As I was waiting for my wife to finish her kindergarten class, I observed that her school campus is also surrounded by smaller tutorial schools. Each of them specializes in developing certain talents such as playing musical instruments, painting and drawing, or public speaking. Surely, exposing kids to these types of training will help them discover their talents.

But as kids toil for the sake of discovering their gifts, giving up quality time to frolic in the playground or watch their favorite cartoon characters on television, parents appear to lack appreciation for the accomplishments of their children. A study carried out by the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong last September indicated that among the 830 children they interviewed, about a third said their parents ignored their creative work they proudly showed to them. This group of kids went on to say that their families were “full of blame and oppression”. That’s sad for a group of youngsters looking for affirmation from their parents.

Maybe parents were just following a popular trend of dragging/taking their children to these extra-curricular sessions. By doing so, kids enhance their qualifications that will earn them extra points and a better chance of landing a slot at preferred schools. These skills are intended not only for academic requirements but also to become the school’s potential source of pride; it becomes handy to find a school representantive to compete in ballet, swimming or mathematics contests.

But if schools, friends or neighbors can be proud of a child’s achievements, how can parents be hesitant or unwilling to show a reciprocal appreciation? Is it because parents tend to get fixated towards results and not on how these results are achieved? If so, then the idea of education is skewed and misguided. They go to school to learn before they get good grades and enter the university with flying colors. Perhaps, they desire this, but are helpless with the way the education system is run in this city.

Children could be more motivated to be successful when people who surround them show appreciation for their work. Somehow they’ll be able to summon themselves to be creative and innovative.

If there is a quote I can relate to this, it’s the popular Einstein statement: “Imagination is more important than knowledge”.