Inside a pre-literacy and math class before entering grade 1 in Ho Chi Minh City
What is the "broken windows effect"?
In 1969, psychologist Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University (USA) conducted an experiment. He left two broken cars without license plates in a low-income residential area in the Bronx, New York City and a wealthy residential area in Palo Alto, California, USA.
Within 24 hours, the Bronx car had its windows smashed and its parts stolen. By contrast, the Palo Alto car remained intact for more than a week. It was only after Mr. Zimbardo took a sledgehammer to the car that some people joined in. Most of the vandals in both cities were described as “well-dressed, clean-shaven.”
But what happens next is very interesting.
Years after Zimbardo’s experiment, the results were repeated in a 1982 article in The Atlantic by social scientist George Kelling. Kelling first introduced the theory of the “Broken Windows Effect.” If someone breaks a window in a building and doesn’t repair it in time, more windows will break. The reason is that when vandals see a broken window, they tend to break more windows to commit crimes.
This theory is actually very easy to understand. For example, the hallway is originally very clean, but if someone throws a bag of trash in the corner of the wall and it is not cleaned up in time, a few bags of trash will soon become a large garbage dump. Over time, the hallway will become a place for trash to accumulate and become smelly and dirty. This is the "Broken Window Effect". It is only a small problem at first, but if not promptly resolved, the problem will become larger and the consequences will become serious.
Regarding learning before the first grade program, no parent wants their child to be behind others when entering first grade. Being behind in learning in the early years can affect a child's self-confidence, and last into the following years.
From the "Broken Windows Effect", we can see that if just one child learns the program ahead of the others and excels, it will lead to the whole class following suit. This also applies to the current problem of extra tutoring.
Peer pressure
Competition in schools and peer pressure are the root causes of the above phenomena. As long as parents and schools focus too much on scores and compete for achievements to evaluate students, extra tutoring and pre-primary learning will continue to be rampant.
First grade students in Vietnamese class
In Western management theory, there is a famous concept "You get what you measure", which can be used to talk about the gap in human perception. If we only focus on certain aspects, we will forget many others (blind spots in perception).
Education administrators need to review student assessment criteria, especially in primary school, and learn from Western education systems. They should not overemphasize the issue of scores, but focus on student development. Limiting the competition for achievements will help reduce pressure on students, parents, and teachers; and reduce the need for extra tutoring or learning ahead of schedule.
Currently, academic pressure in many Asian countries, such as Vietnam, China, and Korea, is still very high, as academic success and a ticket to university are considered the deciding factors for students' success.
Another objective factor to consider is the current situation of overcrowded schools in big cities in Vietnam. Newly built schools cannot keep up with the increase in population; the number of students in each class is quite large, sometimes up to nearly 50 students per class.
In primary school, especially grade 1, teachers need to closely monitor and support young children to adapt to the school environment, and help each child practice writing. With limited timetable and large class sizes, the work of primary school teachers will be more difficult. Children learning the grade 1 curriculum in advance will reduce the burden on teachers.
In the story of children going to extra classes and studying ahead of the first grade curriculum, we need to look at the problem from many angles: peer pressure, pressure from the scoring system, class size overload in primary schools, and many shortcomings in the current primary school curriculum.
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