Informal Education Is the Most Important Part of Children's Learning

Nowadays, parents are paying more and more attention to children's education, and most of them regard being a good student in school under the formal education system as the core of education. Actually, the latest research results show that children's achievements after graduating don't depend on their school performance, but mostly on what they learned outside school. This is a fact which is easily neglected; children learn the most important things in their life in playgrounds, community places and at home through an informal process outside of school.

As we know, when children play together in the playground, they also get some of the most important experiences in their lives, such as social skills, ethics and handling of complicated situations in an informal way. In the playground, they have more chances to make new friends and communicate with others. They have to think about being popular within peers and practice how to become a friendly person. Thus, they improve their social skills. Furthermore, children can build their ethics from games in the playground. In the game, they have to respect each other, share and cooperate with others, and when something bad happens to their group members, they will have sympathy and be willing to help them. On the other hand, children might have various problems when they are competitive in the playground, then arguments or bullying can easily happen. They must try to face and deal with the problems since there are no adults to help. In this way, they practice their ability of handling complicated situations. In this way, the playground is a valuable learning place for life skills.

In addition, community places are also very important learning resources outside the classroom. There are so many collections of books, videos and audios materials in the library. Children can browse and explore their interests, expand their knowledge. This experience might affect their future life choices. Meanwhile, children in the library can develop their ability of studying on their own and their research skills. A museum is another important community place where children can learn in an informal way.