Right-brain Training: Need or Want?

To many parents' delight, one of Japan's renowned and critically acclaimed right-brain training centre, Heguru is finally setting foot on our sunny island. Never mind that Shichida has been the big bro claiming a chunk of the market share for years, parents are still enthusing and flocking to the new establishment. Well, I must admit that I'm one of them:p

It all started with right-brain cardinals such as Glenn Doman and Prof. Makoto Shichida vehemently advocating the theory of right brain activation at a tender age. Their claim was supported by years of solid research on brain-based learning which makes sense to me. The frenzy of sending kids to such centers really began when the Shichida Method School extended its franchise here. Since then, other right-brain training schools ( wannabes or unorthodox or hybrid ones) started springing out at various locales.

I attended a briefing session conducted by one of the three Heguru centres. Turns out that the centres are run by different franchisees. However, the fees are fixed across the centres and is the only constant variable. The quality of teachers and materials are very much under the mercy of the respective managements. Since the brand is making its debut and with such inconsistency, I was not comfortable in giving it a go at this moment. Furthermore, the credentials of the trainers are somewhat unconvincing. Some of them were ex-MOE teachers with a few teaching in the Secondary level while the rest are from the corporate sector. Being an ex MOE teacher myself, I cannot really agree that we have a strong grounding and ample experiences in educating very young children, let alone administering right brain activities. The exposure is very different - these trainers may be accustomed to mainstream and domain specific teaching. Perhaps it's just myself, I am not really comfortable... Oh, the exorbitant fees further justified and reinforced my decision not to join in the bandwagon. I guess I will just wait out until the establishment matures before I decide to enrol ILT.

Meanwhile, I will probably find out more about right brain training and its merits. I need to ascertain its benefits vis-a-vis the hype. For now, I'm inclined to the idea for I would rather teach my son how to fish than to give him the fish. This is akin to seizing teachable moments to inculcate lifelong values as opposed to sending him to expensive mathematics or phonics classes. Similarly, the idea of right brain activation sounds logical and why not? I should probably give it a try because I cannot afford to miss this window of learning.

Oh... What I have just shared are merely my humble opinions. You are free to have yours too! Do also feel free to enlighten me...