Yup, you heard it. Having high grades doesn't always mean that your kid will be successful after they finish school. When it comes to your kid's success, there are more important factors that you have to take into consideration aside from high grades and good test results. Focusing more on learning instead of simply getting high grades would ensure that your child will carry this attitude of learning throughout his/her life, and not just in school.
Education should also move beyond the four walls of the classroom. For your child to get the best education, learning has to be an integral part of your child's day to day life in school as well as at home, and having a mindset geared towards learning is more important than getting high grades.
Here are some tips to ensure that your kid will be successful not only in school, but also in life:
1. Learning shouldn't be about memorization, it's about generalization
Most exams and tests that your kid takes in school can be answered perfectly through memorization. However, memorizing something isn't the same as understanding what the content is about and using it in other applications. In cases like these, grades don't always reflect mastery of a subject.
When it comes to your child's education, focus more on learning how to learn. Skills such as attention, memory, and problem-solving skills can do more for your child compared to just memorizing all the facts and numbers and not being able to use them effectively.
2. Use today's technology to complement your child's education
Using educational apps and software to help your child learn is a good way of making sure that they also have a means of learning at home. However, you need to know which apps build up your child's skills, and which apps rely on simple memorization.
Here are a few guidelines when choosing a good learning app:
- It should be a active, and not passive — it has to do more than just let your child swipe; it should make your child think
- It engages instead of distracts — it should help your child keep on track instead of being a distraction from actual schoolwork
- It’s meaningful, not meaningless — your child should understand the concepts presented by the app
- It should have a learning goal in mind — without a goal in mind, the app will just be a game that your child plays. And while games are important, without any learning goal, it doesn't hold much value for your child's education.
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3. Think of learning as a broad spectrum
You should try and nurture the 6 C's in your child:
- Collaboration — your child should get along with people and know how to work with them.
- Communication — communication is a two-way street, and your child needs to know how to speak and also how to listen.
- Content — your child know how to integrate the lessons that they learn from school to help them solve problems.
- Critical thinking — your child needs to know how to use evidence to support his/her position.
- Creative innovation — did your child learn something new today? Your child needs to utilize the things that he/she learns in a creative way.
- Confidence — your child needs to have the self-assurance to try new things. Don't let them be afraid of failure, teach them that failure is a way of learning and self-improvement
4. Rethink your definition of success
Success can come in many forms. For schoolchildren however, parents usually think of high grades as a metric of knowing whether their child is successful or not. While this can be true to an extent, it should not be the only basis of measuring your child's success. Focus more on raising children that are happy, healthy, caring, socially aware, and critical thinkers. Focus more on positive traits rather than just numbers.
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