Education

As I am sure most of you are aware, Asian parents place utmost importance on education. They do believe that education is the gateway to a better life and financial security in the near future, which I guess is true to some extent.

My little brother of 9 will be sitting the selective school test in 2012 and like I did, is undergoing the intensive training with coaching, trial test course and coupled with that, Chinese school. He does scouts as well so his week is quite darn busy. As I look at his busy week, I feel horrified to realise that this was what I did when I was his age...though at that time, I just did it for the sake of doing so and I enjoyed learning though despised hanging out at tutoring until torturous hours. He is now doing what I did. Perhaps I have grown up but I just look at his rigorous timetable and feel so darn awful for him. A little boy of his age shouldn't be crowded with books and not having time to have some down time playing. Do Asian parents really push their kids to the extreme? I know that every parent wants the best for their child...but is it too much at times? I want to stop my brother from attending Chinese school as that consists of him waking up early in the morning on a Saturday then continuing his day at coaching. Isn't he tired enough?