Parents' dilemma in education

I have tried giving some advice to two young mothers on children's education but I have come to realize I could be out of touch. Both of them have children studying in a Chinese school and both complained about their children's poor results, and teachers' complaints, despite attending tuition classes. Both mothers use the cane often to try to get homework done. Would they listen if I told them it is actually illegal to do that in UK? I told them about how sensitive children will have life-long 'scars' when beaten or slapped. It would appear the children are likely to get immune to such harsh punishments for not finishing their school homework.

During my time, we learned about making it easy and relaxing for children to learn things, or at their own pace. Now I am told they have to attend tuition classes or else they could not catch up with the rest of the class. Honestly, I have no answer for that. But I can tell them that rushing to various tuition centres could be tiring for them and would affect their attention in class. This was borne out by one of the comments that they feel sleepy at school or tuition class. Wouldn't it be better if the time saved from attending tuition classes be used to recharge themselves so that they could pay more attention in class? I would blame the lack of interest in studies to the pressures from the parents and teachers. Instead of making it interesting, studying becomes a chore and who would like that?

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