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Source: Harry Harrison, South China Morning Post
Even in comparatively ‘relaxed’ international schools, daily participation in extra-curricular activities has become the norm. And it is all outsourced, meaning less (or no) parental involvement. Don’t get me wrong, extra-curricular activities are a wonderful way for children to discover more about the world around them, and more about themselves: their strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and aptitudes. There is nothing wrong with extra-curricular activities per se, and certainly service providers are filling a perceived need, and they are doing it exceptionally well. But it’s just gone a bit overboard in my opinion, possibly even leading to loss of creative independence and potential. Why? Three reasons: the overly structured activities, the lack of parental involvement, and the outsourced/paid providers. Let’s look at these three points in a bit more detail: 1.) Organised activity is led, hence, by definition, it cannot be started independently and creatively. I.e. instead of finding their own groups of neighbourhood children to play ball with, run races with, do crafts with or simply socialise with, children are being spoon-fed sport, arts and even socialisation. This setup is too contained to encourage creative independence. 2.) Usually the child is delivered to the activity by a guardian other than a parent. This guardian is seldom trusted to observe and constructively comment on the child’s activity, so the whole point of encouraging self-discovery and developing potential gets lost. 3.) The outsourced service providers (trainers, teachers, tutors etc.) may not have a personal incentive to develop each child beyond the acquisition of skills. I.e. the piano teacher will just teach piano, but will not necessarily advise on the innate ability of the child to play the piano – therefore a struggling child will continue to struggle and a ‘lazy’ child will not reach their potential.*CAS is short for Creativity, Action, Service. It is part of the IB Diploma program where students must find activities outside of school. In the early days CAS activities were identified and undertaken by the student on their own. For example, students would find a local blind school, elderly home, orphanage, refugee centre, etc. and organise their own volunteer services. Nowadays, and in Hong Kong, many schools arrange the activities for the students.
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