Performance at the 2010 Int'l Olympiads for Science & Ma

[mommyNg]

justbehappy:

ycpang:

If school like NUSH, which is supposed to be strong in math and science, fielded their best students and got kicked out at the 1st round, then parents better think twice before you send your kids to NUSH. This is not logical to me.

I think it is not illogical. Parents and students of top schools must learn that even the best students can fail. Last year, Hwa Chong Institution did not even make it into the quarter finals (i.e. the 1st round). I think it is perfectly okay (obviously, parents would not stop sending their kids to HCI just because of failure in 1 local competition), and this year they have done a fantastic job entering the semi-finals even though they eventually lost to Bukit Panjang Govt High.

I agree with you. We should not judge a school based on one competition. Just as we should not judge a person's character based on one event. Nobody (or schools) can be (or should be) #1 all the time. Many famous people have gone through failures of their own kind. Thinking back, how many times did each of us fail and yet we managed to bounce back with determination to improve? Resilience is a real strength. Sorry, I hate to say this, but I feel this is the problem with Singapore - lack of tolerance for failure and lack of encouragement for effort put in... (please don't get offended for my strong words!)

[WeiHan]

jtoh:

ycpang:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]
It doesn't matter whether they field their first team or their second team. Its their reputation at stake. If they choose to field their second team and lose, then they've lost. You can't give excuses after losing that you didn't field your best team.

I think otherwise. Schools should give chances to different students. These good schools have more than enough reputation. They do not need to win in every single competition to prove themselves.

It's great to give chances to different students. But again, they do this with the full knowledge that they may not win. And are prepared to face the consequences.

For eg., last year when Bukit Panjang beat RI and NUSH in the finals, all the talk was that a neighbourhood school beat the best schools. Nobody cares about whether the RI and NUSH fielded their first or second teams or whether it was great to give opportunities to other students. The public perception is, they lost. And to a school which was less well-known.[/quote]But I was given very accurate information that RI (at least RI and I am not sure of GRS or NUSH etc) give very high priority to this annual NSC competition. They did file a weaker team for an event that our organisation has organised and the reason was that they are very serious about NSC. Afterall, it is broadcasted over the air annually and which school will want to lose a competition that is well publicised.

[WeiHan]

ycpang:

As mentioned at the start of this thread, RI, NUSH, HCI and ACSI represented Singapore at international competitions and won. We must agree that international level is tougher than to compete at national level.


Yes. The schools must have selected their best students for the competition.But the best could be school best, level best, consortium best, class best, or even best from their maths and science clubs.

If school like NUSH, which is supposed to be strong in math and science, fielded their best students and got kicked out at the 1st round, then parents better think twice before you send your kids to NUSH. This is not logical to me.

I still see parents rushing to send their kids to these top schools.

We must recognise that NSC and whatever *** olympiah are very different kind of competition. One will require quick wit, fast response and confidence on the stage and strength in the subjects (science) has a lower weightage in determining the outcome while the other (olympiah) require more indepth knowledge and solving problem skills (and probably IQ).

Having said that, we should not give excuse such as HCI, RI, NUSH has not filed their best students. Probably, their stage confidence level is not that superb and they are nervous? You may note that HCI did not even get into the semi finals for several years....Clearly, it is not bcos that their students isn't good in science but maybe their stage performance is weaker and their beat science students get nervous easily on stage?