A friend wrote this and sent this to me. For the better-off parents in Indonesia, there are expensive private schools available. For the poor, there are only inadequate state schools that are staffed by teachers who are also often inadequate and have no idea how to teach. I wonder what the future of this country will be like when tens of millions of children have no access to a decent education and can easily be labeled as ‘autistic’ or anything else by their incompetent teachers.
When will this country get a government that actually cares about education?
Regards,
Gene
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This morning I was late for work. As I was making my morning coffee my housekeeper mentioned that her son was not doing well at school. This took me by surprise as her son started year 1 of elementary school only one week ago. How could he not be doing well? ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘He can’t write, his teachers say he is lazy and unwilling’.
I took a deep breath and launched into my speech about the lack of developmentally appropriate practice in schools here. I reminded her that my 6 year old who had also just started school was also only just beginning to write. I also told her that I believe a teacher has to promote intrinsic motivation and I was sure the reason her son was not enjoying learning how to write was because he wasn’t finding it interesting or valuable. He was obviously being pushed too hard in the wrong ways. Learning needs to be fun. Learning needs to be interesting. Bottom line is, if children are engaged and interested they’ll learn and if they’re bored, they won’t.
She listened carefully nodding her head in agreement and then asked ‘What is Autism?’ This immediately grabbed my attention. Again I asked why. ‘Because my son’s teacher told me he has autism’. ‘What the ???? Hang on a minute! What do you mean your son’s teacher told you he has autism?’
I might mention at this stage that the little boy in question plays with my own children in our home 6 days a week. I know him well, I watch him play with my children. He’s very communicative, likes to play all kinds of different games, has no problem using his imagination. In fact aside from the fact that he jumps on my sofa, I would say he’s very similar to my own 6 year old. So what was the basis for the diagnosis? The child doesn’t respond well to the teacher. He won’t do what he’s told. Who is this teacher? No one. No background in childhood psychology. No experience with autistic children. Her only claim to fame is that she once had an autistic child in her class. So according to this public school teacher a child is autistic if:
a. he can’t write after only attending 1 week of elementary school.
b. he won’t do as he’s told.
So what was the parents reaction? Of course even though they had no idea what autism was they believed that there was something wrong with their child (a teacher had told them so) so they went home and punished him with hours of writing practice. Did it help? Of course not. I spent the rest of the morning downloading information in Bahasa Indonesia about Autism so she could understand that her child was NOT AUTISTIC.
It is my greatest fear that now it is so easy to label a child as this or that at the first sign of something we deem as being ‘not normal’. Why can’t we appreciate children for who they are? Why do they have to fit our idea of ‘normal’. Every child is an individual, is unique, is special and needs to be appreciated for who they are.
I think of my own intelligent and sensitive 6 year old and cringe at the thought of him being exposed to a teacher like that. I wonder what that teacher would make of him. He is also only just beginning to develop writing and reading skills, is very sensitive, sometimes moody, very logical – everything has to be explained in detail before he agrees to it – and once left in the middle of his kindergarten class and walked home because he was ‘bored’. Fortunately, the teacher’s at his kindergarten understood him and valued his uniqueness and we were able to find a way around the problem without using labeling and punishment which is demotivating and destructive.
Yes, some children do have developmental problems but we need to be very careful when diagnosing children.
Is there something wrong with our children or is there something wrong with an education system in which children are only valued if they are clones? Is there something wrong with our children or with the teacher that doesn’t understand the difference between child-initiated and rote learning? Is there something wrong with our children or with the teacher without a background in education or child psychology? These are all questions we should ask ourselves before we let our child be labeled as ‘autistic’, ‘unintelligent’, ‘a troublemaker’, or anything else.
I work hard to put my children into a good school. My assessment of good is not based on my son’s academic results but based on a simple question. When I ask my 6 year old why he likes his school he tells me it’s because his teachers love him and that’s the answer I want (my son continued from Kindergarten to Elementary at the same school).
Regards,
A concerned parent in Jakarta
