Nowadays there is a tendency among parents to send their children to various additional classes, even if the children don’t want it.
“- Why do you study English?
- Just because my mother said to do it!”
I do private lessons with children. During such classes, I was faced with the problem that parents force children to learn English and generally go to additional classes.
I have 10 students, and 7 of them do not understand why they need it. It’s 70 %. Those figures reveal the perilous nature of the problem. Of course, parents want their children to be the best, getting only excellent grades in all subjects, including English. Most often, parents explain the reasons for the necessity for additional classes as: Jim received two unsatisfactory marks for tests, can you rectify this? And when you have come to help Jim with this staff, he sits looking around, yawns and is not going to do anything. So, the main reason is to move a student one and a half grades. This could mean moving a student from a low D to a good C, or a low B to a good A grade.
It seems to me that parents do not listen to the desires of their children and want to get from them what children can’t do. It is like shifting parents' dreams that have not come true to their children.
“Why do you study English? Just because my mother said to do it!”. Ideally, the idea of private tutoring should come from the child rather than her parents. Well, not this time.
This situation describes one of my students. Her mother’s dream is for her daughter to become an interpreter. But her mother does not look at the situation objectively and does not understand that her daughter has no opportunity to do this. She doesn't pay any attention to the given information and I can't see a slight interest during lessons. Performing tasks, we stumbled upon the question of why you love English. She answered I hate English; I was expecting her to say I hate you. When I asked her about favorite school subjects, she answered physics and math. So, I came to a conclusion that she is a person who is called as a tech rep.
I was wondering how blind parents can be in pursuit of their expectations. I think that the quote from Albert Einstein would be just right here: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
The solution to the problem is obvious. It is important to hear and listen to each other regardless of the subject of discussion. It is necessary to find compromises and respect the opinions and interests of each other. I had ideas to convey this to the parents, but it seemed to me inappropriate. What would you do in such a situation?