Opinions of the Primary School Registration System
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3Boys:
Yep, it does and should not. But what place is there then for offspring of alumni to gain priority? On what basis does that go on? Which other PUBLIC institution in Singapore grants preferential entry or employment to OFFSPRING of alumni?SAHM_TAN:
[quote=\"3Boys\"]Current Phase 2A system of awarding priority to ALL alumni is plain illogical. It does not occur for secondary school, pre-U or university, so I fail to see how it should apply to Primary school. So far, not a shred of logic put forth that a blanket priority admission for OFFSPRING of alumni is fair or in keeping with the principle of meritocracy.....the only excuse is \"Oh its too hard to select between active vs non-active alumni, so if you are not an alumni, TOUGH!\", when the answer should be, \"We are a meritocratic society, we should level the playing field where possible, and not stack the odds without reason and impede social mobility.\"
But meritocracy has no play in primary school registration. For meritocracy to come into play, kids would have to take admission test. I do not want to see that happen.
Can you imagine the craziness?
I feel to level the playing field, primary school education must ensure that all students acquire the knowledge base, skills and competencies to enable the students to build on to deal with sec education and beyond.
Again, the core issue gets side-stepped. Pet answers? \"Too hard\", \"Difficult to Change\", \"Life is Unfair, so live with it\".
So far, not a single logical support for the policy of BLANKET (as opposed to selective, which I am not against) priority admission in Phase 2A. It is unfair, unprincipled and should be dismantled.[/quote]I interpret P2A as an old boys/old girls approach, as a way to build relationships and parents to share similar experience with their kids.
Each phase, from P1 to P2C, is not fair, it's just a systematic method to register kids for primary education. To be totally fair, all the names should be input into computer and randomly match to a school. :evil: To be considerate to parents with 2 or more kids, they will follow their sibliing, except for single gender school. But it will take away freedom of choice and other issues will arise as well.
I'm not using this phase when I register my DD1 this yr. I disagree with my parents' choice :lol: . The school that I've aimed, the standard is similar to my primary school. I will be in P2B, I PVed. I'm not bothered by P2A becos I do not believe my kids' future will be determined by the primary school. You might ask why I PVed. I'm human and I have preferances when I look at the schools in my area. If I don't succeed in P2B, I wili be disappointed but I will just go with my 2nd choice.
The way I look at it, the system will not be more fair with the removal of P2A. -
zhuangzi:
the reason I asked is becos the policy by the Govt to so call give Singaporean an advantage might not have work in the long run. especially so when this policy will not hurt those who already had 1 kid in the school of choice.
the measure is meant to give Singaporean a slight advantage only when balloting. It is certainly not at the expense of splitting up siblings into different schools. -
The crux is the gap in the pri sch registration sy.
When it comes to a situation where the home-school proximity consideration has to be applied for 2A, the school will be out of reach for phase 2B/C .
It just doesn’t make sense that when the home-school proximity is applied for 2A, it means there will be NO phase 2B/C for the school in question.
And if there is to be phase 2B/C, the home-school proximity will never be applied for 2A.
A catch 22 situation. And herein lies the GAP in the current framework,whereby phase 2A till date effectively is not subjected to the home-school proximity consideration. i.e…blanket policy for phase 2A -
SAHM_TAN:
I agree with SAHM_TAN that the system will not be more fair with the removal of P2A. If you think about it, the current system based on proximity is also not meritocratic or fair. It favours those with the means to live or move within 1 or 2 km of the school. This sometimes involves either forking out money to purchase a place (at a hefty premium for those near to good schools like ACS, CHS, AT, MGS, Nan Hua) or renting an \"appropriate\" address for a year (which some of my friends have done, and succeeded) to qualify for < 1 km during registration.
Each phase, from P1 to P2C, is not fair, it's just a systematic method to register kids for primary education. To be totally fair, all the names should be input into computer and randomly match to a school. :evil: To be considerate to parents with 2 or more kids, they will follow their sibliing, except for single gender school. But it will take away freedom of choice and other issues will arise as well.
The way I look at it, the system will not be more fair with the removal of P2A.
Unless of course, our definition of fairness or meritocracy is that the rich should get preferential access to good schools. -
I wonder hw did we register last time. I rem my mum going to p school and queued and that’s it. How did it evolve to nw?
Really complicated.
Frankly, I think we shd see what’s best for the students. This means giving them enough time to rest and study, thus distance. If parents are rich enough to shift then so be it.
Alumni, pv etc should not be a factor. It is dependent on parents’ background and availability of time. Too unfair to kids who stay just opposite the street but yet not qualified. -
mummy168:
Completely illogical isn't it? And why apply it to primary schools, and not secondary schools, or JC, where arguably we make the firmer friendships and build more meaningful connections?The crux is the gap in the pri sch registration sy.
When it comes to a situation where the home-school proximity consideration has to be applied for 2A, the school will be out of reach for phase 2B/C .
It just doesn't make sense that when the home-school proximity is applied for 2A, it means there will be NO phase 2B/C for the school in question.
And if there is to be phase 2B/C, the home-school proximity will never be applied for 2A.
A catch 22 situation. And herein lies the GAP in the current framework,whereby phase 2A till date effectively is not subjected to the home-school proximity consideration. i.e..blanket policy for phase 2A -
Precisely.Totally illogical. This is a national primary school admission system and there is such a glaring GAP in the system. MOE keeps emphasing that home proximity rule will apply when demand exceeds supply from 2A onwards. But in reality, home proximity rule can never be applied in 2A else there will be NO 2B/C. Too bad for those aspiring to get into the school. Your mummy and daddy didn’t study here, so you never gonna get a chance as school has insufficent vacancies even to cater to offsprings of old boys and girls.
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While each of us have different opinion about registration, isn’t foreigners who are given a few years of catch up time (due to langauge) more debatable or unjust ? afterall primary school major examination is PSLE which peer are compared against peer ?
If foreigner chooses to come to Singapore to study, then they should join the same chort and take up langaguge tution, just like majority of Singaporean. -
janet_lee88:
ha ha I just happened to browse this thread becoz someone referred to this and I was also from swiss cottage primary...the school on the hill and a big forest to scare us in the early 70s...:)bigsnoopy:
I mean those parents whose school has close down should be given another school so that they can have a chance to be under P2A. If they don't want that chance then that's fine. As for me I actually stay quite far away from my once pri school, but I moved closer to the school to solve the travelling issues. Didn't want to take the risk of being in P2C or 2B. Very stress!
Agree !!!
I was prev from Swiss Cottage Primary. A pity it has closed down, or I could register son under Phase 2A...don't have to go through the stress of writing in to be a PV.
If our primary schools are still around, parents could just register their kids under 2A automatically. Problems would be greatly reduced with just PRs (if didn't study here) and new citizens.
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1amber:
ha ha I just happened to browse this thread becoz someone referred to this and I was also from swiss cottage primary...the school on the hill and a big forest to scare us in the early 70s...:)janet_lee88:
[quote=\"bigsnoopy\"]I mean those parents whose school has close down should be given another school so that they can have a chance to be under P2A. If they don't want that chance then that's fine. the risk of being in P2C or 2B.
Agree !!!
I was prev from Swiss Cottage Primary. A pity it has closed down, or I could register son under Phase 2A...don't have to go through the stress of writing in to be a PV. [/quote]I have fond memories of Swiss Cottage Pri...the principal Mr Ratnagopal is a very nice man...don't quite remember the big forest though :scratchhead:
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