Problem No 7 - Parents lament that their children are not inquisitive enough

and, at the same time, reprimand them for asking too many questions.

To ponder:

"There is no such thing as a dumb question"... The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

"Curiosity does, no less than devotion, pilgrims make."

 - Abraham Cowley, also quoted in the television series: BEING ERICA

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." ~~ Albert Einstein

Problem No 6 - Parents want their children to be creative...

... and yet push them to study in a rote and regimented way for hours upon hours toward examination(s) that even the Education Ministry recognizes "fails to reflect their capabilities".

Xinhua News 6 March 2006

Malaysia considers overhauling exam-oriented educational system
   

Malaysian Education Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Sunday his ministry is looking for best ways to overhaul the heavily examination-oriented system functioning in schools. 

The Education Ministry has realized the current system in primary and secondary schools is impractical, burdensome to students and fails to reflect their capabilities, said Hishammuddin. 

"I don't deny the examination system is burdensome to teachers and students alike, That is why we want to come up with a new system," Hishammuddin said after opening a student course in the Pahang state. 

All parties and personnel involved, including scholars, have been urged to work hard to identify a more relevant approach which does not rely on an examination system so much, said the education minister. 

Hishammuddin made the remarks when asked by a student to comment on the current education system. About 21,000 matriculation students from different parts of Malaysia attended the opening ceremony.

Today our school-going teenagers start a new year.

Feedback No 1 - Something to take us into the New Year (this link takes you to Crystal's Corner)

Taking a break from the listing of "problems with parents". Here is a feedback I received (see link) that I would take into the New Year and beyond.

Parents are humans and will always have their flaws. Author Mitch Albom wrote: 

"All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair."  - The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom

But I guess the beauty in the imperfection of parenthood is that ultimately, we, as children, learn to break out from the shadow of our parents and take charge of our own destinies. We learn that ultimately, though we cannot control the circumstances we are in, we control our reactions to them. Ideally, that is. Unfortunately some people still choose to live under that shadow and blame their parents for who they are today. 

And perhaps that is all parents want from their children in the first place - to know that when they leave this earth, their children will be able to take care of themselves. 

Problem No 5 - Parents buy their children books...

about teenagers going to school to learn spells and wizardry... but discourage them to read books about morals and virtues derived from faiths not of their belief.

Problem No 4 - Parents allow their children to play water balloons...

but do not want them to get wet.

Problem No 3 - Parents want their children to become "successful"

in situations where the meaning of "success" is defined and determined by the parents themselves. What's more ironical is that these parents want their children to become what THEY (the parents) want... forgetting THEY didn't want or couldn't get it in the first place.

Quotation - to ponder

Albert Schweitzer: 

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Problem No 2 - Parents worry about when to let their teenager go

when the fact is that it is the teenager who is letting the parents go.