Are Our Children's Future Predicated on Good Primary Schools

[jedamum]

luvmum:

Yes, agreed wholesomely that you can also be the sunshine in neighbourhood school but really how many can shine when most of your friends are either not bothered or not interested in studies. The influence of your own friends is too great to be ignored.

the issue with being a sunshine in a neighbourhood school is that limited resources only enable resources to be allocated to the one who shined the most. does it feel better to be a second-best sunshine in a neighbourhood school and constantly been overshadowed by the best sunshine, or better to be an average student in a better school?

[teddy75]

markfch:

foreverj:

[quote=\"markfch\"]
Let me looked at my crystal ball. Blurry blurry at first. Ok, saw it already. It says that 40 yrs down the road, NYPS & RGS will still be tops. Wait wait, I see something else . I also see that SAPS will rise up and challenge both schs. So parents of kids in these schs made the correct choice.

wats SAPS?

St Anthony's pri sch. Btw, my colleague told me that last time St Andrews is same std as RI. I asked him rugby is it? He knocked my head :heresmyfish: and say don't try to by funny. It's academic.[/quote] St Anthony Primary & RI ??? :? St Anthony Primary is one of the feeder schools to SJI... yr colleague meant to say \"last time\" SJI was same standard as RI long time ago izzit ? ... but that's was, like your colleague said, ... a loooong time ago....\"last time\" was like 30-40 over years ago... :heresmyfish:

[cherrygal]

My take is that the parents who fight tooth and nail to send their kids to "better" primary schools are those who are more kiasu and make sure their kids do well. In such a competitive environment, our own kids will somehow be influenced. (become stronger when you meet stronger opponents - yu qiang ze qiang)


The cons are, if your child has a defeatist attitude, then he/she may give up the fight and straggle at the bottom.

[24hr-mum]

what markfch said abt expectation is quite true


i hv 3 kids and i cant help but to compare them when they were of the same age and my response cant help but will differ.

when i buy assessment bks for #1, it will be a more challenging one cos i know she can take it. when i get for #2, i cant use the elder sis one becos i know he isnt ready. so i get a more elementary one. (but sometimes i do get a challenging one hoping to spur him and to expose him to more challenges becos i know otherwise he cant catch up)
for #3, i ‘upgraded’ her with bks of almost the same std as #2 becos i knew she can.

[art_n_i]

I have an interesting scenario to share of 2 children and perhaps the parents can share your views on which would be better to develop a child.


Child A in elite school
Child B in neighbourhood school

Child A has always had better results than Child B in terms of % every year but:

Child B is the one who receives the most awards of reward for the academic performance and Child A receives nothing due to school system albeit being ranked top in class repeatedly after every exam.

Child B also receives many opportunities in school simply because highly valued as top student whereas Child A is treated as like any other child perhaps because the school has many such children.

In terms of esteem, Child B is always on cloud 9 but Child A feels ordinary.

As a parent, do you prefer your child to be in Child’s A or Child’s B position? I will share mine after I hear from you.

[citygirl]

art_n_i:

I have an interesting scenario to share of 2 children and perhaps the parents can share your views on which would be better to develop a child...

It's hard to say as there are many, many other factors in play. I know of a child very much like Child B - topped neighbourhood school, was prefect, class monitor, won competitions, received countless awards, but when he got to a good secondary school, was shocked to find that he was just average. It was a crushing blow to his ego and he really struggled after that.

I'd also like to add this observation - I've been working for over 15 years and have noticed that the younger folks do not have the same work ethics as people in my generation - these younger ones come in with a sense of entitlement, like the world owes them something, refuse to do their own photocopying because \"gosh, that's the job of a secretary\"! I think this stems from the fact that many of them are spoiled, and were brought up to believe that they are the best. It is so rare to find humility in the younger ones today.

So I guess my choice - to be the parent of child A.

[24hr-mum]

it depends on which child has a stronger motivation to succeed on his own.

i wld envy child b’s self confidence which i hope wld not translate into complacency (my #1, becos i prepare her well, i think get too complacent n hence careless becos she thinks she knows all, until she got scolded by me)

child A feels ordinary but hopefully that can spur him to work harder?
of cos he may feel the opposite - defeatist…

[24hr-mum]

the other reason why mos parents including me aim for top sch is becos if we fail to get in at earlier phases eg 2b and 2c, what are we left wif is really those very unpopular sch by the time we reach supplementary or even 3c.


they may be unpopular due to academic results or sometimes the general culture of the student population, i dont know.

but of cos, getting into top sch, doesnt mean all teachers r gd.
its just about probability…

[peterch]

art_n_i:

I have an interesting scenario to share of 2 children and perhaps the parents can share your views on which would be better to develop a child...

I myself prefer child's A option, as he will be facing the same situation in the real life. Competitions are very tight..... So he would not take easy on things as you said, always on cloud 9

[csc]

We need to extend the scenerio a little further. How about this? Cases I have come across.


Child A : Elite primary school (no feeder secondary sch)
Neighbourhood secondary
Mostly polytechnic or neighbourhood JCs (if there's such a thing)

Child B : Elite Primary (with feeder Sec)
Elite SEc school
Neighbourhood JCs/ Polytechnic

Child C : Neighbourhood Pri
Elite Sec (usually with IP program)
Elite JCs
Most probably ending in the University

To answer the forum thread's main question and my humble opinion.

Primary schools have very little influence as compared with secondary schools. :lol: