Children's curiosity must be nurtured

When I read the article written by Laila Faisal about the lack of students' curiosity in classrooms, I just grinned. As a student, I have behaved exactly as she described -- declined to ask questions for fear of looking stupid. Or when my teacher explained a lesson, I would suddenly find another subject more interesting and so not pay enough attention to what the teacher was saying. I've witnessed other students behaving in the same way.

I totally agree with what Laila said about it being far easier to ask questions when we were little. People are more tolerant toward young children, and if weird or stupid questions are asked people just think, "Well, he/she is just a little kid anyway."

As you grow up, you have to be more responsible for what you do or say. The more responsibility you have, the less tolerance other people show toward you. It depends on a person's courage to take more responsibility. And this courage is the result of someone's education, environment and experience.

I often marvel at and admire the relationship between Western parents and their children as depicted in Western movies. It seems to me that children in the West are freer to express themselves and that their parents show more appreciation of their opinions. Since early childhood, it appears that they are thought of as complete individuals who have rights and opinions, and not just obligations.

I don't mean that parents here don't give to or think the same things about their children. It is just that parents here are more fearful of letting their children do anything freely, therefore children tend not to learn how to be independent.

My father always called young actors in Western movies "clever" and "bright" and he always commented on why young Indonesian actors couldn't act as well. I think it's because Western actors are used to being their own selves since early childhood and so they are used to using their instincts, making them better actors.

When the Environmental Engineering Department of ITB held an international seminar a couple of months ago, there was a foreign lecturer invited. He was a flying lecturer at some universities in several countries, already a professor in his early 40s. He had a wife and three kids. He always took his family wherever he went. And because of his heavy schedule, his kids were never registered at any school. We asked him why and he answered that it was because he was sure that traveling was a kind of education, too.

"By traveling, my children see different cultures, learn to adapt easily to other people and appreciate them, and they will be brave to face different situations. They will be enriched by the experience, and it will allow them to improve their selves. Formal education is somewhat easier than those things," he said.

I and my friends watched his family with full interest. We thought he was really confident of his children's abilities. And when we talked with his kids and "tested" them, we were surprised at how bright they were. His four-year-old child was already able to read. She could identify different kinds of animals that we showed her in an encyclopedia. And the kids were so friendly.

CHADIJAH MASTURA SIREGAR

Bandung, West Java