Kumon: A Tool for Educational Success or Inherited Trauma?

I think we all know the answer to this one. 

Kumon Photo Credit: ErwinCarlos

January 21, 2021

By: Steven Chen

With the nation’s school system fumbling its way through the COVID-19 pandemic, learning centers are seeing an uptick in interest from parents. Services that were once focused on aiding students who were falling behind in a regular learning environment are growing with the perception that online learning is putting everyone behind. But are these learning centers the answer?

As a Kumon alumni, I can only speak from my own, possibly outdated, experience when I say, “I don’t think so.” Kumon is an educational network created in Japan by Toru Kumon. The “Kumon Method” (educational warfare) is used to teach mathematics and reading primarily for young students. 

I was in Kumon because my Chinese father had not yet come to believe in learning disabilities or dyslexia. I mean, how do you explain that the words are all mixed up, to someone that doesn’t believe in headaches? Nevertheless, these programs were the bane of my existence. It was a homework camp. But the homework wasn’t even homework for school, and I wasn’t at home. It was just more work.  

While I don’t know the whole history of Kumon’s operational practices, during my experience, they didn’t have cute storefront locations. Kumon was just at a middle school, at 8pm. My parents would take me to this CLOSED school, where an old, chain smoking Chinese man would give us these paper workbooks of math problems. And that was it. There was no teaching. We would sit and do math in silence, and then when we were done, we would give it to the man, and he would check it. If you got enough right, he would give you a sticker and maybe a Now-and-Later chew (that somehow also reeked of cigarettes), and another packet to do. Then after repeating this for several hours, it was over, and the warden would give you a stack of booklets to complete before the next educational torture session. 

It was madness. The children should unionize and Toru Kumon should be put on trial for his war crimes. 

One thing Kumon does have going for itself is its Japaneseness. There are some Kawaii, or cutesy, aspects incorporated in their branding and workbooks, and I’m a sucker for cute Asian stuff. However, now looking at the logo, maybe it’s not cute. What I kind of remembered as a smiling face, the logo actually just looks like a joyless child doing extra homework in a dungeon. 

While I wouldn’t recommend the program to others, I also believe that suffering builds character and that is something I intend on putting my children through. You take children to church to teach them to be quiet and bored. You take children to Kumon to teach them military-like resilience, hand-to-hand combat, and multiplication tables.

I did all of Kumon and I turned out… well, I still can’t do math or read too quickly, but I am 30, flirty, and thriving. 

After Kumon is there trauma? Absolutely. But is there academic success? It’s debatable. Will there be a cycle of Kumon survivors putting their children through the same misery? Most likely. But there is another way. If you are a parent that would never voluntarily torture your child, you can just let them build a computer and learn to code on YouTube.