“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept were toiling upwards in the night.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Good Poems for Hard Times
I learned the Longfellow quote above in Standard 4. It was shared with my class by the teacher in an attempt to inspire us to work hard and to understand the necessity of hard work. Now, one week into this new school year, this quote is resonating with me.
I’ve been getting calls from parents worried about their children’s progress. It’s natural for all parents to want their children to do well, but what can be a little concerning from these calls are the constraints some parents have on child development. Some parents want to know how soon improvements will be seen, how long it will take for their student to master certain subjects and there simply isn’t an answer.
Firstly, not all students will be “A” students and that is OK. Some parents find this difficult to accept, however. Secondly, you can’t put a time limit on how fast your child will master new material. Every child works at his/her own pace. If you observe that your son/daughter needs some extra help, then certainly give me a call. But, understand that for every two, four or six hours I work with your student outside of school, you need to spend an equal or more amount of time with them as well. And that does not always mean simply going over homework – they need to be constantly engaged with a variety of reading material; they also need to be exposed to a wide-range of activities and experiences. Improvements can be made in short periods of time, especially if the extra effort is made, but this is not always guaranteed and time varies from student to student. True progress takes continuous effort just like Mr. Longfellow has pointed out for us.