[PSLE MT] PSLE less weightage in Chinese / Mother Tongue
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ksi:
Then can't be MT leh, can only be 2nd language. Most students take 2nd language in sec school, like my friend, who took french
Yeah I think I mentioned before, can someone advise? Can a Chinese take, say, Malay as MT? I think so right? I know of many non-Chinese taking Chinese as MT so 3Boys, your wish to choose your choice of another MT is probably possible. Check it out!3Boys:
why? Is the reverse then also not true? there is only true fairness if each student has his own choice of 2nd language. -
Actually, having read Mr Ng's speech, I fear that it is not the \"ang moh pie\" that lost as some of you have put it - rather, it is our nation as a whole.
When the weightage lowering was first mooted, I had the same impression as most people that this was the result of lobbying by the educated English-speaking-only group, which, incidentally, I belong to. My son is weakest in MTL, and while it may affect his ability to get a good T-score, I felt that the weightage should still remain because the world is not going to change just because I want my son to do well in his PSLE. China will dominate Asia in the coming future. My son should recognise this as such and prepare himself well by continuing to strive with the language until he succeeds.
However, the following part of Mr Ng's speech struck me as being very pertinent. \"If your assessment system doesn’t change, even if you change teaching methods, it’s unlikely to achieve the goal of making MTL more functional, more usable, more alive for the student”.
To me, he is not just talking about MTL, but really about how the education system has evolved over the years.
There have been fundamental shifts made in the last 3 decades to the early education system in Singapore. Programmes such as GEP, IP, and even the mantra of \"teach less, learn more\" have been mooted and pushed by MOE. The purpose is benign and strategic - to transform and cultivate our young into a highly skilled and effective workforce of self-reliant, independent and thinking people. Teachers are supposed to guide students to look for answers, and not just simply provide the answers. Critical thinking and self-confidence to solve unknown problems are the fundamental requirements for an entrepreneurial culture, as opposed to the cookie-cutter factory worker mentality of the older education system that our generation were used to.
However, for us to be able to make the switch, the manner by which we assess the progress of our children MUST change to allow for the failures and inefficiencies that are inherent with the experimentation. Unfortunately, our entire education system is predicated upon how we have always used academic excellence to promote meritocracy. A person entering the workforce is nearly always given better job opportunities based on his grades in school. What makes us all kiasu parents is that we understand this fundamental fact, and we love our children enough to want to make sure that they can effectively work through the system so that they can have a better life in the future.
The furore over the lowering of MTL weightage highlights how deeply ingrained this belief in meritocracy has become. Get good grades in school, so that you have a better future - that's what we always tell our children. Doesn't matter whether we fully understand what we learn - just learn what is necessary to score in exams. Languages can be particularly easy for those with good memory... just memorize the 好字好语 and use them in your compositions... sure score. Even better if you can reproduce entire passages by famous authors in exams, where plagiarism is never an issue unless you have copied from your neighbours. Don't care if you really learnt the subject or fully appreciate what you have learnt.
How effective are the measures by the ministry to transform our education, without changing the legacy assessment methods by which we rank our children? The GEP is seen as a fast-track to elite Secondary schools coveted by parents so much so that they try to train their children to excel in the GEP selection tests. The IP schools are now coveted by parents because they are seen as the warranty of a place in the Universities. The \"teach less, learn more\" principle is thought of by parents as the schools telling us to give our kids more tuition because teachers no longer provide the answers, which are necessary so that our kids can ace their examinations!
I salute Mr Ng not just for recognising this conundrum, but also having the courage to initiate changes. The removal of examinations for P1 and P2 is a great start. Unfortunately, the public furore over the attempt to tweak PSLE weightage shows how difficult it is for anyone to change status quo, even if it may have resulted in a less stressful and better learning environment for our children. I pray that this setback will not diminish the MOE's efforts in continuing to tweak our education system to prepare our children for the uncertain future. -
verykiasu2010:
Not good enough for what?What is
it is a basic recognition that a pupil who
can only master 3 subjects compared
with another who can master 4, is not
good enough. don't ever use lowering weightage to tweak it. it is called cheating
or foul play. somebody who gave / fed the
info to the minister to talk about lowering
the weightage is going to get shot, political
test balloon or not. who wants to risk / lose political capital & goodwill .....
good enough? Do we base a child's
abilities on the basis of 4 subjects?
What about the other talents where
they are not measured?
Have we become so obsessed with grades and
economics that we no longer care if our children
are having a decet childhood experiencing life
as it should be? -
Altum:
i think you missed the point
Not good enough for what?What isverykiasu2010:
it is a basic recognition that a pupil who
can only master 3 subjects compared
with another who can master 4, is not
good enough. don't ever use lowering weightage to tweak it. it is called cheating
or foul play. somebody who gave / fed the
info to the minister to talk about lowering
the weightage is going to get shot, political
test balloon or not. who wants to risk / lose political capital & goodwill .....
good enough? Do we base a child's
abilities on the basis of 4 subjects?
What about the other talents where
they are not measured?
Have we become so obsessed with grades and
economics that we no longer care if our children
are having a decet childhood experiencing life
as it should be?
PSLE is a national placement exam. like it or not, every kids go through it, unless u migrate or change the government to change the system
in the meantime, the one with better grades get ahead of the queue to choose his / her secondary school before others. obviously the one who can master all 4 subjects compared to one who can only master 3 subjects is better and he has priority to choose, by virtue of his higher t-score
some people said some bright sparks were denied entry to top schools in singapore because of weak MT (t-score pulled down by weak MT score) and so proposed to lower the weightage of MT to enable these so-called bright spark to get in those top schools
my comment is they are simply not good enough when compared to those who can master all 4 subjects at PSLE with higher t-score
who is obsessed ? you form your own opinion. I am talking about fairness of the system
other abilities ? sure ! there are sports schools but why the top schools still want to attract those who are good in sports and not good in academic studies and why parents still go for those top schools using sports dsa instead of going to sports schools ?
and what is your yardstick of measurement of what other talents not mentioned ?
you are welcome to disagree and there is no obligation for me to reply u -
verykiasu2010:
Precisely, that is why the government isPSLE is a national placement exam. like it or not, every kids go through it, unless u migrate or change the government to change the system
you are welcome to disagree and there is no obligation for me to reply u
trying to change the system, so that our
kids do not have go through a childhood
that devotes too much time to an academic
exercise. So that citizens do not have to
migrate to get out of this primitive system. -
Altum:
academic competition is not restricted to singapore alonePrecisely, that is why the government is
trying to change the system, so that our
kids do not have go through a childhood
that devotes too much time to an academic
exercise. So that citizens do not have to
migrate to get out of this primitive system.
malaysia, china, hk, taiwan, korea, japan, sri lanka, israel, france, germany, mexico... .....some of them are are even worse than SG. even for the US, they also have the equivalent of gifted education
competition for top schools in any city / country is usually very intense, else the schools won't become top schools
coming back to singapore, there is no compulsion that everyone must enter a top school / sap school. enjoy your childhood and enter any school your t-score would entitle you to.
i have classmates who chose the \"laid back\" poly route though got 8 A1s for 'O' Level......but did a master from US later on. also have french colleague whose kids are super kiasu in order to get into the top school in paris to study under a well know professor.....got friend who move house from kowloon to hk island in order to get into a desired school for the kid...know of a friend in china who relocated to ulu ulu province so that the child has higher chance of getting into the top uni under the complicated and competitive uni entrance system in china......talk about competition and childhood ? most cities do have kiasu parents like in singapore when it comes to schooling
Straits Times will never report any of this.I get to know because of my job and travels -
verykiasu2010:
You are absolutely correct. Parents can always let their kids enjoy their childhood, if they don't push the kids to get into the top secondary schools. There are many students from neighbourhood secondary schools who do very well and enter university to study a course of their choice.
coming back to singapore, there is no compulsion that everyone must enter a top school / sap school. enjoy your childhood and enter any school your t-score would entitle you to.
Parents are the ones who are denying the kids of a happy childhood. Not the education system. -
tamarind:
agree. but sometimes parents feel top sec provides better enviornment of 近朱者赤, they dun want their kids to be influenced by 黑者....though they know their kids can perform equally well if put in neighbourhood sec sch...
You are absolutely correct. Parents can always let their kids enjoy their childhood, if they don't push the kids to get into the top secondary schools. There are many students from neighbourhood secondary schools who do very well and enter university to study a course of their choice.
Parents are the ones who are denying the kids of a happy childhood. Not the education system. -
I did not read through the whole thread in this topic.
After so many years of experiment, I think MOE should realize that bilingualism cannot be Forced, even if you are a world leading English debator, can not be effectively bi-lingual!
Now gov.sg had decided that we need to increase National population (plan has dropped from 8 mil to 6.5mil), by attracting > 4 major races, which dominated Singapore population in the last 40+ years, going forward, the demographic will change, thus if we insist on MT weightage, it may put some potential Singaporean off, to call of their migration plan.
IMHO, all these are for more GDP, not for the betterment of education systems. -
adhdadhd:
I, even if you are a world leading English debator, can not be effectively bi-lingual!
So you think that all these top debaters from singapore are not possibly biligual?
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20100106-190036.html
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