Are Our Children's Future Predicated on Good Primary Schools

[Freesia]

Academics is not the determinant to success. They are other things in life that help one to succeed; I have seen many cases whereby the individual is elite all the way to NUS/NTU but still they did not make it in the corporate world. I have also seen individual from neighbourhood school who sail thru to elite secondary school and JC and then to NUS/NTU. The latter has huge ego as they think that they made it from neighbourhood to elite and they must be good. As such; they turn up as failure in the corporate world.


Of course; human nature like to associate with the popular. As such; the thirst to grab hold of branded schools, bags, cars, residences etc… Would you give a second thought given an invitation to join the elite or would you try first?

The determinant of success is humility, responsibilty, openess and kindness. Only then; can you survive in a corporate world where it requires teamwork to achieve the corporate vision. Able to get along with people from all walks of life is the key to success. As such; a child’s key to success rest a lot on the parent’s values.

There is no right no wrong; it is what you want and think is correct and what you choose cos any consequences is borne by yourself, isn’t it?

[csc]

Freesia:

Academics is not the determinant to success. They are other things in life that help one to succeed; I have seen many cases whereby the individual is elite all the way to NUS/NTU but still they did not make it in the corporate world. I have also seen individual from neighbourhood school who sail thru to elite secondary school and JC and then to NUS/NTU. The latter has huge ego as they think that they made it from neighbourhood to elite and they must be good. As such; they turn up as failure in the corporate world.


Of course; human nature like to associate with the popular. As such; the thirst to grab hold of branded schools, bags, cars, residences etc.. Would you give a second thought given an invitation to join the elite or would you try first?

The determinant of success is humility, responsibilty, openess and kindness. Only then; can you survive in a corporate world where it requires teamwork to achieve the corporate vision. Able to get along with people from all walks of life is the key to success. As such; a child's key to success rest a lot on the parent's values.

There is no right no wrong; it is what you want and think is correct and what you choose cos any consequences is borne by yourself, isn't it?

indeed. agree

[jedamum]

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

my views....

There can be a lot of average Child As in an elite school, but there can only be a handful or maybe 1-2 Child Bs in neighbourhood school to have the opportunity to represent sch or receive awards. While we have no control on how well our children can perform to be the Child B in their neighbourhood school, but there is much certainty to be an average Child A in an elite school.

I do know of a Child B in a neighbourhood pri sch. He was given much opportunities and exposure in P1 to assist teachers, cos of his outspoken nature and well balanced academic performance. But then came P2, a 'better' student was transferred into that neighbourhood school and the limelight was shifted to the transferred student. Child B was told to give up the limited opportunity to give the transferred student a chance. Can you imagine how Child B felt? Did someone said Ego crushing?

[Freesia]

Again; does it matter which school gives you more opportunity to win award you get or what are the chances get represented; these are all parent’s want and expectation.

My sister’s friend who used to represent school for competition in neighbourhood school and went on to elite sec to be the captain of the school sports team today is but a teacher teaching in a neighbourhood school. Of course; this is also an honourable profession. On the other hand; grew up from a neighbouhood school; who is an average performer with teacher not even bothered to loook at her; did not manage to represent school for anything thoughout her life and always felt sore for not making it; made it in life going thru tough interviews and now work as aprofessional with colleagues from Oxon and Cambridge making more than SGD250k a year in her mid twenties.
It is how a parent teach a child to face, accept failure and move on in life that matters; not how to enhance the child chance of representing school and winning awards. Afterall, life is full of ups and downs and competition is getting more and more intense.

[art_n_i]

citygirl:

It's hard to say as there are many, many other factors in play...

Yes the building up of that ego that is not quite there can be a future issue.

It is a fine line to balance between \"standing on one's firm foot and knowing one's self-worth\" versus being cocky. I suppose most have taken the easy way out to appear cocky at the risk of being bullied if they are too humble. In other words, we have not progressed well even though we appear to be progressing.

[art_n_i]

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......

Yes if child A works harder, next step is perfect score and at that level there can also be a few sharing the same results. :lol:

[art_n_i]

peterch:

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

You are right, life is not fair and not everyday Sunday.

[jedamum]

Freesia:

Again; does it matter which school gives you more opportunity to win award you get or what are the chances get represented; these are all parent's want and expectation.

Being a sch representative is not mainly about getting the 'name' of being representatives. the training that one will be provided towards that 'event' goes towards part of training the kid as well as the kids' schooling experiences. so we should not assume that parents wanting their kids to be selected for representing their schools to be mainly for 'fame' reasons.

yes, ultimately, it boils down to how parents teach their children about humility. but it also takes the child's personal character as to how such teachings/leading by eg sinks into them. there are too many factors affecting how a child grows up. my philosophy has always been to make full use of whatever is given ie, get into elite school...ok, let's see how to cope... get into neighbourhood school...ok, let's see how to make good use of the time there.

MHO.

[art_n_i]

csc:

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

I agree with this statement but unfortunately these days, primary school seems the time they do a placement to decide if a child reaches uni or not.

[art_n_i]

jesschan:

I think Child B is in a better position if he has good parental guidance...

Yes, this syndrome is known as \"In the land of the blind, the one-eye man is the king!\"