Petition to Review the Singapore Education System
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2ppaamm:
I don't really have a problem with secondary school either, except for a few repercussions of the PSLE:Chenonceau:
[quote=\"PiggyLalala\"]I agree that in the primary school education, the 'poorer' students tend to be at the disadvantage as there are many 'richer' Singaporeans that can afford tuitions in many of the subjects. However, once the students get into the sec school, a lot would then depend on the students themselves. The reasons being most parents would have lost the stamina to go after their children esp after they have entered their teens and also the tuitions for all secondary school subjects would then be too expensive for most Singaporeans. Also by then, most parents are not able to coach their child in most of the subjects. Students with the right attitude and self motivated would then excel.
Ummm... I have no issue about secondary school either. The petition and this thread is about primary school (given that primary school determines the kind of opportunities one gets in secondary school).
I quite agree with this post of yours about secondary school. Though I wouldn't really know until my son gets in there. I have learnt that 7 years, between 2 kids, can change a lotta things.
1. Self esteem. If we teach our children to pin their intelligence or capabilities to that T-score, or the number of A's they get, it becomes very dangerous. Many well tutored students have a wrong perspective of their capabilities and when parents and tutors 'let-go', they fall.
2. Burnout. I have seen many of my son's school mates who are clearly burnt out. And I'm not surprised. One particular boy refused to do anything in Sec 1 and 2. Nothing. Like a rebel. This boy got >270. This is not an isolated case, I know a few more in the same school.
3. Rebel. A FEW of my son's friends who scored high for PSLE went on to do so badly in secondary school, they have to go into 'rehabilitation'. For some reason, without constant supervision and external motivation, they cannot get themselves to finish their tasks. Some of them I know were GEPers, whose parents/tutors will do all their research for them, like looking up all the difficult words in the dictionary for them in their comprehension. I found this ridiculous, but they told me their children had no time. ???
Basically, I am not for PSLE at all. I believe PSLE should be removed. It does nothing for our 12 year olds, who at puberty, need to sleep, grow and learn fun things (like styling their hair, sewing a button to their shirt, singing crazy songs).
How about using just school based exams and students' daily work, and for the identified 'special schools' (maybe for the top 10%?), students can choose to sit for a HAST-like exam?[/quote]The above post serves as a reminder for all parents who are preparing PSLE with the child. Never set the target too high or have the tutor to plan everything for the child. While preparing PSLE with the child, it is important to train the child to be an independent learner, to plan for his own revision and to manage his time well. Maybe what we as the parents can do is to help out only in their weaker subjects and NOT ALL the subjects. Actually the best way to do well in any subjects, is to cultivate an interest or passion in the subject. Dont ask me how because I do not know too. But i know some teachers can
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PiggyLalala:
To train a child to be independent learner, we need to give them time to try being independent. We need to have FAITH in them and PATIENCE to wait for positive results. But parents so kan cheong with marks, what to do
The above post serves as a reminder for all parents who are preparing PSLE with the child. Never set the target too high or have the tutor to plan everything for the child. While preparing PSLE with the child, it is important to train the child to be an independent learner, to plan for his own revision and to manage his time well. Maybe what we as the parents can do is to help out only in their weaker subjects and NOT ALL the subjects. Actually the best way to do well in any subjects, is to cultivate an interest or passion in the subject. Dont ask me how because I do not know too. But i know some teachers can
I agree to do well in a subject, you need passion. The only teachers who can truly cultivate passion are those who love what they are teaching. Their love for the subject is so strong that it rubs off on the kids. They are needles in haystack. -
I totally agree with you that 'To train a child to be independent learner, we need to give them time to try being independent. We need to have FAITH in the CHILD, the TEACHERS and the SCHOOL and have PATIENCE to wait for positive results. But parents should not be overly anxious over marks esp with their lower primary child.
I quite like the new approach use in the current P1 and P2 whereby there is only one SA2 or no exam at all. Students are assessed based on some of the assigments to be completed in class. The teachings in P1 and P2 should be such that pupils enjoy learning and want to learn more and go to school. I suggest that there is no streaming after SA2 in P2. Streaming creates unnecessary stress on both parents and students as parents would then want the child to do well in SA2 so as to get into the Best Class in P3. Students should be exposed to all kinds of books, fiction or non-fiction, on science or history and be encouraged to read widely. The emphasis on P1 and P2 should not be on exam techniques or exam but more to encourage every child to be an independent learner and reader. A lot of information and knowledge can be learned through readings. -
In P3 and P4, teachers can focus more on concepts needed in the various subjects. Students are then slowly taught of the various techniques needed in answering exam questions. Do not overly-panic if your child has done not too well in the P3 exam esp SA1 ( say in the mark range fr 70 to 80 marks ). Maybe they have not fully grasped the concept or the skills needed to do well in the exam. And they will improve over time and practice.
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I also suggest that all schools to add the few ‘useful and popular’ assessment books, like onsponge maths P6 or mathematics made easily and also ‘the orange revision Science guide book by Marshall Cavendish’ into the P5 and P6 booklist. In this way, all pupils would have the common useful and relevant resources to prepare for PSLE. Teachers should also teach all the skills mentioned in these books. I agree that the current textbooks are NOT sufficient in preparing the child for the more challenging questions in the PSLE. Schools should provide fianancial assistance to students who cannot afford to buy these assessment books. ( They are not cheap.) Parents can also donate these books to school if they do not want them anymore after their child has sat for the PSLE.
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During our times, many of my friends and I spend so little time studying. I can hardly remember preparing for PSLE. It wasn't that a biggie for our class. It was just another exam, I did not have a single assessment paper, and couldn't afford one anyway. At the end of the year, my whole class made it to SAP schools. None of us had tuition. It was a neighbourhood school and most parents were poor. We had very good, committed teachers.
The only ones who have to study, study, study were the ones who were from the BOTTOM class (not even average classes), and still want to make it. Some of these friends from the bottom P6 classes were my classmates in the university. During our times, only 5% made it to the university. They knew they had to study hard to equalize, and they did.
Most of my childhood memories were quite fun, play, sports (I had 3 CCAs), I participated in beauty pageants for fun, grooming classes, ODAC, debates, lots of Saturday afternoon movies with friends, weekly sitting in the field doing nothing with friends, beach BBQ and sleepovers. Study was so small, I can hardly remember any of it. But I can still remember my Maths, Physics and Chemistry taught to me since I was a child. Every bit of it. Right up to today, I can still remember some of my P6 exam questions. My friends and I did not have to suffer like our kids to learn and retain the knowledge.
Think about our kids. What do you think their memories of their childhood will be? Assessments? Study, study, study? Tuition, tuition, tuition? (maybe sneak in a bit of Facebook while doing projects :evil: ) Even with all these grinding, many of the kids in the university cannot even remember P5 Heat transfer theory. So strange. I think all these study and exams are counter productive. It serves no purpose in making our children smarter, more passionate or more creative or even more aware. All these studying do not enrich their lives.
It only makes them better at spotting questions. My view? The Singapore Education System needs to be reviewed VERY SERIOUSLY. Not the syllabus, but the delivery and the emphasis of exams vs passion for learning.
One more ironic thing is, when our children 'graduate' from Pre-university and go to colleges, they realize that everyone starts with a new baseline. A lot those grilling prior to university and 'extra' knowledge they HAD to (not want to) obtained will be taught in the university, anyway.
Relation to the petition: kill the PSLE. Forget about elite or top schools. Let's have a few GOOD schools (10 to 20) that the top 10% to 25% of our children can opt to go to. Let our very bright mix with the more 'common'. Isn't this a better reflection of the society? Which part of the country do you see a congregation of top 0.8% people, not even among the professors in the universities. If the very bright can cruise through, let them. They deserve to have fun and not study even more and more (unless they want to - not expected to). Only a very small population need to study so hard, have tuition, and burn their Saturdays, Sundays, weekday afternoons in books. The rest (perhaps 95%) should be outdoors flying kites, having picnics, enjoying good movies, baking a cake, learning to sew, packing their rooms or just doing nothing. That way, I'm sure our rate of increase in myopia will reduce as well. :imcool: -
PiggyLalala:
There is summative assessment at P1. At the end of P2, there is SA2 bcos of streaming. This equates to STRESS bcos of the hope of getting into a better class in P3.I totally agree with you that 'To train a child to be independent learner, we need to give them time to try being independent. We need to have FAITH in the CHILD, the TEACHERS and the SCHOOL and have PATIENCE to wait for positive results. But parents should not be overly anxious over marks esp with their lower primary child.
I quite like the new approach use in the current P1 and P2 whereby there is only one SA2 or no exam at all. Students are assessed based on some of the assigments to be completed in class. The teachings in P1 and P2 should be such that pupils enjoy learning and want to learn more and go to school. I suggest that there is no streaming after SA2 in P2. Streaming creates unnecessary stress on both parents and students as parents would then want the child to do well in SA2 so as to get into the Best Class in P3. Students should be exposed to all kinds of books, fiction or non-fiction, on science or history and be encouraged to read widely. The emphasis on P1 and P2 should not be on exam techniques or exam but more to encourage every child to be an independent learner and reader. A lot of information and knowledge can be learned through readings.
To quote 2ppaamm,
\"Think about our kids. What do you think their memories of their childhood will be? Assessments? Study, study, study? Tuition, tuition, tuition?\" My son in P5 does not get to enjoy weekends bcos of tuition. Does he have a choice ? The answer is NO. He has Chinese tuition at 9am for 1 1/2 hours, followed by Math tuition at 1130am. Sun, he has creative writing. I had to take him out of English enrichment bcos I cannot afford to spend $900 on Eng alone...so I have to decide which is more critical and something I cannot help him with.
Our kids deserve to enjoy their childhood. It's once in a lifetime. But they have to face pressure the moment they enter primary school.
Do we want our children to check into IMH to recuperate ? -
I suggest NO STREAMING after SA2 in P2 TOO. My younger child who is in P3 this year, enjoys his childhood and school. Most of his marks had dropped in his SA1 this year. He did badly in Science. But I choose not to be panic and I believe that he will improve over time. TT’s what I am going to do this holidays… bring him more often to the library, to read more widely and to borrow some books on science experiments. I will see what i can do to make him more interested in Science BUT I will not send him for science tuition as yet.
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Talking about assessments books. I recall during my time, there was only 1 green cover math assessment books available in the market for the whole primary level. It was for PSLE practice. I did the book 3 rounds, erasing the pencil marks and redo after every round. Times have changed…
I’m not sure about totally abolishing exams. I think in some way it is good as exam does make us study seriously. Not every kid is self motivated or find relevance in what they are learning so much that they pay attention and fully engage in class. We need kick in the butts sometime. Perhaps, like piggylalala said, start abit later.
I have one child in GEP and another in IB. I find the styles of these 2 programs rather similar. They go for breadth, not depth, a lot of projects and independent learning. For GEP, if parents can relax and not too worried about grades, there is a lot of merits to the program. One feature, in particular, I think that the school program can adopt for assessments is instead of just having 4 exams a year, have many formative assessments perhaps 2 summative ones in every year. Daily assignments, projects, and housekeeping habit( filing) also contribute to overall grades. for my child in IB, even learning attitudes are also assessed and counted to overall grades.
I think the school program can introduce projects for kids. To make sure they do it seriuosly,grade it. There is a lot of value in doing projects. They will fumble and mess up at first but we need to look at long term development, give them time to learn. Not forgetting the biggest bugbear, personality challenges in project team. That can be stressful (for parents too). Let them work by themselves as far as possible. Kids want to take ownership of their work. Once parents interfere, they feel that it’s not theirs anymore. It’s not fun for them to do.
I always think the different forms of assessments are good why does moe not do it for all children. It’s time and resources. Also need more creative teachers to appreciate creative work. Most of our teachers are from old school system, rote learning and ten-years series type. -
Piggylalala,
About streaming, I doubt they will ever abolish. For a class of 40. It is easier to have a homogenous ability class. they sometime allow mix-ability at p5/p6 but at p2 onwards, they ensure that investment is put in those who have good family support or kids who are smart/ high achiever type.
I think for parents whose kids are doing well, they like streaming. For those whose kids are weak, they are afraid their kids will get weaker as a result. For me, I wanted my kid to at least get into an average class. Frankly, bottom classes are usually too noisy for learning.
So what is a good class. I like diversity too, it’s healthy. I think a good class is one where the kids have homogenous learning attitudes instead of learning abilities. I have heard of kids who are willing learners but are late developers. They get shaft to bottom class and learning gets more challenging as they have to cope with naughty/noisy kid, also some teachers are also not so nice to those in bottom classes.
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