Petition to Review the Singapore Education System

[Brenda10]

vividlaurel:

This is a subject I am quite passionate about! So YES I do support this petition!


I also heard the education minister say during one of his election speeches that they aim for 30% of a cohort to enter university and almost at the same time say the education system is one of the best in the world!

If this was so, then why just 30% of a cohort for university admissions? Isn't the other 70% just as capable? Ok I understand that some will not want to go on to Uni, but of the remaining 70%, I am sure that atleast 50% of them will want to study furhter? Why are we depriving them and instead filling our universitiies with foreign students? How many of us can afford a foreign university education for our children?

My kids are still in Primary school, but unless this is not debated now, come 10-12 years down the line, we have a whole host of Singaporean children whose parents have scimped and saved for their foreign education who will never come back! The system needs to be changed and this change should start at the foundation - which is the Primary school system!

Sorry for the rant.... :mad:

Wow. This 30% really make us worry. If I'm not wrong I ever came across the news like the ratio is 1 University for 1 million population.

[metz]

I support this peition, not so much for myself but for the disadvantaged group a friend belongs to. Her only hope is for her son to pass PSLE and a chance to continue his secondary school studies. However, the PSLE bar has been raised so high that she feels this might be a miracle if he does. The only advice I could offer her is to enrol her son for tuition or specialised enrichment centres. (She can’t coach him herself because she is not highly educated.)


Perhaps one way to get rid of the KS syndrome is to do away with PSLE, and introduce more music, fine arts and sports programs in school, instead of just focusing on academics.

[Chenonceau]

chamonix:

I support this peition, not so much for myself but for the disadvantaged group a friend belongs to. Her only hope is for her son to pass PSLE and a chance to continue his secondary school studies. However, the PSLE bar has been raised so high that she felt this might be a miracle if he does. The only advice I could offer her is to enrol her son for tuition or enrichment centres. (She can't coach herself because she is not highly educated.)


Perhaps one way to get rid of the KS syndrome is do away with PSLE, and introduce more music, fine arts and sports programs in school, instead of just focusing on academics.

Bisous! Bisous! Gros gros bisous!!

[vividlaurel]

I'll probably be the first in line if we can do away with PSLE! My bugbear is that we force children to grow up too soon! How can a 10-12 year old know that the PSLE exam is the make-or-break exam of their lives? But here, I have been harping on the PSLE on my kids from pretty much P1.


I know a lot of people say that PSLE is not the end, but come on lets be practical - what percent of people who do badly in PSLE really come up in life? I am an ordinary person and my child is not a genius - so for him/her if they do well in the PSLE exam, it is their chance to go to a brand name school and make a life for themselves thereon.

It's a sad reflection of a society where 6/7 year olds are being made to make choices for their entire life - when this is the age for them to enjoy it....Go figure!!

chamonix:

I support this peition, not so much for myself but for the disadvantaged group a friend belongs to. Her only hope is for her son to pass PSLE and a chance to continue his secondary school studies. However, the PSLE bar has been raised so high that she feels this might be a miracle if he does. The only advice I could offer her is to enrol her son for tuition or specialised enrichment centres. (She can't coach him herself because she is not highly educated.)

Perhaps one way to get rid of the KS syndrome is to do away with PSLE, and introduce more music, fine arts and sports programs in school, instead of just focusing on academics.

[Lucky]

I support yr petition !


Pls tell MOE that the ‘teach less, learn more’ concept will not work for primary level ! Also, we need reduce class size from current 30 in P1 and P2 to 20 so that the teachers have more time to focus on the students in class and that the students understand what the teacher is teaching. This will enable the students to learn concepts better and to slowly omit the ‘tuition culture’.

[ChiefKiasu]

Chenonceau:

deminc:

Chenoceau,

I apologise if this has already been suggested, but I think you should be doing the petition on this website instead:

http://www.petitiononline.com/

This is purely functional. If you use Kiasuparents, you will have to put in a lot of extra time to collate the information and individual signer's name. If you use petitiononline, the petition will be laid out formally, and each individual sign separately with name, and they can also add their comments to the petition. The numbers will be tallied and once you hit the number you can send it off. It's fast, neat and efficient, and anyone can sign the petition without setting up an account. We can all send it off to our friends and they can sign it immediately on one master list. Just for your consideration.

I know... I know... it is a good idea. Ksi suggested it and I was exploring that option. But Chief was very kind and allowed me to separate out the thread, add a poll... and pop the article on the front page. Now I am in a dilemma... do I throw Chief's kindness back at him... or shall I live with an imperfect petition? Also, I already changed once... and people have to revote.

I feel bad to bother voters to vote a third time... How ah? How ah?

I feel like living with the imperfection leh... wanna respect the efforts of people (Chief and Voters) who have so far invested themselves a little in this. The only person to blame is me. I ain't much good at this.

My heart is in the right place but the skills are not quite there. Sorry!!

Chenonceau, don't worry about me lah... :). I suggested that you use the KiasuParents.com blog as a means of directing traffic to your cause, and not to use it as a platform for petitioning . I also think you should use the right platform to do the right thing. You can always point the URL in your blog in KiasuParents.com to the petition you set up in petitions.com.

[corneyAmber]

Chenonceau, I think you don't have to worry about re-voting either...we know you are trying your best and it's the first time you are doing this. The good news is in future you will be the EXPERT here.

[Chenonceau]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Thank you Chief for permission to be disloyal!!


Ksi… thanks for egging me on and holding me to higher standards. Thanks Faun and Cimman too. And QuiteKSMom for being so encouraging. I started this very tentatively and am slowly learning and gaining confidence.

Thank you! Thank you! Now, I need to make dinner. Once I can sit down again, I will go and do up that petition PROPERLY ASAP!!!

[PreciousMoments66]

vividlaurel:

This is a subject I am quite passionate about! So YES I do support this petition!


I also heard the education minister say during one of his election speeches that they aim for 30% of a cohort to enter university and almost at the same time say the education system is one of the best in the world!

If this was so, then why just 30% of a cohort for university admissions? Isn't the other 70% just as capable? Ok I understand that some will not want to go on to Uni, but of the remaining 70%, I am sure that atleast 50% of them will want to study furhter? Why are we depriving them and instead filling our universitiies with foreign students? How many of us can afford a foreign university education for our children?

My kids are still in Primary school, but unless this is not debated now, come 10-12 years down the line, we have a whole host of Singaporean children whose parents have scimped and saved for their foreign education who will never come back! The system needs to be changed and this change should start at the foundation - which is the Primary school system!

Sorry for the rant.... :mad:

In order not to loose these kids which as prevalent then, the govt saw this problem as most of them don't come home after graduation and that is why SMU was set up. At least the parents saved on boarding cost and the kids are not \"escaped\".

As for why stream kids so young, I seriously don't understand as well. Their logic was they need to identify them earlier so that they can guide the gifted one in the right direction.

I have a friend's whose daughter is very smart. Unfortunately not as smart as the No 1. This No 1 who is only 20 - 21 was the chosen one. She was informed of this and advise not to do anything illegal and be law abiding for they are going to groom her to be someone impt.

[sleepy]

I think the current system is an ‘one size fits all’ with too much rigidity. Instead of grouping kids by age group, isn’t it more enriching to group by learning abilities?


Students should be allowed join older kids or younger kids in different levels.
Say if a P2 child is extremely strong in Maths, there should be some flexibility to allow him attend a P4 Maths class if he’s academically ready at that level. Similarly a P4 child who is weak in language should be allowed to join a P3 language class.

Okay, I am well aware this is too idealistic & it’s not easy to implement this on a nation wide scale. However, I really hope to see some sort of flexibility. Right now, there’s absolutely none.