Middle-class competitive parenting trap (MCCP)

Disclaimer: If you can’t stand politically incorrect opinions, I’d recommend leaving it here.

Have you noticed the rise in tuition centres around you? The last ten years I have been in the UK, I have personally noticed of at least a dozen new ones open up in areas I have lived in.

Politically Incorrect Question #1: What percentage of Asian kids attend these centres? Empirical evidence will tell you well more than two-thirds while their population share is less than one-tenth.

Politically Incorrect Question #2: What percentage of Asian kids attend the highly sought after grammar schools? Again, take a stroll outside the Ilford Grammar School or the one in Southend and you’ll find the answer. The overwhelming majority of these kids are with South Asia background.

While I understand middle-class parents have their reasons, and they are valid, I still believe there’s a fine balance to be maintained. This herd mentality of following the crowd, the craze of grammar schools and Kumon and what not is dangerous. Raising the child ‘by the book’, ignoring individuality and denying the opportunity for experimentation doesn’t serve any child well.

Middle-class parents need to loosen up on their kids a little bit. There’s more to life than getting good grades or earning 6 digit salary by 30. Not everything you do in life should be to get a big payslip later in life. You ask a teenager today what’s your hobby and they will go thinking for hours…