Educating the little girl at the window
On the topic of education, one of my tutors on my crit panel suggested I read this book Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window written by Japanese television personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. The story is based on Kuroyanagi's real-life childhood experience at Tomoe Gakuen, an alternative elementary school founded by educator Sosaku Kobayashi.
After being expelled from public school, it is at Tomoe Gakuen that Kuroyanagi is allowed to achieve her fullest potential and given the freedom to explore her suroundings and express herself to her heart's content.
Many young students I come into contact with these days don't like school. To them, the notion of learning brings about images of teachers who are there to make their lives miserable. That is definitely not always the case as I know many teacher friends who go out of their way to make learning valuable for their students. The reality is that many of these students, mindsets don't change. And many of these same students continue to go through life without realising even a fraction of the potential that they have within them.
Tomorrow I am having a crab treat for my BTSS tuition students. It's my way of telling them, it's ok if you didn't pass your Math in the end. What's more important is that you tried your best. And I know the four of them did. I am proud of them. We'll try harder next year. So if you guys are reading this, from the bottom of my heart, no matter what results you got, "I still believe in you." :)
1 comment:
this touched me. it's easy and myabe even natural to feel like a failure after many failures in life (not limited to grades alone). but nothing like having someone else still say that "no matter what, i still believe in you" to make you believe that maybe there is some potential in yourself afterall that they see even if you don't. thanks for this post. it was like God giving me a lil reminder there.
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