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MBA for tots? Never too young to learn
By Yu Nan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-04-10 16:24 Children's EMBA, an early business administration
program designed for kids aged three to six, recently appeared in Shanghai with
the fees up to 10,000 yuan (USD$2,500), sparking a public debate, the Beijing
Star Daily reported.
The training program, called "genius baby," includes
12 courses such as mathematics, English, economics, and natural science, and has
enrolled 1500 children so far.
But many of the children cry throughout
classes such as economics and mass communications as they are too young to
understand them.
Ms. Wang, a clerk in the genius baby training center,
said that EMBA has been carefully designed for children in order to foster their
communication and creative abilities.
But Shanghai mother Vinny posted an
advertisement on a well-known forum in order to sell the course vouchers she had
already purchased. She told the reporter in an MSN interview that the courses
made her child too tense and tired.
Tian Tian, a five-year old
kindergartener, attended the EMBA everyday, but "we had to cut into our meal
time in order to be on time for the class," Tian Tian's parents said. "So we
decided to give it up."
Du Yasong, a child psychology scholar from a
child psychology research center in Shanghai, said it is not proper for parents
to enroll children in extracurricular study programs such as EMBA without
thoroughly researching it first.
"It is better to study as naturally as
possible," he said. "Parents should focus on fostering children's practical
abilities rather than force them to take courses that are not suited for
children."
Shanghai University sociologist Deng Zhiwei said "the harder
you push, the slower they go." He said parents shouldn't put so much pressure or
expectations on children.
"It is also totally unnecessary to spend such a
lot of money on a course like this," he added.
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