Maybe They Expect Too Much

Te Ao Hou, June 1965, Page 50

Maybe They Expect Too Much Can Wiki's teacher really do what her parents seem to expect? Wiki is only at school 5 hours out of 24. She has learned at home that you mustn't ask adults too many questions. This belief will be reflected in her classroom behaviour. When she does finally ask a question, the class may laugh at her ignorance and she may not try again for quite a while. Even if she is lucky enough to have a sympathetic teacher who understands the real cause of her difficulty, she still has to share that teacher with 30 other children. Maybe Wiki's parents are expecting a bit too much. Little children are very curious about the world around them, and it is only natural for them to ask a great many questions. I know that you adults get thoroughly sick of it. You want to talk to each other, and not be pestered with silly questions all the time. But are the questions really silly? Isn't a child's question an attempt to learn something? If it is, then surely it ought to be answered.