At what age did your child start kumon?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

This area is insane. Let your little kids be kids, for God's sake. This is pathetic.

I agree. What has happened to simply signing your kids up for year round club swimming with club soccer, basketball and lacrosse for supplementary treats.

This is why US children are far behind other countries in math & science.

I don't think the vast majority of parents in the European countries that scored higher than the US send their kids to kumon. So, how do you explain why these countries scored higher?

This is easy. That is because they have better schools. If the schools here teach math better, there will be no need for Kumon.

So, do they have after-school tutoring in Asia because their schools are bad, too, and they don't teach math well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is easy. That is because they have better schools. If the schools here teach math better, there will be no need for Kumon.

Do they have better schools? What does it mean to be "better"? Like rote memory learning is better? Better like the government pays for *everything*, even college? Then yea, European schools are better. Better like kids are better behaved so they don't have as much disciplinary problems so the teachers can actually spend the time teaching rather than focusing on disciplining, so they are able to cover more material? Then yea, there's is better. So many different definitions of "better".

Yes, Europeans generally have better schools. They are safer, they have healthier lunches, they have more discipline, and their graduates have more knowledge and skills. And the college education is free too for the most part. So I'd say they are better all around. When my brother went to school in Germany my dad did none of the things I have to do for my child - no packing lunches, no driving a kid to school, no additional math at home, and no saving for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is easy. That is because they have better schools. If the schools here teach math better, there will be no need for Kumon.

Do they have better schools? What does it mean to be "better"? Like rote memory learning is better? Better like the government pays for *everything*, even college? Then yea, European schools are better. Better like kids are better behaved so they don't have as much disciplinary problems so the teachers can actually spend the time teaching rather than focusing on disciplining, so they are able to cover more material? Then yea, there's is better. So many different definitions of "better".

Yes, Europeans generally have better schools. They are safer, they have healthier lunches, they have more discipline, and their graduates have more knowledge and skills. And the college education is free too for the most part. So I'd say they are better all around. When my brother went to school in Germany my dad did none of the things I have to do for my child - no packing lunches, no driving a kid to school, no additional math at home, and no saving for college.

I'm PP.. My DH is from Europe and I would agree with you that European schools are generally better than here, but you cannot compare it in a vacuum. The reasons why they are better have much to do with socialism there. But the US probably does a better job at accommodating special needs kids. I think if you were a parent of a SN kid, you would want to be in the US, and not there.

Here in the US, there are so many factors that have lead to the demise of the quality of schools, some of which are the fault of the government and teacher unions (some, not all - don't all jump on me), and others the fault of the parents and lack of family structure. It is not just one of these things that have lead us here. I'm sure there are lots of divorces in Europe as well. But it is certainly a combination of these things that have caused our schools to be the state they are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So... What's the difference between buying the workbooks and paying to attend the sessions? Is there any real advantage to paying for it? I'm seriously asking.

It's cheating, therefore illegal and a felon. This prep work is not done within the confines of the elementary school's 4 walls. Preparation must equal play. There are great summer play camps for $200 to $400 a week in the area.

What?! So if I buy a Kumon workbook from a store I'm committing a felony? What are you talking about?
I'm asking if the benefit is that much better by sending my child to a Kumon center to learn versus doing a Kumon workbook at home on our own schedule.

[Anonymous]

Yes European schools are better. i'm a great example. I basically did not attend school from 7th grade until I started college in the US. I fit in just fine and had a 4.0 the entire 4 years. My 7 grade European education carried me through.

[Anonymous]

I wish people would stop droning on an on about how European, Nordic and Asian education systems are better than America's, because it takes away from the real issue: deep rooted inequities. Those high performing countries benefit from having more insular societies, allowing them to focus in an effective way on *their* particular needs. To test this, take American South Koreans. Do they perform worse, on average and regardless of SES, than South Koreans in their country? The same logic can be applied other groups as well. I don't know the answer, but if it is no, then the American system is not worse. In reality America's system is more weighed down because it has to cater to all groups and cultures. This is very, very, hard to do effectively and inevitably leads to inequities. I'm not saying we should be more insular, i'm saying we should realize this and make a concerted effort to root out educational inequity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish people would stop droning on an on about how European, Nordic and Asian education systems are better than America's, because it takes away from the real issue: deep rooted inequities. Those high performing countries benefit from having more insular societies, allowing them to focus in an effective way on *their* particular needs. To test this, take American South Koreans. Do they perform worse, on average and regardless of SES, than South Koreans in their country? The same logic can be applied other groups as well. I don't know the answer, but if it is no, then the American system is not worse. In reality America's system is more weighed down because it has to cater to all groups and cultures. This is very, very, hard to do effectively and inevitably leads to inequities. I'm not saying we should be more insular, i'm saying we should realize this and make a concerted effort to root out educational inequity.

That is BULL SHIT if I've ever heard any. Do you know how many immigrants Germany takes every year. FAR MORE than the US. What do you think they do with them? They integrate them into their school system. And guess what???? Those kids do just as well in Germany as they did in their home countries (for the most part). American education system is sub par and it's not for the lack of money or because of the immigrants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish people would stop droning on an on about how European, Nordic and Asian education systems are better than America's, because it takes away from the real issue: deep rooted inequities. Those high performing countries benefit from having more insular societies, allowing them to focus in an effective way on *their* particular needs. To test this, take American South Koreans. Do they perform worse, on average and regardless of SES, than South Koreans in their country? The same logic can be applied other groups as well. I don't know the answer, but if it is no, then the American system is not worse. In reality America's system is more weighed down because it has to cater to all groups and cultures. This is very, very, hard to do effectively and inevitably leads to inequities. I'm not saying we should be more insular, i'm saying we should realize this and make a concerted effort to root out educational inequity.

I agree.. you really cannot compare US to Europe. I'm pp that stated about how since most of Europe are socialists and everything is paid for, it's comparing applies to oranges. It's not a fair comparison. Comparing the US to Asian countries is also not fair because Asian countries tend to be more homogenous in their racial makeup so they don't have to deal with many ESOL type issues. I don't know how big of an impact this plays into the US scores lagging, but I'm sure it does affect it.

Additionally, I feel like the Asian countries score higher because so many of their kids go to after school tutoring. I know why they do it (it's much more competitive to get into the top colleges which sets you up for life), but I wonder if the majority of the students didn't have the extra schooling how they would score on the pisa. My cousin, from Asia, went to international schools for a few years because the father was in the foreign service. My cousin said the education was great. Cousin also went to school in NJ for a few years and thought it was pretty great, too. Cousin does not want his kids educated in the Asian country because he feels it's all about the test scores and not about the love of learning. If he can, he wants to send his kid to the an international school if he is living in Asia.

I know the Asian countries place more importance on education than the US does, so I'm sure this has something to do with it. But I think you'd have to compare the US to a country that has similar immigration populations and social welfare. Not sure what country that would be. Canada has a lot of immigrants, but they have better social welfare than the US. I think Australia is somewhat similar to the US, but I think the govt pays for college there..not 100% sure.

[Anonymous]

I think a helpful comparison is between top students in each country. I remember reading in newspaper articles after the latest PISA results came out that the "best" students in the U.S. do not score as highly as the "best" students in several of the other countries.