Part 12　It Is Not the Child Who Is at Fault

Our starting point is to believe "It is not the child who is at fault." As long as we discover the potential of each student and ensure they study at the "just-right" level, then each child will progress at a rate that will surprise not only their parents and schoolteachers, but also themselves. It will give students confidence when they realize they have such potential. This is what the Kumon Method aims to achieve.

Toru Kumon

It is natural for parents to wish that their child be healthy and good at studying. With that wish, parents teach their children many things and have them take lessons or go to cram school and so forth. This is fine when things go smoothly, but when they don't, parents tend to think that their children are not smart enough to comprehend no matter how many lessons they take. When a child is not good at a certain subject, generally people take the viewpoint that he or she is just not smart, without looking into the reason why the child has such a weakness.

However, it is not the child who is at fault. Whether it be math or English, or any other subject, the reason why a child cannot do something lies with the teacher (the adult providing instruction), not the child.

When a child gets stuck on something, or is just not advancing smoothly in his or her studies, we at Kumon do not think to ourselves, "this child has low ability." Instead we examine whether there is not some kind of defect in the worksheets and whether we could have provided better instruction. In addition to adjusting our instruction appropriately with the current worksheets, we also consider the study situations of many other children and try to revise the worksheets in a way that would make them easier for that one child to study. In this way, we learn from one child to improve the worksheets and our instruction skills, and this in turn helps many more children to study effectively. This is how the Kumon Method has evolved up to now and how it continues to evolve to this day.

We can proudly say that there is no educational method greater than the Kumon Method. However, we also humbly accept that our method is not perfect and that there is always room for improvement. From here on too, all of us involved with the Kumon Method will strive sincerely to improve our worksheets and our instruction by continuing to learn from each individual child we encounter in our centers.