Do "Cram Schools" work ?

I suspect the same will happen there if it isn't already happening Brit.

You're right. I was referring to Cabbage's example relating to India and the sub continent.

Not necessarily anymore Brit, at least not in North East Asia. Women are now under as much pressure from their parents to get high paying, high power jobs, and many women are not getting married or putting off marriage until they're in their 30's. The gender gap (in that women want to work and men want a stay at home wife) is even more pronounced in North East Asia then the West.

Yes, the Cramming referred to hear is different. It is used to "drum in" the various subjects, orientate him/her in the art of exam taking and push the child into achieving better academic results.

As for the example above, the girl is studying mainly to ensure better prospects of marriage and so a happier life.

Its easy to point out the pitfalls of cramming at the same time, it is a fact that if you wan to break into a good company, it is far easier if you have graduated from one the best schools/colleges in your home country or anywhere else. Isnt that also a factor which forces parents to put pressure on their children?

Cramming happens all over the world- in all schools, colleges and Universities. There is a tier structure to the ‘cramming’ though and there is an East/West disparity.

‘Cramming’ in the West is usually perceived/described as a student that has not studied or revised enough and all of a sudden decides they have to ‘buckle down’ and ‘better get on with some revision’.

In Asian countries as far as I can see and by what has been said in previous posts is an entirely different beast.

I think it was Tinkers who said there is a high level of suicide in ?? Indian culture due to the idea- of ‘being the best’ and ‘getting the right degree’. Family pride has a part to play and so does the fact the better the qualification - the better the job ergo better money for the extended family.

I also think there is a snob issue to – which family has the most intelligent child.

What actually happens in the end though - is we have a whole raft of people who know how to pass exams – deal with paper work (to the letter) but have very little idea of how to deal with concepts that are not dealt with in ‘education’.

After we have gained our qualifications the real learning begins. This is not recognised as yet in some cultures- so even though we are seeing some very well educated and bright people from these cultures – we have yet to see an all rounded education where theories are debated, ideas and concepts are challenged and the realisation that what was taught is not sometimes applicable in life or career.

Had an interesting chat over the weekend with a bloke who is Anglo-Indian; he has got a son and daughter.

He is so frustrated with his son who is at University – he thinks his son is not trying hard enough; as a parent with a son at University who I could cheerfully strangle at times – I empathised with him.

However, the reason the lad is not doing as well as his father wants – the son did not want to study medicine and he can’t do the course. He was told he had to do it because of course medicine and law are the two top courses to take. His father is insisting this young lad works harder and his lack of results is nothing down to the wrong course. He also blamed the University for being too sympathetic to the lad. According to the father – this lad was a member of MENSA – of course he thought that meant something lol

Cut to the conversation about his daughter who is in her last year at University and for sure will get a 2:1 –he was happy for her; yet and this a quote from him – ‘this is great but it is also a waste as we have already arranged a marriage and she will not work once she is married’.

Seems very sad that (a) the boy is stuck on a course he hates and (b) why are the daughters’ achievements going to be ignored?

Of course that family can say ‘got a son reading medicine and a daughter studying English’ – both are unhappy though – the son because he hates the course he is on and the daughter because although she loves her course and has done well will not be able to use it as because as soon as she finishes she will be married and will not be allowed to work.

What a waste of money and everybody’s time. A decent education is a gift and should never be abused.

People learn in such unique ways and as soon as some teachers and parents realise this, the better it will be. Not all people gain a well-rounded education that leads to a successful life or career at the same time. Some people only reach their potential in their 20’, 30’s or 40’s and even beyond.

Cramming is a waste of time – all it does is ‘cram’ the brain and does not aid real learning.

if opportunities are as many as the aspirants, such educational system can be changed for good. in asian countries including china, there is always a struggle for a decent livelihood and thus such systems thrive.

middle class asians look down upon menial jobs and all strive to take the high end ones..

many factors are involved here...the distribution of wealth in the nation, population and apparantly the thought process of people.

Reminds me of the thread where we discussed if differences in salaries of nationalities is racism...actually, it confirms what I had been saying on that particular thread...which was, of course,dismissed as racism....strange, as what is said here confirms exactly what I said. Hmmm........................

In India only cramming works and I hated the system. An idiot who doesn't even know that a world exists outside books will always perform better than a genius here. Nobody understands anything, no emphasis on critical thinking. You have to study outside schools on your own knowing that your school performance will suffer if you really want to learn.

Brit in my opinion, yes the government is right. While children in South Korea achieve higher grades, on a whole they are less creative and less inclined to think outside the box, or to think at all, they simply memorize and repeat what has been taught to them.

I always found my students to be so tired by the time they came to my afternoon classes (they'd been up since 5 am and many were still in school till 9pm) that only a couple of them had the energy to focus on the tasks at hand.

I think that these tests weed out the creative students who might be less academically inclined and in the end do a great disservice to South Korea (and equally so China and Japan who have similar academic set ups).

Obviously this cram concept doesn't encourage thinking outside the box!!!

Well said...I agree with your points Tinkerbell 10

This is what I meant to a certain point.. magic number of grades or scores....same concept. If the kids realize that the proper education starts at home first and future concequence is knowledge.. there wont be children in this world opting suicide as a solution for failure. I have seen parents outside the schools comparing the children's report cards and demotivating their own kids. Parents can envision a bright future for their kids but the way they give to them is wrong.

Tinks, in todays’world every body knows that there are parallel job opportunities as well, but even for that you need to be from the right school, Take MBA for instance, you get all sorts of MBAS in India, from IIM, to your neighbor hood tuition center coaching long distance course. As a parent would you be willing to take the risk of the next door one? True, Reliance was not founded by an ex IITian but do we really sleep well believe our kids to be super talented? For the rest of the common folk[ and in Asia that comes in Millions],better equipped for the rat race means S-U-R-V-I-V-A-L .

Ofcourse , there is the counter argument that countries such as India and South Korea are booming and producing academic excellence exactly because of these methods.

@ House wife,...Parents are not looking to increase their ward’s knowledge by the cram schools, just trying to get that magic number of grades to let their kids have a future they have envisioned for them. Obviously the kids do not see the reason for cramming as they are too young to understand the future consequences of the absence of the right kind of education.

Tinks, Parents are forced to push their kids no matter what, coz like Pilgram said bad grades can literally men doom! And with the care- for the- next gen practice, parents have to do all they can even watch sadly their 2- year old toddler take 2 language lessons(. The end to this no where near with the current birth rate . And like you pointed the , Quota system is the stupidest excuse one can have in a democracy for preferential treatment. I personally ABHORE this nonsense. But I guess this exists through out India not just in south, In Maharashtra Indians even have to face “sons of the soil syndrome” for jobs!

So, is the government right in trying to change the mind set of the people regarding this.

Will it lead to dumbing down of the country ?

Tinkerbell: This also applies to India. What say you ?

Cram schools can be found all over the world not only in Asia, but they are especially common in Asia, where cram school attendance has become common place for students. Usually, the goal of a cram school is to prepare them for examinations through the use of a curriculum which promotes memorization and recitation of information.

What make me sad is that acheiving good scores has become like a competition among parents not children and no one realizes that this will never determine one's success.This is an on going issue ...I believe.

The high suicide rate in South Korea is also a result of the Academic tests teenagers take at 17 that determine their entire life course. Doing well on this test ensures you get into a good university, a good job, a good wife/husband and good schools for your children. If you do bad you are a huge disappointment and you'll be slinging burgers at MacDonalds for the rest of your life.

Anyone who's ever lived in South Korea knows to be wary around the subways every Spring as there's an increase of teenagers throwing themselves in front of the trains.

South Korean children don't really get a childhood. By 2 years old they are in English, Computer, Chinese, etc classes all day long.

This never really stops, as they go from school to long work hours. I think this is also why there's a HIGH level of alcoholism in South Korea.

The socioeconomic condition of Asia is responsible as the number of applicants to Higher education centers/good jobs far out numbers the seats available so that good colleges are forced to employ a cut off at the aggregate for admittance. These will be higher for the best schools and so in order to secure a good future and an edge from the rat race [Believe me, as you go to the lower rungs, it’s almost impossible to be heard!:(]Parents try to get the higher percentage by even a half ,as this will make all the difference in their kid’s life. So the status quo of cramming looks to continue till the birth rate cools down and the available opportunities equals the applicants,…..whenever /if ever that is possible.

Education as a business is always wrong!