Students of the digital technology age are so busy that they do not have time to play. Educators have warned that overworking will badly affect children’s psychology.

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How much is too much in primary school?

When entering the room, Lan Anh, a student of the Mathematics Faculty of the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences, now a tutor of a fifth grader, immediately saw the bloodshot eyes of the boy. Showing the study schedule to the tutor, the boy burst into tears and said: “I wish I can sleep”.

Lan Anh looked suspiciously at the boy, but she later realized that the boy had too much work to do. The boy had to learn lessons on history, geography, Vietnamese language, mathematics and English, but he did not have time to do that, because he had to spend time with the tutor.

Mother of Hung, the boy, is a PR officer, who travels a lot on business and does not have much time to take care for the child. Therefore, she asks her son to study with the tutor.

However, though the boy spends all his time on studying, he has not made any considerable progress. Since the boy does not get enough sleep and does not have time to relax, he regularly cannot learn lessons by heart and do home exercises. Several days ago, Hung’s teacher informed that Hung ranks the 32^nd among the 38 students in the class.

Even university students also feel that primary school students nowadays have too much work to do. Dieu Anh, a second year student of the Culture University, related that she is now tutoring a schoolgirl in literature. The girl always complains that she wants to go to bed instead of learning.

“I have five learning hours in the morning, and then four hours in the afternoon. I want to go to bed right after having dinners,” Trang, the schoolgirl, said.

Thanh Dan, an 8^th grade student of Cat Linh Secondary School, also has to follow a crowded timetable arranged by her mother. Dan does not have “weekend”, because she has to go studying English at the British Council on Sunday. On other days, she has to go to school and extra classes.

“I want to go to bed at 10 pm every day, but my mother only allows me to go to bed at 11 pm,” she complained.

Especially, Dan has to sit up late and get up early when she needs to prepare for exams. Her parents always remind her that she needs to get high scores, or they will feel ashamed.

Duyen, a third year student of the Literature Faculty of the Hanoi University for Social Sciences, said that in general, a tutoring shift lasts two hours. However, sometimes she has to work extra hours in order to help the student to prepare well for his exams.

Thao, a third year student of the University of Education, related that she was once asked by a mother to write essays for a student, so that the student can learn by heart to prepare for the test. The mother told Thao that her son needs to have eight scores at least with the essay.

Psychologists have expressed their concern over the overworking of students nowadays, warning that this will badly affect children’s psychology. However, it seems that parents do not pay any attention to the advices.

Source: VnExpress