Are All Primary Schools The Same?

[corneyAmber]

All schools are the same in the following areas:


1. They are given same MOE guidelines on how the school is run but they can be creatively different
2. All teachers are NIE-trained but again they can be creatively different to be good, mediocre or bad teachers.
3. All teachers are empowered on lesson plans to a large extent, they can be creatively different.
4. It depends on your luck what kind of teacher you get regardless of school
5. Teachers are distributed to schools not based on their results, so they are randomly placed. Even with stellar grades, MOE will only consider request with valid reason to teach in a certain school and not looking at the NIE results.
6. Their goal is the same as in they aim to produce the top PSLE students or top CCA achievements but how is different
7. They are the same as in they accept entry to the school via social network, it is a known and accepted fact and usually it is a win-win situation.

I believe of all the similarities and differences, the main one that will directly affect the child is point 4 which you have no control over. So bottomline is support your child to the best that you can cos whatever you do, there will always be this element of uncertainty called luck.

[jesschan]

ksi:

So bottomline is support your child to the best that you can cos whatever you do, there will always be this element of uncertainty called luck.

Agree. Unfortunately, some parents do not have the resources or lack the knowledge to help their kids when they do not get the good teachers....

[ter_wen]

osakachan:

tankee:

[quote=\"qms\"]....MOE believes that all schools are the same. Parents do not think so, though.

:goodpost:

maybe government, e.g. MP should start to send their kids to neighbourhood school to convince us that all schools are the same ;-)[/quote]alot of MPs stay in bt timah right? :roll:
chey....

also, they are MP lei.
the school dare to reject them mei?

[corneyAmber]

jesschan:

ksi:

So bottomline is support your child to the best that you can cos whatever you do, there will always be this element of uncertainty called luck.

Agree. Unfortunately, some parents do not have the resources or lack the knowledge to help their kids when they do not get the good teachers....

Then they have to be introduced to kiasuparents.com lor where the resources here are free.... I do enjoy helping people solve Math & English problems here from time to time and it's free lor. :lol:

[cantbearit2]

citygirl:

tankee:

'cos we are Kiasu Parents :oops: and we love our children and want the best for them :celebrate:

Yes, totally agree! And thankfully, everyone's definition of the best is slightly different!

I can't agree more, citygirl!

This whole P1 registration had been nerve wrecking for me even b4 it started. DH and I had not been able to decide on the sch for my DD.

However after doing our homework at KS parents forum (thru the comments fr parents), we had come to a conclusion that it is not always abt the academics. Guess our emphasis on CCA (our definition of best for DD) more than academics made our choice much simpler and less nerve wrecking (not much balloting required at these schools).

So all schools are the same??? I beg to differ.

[Brenda10]

May be we can also said school are just like those 4d/toto outlet, regardless their location in Housing Block or famous shopping center but the betting and payout remain the same if you win.


There are red horses and black horses and they take turn to shine. You can go through the track records to choose the potential number and the outlet but the final result is still beyong your control. 人算不如天算

Just my 2 cents thought :lol:

[janet88]

Every parent has different expectations of their children...same goes for my kids too.


With my son who is the firstborn, hubby & I have no idea whatsoever about Primary 1 and the choice of school. Sad to say he is the 'guinea pig'. Then, we had no information about schools. We just went for the school which is within 1km of our home.

We learn along with him and gain some experience about what SAP schools are, as well as the stress, culture & expectations. With the 2nd child, we felt that she is not suitable to be in Pei Hwa after observing her character. So we decided to register her in my former school which has an affiliated secondary school. This way, we know that we have one worry less about where she will go after PSLE.

No matter what, I plan to cement her foundation at P1/2. For eg learning Maths models earlier and getting her to read.

[jesschan]

ksi:

jesschan:

Agree. Unfortunately, some parents do not have the resources or lack the knowledge to help their kids when they do not get the good teachers....

Then they have to be introduced to kiasuparents.com lor where the resources here are free.... I do enjoy helping people solve Math & English problems here from time to time and it's free lor. :lol:

Yes, there is a wealth of info on the internet (thankfully!) but many of these parents don't even surf the web to begin with....

[Brenda10]

Hi Janet


We are the same too. Therefore next year when dd choose the Secondary School we have to take into the consideration of those have an affiliated JC.

Doesn’t worry too much as I’m sure your experience gain would definitely help your DD and your persistent would bring your DS to reach up to the next height. :rahrah:

[jesschan]

Yes, Janet. My older boy is the "guinea pig" too. Now I keep telling the younger one to build up his foundation in Chinese in lower primary when the workload is lighter.