Petition to Review the Singapore Education System
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I hope MOE, or should I say Education Minister, works on this issue asap.
The present system sure needs fine-tuning. Primary school education is giving we parents jitters.
Parents have to be involved with children’s education NOW. Quite a large sum of money has to be spent on tuition or else they will fail. Tuition now is a necessity. -
Yes, I also hope that the Primary School education system will be reviewed.
Our kids in Singapore are packed with so much to learn that they are being thrown more information than they can disgest. They have no time to play and simply be children like what they should be.
Why is it that kids from some developed foreign countries don't have to study as hard but still catches up with us along the way? At the end of the day, their kids reach the same finishing line with ours....except theirs got to enjoy and learn how to be kids. Our were forced to grow up beyond their years.
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fifiyeo:
This crap about holistic education is not practiced here. Childhood happens only once in a lifetime...our kids are deprived because we can't and dare not afford to let them enjoy it. What is the system encouraging ? More kids visiting IMH or jumping off the block of flats ?Yes, I also hope that the Primary School education system will be reviewed.
Our kids in Singapore are packed with so much to learn that they are being thrown more information than they can disgest. They have no time to play and simply be children like what they should be. -
:congrats: Chenonceau!!
Hope all your (and the supporters here) efforts will pay off!
:thankyou: -
janet_lee88:
I think the problem lies with assessment. It's so stressful becos at every level of primary school, the assessments are about finding the cream of the crop, so much so that I believe we are reducing our potential talents instead. I think having the GEP is good enough, the focus in primary school should be about ensuring kids acquiring the skills, competency and knowledge base to deal with the work in secondary school. Most importantly to cultivate the passion for learning and motivation to excel (in positive manner).
This crap about holistic education is not practiced here. Childhood happens only once in a lifetime...our kids are deprived because we can't and dare not afford to let them enjoy it. What is the system encouraging ? More kids visiting IMH or jumping off the block of flats ?fifiyeo:
Yes, I also hope that the Primary School education system will be reviewed.
Our kids in Singapore are packed with so much to learn that they are being thrown more information than they can disgest. They have no time to play and simply be children like what they should be.
Parents are stressed out becos afraid if kid get \"cut from the team\" at any level of primary school, the kid will lose out and unable to catch up. This is because once the kid is \"cut from the team\" the system does not help the kid to rejoin. Our system is too competitive to be nurturing at the primary school level. I do not think we will lose out if the system allows the competitive nature to be delayed till sec or JC level -
janet_lee88:
I hope MOE, or should I say Education Minister, works on this issue asap.
The present system sure needs fine-tuning. Primary school education is giving we parents jitters.
Parents have to be involved with children's education NOW. Quite a large sum of money has to be spent on tuition or else they will fail. Tuition now is a necessity.
That's why we as parents must be prepared to accept whatever the results as long as our kids continue to learn and progress. You have a valid point but here in this forum i found so many forumers eager to send their kids to top schools in particular thru dsa. Very little information about parents struggling with challenges in helping their kids to enter neighbourhood schools-express stream. I prefer to see results of ordinary kids overcoming challenges to qualify for good schools or making progress from normal academic to express. Also would like to hear success stories of ITE students making it to poly and the latter to local unis. Just too much of these gep queries and RI/RGSHCI/NGHS those kind of stuff. Need some balance mah! -
Chenonceau:
Ummmmm... dunno got really paid off or not leh... must wait and see. Hope that it's not just a nice lunch and then nothing... Much prefer to have no lunch but see some things improve.SAHM_TAN:
Glad to see that your efforts has paid off. Also good to know that MOE is also listening and did not treat our comments and concern as noise.
Hopefully by the end of the year, there will some indication of MOE direction.
:thankyou: Chenonceau for your time and great effort!!!If no action taken,please write another letter to them :evil: :rotflmao: -
Edureach:
That's why we as parents must be prepared to accept whatever the results as long as our kids continue to learn and progress. You have a valid point but here in this forum i found so many forumers eager to send their kids to top schools in particular thru dsa.
How come ah? I hardly come across the GEP and DSA queries in this forum. It depends on the threads you read, I think. I am not interested in GEP, and my son is not applying through DSA at all. So I overlook these threads.
This notion that parents are all to blame is not new. For some reason, there are people who think the system is perfect as-is and cannot be changed.
Me... I tend to think that blaming parents' kiasuness won't help. Saying parents are at fault is actually saying that we have no solution except that parents must change. System changes can change parent attitudes and behaviors en masse.
Hypothetically, if all the top people in the PSLE cohort were distributed evenly throughout the nation's secondary schools, the notion of top schools would disappear, and DSA no longer matters. Change ONE mechanism, and parent behavior and attitudes will change.
We need to examine the system and find the one or two mechanisms of high leverage. Study the impact of changing them and then make a wise decision to change. This takes time, but if we all say that parents are to blame then there is no motivation to re-look the system because well... parents are kiasu mah... what to do?
The way the MOE system has evolved, there seems to be no helicopter view on the system. Different silos within MOE propose ideas that get implemented without co-ordination with other systemic features of the MOE infrastructure. There seems a lack of Systems Thinking (à la Peter Senge).
The same thing happened with the immigration issue. One part of the government decided to let more immigrants in but there was no co-ordination with transport and housing. At the end of the day, it is the bureaucrats who tell the politicians what to do, but these bureaucrats can only have a silo view, which means that the parts of the system are optimised whilst the whole system is sub-optimised.
We need politicians who have muscle and guts and the intellect to make sense of the helicopter view of the educational system, and bring all the silos into balance... and optimise system even if it means sub-optimising system components.
However, this potential for change can be scary for those who have their livelihoods in the tuition industry. There will be strong resistance to change from this quarter I think. It is better for tutors to blame parents so that the mindset is that unless parents change, nothing will change. Thus, people will leave the system alone, and tutors livelihoods are not threatened. -
Edureach:
I know my son...not that I'm putting him down. He is not cut out for HCI or RI. If he can make it to ACS or St Andrew's, I would be very happy.
That's why we as parents must be prepared to accept whatever the results as long as our kids continue to learn and progress. You have a valid point but here in this forum i found so many forumers eager to send their kids to top schools in particular thru dsa. Very little information about parents struggling with challenges in helping their kids to enter neighbourhood schools-express stream. I prefer to see results of ordinary kids overcoming challenges to qualify for good schools or making progress from normal academic to express.janet_lee88:
I hope MOE, or should I say Education Minister, works on this issue asap.
The present system sure needs fine-tuning. Primary school education is giving we parents jitters.
Forget about DSA...it's not an easy route at all. Boys usually mature at 14 or 15...in the meantime, I'm still nagging at him to be careful and reduce his carelessness. -
Chenonceau
All these while i hve the idea you have two dds, so you have a son, total 3. Good job!
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