Petition to Review the Singapore Education System
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cimman:
These parents are warping the standard of the assessment, raising the bar higher and higher for their own children, then don't cry stress.marks are like money. You can never have enough of them. If you're a 90+ kid, the parents would do everything they can push it to 100. The only way parents can be satisfied with their child's grades is when they're at 100. So tuition, or parent teaching is here to stay, like it or not. It's part of our kiasu culture here in Singapore.
I know of a number of parents who are very involved with their GEP children's projects. They practically do the whole project for their kids, just so to get the high grades. These are GEP kids, by the way, who are more than capable of getting the projects done by themselves.
Like I say, it is hard to balance kiasu-ism at its peak...so the best is give people a choice and the truth will be revealed in time to come. If system is wrong, it is clear, if people are simply kiasu, it is clear too.... I think we all owe ourselves this clarity on the root of the problem. Also, we have to see how this 80-20 rule is going...is it 20% of people creating problem for 80% of people making exams difficult(brain filtering issue), or is it 80% of people charging at 20% of opportunities (kiasu issue) resulting in the difficult exams or both making PSLE stressful? -
MummyThreeStreams:
P1/P2 is typically honeymoon years for those without strong preschool to catch up and those with strong preschool to perform their flying colours. Experts believe P3 is the time the brain starts to show its prowess. :evil:
DS1's school is very relaxed for P 1 too. No homework apart from weekly spelling and ting xie once in two weeks. No tests or exams until end of P2. I know there will be a jump in P 3 and P5, but I'm not thinking about that yet. Just let him learn to enjoy school first. In the meantime, we spend our days learning music, playing sports, reading etc. -
2ppaamm:
This is an interesting approach but it is a big culture shock to study methodologies that we are so entrenched in current system. :rotflmao: Testing without boundaries for preparation but solely based on brain power is a little sophisticated to apply across the board. I personally believe this can become a reality when we understand the root of the problem better and apply this as a more sophisticated approach for the brilliant and challenged group of kids where test is a delight more than fear.
How about an electronic exam such as GMAT. With every question answered correctly, the question gets harder. With every wrong answer, the question gets easier. The system will then find a 'final score' for each student who took the exam, and everyone will be ranked. There's no way to adequately prepare for such an exam at 12 years old, and there should be no past year papers to refer to.
That way, those who want to mug can go study up to PhD. There's no limit. -
ksi:
I think my kids have it quite strange. They enjoyed pre-school tremendously, allowed to roam and learn at will. Then in P1/P2, they realized school teaches nothing. In P3, switch off and go to sleep, P5 being awoken by teachers to study for PSLE, then in P6, everyone rushing for results, and before they know it, they are off to sec school or by then, chosen an alternative path seeing school gives no academic freedom.
P1/P2 is typically honeymoon years for those without strong preschool to catch up and those with strong preschool to perform their flying colours. Experts believe P3 is the time the brain starts to show its prowess. :evil: -
duplicate.
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2ppaamm:
Ok, ok. Let me try this again. This test is to measure the propensity to learn. We know the potential of a kid with a test like this. Then, we also need to know how much a kid can retain information, or how well he can be taught. This can be measured by the yearly results, or weekly class graded assignments. Just like the GPA used in all universities, JCs and High Schools. As long as we have more than 30 students in a school we should be able to give a good picture of the student's academic performance with this 'GPA'.
This is an interesting approach but it is a big culture shock to study methodologies that we are so entrenched in current system. :rotflmao: Testing without boundaries for preparation but solely based on brain power is a little sophisticated to apply across the board. I personally believe this can become a reality when we understand the root of the problem better and apply this as a more sophisticated approach for the brilliant and challenged group of kids where test is a delight more than fear.ksi:
[quote=\"2ppaamm\"]
How about an electronic exam such as GMAT. With every question answered correctly, the question gets harder. With every wrong answer, the question gets easier. The system will then find a 'final score' for each student who took the exam, and everyone will be ranked. There's no way to adequately prepare for such an exam at 12 years old, and there should be no past year papers to refer to.
That way, those who want to mug can go study up to PhD. There's no limit.
These two should be able to measure a kid's academic ability to place him in a secondary school, no?[/quote] -
2ppaamm:
Actually my child did not have that meaningful a preschool too because I only put her in nearest preschool and not best preschool. However, what she learned at home probably benefitted her better but I am not for homeschool, period. So off she went to local school. P1/P2 she learns nothing academic too :hi5: but she learns alot in EQ areas because children are complicated these days and she never picked up any such skills from child care, and being an only child, no siblings to fight with to learn it too. She managed alot of objection handling
I think my kids have it quite strange. They enjoyed pre-school tremendously, allowed to roam and learn at will. Then in P1/P2, they realized school teaches nothing. In P3, switch off and go to sleep, P5 being awoken by teachers to study for PSLE, then in P6, everyone rushing for results, and before they know it, they are off to sec school or by then, chosen an alternative path seeing school gives no academic freedom.ksi:
P1/P2 is typically honeymoon years for those without strong preschool to catch up and those with strong preschool to perform their flying colours. Experts believe P3 is the time the brain starts to show its prowess. :evil:
In P3 first 2 terms, she was not smart enough like your kids to switch off but she was forced to switch off because a number of teachers were frequently absent... :lol: So since she was not sleepy enough, I believe she was interacting and reading. I am only too glad to hear in the parent-teacher conference that she has high EQ, so without all the academic benefits, at least I found an alternative side benefit now... :rotflmao:
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2ppaamm:
[/quote]I agree but it is a big mindset change for parents, it's a paradigm shift that needs time to get parents to embrace it, especially the not-so-exposed parents. Perhaps once they can roll out holistic assessments successfully across the levels instead of P1/P2 only, this certainly can become a reality as a placement for secondary schools.
Ok, ok. Let me try this again. This test is to measure the propensity to learn. We know the potential of a kid with a test like this. Then, we also need to know how much a kid can retain information, or how well he can be taught. This can be measured by the yearly results, or weekly class graded assignments. Just like the GPA used in all universities, JCs and High Schools. As long as we have more than 30 students in a school we should be able to give a good picture of the student's academic performance with this 'GPA'.2ppaamm:
[quote=\"ksi\"]
This is an interesting approach but it is a big culture shock to study methodologies that we are so entrenched in current system. :rotflmao: Testing without boundaries for preparation but solely based on brain power is a little sophisticated to apply across the board. I personally believe this can become a reality when we understand the root of the problem better and apply this as a more sophisticated approach for the brilliant and challenged group of kids where test is a delight more than fear.
These two should be able to measure a kid's academic ability to place him in a secondary school, no? -
ksi:
I think my kids have it quite strange. They enjoyed pre-school tremendously, allowed to roam and learn at will. Then in P1/P2, they realized school teaches nothing. In P3, switch off and go to sleep, P5 being awoken by teachers to study for PSLE, then in P6, everyone rushing for results, and before they know it, they are off to sec school or by then, chosen an alternative path seeing school gives no academic freedom.2ppaamm:
[quote=\"ksi\"]
P1/P2 is typically honeymoon years for those without strong preschool to catch up and those with strong preschool to perform their flying colours. Experts believe P3 is the time the brain starts to show its prowess. :evil:
Actually my child did not have that meaningful a preschool too because I only put her in nearest preschool and not best preschool. However, what she learned at home probably benefitted her better but I am not for homeschool, period. So off she went to local school. P1/P2 she learns nothing academic too :hi5: but she learns alot in EQ areas because children are complicated these days and she never picked up any such skills from child care, and being an only child, no siblings to fight with to learn it too. She managed alot of objection handling In P3 first 2 terms, she was not smart enough like your kids to switch off but she was forced to switch off because a number of teachers were frequently absent... :lol: So since she was not sleepy enough, I believe she was interacting and reading. I am only too glad to hear in the parent-teacher conference that she has high EQ, so without all the academic benefits, at least I found an alternative side benefit now... :rotflmao:[/quote]Wah, at least you are attending PTM. I have stopped attending PTM a long time ago. Tired of teachers telling me that my child is average, above average or below average in the class. What's the purpose? :skeptical: As long as my child learn I'm ok lah, who cares about other children? Teachers must be :siao: to think I am interested to compare my children with other kids? Not so free. So what if she is below average in the top class? I bet in the bottom class, they don't compare class average but level average. :razz:
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2ppaamm:
Oh yes I attend yearly, in fact I make it a point to do so....because I always like to know all the non-academic things about my child in school. Usually I drive the meeting agenda so academics is not touched. By PTM, academic is a foregone conclusion that is of no interest to me anymore. :lol:
Wah, at least you are attending PTM. I have stopped attending PTM a long time ago. Tired of teachers telling me that my child is average, above average or below average in the class. What's the purpose? :skeptical: As long as my child learn I'm ok lah, who cares about other children? Teachers must be :siao: to think I am interested to compare my children with other kids? Not so free. So what if she is below average in the top class? I bet in the bottom class, they don't compare class average but level average. :razz:
And you know why you don't need? You are a supermom with so much more experience!!!!!
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