Petition to Review the Singapore Education System

[dovetail]

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.

[dovetail]

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.

[kitty2]

2ppaamm:

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:

:goodpost: I also don't remember studying so hard but now if one doesn't study hard will end up in NA/NT

I saw many parents searching for more assessment books after the SA1.

[pixiedust]

I read many interesting views and suggestions in this thread. Is there any reaction from the ministry that they hear us?

[janet88]

kitty2:

2ppaamm:

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: ) 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.


:goodpost: I also don't remember studying so hard but now if one doesn't study hard will end up in NA/NT

I saw many parents searching for more assessment books after the SA1.

When I was in Pri/Sec school, I would be cycling round the neighbourhood or watching TV after homework was completed everyday. 1 assessment book lasted me from Jan to Dec. Passing mid-year and final year exams was sufficient.
I have to download past year papers for my son to practice and expose to other school exam formats.
There is NO more PASSION for learning. There is NO CHILDHOOD either.
Many kids are seeing psychiatrists or psychologists, same goes for teachers.
Low birth rate ? Who's the cause ?

[kitty2]

janet_lee88:

kitty2:

[quote=\"2ppaamm\"]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: ) 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.


:goodpost: I also don't remember studying so hard but now if one doesn't study hard will end up in NA/NT

I saw many parents searching for more assessment books after the SA1.

When I was in Pri/Sec school, I would be cycling round the neighbourhood or watching TV after homework was completed everyday. 1 assessment book lasted me from Jan to Dec. Passing mid-year and final year exams was sufficient.
I have to download past year papers for my son to practice and expose to other school exam formats.
There is NO more PASSION for learning. There is NO CHILDHOOD either.
Many kids are seeing psychiatrists or psychologists, same goes for teachers.
Low birth rate ? Who's the cause ?[/quote]I didn't even do any assessment books,my childhood was a great JOY :rahrah: :rotflmao:

[janet88]

Hi Kitty2,

My Chinese tutor got me to speak Mandarin for that 1 1/2 hours he was coaching me…造句, hardly used that assessment book. But surprisingly my Chinese grades were getting As. It was enjoyable back then. Now, students do past year papers (have to).

Singapore doesn’t have natural resources, but that doesn’t mean our kids have to be stressed to the max to make up for the lack of resource.
Do our ministers’ children have to face this pressure ? Do ministers themselves face this ? I seriously doubt…they have the resources to get tutors or send kids to high end enrichment centres to make sure their kids ace all the way.

This June as kids have holidays…I sincerely hope authorities will look into this issue and revamp the system. Thank you for reading.

[2ppaamm]

I don’t think we should abolish exams and test. But I think the tests in the school should suffice in giving the sec schools a good gauge of students’ ability. Instead of using PSLE as the ultimate benchmark, just use the prelims results. As long as we have 30 students in any school, that benchmark can be considered fair and normed.


I used to not understand and to some extent chide parents who send their kids for tuition. I used to be saddened by how the children’s childhood were robbed by parents. You can imagine how many parents start to throw spades at me?! And now I see it slightly differently. Yes, some kids do need tuition to survive this system, and it is so sad.

In Singapore, we have this phenomenon. Once a new national examination is introduced, a whole industry will boom. There will be tuition centres, enrichment classes, power motivational talks etc, all out to woo kiasu parents’ deep pockets. If we remove an exam like PSLE, I can imagine how this industry should be hurt. Guess what? Absorb them back to the schools. Get these great teachers to teach our children again, what they should have done from the start.

As to how to tell a child’s potential from another, use external IQ-like tests with no limit like HAST, where there is no chance of preparing. These do not test knowledge, but propensity. For the top students (e.g. top 10% or 25%), such tests can be used to discriminate talent in different areas such as Math, Science, Arts, Writing, speech etc.

I look forward to school being an enjoyable place, a place to mix and ask your friends about what they did with their parents over the weekend, what movies they watched, or how many fish they caught. A place to form lasting friendships that are crucial to last through a lifetime of ups and downs, not a place for comparing results. A place you can use composition classes to write about your dreams, your fears, and your hopes, rather than worry about using the best vocabularies. I enjoyed my Chinese and English compo classes the most. I enjoyed coining up the strangest phrases and have the whole class laugh about my weird ways of putting things across. It was fun to make silly mistakes.

Let our parents rediscover parenthood. It is about bringing up balanced children and enjoying their companionship. Parenthood is about sharing with our children our past and future. As it is, Singapore parents are financiers and administrators of work, and transport providers from tuition to class to sports to home. Most parents don’t know what to do with their children if there’s no tuition.

[Chenonceau]

2ppaamm:

I don't think we should abolish exams and test. But I think the tests in the school should suffice in giving the sec schools a good gauge of students' ability. Instead of using PSLE as the ultimate benchmark, just use the prelims results. As long as we have 30 students in any school, that benchmark can be considered fair and normed.


I used to not understand and to some extent chide parents who send their kids for tuition. I used to be saddened by how the children's childhood were robbed by parents. You can imagine how many parents start to throw spades at me?! And now I see it slightly differently. Yes, some kids do need tuition to survive this system, and it is so sad.

In Singapore, we have this phenomenon. Once a new national examination is introduced, a whole industry will boom. There will be tuition centres, enrichment classes, power motivational talks etc, all out to woo kiasu parents' deep pockets. If we remove an exam like PSLE, I can imagine how this industry should be hurt. Guess what? Absorb them back to the schools. Get these great teachers to teach our children again, what they should have done from the start.

As to how to tell a child's potential from another, use external IQ-like tests with no limit like HAST, where there is no chance of preparing. These do not test knowledge, but propensity. For the top students (e.g. top 10% or 25%), such tests can be used to discriminate talent in different areas such as Math, Science, Arts, Writing, speech etc.

I look forward to school being an enjoyable place, a place to mix and ask your friends about what they did with their parents over the weekend, what movies they watched, or how many fish they caught. A place to form lasting friendships that are crucial to last through a lifetime of ups and downs, not a place for comparing results. A place you can use composition classes to write about your dreams, your fears, and your hopes, rather than worry about using the best vocabularies. I enjoyed my Chinese and English compo classes the most. I enjoyed coining up the strangest phrases and have the whole class laugh about my weird ways of putting things across. It was fun to make silly mistakes.

Let our parents rediscover parenthood. It is about bringing up balanced children and enjoying their companionship. Parenthood is about sharing with our children our past and future. As it is, Singapore parents are financiers and administrators of work, and transport providers from tuition to class to sports to home. Most parents don't know what to do with their children if there's no tuition.

:goodpost:

[janet88]

2ppaamm:

I used to not understand and to some extent chide parents who send their kids for tuition. I used to be saddened by how the children's childhood were robbed by parents. You can imagine how many parents start to throw spades at me?! And now I see it slightly differently. Yes, some kids do need tuition to survive this system, and it is so sad.


In Singapore, we have this phenomenon. Once a new national examination is introduced, a whole industry will boom. There will be tuition centres, enrichment classes, power motivational talks etc, all out to woo kiasu parents' deep pockets. If we remove an exam like PSLE, I can imagine how this industry should be hurt. Guess what? Absorb them back to the schools. Get these great teachers to teach our children again, what they should have done from the start.

Hi 2ppaamm,
I enjoy reading your posts. They are very true and close to heart.
I feel that if these tutors are teaching in schools...the children will benefit as a class...parents do not have to spend hard-earned money tutors and enrichment centres. Don't we want our kids to learn in schools ? That's the purpose of sending them there right ?

MOE needs to entice more people to teach in schools, offer attractive benefits for them to stay as teachers so that our children will benefit.