Foundation or furniture?

Brian Cox, Contributor, Jakarta

My wife and I have four children; all are now adults. Twenty- five years ago the time came for our eldest son to start school. We checked out a variety of schools but we couldn't find what we wanted, so we started a school! It soon became obvious that the things we wanted in a school were also desired by many other families, as the school quickly grew to over 700 students. I realize that not everyone can start a new school to satisfy the needs of their children!

Why was it so important to our family that our son, and subsequently his brothers and sister, should begin their more formal education in a "good" school?

I believe that the foundations of a child's education are much more important than the furniture that might be moved into the building after the basic structure has been put in place.

We need to understand that the foundations of formal education begin in the home and are reinforced in the early years of school. What happens after the age of around eight years is a progressive building on the foundations that have already been established; it's fundamentally "adding the furniture".

Many parents are keen to find a good secondary school for their sons and daughters so that they might be well prepared for universities and careers. Often the quality of junior school education is not seen to be quite so important, and as for kindergarten, well, they just play don't they?

Education and human development experts will tell us that a child's level of trust is formed mainly in the first two years of life. The chief authority in the life of the young child at this stage is the parent. Children who know that they are loved, accepted and appropriately disciplined will develop trust.

Children who have their physical needs met, whose lives have clear routines and new experiences that are safe will develop trust. Trust is related to confidence. A young child who has developed trust and who is consequently developing confidence is in a great position to take on the challenges of learning.

Before you know it, you're sending your child to kindergarten! He or she is now three or four years old. Typically they have become quite energetic and inquisitive, they display a tendency toward being self-centered and somewhat selfish. A great time to be taught how important it is to respect and value others!

So a good kindergarten will help young people to explore and discover new things; there will be lots of opportunities for storytelling, for singing and expressing thoughts through ever increasing language ability.

The opportunity to explore and to question is fundamental to learning. Kindergarten activities might look like "playing" to a sophisticated adult, but consider how many adults have bought a new computer program put it in, without reading the instructions, experimented with it and "worked it out" ... playing to learn!

Skills and knowledge that we "discover" in these ways add to our learning, but also give the confidence to question and go beyond narrow boundaries in the future. The foundations laid down in the early years through exploration and interaction help children to become confident in who they are and the place they hold it their community.

Young children are full of questions about the world around them and their place in it. A good kindergarten teacher encourages this sense of "wonder", and deals with these questions with respect and integrity. Asking questions and questioning answers helps children to learn. Teaching young people to think and investigate equips them with an essential learning tool.

Kindergarten needs to be a place of security and safety of "controlled" exploration. This is an age where both confidence and competence are foundationally developed. This is the time when beliefs and values and attitudes are being formed for a lifetime. Is it important to you as a parent that the development of these important character virtues is in harmony with those held by your family?

Is the kindergarten supporting the development of good character attributes in these young children? Are they learning to express gratitude, to recognize that other people have needs too and that patience is a requirement for life? Are they learning how to contribute to the resolution of conflict? Are they learning to take healthy risks to explore beyond that which is immediately known? Are they developing a healthy respect for appropriate authority? Are they learning to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate actions?

Kindergarten is a time when young people will form strong attitudes toward learning, and life, that can be positive or negative. A good kindergarten should seek to develop a joy in learning, a love of knowledge, an appreciation of language, an encouragement of creativity and an appreciation of a sense of community.

Sure, it's important for your child to complete an IB Diploma or to graduate successfully from senior school. But remember that their likelihood of success may well be determined by the foundations laid at home and in the very early years of schooling. The writer is the headmaster of Sekolah Pelita Harapan