Interview Traps - Number One - "The Robot"
"I interviewed a boy yesterday and it was like interviewing a computer; all you had to do was enter the question and an automatic pre-set answer came out! After half an hour, I still had absolutely no idea about what really made the boy tick." (House Master, UK School) As parents, we can see that being selected by one school over another will set our child on very different paths. Behind this poor boy will have been parents who only have his best interests at heart and will have stuffed the poor child so full of "good" answers that he could probably recite them in his sleep. They have unwittingly created a barrier between the delight of their child's personality and skillset and the interviewer. In an interview situation,it is immediately clear and ultimately frustrating when a child is a mouthpiece for parents' ideas. It is your son or daughter who will be joining the school, not you! Resist the temptation to cram them with answers and focus instead i