ESSAY
Sitting on Books
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:03:00 01/04/2009
Filed Under: Books, Youth, Culture (general)
HAVE the child sit on a dictionary. Wrap the child in newspapers (preferably the Inquirer?). Save a lock from a child’s first haircut and press it inside a book.
That was a sampling of local folk practices that are supposed to make your kid smart. There are other beliefs, not necessarily limited to children, that we have, for example the idea that peanuts are “brain food,” and so is utak (or animal brains—why does it sound so awful in English?).
Don’t think of all these as “superstitions” from rural areas. I’m actually more worried about “modern superstitions” that have emerged in the last few years about developing a child’s intelligence. Foremost was the widespread belief that some infant formulas had additional nutrients that could boost IQ, if not create child prodigies and geniuses. That came through a barrage of ads from infant formula manufacturers. The Department of Health eventually had to crack down, prescribing new rules on the promotion of the milk products, although some companies try to skirt the rules with ads that push the enhanced intelligence line (or lie).
Not to be outdone, vitamin manufacturers have also made claims that their products have added minerals or amino acids to boost intelligence. The Department of Health has yet to do something about these misleading claims.
Then there are all these music recordings and DVDs that ride on claims that are generally called the “Mozart effect,” i.e., playing music even to fetuses, and later, to babies, to give them an edge with intelligence. I checked the reviews of these studies and the jury is still out on this one. There just aren’t conclusive studies to prove that listening to classical music, even as specific as Mozart, make for brighter babies.
The pressure to have “smart” kids has grown in modern society. The need to achieve in a terribly competitive world has resulted in many parents throughout the world pushing their children to the limits. After the infant formulas and Mozart tapes and vitamins are preschools that say they can get a child to read by the age of 2, as well as tutorials to get into kindergarten and tutorials to get through kindergarten.
It just never seems to end, and child psychologists in the States are now warning that we might be pushing our children too hard.
The problem is that we think of only one kind of intelligence, measurable by grades in science and math. Fortunately, some schools now recognize “multiple intelligence”—a child may not get very high grades, but may have other “intelligences” that are worth nurturing, for example, around the arts (which tend to be de-emphasized in schools). Emotional intelligence is also important, yet we might sacrifice that as we drive a child to aspire to be on top of the class, while neglecting social skills.
The pressures on young children are very strong in countries that have competitive exams for college. Especially if most of the schools are state-run, the need to pass the competitive exam becomes even more intense, sometimes even driving young people to suicide if they feel they cannot live up to their parents’ expectations.
In the Philippines, there is pressure too, mainly from middle-class parents who want their children to get into one of the government science high schools and, later, into the University of the Philippines. It’s not just a matter of prestige or wanting to get a top-rated education, but of tuition costs. Private schools have become too expensive in the Philippines, while most public schools, which have very low tuition, have lowered their standards, with the exception of national and science high schools and some state-run universities.
As an educator, I think Filipino parents are missing the mark, spending so much money on the “externals” like vitamins and tutorials. The home environment is still the most important. Are our children growing up to equate learning with high grades, or are they learning to love learning itself, encouraged to be curious and critical, learning to solve problems, and to be discerning with the answers offered to them?
There is room, certainly, for early childhood education, but the learning must go beyond books and grades. Playgrounds, parks, museums, theaters and concerts, even trips to the countryside, allow children new experiences for the body and the mind. The most crucial ingredient is the parents’ interactions with the children during the crucial years of early childhood when the brain cells are developing most rapidly.
There’s room in all this for folk beliefs. While some parents think that getting a child to sit on a dictionary increases intelligence, I grew up in a Chinese subculture where I’d get scolded for sitting on a book, magazine or newspaper. Looking back now, it wasn’t a “superstition” but a way of encouraging respect for reading, and for learning itself. Now, that’s one gem of a tradition I’m going to pass on to my children.
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