XeroxBusiness — One More Evening of Studying!

This is something I have closely noticed

with both my children during their school years.

Most days, the child comes home from school,

has some snacks and, after a little while, sits down to study.

Then they start writing.

And writing.

And writing.

By the time it is 9 PM, the child is tired.

Dinner.

And good night!

I am sure some of you have already put your attendance.

“Mine too!”

And it is interesting to see how this happens in today's Gen-Z times.

I am talking about my son's high-school years

—not long ago, just about two years back.

Soon after my son came home from school,

my wife's phone would start ringing.

That is when I used to say jokingly:

“Okay. Call Center Started!”

“Bro, send me the notes.”

“Can you send that picture?”

“Send me the project.”

“Can you send the homework?”

Now, don't imagine that my son was living on another planet.

He was also making those “Bro…” calls quite often.

That's how our Call Center used to get really busy till late evening.

And what followed was even more interesting.

Xerox Business!

Copy the notes.

Copy the pictures.

Copy the projects.

Copy the pending classwork.

Copy the homework.

Copy whatever had arrived through WhatsApp messages and documents into the classwork book, homework book or project sheet.

Watching this happen again and again, I started wondering:

Is something important getting lost that we, as parents, are not noticing?

From the outside, everything looks fine.

The child is sitting at the table.

The notebook is filling up.

Homework is getting completed.

Projects are getting submitted.

The child looks busy.

But is the child actually learning?

I started wondering:

When does the child get time to actually...

Read?

Ask questions?

Think?

Understand?

Make their own notes?

Solve problems?

If a large part of our child's study time is spent copying,

when does the child get time to do all these things?

And that made me wonder

whether this is more than just a question of time.

Could this also be a question about how our children are learning?

Have you noticed this happening at home?

How much of your child's evening study time is actually spent copying?

And how much is spent reading, thinking, understanding, solving and doing something independently?

I'd genuinely like to know what it looks like in your home.