Sawing Yathana, a musical teacher in Nan, teaches the students to play traditional Thai instruments, like this traditional fiddle.

Multiple intelligences promote nurturing each child individually

In a competitive society where every child should be given the maximum opportunities to succeed in later life, how do parents know when they are pushing or nurturing too much, especially when each child has unique cognitive profile

Pushing versus nurturing children

Dr Edward Roy Krishnan, in his "Learning Post" article, informed us that parents may fall into the trap of doing what they think they should do, resulting in them enrolling their children in extra curricula activities and putting unnecessary stress on them.

The children may also want to please the parents, and so find themselves trapped between doing what their parents want and what they really want.

Dr Krishnan directed us to put children in charge of as much of their school learning and out-of-school (i.e., extra curricula) activities as possible. The reason for this is it demonstrates that parents are sensitive to what their children want. It also allows the parents to exercise their "spirit of encouragement" when they support their kids' choices.

Another way to learn

Arusa Pisuthipan wrote about the Vanessa school, which caters to playschool and kindergarten to Grade 6. What differentiates this school from many others is that the faculty encourages pupils to learn by exposing them to stimulating material and placing them in invigorating environments, in contrast to the traditional methods of text-book-only-based teaching and learning.

On closer inspection, this article explains the theory behind their practice: multiple intelligences. The school's curriculum director, Vanessa Race, studied under Dr Howard Gardiner, a psychologist and professor at Harvard University.

Dr Gardiner is renowned for his work on multiple intelligences, which is a psychological and educational theory that suggests that each individual manifests varying levels of these different intelligences, and thus each person has a unique intelligence profile.

In short, we all have different intellectual strengths and weaknesses, and one person's strength/weakness (e.g., in math/music) does not necessarily mean they are any less intelligent - over all - than another who has a different strength/weakness (e.g., in music/math).

Personal reflection

After reading both articles, I asked myself, "Are my wife and I pushing our children too hard? Are we pushing and not nurturing? and What are the specific multiple intelligences of my two children?" My children attend a music school on Saturday and Sunday; so in theory, they go to school seven days a week. Is this too much?

If children ask to attend extra classes for their own benefit or enjoyment and not for the parents', then probably they are not being pushed. Parents should be careful to choose the right school for the activity concerned, but check to see if your child has a preference or recommendation. You might be surprised.

Multiple Intelligences

The issue of multiple intelligences, I believe, is a complex one. Some children do not excel at their normal daytime school; however, they do extremely well at their extra curricular activities, such as music or sports.

Multiple intelligence includes many disciplines, such as Logical-Mathematical, Spatial and Natural-Biological, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Linguistic and, of course, Musical.

Arusa Pisuthipan pointed out in her "Outlook" article that people may possess more than one form of multiple intelligence, which explains why some children fall into more than one category. It is therefore possible for a child to fluently speak three languages and perform well musically, yet still not do well in many other classroom subjects.

A bit of both

Having read the two articles, I am of the opinion that children do not fall neatly into the positions put forth by either article. I believe that parents must nurture their children when they need nurturing and push them when they need pushing, while being sensitive to the multiple intelligences of each of their children.

Motivation can take many forms. From experience, I feel that success breeds motivation and leads to further success. If children can be educated in a way that allows students to experience their successes as they learn, and to be happy while engaging in the process, then we have a winning formula.

The theory and results of Vanessa school, founded by Vanessa Race's mother, Chumsri Rukwanitpong, have borne fruit and set an example of what can be achieved by committed and dedicated teachers and administrators. Perhaps the Ministry of Education could train a cadre of teachers in this obviously useful teaching method and command them to go forth and spread the method.

Steve Graham is an English language teacher at the Language Center, Udon Thani Rajabhat University in northeast Thailand. If there are any comments or areas for debate that you would like to discuss, you can contact Steve at: shed_chelsea@hotmail.co.uk .