When Did I Learn to Read?

Now that Noe is having full day activities at Carpe Diem, we noticed that they have already taught him basic alphabet recognition. Sometimes he would point at similar letters that appear in public domain and say “Same… same” (referring to the letters “N” that appear at different places).

What’s next? Is he going to learn how to read at age 3? Is he going to start writing at age 4?

If I do a bit of a flashback here: I only started to learn how to read and write during first grade in Elementary School. I was about to turn 7 years old then when the book Bahasaku became our daily bread at Sekolah Dasar Triguna, Jakarta. It was when Muntu and Togop became my best friends during my early learning days. *Read more about it here.

Between the fifth and sixth years of my life, all I could remember doing was…. play and play. It was never a challenge to be at Taman Kanak-Kanak Triguna. Besides playing, we learned how to sing and do some handicrafts using paper, straw, glue (or sometimes cooked rice!) and string. Of course, I learned how to chase girls at such an early age, too. I’ve never forgotten their names.

I heard that Elementary Schools in Jakarta require reading proficiency for the first graders (6-7 year-olds). If that’s true, what will be the duties of the teacher(s)?

How would reading at such an early age (between 3-6) help my children with the future world challenges? I learned reading only at age 7 and (I think) I am not doing too bad (not as smart as my wife Rani, of course).

This issue is debatable. I find it hard to believe that things have changed dramatically over the past decade or two. Maybe I am already considered as an old timer by many.