Of New School, Expectation & Unnecessary Pressure

I took the day off last Wednesday. Coming to think of it, it was only a month ago that I left Dundee. And it is going to be three weeks that I have been making Luton err... Farley Hill to be exact, my home. I left early every morning to avoid the heavy human traffic using the service of either the First Capital Connect or East Midlands to St. Pancras. The journey is quite pleasant though regardless of one getting a seat or not. If you managed to get a seat, you can drown yourself in a good book - 35 minutes can cover a lot of pages. If you cannot get a seat, it is still ok. 35 minutes is not that long when you have the farms, hills and fields to soak in through your journey. But once you reached St. Pancras, it is a different story. You just want to get out of the train and walk (almost run) to get to the right line that will carry you to your destination err... office where you slave yourself for 10 or more hours.

Back to why I took the day off. It is Hakim's first day of school and Danish appointment with the school where he has been offered a place.  Danish interview, well, not exactly an interview - it is just a get-to-know kind of interview. They asked questions like how long were you at the last school, what is your favourite subject, what is your interest, what do you want to be when you grow up, etc... The meeting went well until one of the teachers  read Danish's report from St. Ninian when he concluded the school has some expectations for him. And it is quite scary to my ear when the teacher was saying, "Danish, whichever class or group you are in, please don't ever lower your standard to meet the others. Maintain your standard, maybe you can inspire them to up theirs, OK?" Whoa! The meeting ended with us agreeing to send Danish the next day for an assessment to determine which group he will be assigned to. Phew!

Next, to Hakim's new school. I was quite overwhelmed the way they welcomed him. They were very excited having him there, they said. And we were brought around the school. I think I want to study there too and I guess Hakim is very lucky to be offered a place there. They have almost everything - ICT rooms, patches in the garden for the students, two big halls, a science garden complete with a pond, fields,even a full time nurse and a sick bay! We were introduced to his class teacher who's a Scottish. Then we came to learn what the excitement was all about. "We called his old school and the Head Teacher was saying, 'We are sorry to lose him, he is a very smart boy!'" Oh dear!

Now, don't get me wrong here. I am glad that the teachers are happy to have at their respective schools. I like the way they have interests in the children's future - at Danish's school for example, the students were given the chance to take subjects which can cater to what they want to be when they grow up which I considered very good. I am also glad that my children are doing fine at school. But, I do not want to impose anything on them. Of course I will not lie about my feelings. As a Mom I am proud of them BUT I don't believe in creating unnecessary stress or burden on the children. When we came back from school that day, Danish was busy revising, scared he will screw up in the assessment test. And together we go through mean, mode & median, angles, a bit of algebra & doing some sample tests from the internet.

And when Hakim came back on his first day of school, he was asking my assistance to help him with his research to write a biography of Martin Luther King! You see what I mean?

My thinking is that children have to be children, They can work hard for school but it has to come with a fun element in it. Now, I know they will have more fun doing their school work if there is no pressure to meet the expectation attached to them! Well. I don't know - I just hope they are going to turn up right.