How the child IS, smart, helping students find their areas of interest, and help them develop the expertise in that realm, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
Last Friday, Der sent a message using FB app, told me that the grades he’d made in his technical high school wasn’t high enough to get him into the electric engineering major without taking the entrance exams, so he’ll be working harder, studying, “did you know I got in?”, there was, that joy, that pride of his as he’d shared the news.
Last year our education foundation set forth two programs, “for the agile mind”, targeting those who are not making high enough grades, lacking the self-confidence, the children needed more careful attention, with the plans from the separate schools, getting the students to come to school on the weekends, to learn a skill set.
The first year I’d pleaded with the six middle schools in Nantou to try the program out, a total of ten classes, and 163 students got onboard. At first, there were, many doubts about this program: the office workers needs their day off on Saturdays, who will be willing to come to work on Saturdays? Surely, there were those school officials who’d turned down the requests on first sight, but most of the staff members believed, that so long as the program is beneficial to the students, they’re more than willing, to work the extra time on the weekends.
The school invited the experts of the industries to teach, and in the hard working mannerisms of these professionals, these weekend courses helped reduced the chances of adolescents not having anything to do and wandering around, and because of the hands-on, the kids made something, they’d found they are, very capable, and as they’d found their self-confidence back, they’d started, contemplating what they’re to, learn next; and because the schools set the skills they were learning to be able to help around the community, for instance, the baking classes, delivering the breads to the Taiwanese Fund for Families and Children, or other social welfare foundations, or, the students themselves, go and visited the homes in their school district who are in need of more care and concerns from the community; the Chinese cooking courses made the meals free at the nursing homes, the mechanic majors helped fixing the electronic appliances, and these kids found their own values in giving back to the community, and so, they’d, started, changing for the better, some were able to get into the university due to outstanding competition performances, and planned to go to the cram school sessions, to catch themselves up.
Some students felt, that even though they were in the baking majors, they’d much prefer to work with machines, so they’d, fought for the opportunity to; this particular student was persuaded by the instructor to come to the weekend electronics course, and as he’d taken the classes, he’d found this was where his interests lie, and told the instructor that he’d wanted to go for the electrical engineering majors, but because he’d let his academic performances slide in the past, he couldn’t get accepted with the no examination method, so he can only, work really hard, and in the end, he got in.
In the text, he’d thanked the foundation for giving him an opportunity, and stated, “I’m sure, that electrical engineering will offer me a better way in the future”, I was so moved I’d, shared this with my friends.
A school official shared at the end of the semester, that she’d still felt annoyed when she did the office work, but as she saw those kids who were sent to the office too often not showed up anymore, changing their attitudes for the better, it was, more than worth it, “I feel that these students are, reminders to all of us, to NOT forget why we became teachers in the first place.”
Remembered how when I first started advocating the programs, there were the principals who’d worried that it would mislead the parents, believed, that the school didn’t care for getting the students’ academic grades up to standards, and hesitated on whether or not to implement the programs; and now, as the officials of the schools saw how these students who attended these weekend sessions, how they were learning in joy, how they’d loved the courses, and never missed a session, how they’d not changed their attitudes, even their attitudes toward learning, they became, assured, and they’d all said they wanted to, get more courses like these going in their separate schools.
Like how the newest reports posted yesterday, seventy-six percent of the surveyed believed that the adolescent crime rates are hiking up, over ninety-percent worried the teens would abuse drugs, steal, get involved in gang related activities, and hurt oneself, but there are also eighty-seven percent of those surveyed who believed, that helping to instill that love of learning in the students helping them learn to love going to school, can reduce the bad behaviors.
Let me quote the lawmaker, Tang: “finding one’s own path is the way to become a gifted and talented student. I imagine, every student CAN and have the ability to become, outstanding students, o long as we help them find the right tracks, in mathematics, in languages, electric engineering, baking, carpentry, nursing, food industries, chemical engineering, etc., etc., etc., which one of this isn’t, awesome!
And so, this is a program that helps the students find out HOW they’re, smart, because NOT all of us are fitted, to sitting inside a room, listening to the instructors, YAP on the theories of things, some of us are better in hands-on activities, and, it’s programs like this one, that will, help these students find out WHAT they’re good at, and HOW they’re, smart, and thus, keep them on the right tracks of their lives.