for instance, during the original lesson plans, the plants would be taken apart into parts for the students to learn about.

The Concepts of “Life in Life Out” in Teaching the Students

But the new curricula had the students to learn about the generalized concepts first, for the students to make observations about the plants, to get them to become curious, then to explain to them which part of the plants are which, the instructors’ roles in guiding the discoveries is vital, it’s closer to reality, instead of taking the plant apart, and learning the various parts of the plants from before.

“The concepts I want to train the students to learn is life in, life out”, Tseng said, that through caring about a certain thing, to discuss with the students on the processes, to hypothesize, to deduct, then to, discuss, to the final, end results, the conclusions, instead of ignoring the process, and getting, straight to the end, the answers.  And, after the discoveries, then, what’s learned in the classrooms can be more easily applied to every day life, the knowledge that the students can take, out of, the classroom setting.

the photo of this, dedicating, educator…

off of UDN.com

Tseng who’d planned the science education curricula, and worked as the science club sponsoring instructor, with a rich experience in teaching the subject, even as he became the principal, he’d still set up the open lectures every school year, to teach the school children about science, and he’d hosted the education seminars to help the instructors find ideas to teaching, under the 2019 academic reforms.

Education Shouldn’t be Focused Solely on the End Result, and Ignoring the Processes of Learning

Tseng stated, that in the past, the students were passive, in absorbing everything the instructor fed to them, and now, the students are getting active, asking questions in the classroom settings, it would give the teacher more motivation to teach, but it’s also, a challenge, the students and teachers learning together, exchanging their thoughts, this, is the meaning of the new reforms of education.

Tseng smiled and told, that he has a belief about teaching, and running a school, which is, “simple is, longer lasting, slow and steady, wins the races.”, it sounds ambiguous, but the truth is, education shouldn’t be focused on the end results, and ignoring the processes in the middle, that it should be on the step-by-step discovery processes, after the concepts are learned, then, learning becomes, smoother flowing.

And so, this, is the school principal’s beliefs about education, and he’d, put his theories into, practice, in advocating the new education reforms, and, he’d made the lessons in science more applicable to the students’ every day life, which is, combining the theories with the application, which is what learning is, all about.