Any parents of gifted children here ?

[gifted]

Hi Tamarind,


The GEP not necessary have better teacher. They only have teachers that are specially trained to handle them. They are already very smart, learning very fast and most of them already know even before the teacher teaches them. They also have relief teacher which allow them to do their own things and later play catch up by supplmentary lesson.

Before my girl opt for the programe, I also think why it is necessary to have GEP. When you have your so called special child enrol in a just normal neighbourhood school, the child will be bored. Not in P1 or P2, but P3. Imagine only less than 10 children go through the first round. She will complain to you that the teacher is slow in teaching. Why can't she has more freedom to do whatever she likes. Why her friends just dun understand her? She has to lower herself to be on par with them which make her very unhappy.

With the GEP, she is allow to learn at a much faster pace and learn things that she always long for. But there are some other problems too. Actually, sometime I find that the GEP students are quite relax. They dun really have a lots of worksheets to do and some task are given amples time to do research. With that they can learn more outside the classroom and time management. Trust me, GEP isn't that bad. The programe have improved a lot. They have cater to the need of the child and not like the drilling method when you and I were in school.

Make sure they get to mix around with children of all level and always remain them that they are no different from anyone of them. If you dun tell everyone that she is from the GEP, then no one will know rite. :lol:

[tamarind]

gifted:

Hi Tamarind,


The GEP not necessary have better teacher. They only have teachers that are specially trained to handle them. They are already very smart, learning very fast and most of them already know even before the teacher teaches them. They also have relief teacher which allow them to do their own things and later play catch up by supplmentary lesson.

Before my girl opt for the programe, I also think why it is necessary to have GEP. When you have your so called special child enrol in a just normal neighbourhood school, the child will be bored. Not in P1 or P2, but P3. Imagine only less than 10 children go through the first round. She will complain to you that the teacher is slow in teaching. Why can't she has more freedom to do whatever she likes. Why her friends just dun understand her? She has to lower herself to be on par with them which make her very unhappy.

With the GEP, she is allow to learn at a much faster pace and learn things that she always long for. But there are some other problems too. Actually, sometime I find that the GEP students are quite relax. They dun really have a lots of worksheets to do and some task are given amples time to do research. With that they can learn more outside the classroom and time management. Trust me, GEP isn't that bad. The programe have improved a lot. They have cater to the need of the child and not like the drilling method when you and I were in school.

Make sure they get to mix around with children of all level and always remain them that they are no different from anyone of them. If you dun tell everyone that she is from the GEP, then no one will know rite. :lol:

gifted,
Thanks for sharing more insight into the program. I really appreciate it

Did your girl start out in a neighbourhood school, and move to a school with the GEP program ?

We don't have kids of the same age in the neighbourhood, so my girl's only chance to socialize is in class. I am not sure whether she will be happier in a class of kids of the same ability as her. She seems to be very happy now in her K1 class of kids with a wide range of abilities. We tell her that there is always something she can learn from other people. I think her teacher handles the kids pretty well. The teacher will ask her to teach other kids to read. When she finishes her work fast, the teacher will give her some paper and let her draw, since she loves drawing.

[gifted]

Yes, she started off in a neigbourhood school and really enjoyed her school life there. She still keeps her old friends and plays with them as and when they met at the park. Her childcare teacher made her the little teacher during her younger days in the childcare and in P1. Actually, she is not really happier in the GEP class. She said she still prefer her old school and friends as they are more sincere and the GEP kids only be friend to you with motive which I find that my girl has grow up too fast. I always tell her that's the real world she is going to face when she grow up and she has to learn the basic trust.

[sunflower]

I’ve been following this thread with much interest. My second daughter is 3 this year. On the second day after giving birth and was discharged from the hospital, I reached home and placed her on her tummy and to my utter amazement, she lifted up her head, turned left, right and left again before flopping down her head on the bed again. Thereafter, she would cry her lungs out to lift up her head whenever I placed her on her tummy during the first month. Subsequently, her development milestone for gross motor skill was something like on the dot. She would perform whatever that was stated in books/charts right at the beginning or just slightly earlier of the stated month. Well, she wasn’t those advanced kids that I’ve heard who could walk in 6 months!


As a baby, she would examine her toys in detail and would always turn her toys around to see what’s behind. Her fine motor skill was very good. She could speak in complete sentences just before she turned 2. She could remember things and grasps concepts easily with few repetitions. When others see her in action, they thought she’s 1-2 years beyond her actual age, although with little hair, she looks like a baby. I must confess that I’m a busy and lazy mum, but I’ll try to stimulate her whenever I remember or if I have the time (but not much and not consistent at all!). Still, I don’t think she’s gifted. I think she’s just a bright child who learns things fast. For one, she didn’t classify mammals when I was teaching my elder child!

I see parents that are concerned about identifying giftedness at an early age so children would not feel bored or disrupt the class or lose interest in learning…or we want to maximise a child’s potential so they could (hopefully) achieve greater things in life at an earlier age…

I’m just wondering out loud…I’m sure there are gifted children in China and I understand from friends who have stayed there for some years that their classrooms contain 60 students with one teacher. However, the discipline is good and everyone seems eager to learn and participate in class and I don’t think they segregate gifted children. However, gifted children there still seem to strive and perhaps come up tops? Is it a cultural thing? How do they do it? Is it really necessary to segregate them or if not, their giftedness will die off?? I know China identifies top talents in the arts and sports to be trained intensively in special schools, but didn’t hear of academic gifted schools though…

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

Tamarind says: [quote]If the system can properly identify gifted kids at a young age, then at least the kids can have teachers who are trained to handle them in a sensitive and understanding manner. But the tough part is how to identify them. Some kids may even refused to be tested.[/quote]
I agree that the teachers should be equipped to handle the kids in a sensitive & understanding manner. On testing for giftedness, this can be done by observations by the teacher. Some of the gifted kids really sticks out from the crowd.

Well my son survive his PCF & I am sure he will survive in his new school. So far the past episode with the teacher did not break his spirit although at one point I know he was deeply hurt. So, it does not matter if identification is done earlier or later. I was hoping that identifying early, will release a bit of my stress managing his needs. But as Gifted explained, it is not necessarily so.

Sunflower, just to clarify. My son is able to define mammal just like he is quoting from a dictionary. He knows factual data because he remembers what he reads as leisure. I don't teach my daughter science as she has her tuition teacher to guide her.

[tamarind]

sunflower:

I’ve been following this thread with much interest. My second daughter is 3 this year. On the second day after giving birth and was discharged from the hospital, I reached home and placed her on her tummy and to my utter amazement, she lifted up her head, turned left, right and left again before flopping down her head on the bed again. Thereafter, she would cry her lungs out to lift up her head whenever I placed her on her tummy during the first month. Subsequently, her development milestone for gross motor skill was something like on the dot. She would perform whatever that was stated in books/charts right at the beginning or just slightly earlier of the stated month. Well, she wasn’t those advanced kids that I’ve heard who could walk in 6 months!


As a baby, she would examine her toys in detail and would always turn her toys around to see what’s behind. Her fine motor skill was very good. She could speak in complete sentences just before she turned 2. She could remember things and grasps concepts easily with few repetitions. When others see her in action, they thought she’s 1-2 years beyond her actual age, although with little hair, she looks like a baby. I must confess that I’m a busy and lazy mum, but I’ll try to stimulate her whenever I remember or if I have the time (but not much and not consistent at all!). Still, I don’t think she’s gifted. I think she’s just a bright child who learns things fast. For one, she didn’t classify mammals when I was teaching my elder child!

I see parents that are concerned about identifying giftedness at an early age so children would not feel bored or disrupt the class or lose interest in learning…or we want to maximise a child’s potential so they could (hopefully) achieve greater things in life at an earlier age…

I’m just wondering out loud…I’m sure there are gifted children in China and I understand from friends who have stayed there for some years that their classrooms contain 60 students with one teacher. However, the discipline is good and everyone seems eager to learn and participate in class and I don’t think they segregate gifted children. However, gifted children there still seem to strive and perhaps come up tops? Is it a cultural thing? How do they do it? Is it really necessary to segregate them or if not, their giftedness will die off?? I know China identifies top talents in the arts and sports to be trained intensively in special schools, but didn’t hear of academic gifted schools though…

Sunflower,
I like your post. I think you have written about some very good points.

I have also heard that there is no gifted education in China. And I believe that their students are more motivated than Singaporean students.

For those who can understand Chinese, read this very interesting article comparing the education system in Singapore and China.

http://www.zaobao.com.sg/special/forum/pages5/forum_lx071205c.html

In China, they don't even rank students in primary school.

中国小学不许排名次，避免给孩子太大压力。也不会因为成绩不同而换班，大家都上同样的内容。第一次淘汰是在6年级小学毕业。

This is something that I would like to see in Singapore.

Your question:
Is it really necessary to segregate them or if not, their giftedness will die off??

If we take China as an example, then the answer to the above question is no.

I used to be very good in maths when I was in primary school. I was always one step ahead of the teacher. I would read the text book and did the exercises before she finished explaining. I finished my work very quickly, and then I would help other weaker students to do their work. I really enjoyed helping them. My classmates preferred to ask me rather than ask the teacher. I never felt bored or lost interest.

Well I am not gifted. So I do not completely understand how the minds of other gifted children work. May be they already had tuition at home, and already knew everything in the subject very well. But it will still do them a lot of good if they go about helping other students.

[breguet]

sunflower:

I’m just wondering out loud…I’m sure there are gifted children in China and I understand from friends who have stayed there for some years that their classrooms contain 60 students with one teacher. However, the discipline is good and everyone seems eager to learn and participate in class and I don’t think they segregate gifted children. However, gifted children there still seem to strive and perhaps come up tops? Is it a cultural thing? How do they do it? Is it really necessary to segregate them or if not, their giftedness will die off?? I know China identifies top talents in the arts and sports to be trained intensively in special schools, but didn’t hear of academic gifted schools though…

Hi Sunflower,

I found some articles in the archives of the MOE that relate directly to your question.

These are extremely interesting articles and I encourage anyone interested in understanding more to read. This is from the bureacrats' standpoint, but it brings me cheer to realize the thought and consideration our government has put into the entire educational programme, of which the GEP is an important part. I now know the extent and depth of planning that have gone into the planning of the GEP, which will benefit the long term well-being of our society. [Mind you, I don't quite agree - and this is a personal opinion of course- with how individual schools carry out this mandate, but that's another can of worms altogether. I don't want to digress here].

http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2004/sp20040603.htm
http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2002/sp05122002.htm

I'm quoting some paras that relate directly to your musings:
\"In China, the education of the gifted is catered to largely within the top mainstream schools. In middle schools affiliated to universities (usually the teaching universities), academic staff are deployed to teach gifted students in smaller, experimental classes. Another model, Beijing No 8 Middle School, which I visited last year, provides an accelerated programme of learning that puts exceptionally gifted students through a 10 year education that covers 12 years of learning or more, together with a rigorous weekly schedule of activities that challenge the students physically and in community service. In Korea, there are pull out programmes at the elementary school level, with students being given enrichment programmes that are not necessarily built upon mainstream syllabus. At the secondary and high school levels, there are specialized schools for the gifted in mathematics and science.\"

\"If we look around East Asia, we will find exactly the same phenomenon. If we look at China, Taiwan and Korea, I would say there is more stress, more overload in the system. These are the reports we get. Singapore expatriates who send their children to schools in China or Taiwan tell us it is more stressful. In Korea, there is a saying that they drum into kids at a young age, 'Sleep five hours, fail. Sleep four hours, pass'. Richard Lim, who runs Majullah Connection in the US, told me recently over the email that he was talking to some students from China who had the opportunity of studying in Singapore along the way, who spent a few years studying in Singapore. They told him that our Singapore system struck them as being much more rounded than the system that they had gone through.\"

\"Even China has no compunction in creating special paths for different talents, be it academic talents, musical talents, gymnastic talents. They have many experimental schools now which go much further than what we are proposing in our Report. Take for instance Beijing Jingshan School, one of their experimental schools, from primary school all the way up to senior middle. It provides a through-train for all its primary school students to go on to junior middle school. And the top junior middle students, the top 10% or so, are provided a through-train to go on to senior middle. If you look at some of their other experimental schools, they provide a through-train for the top students in Science and Mathematics to the top universities. Again, we are not proposing this, but I raise this as an illustration of how even China, a relatively egalitarian society, is providing these differentiated paths and not shrinking from it. Because they know that in the knowledge-based environment of the future, they need outstanding talents.\"

I have had the privilege of interviewing, hiring, and working with top grads from anywhere in the world. I love the openness and brilliance that they have brought to my life and work. It is this sort of differentiation that we should try to bring out in our kids, while at the same time inculcating values that are important to us. It is a borderless world that we live in, and it is through differentiated programmes like the GEP in Singapore and others like it in other parts of the world that may be part of the answer.

[wwcookie]

tamarind:

Well I am not gifted. So I do not completely understand how the minds of other gifted children work. May be they already had tuition at home, and already knew everything in the subject very well. But it will still do them a lot of good if they go about helping other students.

When my son was in kindergarten, his teacher did just that. He was appointed as a little teacher or teacher asst and he helped the other children with their work and he really enjoyed going to school then. But now that he's in primary school, there's really no opportunity to 'reprise' this role cos the class is conducted such that they are not supposed to distract each other..

[mamachris]

Hi All,


It is very exciting to follow this thread

I really kudos to your efforts in nurturing your kids. I must say I am still far far from many of you. Feeling guilty a bit now :roll:

For me, I emphasis a lot on EQ, AQ and character development like mumwgals. I do not think any of my kids is going to be gifted and in the first place I am not gifted myself so I dun expect them to be one too!
Why I emphasis so much on these: EQ, AQ and character development is because I see myself in my own life that high IQ will not secure a great job with good $$ It is great character- leadership, high EQ and AQ that will help one in their career and life.

For example, now I have an extremely smart BROWN UNIVERSITY intern working for me for the last 1 month and I cant wait for her to complete her internship and go. And I am not the only one...luckily... infact, she was 'thrown' to my care cos the rest of the managers cannot 'tahan' her for her extreme approach- very open and talks so much as if she is the best! Yes, she is intellectually smarter than anyone in the team but she cannot produce good quality & completed work compared to my other direct reports who is only a poly grad... Very high EGO and low EQ, she just came into my office and left the paper on my desk and walked off!! And she does this to the managers... can you imagine how far this person can go? For me, I will definitely not hire her in my team! Not at all! Even she is the TOP TOP gifted student from Brown University
... just my thoughts.

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

brequet posted:[quote]http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2004/sp20040603.htm

http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2002/sp05122002.htm [/quote]Hi brequet

Interesting articles. Thanks for sharing.

Hi wwcookie

In some top schools, since there are so many bright students in comparison to the weaker ones, opportunities to help the weaker students are lesser. Is that the situation that is happening in your son school?

My son still has the opportunities to help as the current seating plan arrange by the teacher is to have a brighter student be a mentor to the weaker ones. But comes primary two, the brighter ones will be stream to different classes & the extremely weak ones will be stream to the 3 bottom classes. My guess will be the average classess will still have the opportunity to help as the range can be between those who fails marginally to those who are in the 70-80s range.


Tamarind wrote: [quote]May be they already had tuition at home, and already knew everything in the subject very well.[/quote]If only tuition & enrichment helps, then there will be countless of gifted students in Singapore; given that society today depends highly on enrichment centres & tuition teacher.