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Too much of school
When my mom finally decided to take that plum posting as a
Divisional
Head, I knew I was in trouble. Her office hours stretched way beyond
my
school hours. And anyway, I was privy to the many discussions my
parents had about 'Honey, what do we do with the kids?' Well,
finally they struck gold - an educational after school program.
Won't that be just grand? Kids are learning new things while parents
are happily minting greenbacks!
And so, we went directly to another class after our school. The
brochure
said that they would be 'using fun activities and innovative
teaching
methods to fill the gap in your child's understanding'. I suppose
they meant that the teacher would write down the homework and we
were to copy it. At least, this is what happened most of the time.
Of course, we didn't tell our parents. How would that help? They'd
simply get smart and shift us to a class that would actually make us
solve our homework.
I hated the classes. Mostly, I was bored to tears or falling asleep.
After so many hours at school who'd want to spend the entire
afternoon with the same books? But, as a child, one had little
choice in these matters. Especially when one's parents were cleverly
telling one that mommy's salary will help get us that spanking new
TV or that video game. Lose some, win some!
Then, one day, my sister decided to rock the proverbial boat. She
decided she had enough of studying and refused to go to the after
school program. That's when my parents began to smell something
stale. Shortly after that, they put us in a better program (o, yes,
another educational one). This was bigger, brighter and somehow more
fun. We had some interesting games, and a COMPUTER too. Each of us
got a chance to do something on the PC (this, when PCs were just
beginning to make their presence felt). We somehow managed to blaze
through our homework, most of which had to be done by us. Then it
was time to have fun. We had a little bit of everything. Acting
classes, speech, games and of course painting. Those hours we spent
splashing color on pages and laughing at silly jokes were really the
highlight of an otherwise boring day. Ironically, I began looking
forward to my after school program.
Now, so many years afterward, when I need to take up a job and leave
my own child alone till I get back, I know how important these after
school programs have become. Talk about history repeating itself! I
just hope I'd get her into a good one, and yes, it's going to be
educational too.
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