How Much Studying Is Too Much Studying

Have you ever wondered how much studying your child should be doing? How many hours should we expect from them after school? What about weekends? Holidays? Do they have time for sports or other activities? Do they even have a childhood of fun and play anymore?

Let me set the scene. My family and I live in Singapore, and if you missed it I’m Australian and my wife and son are Indonesian. The school that Jay, my son, attends has classes on Monday from 8am to 3pm (with 2 breaks for a snack and lunch), and from Tuesday to Friday from 8am to 1.30pm (with 1 break for a snack). After school he used to have 1 tuition session on Thursday afternoons, however the tutor was unable to continue the class and we haven’t replaced it with anything else.

So afternoons Jay will spend doing his homework (which takes anywhere from 1 to 3 or 4 hours), play, read, watch TV and any other leisure activities he wants. On Saturdays he has 2 extra classes, for his Chinese, that run from 9am to 1.30pm (with a 30 minute snack break at 11). On Sundays he might have some homework to complete, and he’ll sometimes do extra study for Chinese or his favourite class, Math, but that’s about it.

Sounds pretty typical right? When I was growing up we didn’t have any extra lessons, unless it was for a musical instrument or sport, we just did the homework set by our teachers and maybe did a little extra self study if we were so inclined.

But here’s the thing, by Singapore standards, we are far behind. We know of kids here who have extra tuition every, or almost every, day, seven days a week. If they’re really lucky they might have Sundays off, but it’s not likely.

There’s such a push for academic achievement here that they seem to be sacrificing their children’s childhood. From the time they wake up until the time they go to bed, they’re forced to study, to improve their grades. It’s not unusual for kids to be up until 11 or 12 o’clock at night, and I’m talking about 6 year olds, and getting up at 6 or earlier. You can see kids on the train or bus sleeping going to and from school because they’re not getting enough rest. So how can they be performing their best when they’re exhausted and sleep deprived?

Where should the limit be set? If they got more rest and had more fun, would their grades improve? Would they be less stressed and healthier? Is Jay doing as much as he should? Should we be pushing him to do more? Should we force him to stay up past his 9pm bedtime to do more work?

Personally I think Jay is doing about right, he’s consistently near the top of his classes in all subjects including Chinese. So unless he really has a much higher IQ than his schoolmates, their extra work is not helping them significantly. The problem here though is that I don’t have the data to support anything. I know how much Jay studies but confirming that for his peers is problematic, then comes the problem of determining IQ testing.

I think all I can really give is my opinion, and that is kids should be getting enough rest so that they can actually stay awake going to and from school. There should be a balance between schoolwork/study and recreation (all work and no play makes Jack a psychopath – REDRUM REDRUM). And above all our kids should be able to enjoy their childhood.