ca·ve·at emp·tor [ kàvvee aat émp tawr ] noun
Definition: buyer's risk:
the commercial principle that the buyer is responsible for making sure that goods bought are of a reasonable quality, unless the seller is offering a guarantee of their quality. [Early 16th century. Latin. Let the buyer beware
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A few days ago, I decided to go buy my tuition kid an assessment book from the big bookshop in Clementi. I thought I could leave the shop in 5 minutes. I took half an hour.
The problem with these assessment books is that so many are claiming so many different things you find it hard to decide which one to choose. From explicitly stated "challenging mathematics" to books that cry "new MOE revised syllybus" and "step by step heuristic approach", children these days must have it hard, I think.
I for one nearly bought the challenging maths book. It wasn't that the maths was very difficult, it's just that it very tedious. A question from the book might look like the following.
7892387 + 9878347 = _______ - 8728347
No small feat for a primary 4 kid with no access to a calculator.
Even I had to resort to pen and paper to work out the correct answer. Although I think the book will be good practice, I also happen to think that problems like these are the fastest way to crush a kid's confidence.
In the end I bought an "Enriching maths" assessment book. Hopefully it will be enriching enough.
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