a brief flurry of activity when the doors opened and the first students plucked their folders from the standing rack and seated themselves in rows of tables. Within twenty minutes, the room became a quiet bee- hive of activity, with some twenty children, aged 5 to 12 years old, bent over their work- sheets. You would think with so many children so close together there would be an abundance of socializing, and there was some, but the chil- dren were primarily in- tent on their work. They didn’t need to be re- minded that they were there to learn.
The system of overlearning – a complete mastery of one task before going on to the next level – is common to Indian education. The fact that many Indian children are taught certain ma- terial in school and then taught it again by a tutor is similar to the Kumon method of repetition. Kumon also de- mands a high level of parental involve- ment for the home study, again which is commonly found in the Indian cul- ture. The Kumon center takes all kids, all IQ levels, all learning types, all children, including those who are neurodiver- gent. Dherin Yagnik, father of a 12- year-old son and 16-year old daughter, has found the memory drills have not only helped his children’s mathematical abilities, which are at least a year ahead of their peers, but has also enhanced their abilities in other areas, such as spelling. Ruby’s class in Camp- bell was comprised of roughly 20% Indians, and 5% Asians. She surmised that Kumon is popular with indians because “Indians have high educational goals, and Kumon stresses individual potential.”
The Kumon system was developed in 1954 by Toru Kumon, who devel- oped it in order to teach his son mathe- matics. It was so successful that he opened the Kumon Institute of Educa- tion in 1958. Kumon is dedicated to the process of “self-learning” – that is, every student works independently, with minimum instruction from the teacher. The students do not compete against each other, as in traditional schools; they only try to best their pre- vious scores and move up the levels. Mastery comes from repeated applica- tion of the problems, a repetition that cements the information into their brain, and says Adarm Dorsay, Re- gional Manager, “They retain the infor- mation forever.” Kumon instructors hold ses- sions twice a week where the in- structor convenes with the students, and the students are expected to do homework five days a week for twenty minutes on their own time. Parents are
required to be involved in the ticking and the checking. Kumon is not a preschool. In fact, it is not technically a school at all. Rather, it’s a supplemental course of in- struction, but it does take preschool age children. There is no minimum age limit; the average preschooler starts at age three. When asked if repetition was a problem for very young children, Ruby said absolutely not, and in fact when the preschooler realizes the objec- tives, their attention span increases dra- matically. She cited the example of one preschooler who was so excitable that he could barely sit still in his chair, and by two weeks, was working by himself very quietly for a half hour at a time. Once he became aware of what was ex- pected of him, it made a big difference in his attitude. Ruby’s class in Campbell was com- prised of roughly 20% Indians, and 5% Asians. She surmised that Kumon is popular with indians because “Indians have high educational goals, and Kumon stresses individual potential.”
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School Special 2017
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