JC1 STUDENT FARE BADLY DURING YEAR END EXAM-WHAT'S NEXT??

[lobo]

would constant gentle reminders help to motivate JC1 repeat students to do better?

[phankao]

lobo:

would constant gentle reminders help to motivate JC1 repeat students to do better?

I know that my teenager wouldn't like to be *nagged* at. Guess you should know your child best? Often, praise works wonders. But then you'd have to keep looking for the good points. Like \"wow, you sat down and worked on your schoolwork for 2hrs before you sat down at your computer to zone out - so glad you are so conscientious today!\". Then maybe you'll find your child doing more of such. haha. Or \"wow, you got a C grade this time. Improved from your F last time! Way to go! See...you can do it! Now surely you can continue to do better!\".

[BlueBells]

lobo:

BlueBells:

[quote=\"EQUINOX\"]My girl did badly in her JC 1 final exam. She has a good raw score of 9 in her 'O\" levels, went to a good JC and find that she couldn't cope - \"culture /learning shock\" I think! Did badly but not so bad that the school is prepared to push her up. She is so demotivated and demoralished by the marking system. She has worked so so hard but could barely pass 50% in all her 3 X H2 subjects. Now she is contemplating going to the Singapore Polytechnic to start afresh. But I think it is a waste because it is like picking an easy way out whereas she thinks she has no stamina to go & fight. What can I do to convince her otherwise? She still has Nov & Dec to brush up her work before school reopen for JC2 and she has spent so much time on project work as well. Sigh!

I don't think you need to convince her of anything. Lay down the pros and cons of carrying on with JC and moving on to Poly (be impartial), and let her decide. At 17, she should be able to make a sound d ecision. Regardless of her choice, please give her your full support. Don't get trap in a situation where she listens to you, but ultimately still can't measure up and her confidence takes a further beating. If that happens, she will always put the blame on you because you are the one making her do something she didn't think she can handle.

Just my two cents.

Given the scenario that if you have to repeat JC1 but do not want to proceed to Poly, would it be the better choice to try it out by repeating JC1 ?[/quote]Would it be better to try out something with renewed confidence, or would it be better to re-do the same thing while feeling demoralised and demotivated?

If the child does not want to go to poly, and \"have to\" repeat JC 1, perhaps a review of the subject combinations would make a great difference? Repeating JC 1 doesn't mean one has to take the same subject combinations again.

[3Boys]

I think we can do all with a little strong guidance now and then, even in adulthood. Quite often when we are mired in the middle of a difficult situation, we are not necessarily able to lift our eyes off the ground and see the sun behind the clouds. For children who have perhaps not taken so many hard knocks in life, it may sometimes be difficult to see beyond the short term pain. In such a scenario, it would do well for the parents to provide some guardrails and give the kids a little bit of a push in the right direction.


There was a time after my ‘O’ levels when I could have made some pretty disastrous decisions, but my folks stepped in and was very firm about what I had to do, and to this day I am thankful for their wisdom and willingness to put it on the line. The old Chinese adage of the ‘Old having eaten more rice’ has its application here. When you have been through the tough times and come through it, that is the wisdom you can share with your children.

I also believe that one is salvageable at any age, although it obviously gets harder as one gets older. But your children are your children, I think one does not have the option of giving up.

So here I disagree with insider. You’ve got to do what you think best for your child. Kids are more mature these days at the same age, but experience is experience, and if you ain’t got it, you ain’t got it.

[3Boys]

JC1 is a bad year for a lot of folks. Its a quick transition, you are having fun at the start of the year, and the subject material can be overwhelming. We’ve been through that, we know what it is. The point is, many JC1 students survive to be good/excellent JC2 students. Just help them through the difficult transition and don’t let them give up, chances are, they’ll be fine.

[3Boys]

Quoting from \"The World is Flat\", by Thomas Friedman


Bill Gates: \"30 years ago, if you had a choice between being born a genius on the outskirts of Bombay or Shanghai or being born an average person in Poughkeepsie, you would take Poughkeepsie, because your chances of thriving and living a decent life there, even with average talent, were much greater. But as the world has gone flat, and so many people can plug and play from anywhere, natural talent has started to trump geography.\"

Thomas Friedman; \"The sense that our kids have to be swaddled in cotton wool so that nothing bad or disappointing or stressful ever happens to them at school is, quite simply, a growing cancer on American society.\"

\"I don't care to have that conversation with my girls, so my advice to them in this flat world is very brief and very blunt: \"Girls, when I was growing, my parents used to say to me, 'Tom, finish your dinner -- people in China and India are starving.' My advice to you is: Girls finish your homework -- people in China and India are starving for your jobs.\"

Kinda funny how just as the westerners are waking up to the idea of hard work and pushing their kids in schools, we seem to be getting complacent and heading in the opposite direction.

[lobo]

being preoccupied with computer games during holidays could prove to be a problem also

[lobo]

let’s have a support group discussion here, and share tips/ opinions on how to motivate JC1 repeat students to get better grades, and ultimately pass JC1 promo and do well for ‘A’ levels…

[lobo]

is it ok for jc1 repeat students to relax until orientation is over, and when the proper lecture/tutorial starts, before getting into the "study" mode?


it would not be too late, right?

[3Boys]

lobo:

is it ok for jc1 repeat students to relax until orientation is over, and when the proper lecture/tutorial starts, before getting into the \"study\" mode?


it would not be too late, right?

Errr......
the year is short, and subject matter, plentiful. Better keep on top of things, if one does not want to suffer later.