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Well-rounded kids need more than good schooling
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DEAR editor:
I found Mr Wan Lixin’s column of December 7 to be very sad! (“Over-stretched kids may get ‘head start’ in after-school activities, but at what cost?”)
The golden years of childhood are naturally too short, as most of us clearly realize in retrospect.
What a shame that so many parents — and not just in China, by the way — feel that to “protect” and “prepare” their children for their best possible (economic) futures they have to resort to such rigorous force-feeding of the mind!
There is so much more to learning than just books and tutors!
I cherished my childhood years for the rich opportunities they provided me to play, explore, and test myself — against others, of course, through sports, play wrestling, running, and other such activities, but also against my own expectations and fears.
Lessons about cooperation
Climbing trees, crossing ravines (sometimes by swinging over them using large vines attached to towering trees), exploring sun-dappled woodlands: what a wealth of information (and memories I still draw upon) I gathered thereby.
When I was young, there was much emphasis on helping children become “well-rounded,” which involved much more than simply good schooling.
In organized sports, for example, one learns vital lessons about cooperating with others for a mutual end, while in play the body and mind are integrated in ways that sharpen perception as well as vision, especially if this can occur — at least at times — in preserved areas of the “wild.”
I believe that one of the reasons that I was often able to perceive workarounds, or other ways of solving what appeared to be unresolvable differences or dilemmas, is that I was able to develop my imagination thoroughly as a child through play.
And, while I did begin to read very early in my youth, it was initially of books that I had chosen: the “wild West,” of course, but also science fiction, mystery thrillers, and historical fiction.
I mourn for what is lost for so many “modern” children.
I firmly believe that the best preparation for the adult world is the chance to experience fully the mystery of the gift of life, of one’s own and of all of the other people and creatures around us.
We desperately need people grounded in the certainty that this planet and its creatures are truly sacred, to be treated with respect and infinite care. I am a great believer in books, but I know that “education” is far broader than school.
I pray that Mr Wan will continue to have the wisdom to guide his son so that he may not only be “successful” as a man but, also, happy and wise.
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