3 ms·

I have a lot of experience tutoring math in small classes to many students, including a couple who went on to earn gold medals in International Physics and Chem

I have a lot of experience tutoring math in small classes to many students, including a couple who went on to earn gold medals in International Physics and Chemistry Olympiads. (I no longer teach due to my current research and startup work.) I'd say your child would gain much more from having good private tutors you hand-pick from local schools/universities/private tutoring centers (depending on the level of your son's attainment and the qualifications of the teachers). Also, for certain subjects, you could be a great teacher yourself. Even without taking pollution impact into account, using the hours saved from commuting in a very congested city to study one-on-one or in a small group would likely net a bigger gain than what quality difference there is between the good local school and a top school in the capital city. The key conditions are 1) having qualified tutors who fit with the student's personality and interests and 2) regular schedule so the student does not spend the extra hours playing mobile games instead. Another key advantage is your child can use the best educational materials available on the Web, paid and free, such as Khan Academy, 3Blue1Brown, and the likes for learning. The presentations there are often head-and-shoulders above the techniques most school teachers typically use to explain concepts in class. Edit: For a downvoter who I assume might disagree with the last paragraph, you need to go visit average schools in a developing country to see how the teaching is like.

geomark 8y ago
I am glad to read your suggestions, coming from someone with experience. And indeed I have been doing some of this. The teachers at his school are very good. It's other issues that I'm not satisfied with (detailed in my other comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17867556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17867556). I do teach him a lot. I'm an EE and can write code. So I have had him do a bunch of code.org, robotics projects, maker projects, and we do lots of reading together. He's strong in those areas. Currently do tutoring only in Chinese and music. And yes, he has pretty strict limits on game playing time. So maybe I should stay the course as you suggest, supplementing as needed.
- mike_h 8y ago
  Keep in mind that one good thing about air pollution is it’s relatively straightforward to mitigate once you’re aware of the problem. PM2.5 filters can be had for relatively cheap (see Smart Air), and you can wear a mask when you’re out on bad days. Unless you’re really lucky, his peers in Bangkok probably won’t make him feel great about wearing a mask, but just having clean air at home will help a lot. Then maybe you can talk the school into filters, plus policies about athletics on bad days. I’d be surprised if they don’t have these already.
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  What you describe sounds great, just one remark - I hope you are also allowing him to just be a child, play outside, wander around, do foolish things, have fun with peers etc. Without these, a child doesn't have a proper childhood and effects will be felt negatively for the rest of the life.

geomark 8y ago

I am glad to read your suggestions, coming from someone with experience. And indeed I have been doing some of this. The teachers at his school are very good. It's other issues that I'm not satisfied with (detailed in my other comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17867556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17867556). I do teach him a lot. I'm an EE and can write code. So I have had him do a bunch of code.org, robotics projects, maker projects, and we do lots of reading together. He's strong in those areas. Currently do tutoring only in Chinese and music. And yes, he has pretty strict limits on game playing time. So maybe I should stay the course as you suggest, supplementing as needed.

mike_h 8y ago
Keep in mind that one good thing about air pollution is it’s relatively straightforward to mitigate once you’re aware of the problem. PM2.5 filters can be had for relatively cheap (see Smart Air), and you can wear a mask when you’re out on bad days. Unless you’re really lucky, his peers in Bangkok probably won’t make him feel great about wearing a mask, but just having clean air at home will help a lot. Then maybe you can talk the school into filters, plus policies about athletics on bad days. I’d be surprised if they don’t have these already.
saiya-jin 8y ago
What you describe sounds great, just one remark - I hope you are also allowing him to just be a child, play outside, wander around, do foolish things, have fun with peers etc. Without these, a child doesn't have a proper childhood and effects will be felt negatively for the rest of the life.