Comment by JustExAWS
2 days ago
I have as much of a fundamental issue with “Saturday school” for children as I do with professionals thinking they should be coding on their days off. When do you get a chance to enjoy your childhood?
2 days ago
I have as much of a fundamental issue with “Saturday school” for children as I do with professionals thinking they should be coding on their days off. When do you get a chance to enjoy your childhood?
As a kid, the "fun" about Saturday school fluctuated. In the beginning it was super fun, after a while it became a chore (and I whined to my mom) but in the end I enjoyed it and it was tremendously valuable. The school had a lot of cultural activities (sport day, new years celebration / setsubun etc) and having a second set of classmates that shared a different side of you was actually fun for me. So it added an extra dimension of enjoyment in my childhood :)
Especially since (back then) being an (half) asian nerd kid in a 99.6% White (blonde & blue eyed) school meant a lot of ridicule and minor bullying. The saturday school classes were too small for bullying to not get noticed, and also served as a second community where you could share your stuff without ridicule or confusion :)
The experience made me think that it's tremendously valuable for kids to find multiple places (at least one outside school) where they can meet their peers. Doesn't have to be a school, but a hobby community, sport group, music groups, etc. Anything the kid might like, and there's shared interest.
It teaches kid that being liked by a random group of people (classmates) is not everything in life, and you increase the chance of finding like-minded people. Which reflect rest of life better anyway (being surrounded by nerds is by far the best perk of being an engineer)
I know 2 class mates (out of 7) that hated it there, and since it's not mandatory they left after elementary school. So a parent should ofc check if t he kids enjoy it (and if not, why) and let the kid have a say in it.
So you’re telling me the entire point of life is being able to segregate yourself with a bunch of people like you?
That's a very bad-faith take on what I wrote. I'll self-quote:
>The experience made me think that it's tremendously valuable for kids to find *multiple places* (at least one outside school) where they can meet their peers.
Most people don't neatly fit in to "one" category. Trying to find many places you could meet peers can open up your mind (and also people around you)
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There is a huge difference between not wanting to be around people who don’t agree with you about the benefits and drawbacks of supply side economics and not wanting to be around someone who disrespects you as a person because of the color of your skin.
Neither he (half Asian) or I (Black guy) owe the latter our time or energy to get along with. Let them wallow in their own ignorance.
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For many, coding can be fun and it's not an external obligation like eating veggies or going to the gym (relatedly, some also enjoy veggies and the gym).
Some people want to deeply immerse into a field. Yes, they sacrifice other ways of spending that time and they will be less well rounded characters. But that's fine. It's also fine to treat programming as a job and spend free time in regular ways like going for a hike or cinema or bar or etc.
And similarly, some kids, though this may not fully overlap with the parents who want their kids to be such, also enjoy learning, math, etc. Who love the structured activities and dread the free play time. I'd say yes, they should be pushed to do regular kid things to challenge themselves too, but you don't have to mold the kids too much against what their personality is like if it is functional and sustainable.