I’m a wife and an educator. I don’t have children yet, but I’m an aspiring mom.

As an aspiring mom, I want my future kid/s to have the best education possible. I want a school that would help them develop their masterpiece of potential. I dream to have kids who will become productive citizens of our country — Filipinos who will share their gifts and talents to make it a better place to live in. I know all parents aim for this. However, not all parents are educators like me. Thus, this post aims to help them choose the best school for their children.

Bad schools are more businesses than schools. You can easily tell by how your child looks after school. Does he or she look happy? Tired? Happy-tired? Depressed? Lost? Motivated? Excited for tomorrow’s activities?

I love interviewing my high-performing students. One question that I usually ask is, “Why do you work/study hard?” Here are some of the answers that I got:

“I want an award.”

“For my mom.”

“To have high grades.”

“To make my parents happy.”

“So my parents would not get mad at me.”

If you hear this from a child, the school that he or she is in is a bad school.

In a bad school, most children are motivated to excel only because of their parents. They want their moms and dads to be proud of them. They value the hard work that their parents do for them. But believe it or not, studying is a burden for most of them. They are suffering, even though they don’t have to be.

They are the kids who could look stress after school. Sometimes they look upset, and it is usually because of their grades.

There were some kids, though, that answered differently when I asked them the same question. Here’s what they said:

“Because it’s just so fun!”

“I want to get better each day.”

“I want to get better at my spelling and reading.”

“I don’t know. I just love to.”

“To become a better learner.”

These kids are in a good school. They developed a love for learning. They study even without the teachers, because they are self-motivated. They look for ways to produce better and more creative outputs. Children who care about and own their learning become citizens who care about their jobs, which our country greatly needs.

They are the students who often arrive at home with big smiles on their faces. You’ll hear them excited for the next day at school.

I also noticed that most children in bad schools usually “feel sick”. A bad school’s clinic is often filled with students who have some sort of “-ache”. They would always find an excuse not to go to school.

I also experienced this. I’m sure you did too! I thought it was really how school works. In my mind, all students had to suffer through school first, so they could graduate. That was my only reason for bearing school — to finish it. My parents probably thought so too, because that’s what they were familiar with. When I started working as a teacher, I found out that it doesn’t have to be like that anymore.

In a good school, I’d meet students that don’t even want to tell me that they felt sick. They would always think of an excuse to stay in class. Kids in a good school hate holidays. They don’t like weekends.

I remember a student who already had a high fever, but chose to lie down on our reading corner’s carpet instead of going to the clinic. He said he didn’t want to miss a topic! He even answered questions while swaddled in a blanket!

Does your child always celebrate when there’s no school? Please consider transferring him. He is in serious trouble. You are, too! You are wasting your money.

A bad school for one kid, though, can be a good one for the other, and vice-versa. The key is to always check in with your children and figure out if you are getting your money’s worth.

Instead of asking them, “How’s school?” or “Do you like your teacher?”

You may ask the specifics like:

What did you learn today?

What are some good things that you did for someone today?

Did you all behave like how your teacher told you to? Why do you think so?

Did your class stay busy, or were you bored? What made you busy?

Students in a good school would always have a useful answer. Students in a bad school would more often say “I don’t know.”

I could give more examples, but I’ll leave it at that for now.

Keep in mind that every child is different. A school that fits perfectly for one kid may not work for another.

I hope this post helps! And I hope to connect with more like-minded people.

Feel free to message me and share your insights!