What I Do Past Midnight

Unusual rant, retrieved from my facebook 23 minutes ago:

I’ve been at home mostly now, getting work done from home, with perks of eating great home cooked food and watching my niece who lives with us grow up so quickly into a curious 9 year-old (let’s call her Lala). However, I’m beginning to notice something she’s lacking of, both academically and personally. She’s the greatest but not the best with numbers and some other aspects (hear me out, I’m not saying every kid must be good at Math).
I’m young. But I’ve spent considerable amount of time volunteering in schools of different levels and types in different areas in my own country, and I might have a good sense of how western or advanced education offered in rich countries might differ in some ways.
I’m still dumbfounded at how many times I see qualified teachers who still do this in many classrooms:

Instead of putting the slowest kid at the front of the line, some would still focus on that brightest kid in the room, making the rest feel miserable. You know, keep flattering the number one kiddo. 

They don’t seem to be much of a help in answering:
-how are they going to catch up?

-why is plan A, B not working?

-how to help them identify their weaknesses?

-how can we best build their self-esteem when they know they’re left behind?

My point: is there a better way we could modify the learning experience kids would get at school where they learn a few things to be a better human. Not everyone can afford Cambridge school with a long line of internationally standardised teachers ready to assist one particular kid to accomplish their learning objectives. And most teachers’ trainings in this country aren’t that accessible to all (only the best teachers can attend decent workshop in main cities of Indonesia).

I don’t have kids myself so I might know very little about parenting world. Just imagine how many other struggling Lalas out there if this is how many teachers remain to operate in classrooms.

Lastly, sorry teachers, I didn’t mean to put all of you on the spot but I’m just very very very mad. I understand criticising is not acceptable in every corner of the world, but I hope we can see this as something constructive for a sole purpose of bringing out the best in people we care about.