ExtensionandReflection.docx

Passage A
Different ways to raise children

It's believed by many Chinese parents that hard work leads to success. Indeed, a number of parents in China adopt parenting style to motivate their children to excel in(擅长) their studies.
The idea of strict parents is certainly familiar to Sophia Chua- Rubenfeld, who posted 26 study tips on her personal blog in September. The 25-year-old had recently finished her postgraduate studies at Yale University in the United States. Her post raised discussions about the parenting skills of her mother, Amy Chua, a Chinese-American professor at Yale Law School.
Chua was given the nickname “Tiger Mom” for her book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, published in 2011, which includes the details of her strict parenting methods of raising her daughters.
Because of the book, she became a household name overnight and was even listed in Time Magazine’s Top 100 most influential people in 2011.
Chua set strict standards for her two daughters, Sophia and Lulu. For example, in school, they weren't allowed to make grades lower than A's. They had to play the piano or violin and practice for several hours a day. There were no sleepovers(过夜) , play dates or TV.
Chua's parenting received wide criticism.
“Children need their parents' love and acceptance in order to develop real self-esteem(自尊). Belittling(轻视) children sends the message that they are not worthy of love and support, Lac Su, vice president of marketing for TalentSmart, a global think tank, wrote in CNN.
Some even predicted that the two girls "couldn’t possibly be happy or truly creative. They'll grow up skilled and compliant(顺从的) but without the audacity(胆量) to be great,” according to The New York Times.
However, seven years have passed and the girls have grown up. Both of them seem to lead a good life and are thankful about their mother. "People assume that tiger parenting would [lead to] low self-esteem because there isn't that constant praise, but I think I [have got] a lot more confidence than some others, because my confidence is earned,” Lulu told New York Post. "[My mom] gave me the tools to drive my own confidence."
Still, not everyone agrees with this. "Instead of motivating my children to achieve high grades, my dream is that, in the future, we can just sit together after dinner and have a family concert and enjoy the music,” Mike Wang, a Chinese parent with a 14-year-old daughter who lives in London, told China Daily.
Each child may just fit different parenting. As Gu Jun, a professor from Shanghai University put it, “No child is perfect, and parents don't have to make their parenting perfect."
(FROM TEENS·SENIOR 3·OCT 8. 2018)
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Passage B
Pushy parents help children succeed

Pushy parents may be doing their children more harm than good, says Washington-based childcare expert Matthew Melmed. Professional parents frequently overstimulate(过度激励) babies and toddlers and buy them educational toys that are too old for them in the belief that they are improving their prospects. In fact, faced with such demands, the children may become frustrated and give up completely. Worse still, the children recognise that they are disappointing their parents and this sense of failure eats away at their self-esteem. The warning comes as an ever-increasing range of educational material is being produced for the very young. In the US, "hyper-parenting" is rife (普遍的), says Joanna Coles in The Times. Expectant mothers are pressured into buying CDs such as Mozart for Mothers to Be ("Build your baby's brain! ") while no self-respecting baby would be without educational videos including Baby Einstein and Baby Shakespeare. By the age of one, enrolment in a plethora (过多) of classes, from languages to arithmetic, is expected.
(FROM UNIT 29 EDUCATION, MODULE 10, SHE)

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Passage C
Being Authoritative Parents

Phrases like “tiger mom” and ‘‘helicopter parent” have made their way into everyday language. Many of us find ourselves drawn to the idea that with just a bit more parental hard work and effort, we might turn out children with bright futures. But is there anything wrong with a kind of “overparenting style”?
Parental involvement has a long history of being studied. Many of the studies, conducted by Diana Baumrind, a famous psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a good parent is the one who is involved and reacts to her child in a positive way, who sets high expectations but gives her child independence. These “authoritative parents” appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are not strict and less involved, or controlling and more involved. Why is this parenting style so successful?
Authoritative parents actually help improve motivation in their children. Carol Dweck, a social psychologist at Stanford University, has done research that indicates why authoritative parents raise more motivated children. In a typical experiment, Dr. Dweck takes young children into a room and asks them to solve a simple puzzle. Most do so with little difficulty. But then Dr. Dweck tells some, but not all, of the kids how clever they are. As it turns out, the children who are not told they’re smart are more motivated to solve increasingly difficult puzzles. They also show higher levels of confidence and show greater progress in puzzle-solving.
As the experiment suggests, praising children’s talents and abilities seems to shake their confidence. Dealing with more difficult puzzles carries the risk of losing one’s status as “smart”. Dr. Dweck’s work strongly supports that of Dr. Baumrind, who also found that reasonably supporting a child’s independence and limiting interference (干涉) causes better academic and emotional results．
The central task of growing up is to develop a sense of self that is independent and confident．If you treat your young child who is just learning to walk as if she can’t walk, you reduce her confidence. Allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting. It is easier when they are young. The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is reducing risks for our children.

Supplementary reading material
Passage D
Research shows there are benefits from
getting more three-year-olds into preschool

On Thursday, the Labor party pledged an additional A$1.75 billion for early education if elected the next government of Australia. This is the largest investment in early childhood education in Australian history.
Early childhood educators, researchers and economists have long advocated the importance of early childhood education. If Labor does win the next election and commit to this promise, everyone will benefit. Two years of preschool will give young Australian children the best start in life.
What does the research say about development?
Neuroscience has shown the early years, particularly birth to eight years, are critical for optimal learning and development. Preschool attendance has shown consistent positive short and long-term effects across the world including in the US, Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
Play-based preschool programs delivered by qualified early childhood educators improve children’s learning and developmental outcomes and are particularly important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A recent independent report to state and territory education ministers argued, in terms of improving school outcomes, the single most impactful reform Australia could make would be to increase access to quality early childhood education (preschool) for three-year-olds.
Another report showed two years of preschool has more impact than one, especially for children who are develop- mentally vulnerable (such as those from a low socio-economic background).
What would these programs look like?
Universal access means younger children will have access to a four-year degree qualified teacher who provides a play-based program aligning with the Early Years Learning Framework. Play-based learning is where children learn through play, either self-directed (often called free play), or guided play where an adult intentionally extends children's learning through play and related activities.
High quality preschool programs pro- mote children’s academic and social development and provide a balance of intentional teaching and freely chosen play activities. Educators extend children's learning by engaging in pro- longed conversations where the educator and child solve problems together, clarify concepts or evaluate things that develop and extend thinking or understanding.
And what about these children and their parents?
Labor has promised the three-year- old preschool programs will be delivered through a range of early education settings. These include long day care centres, community preschools/kindies and schools. This is good news for parents who will be able to choose a pro- gram that suits their family's needs and especially for children who currently attend child care. Embedding strong early learning programs with qualified teachers into child care means a more integrated and seamless learning experience for children.
Three-year-old preschool programs will also help parents with childcare affordability. For parents with children al- ready in care, 15 hours will be funded by the government, cutting costs to families.
20. No matter what your political or educational perspective, giving children the best start to early learning makes good sense. Investment in early child- hood education can only benefit children, families and the nation.
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