Competition among primary schools

[tamarind]

jedamum:

cloudy:

Hi Parents,

It sadden me when I see that today children lost their \"innocent\".
They are buried under tonnes of homework and attend so many tuitions & enrichment courses.... and they put the blame on their parents for being KS.
Every child only goes through one childhood and I will want mine to have memorable one that they can share with their offsprings.

Why are you sad that today's children lost their 'innocence'? As long as you let your kids enjoy their childhood and not be pressured to join the ranks of KS parents who buried their kids under tonnes of homework, why you feel sad for them?

The tonnes of homework, and the many tuition/enrichment classes are added on by the parents on the child. The parents have a choice. Whether the children enjoy their childhood or not, depends on the parents.

Many kids from neighbourhood primary school/secondary school go on to enter university and get their degrees. I do not believe that you need very difficult papers just to be able to get a university degree. Many average students manage to get into local universities. It is just that they may not get into the course that they want. But they can still earn a comfortable living. They may not be able to drive car or live in a bungalow, but living in HDB and take MRT is not too bad either.

I was from the top girl's secondary school. However, I did not do well in university. I am living in HDB and taking MRT now. But I am not blaming anyone.

So being in the top school does not guarantee anything.

[deardear07]

raysusan:

BlueBells:

[quote=\"raysusan\"]lol hi BlueBells

i am curious to know which is the school uniform that u like so much :oops:

Hi RaySusan,

It's a certain primary school founded by HKHK in teh northeast corner of Singapore.

beats me
i am only familiar with Pschool in north and central area :oops:[/quote]itz n** c****...bt is it banned to post the names?

bluebells, nice meh?

[cloudy]

BlueBells:

raysusan:

lol hi BlueBells

i am curious to know which is the school uniform that u like so much :oops:

Hi RaySusan,

It's a certain primary school founded by HKHK in teh northeast corner of Singapore.

That is the \"hot\" school with fierce competition for P1 registration this year, right ? Well, they do hv nice uniform

[jedamum]

deardear07:

itz n** c****...bt is it banned to post the names?

bluebells, nice meh?

i don't think the forum bans discussion on http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=95.

[corneyAmber]

deardear07:

itz n** c****...bt is it banned to post the names?

bluebells, nice meh?

not banned but probably bluebells not wanting to be specific which school with her own reasons of course.

[corneyAmber]

tamarind:

The tonnes of homework, and the many tuition/enrichment classes are added on by the parents on the child. The parents have a choice. Whether the children enjoy their childhood or not, depends on the parents.

I would like to think parents have a choice too. but I have heard the flipside of story whereby some schools set so difficult exams that average passing mark for cohort is below 50 marks. This happened in both \"good\" schools and neighbourhood schools at both lower and upper primary level... so as parents, do you have a choice of your kid does not even make the passing mark? It is easy and convenient to point everything to the parents KS syndrome....but think and probe harder.. are we victims too?

tamarind:

So being in the top school does not guarantee anything.

This, I agree completely. At the end of the day, the most impt ingredient is the child and how well your child adapts. A top primary school attracts the parents but the ingredients of the child is impt. The top sec school takes in similiar ingredients kids but kids have to be consistent in order to excel.. No one can guarantee anything.

[cloudy]

I do agree that KS syndrome in parents are driven by "external forces".

With these changes and advancement in p-sch syllabus, what I’ve learnt many years ago may not be suitable for teaching now.

[tamarind]

It is true that schools set more and more difficult papers. But is it true that PSLE gets more and more difficult every year ? Parents do complain about 1 or 2 very difficult question in the PSLE paper, but does it mean that more than half of the students fail at PSLE ? I have certainly not heard of any year where half the students fail at PSLE. The difficult questions in PSLE is to distinguish the cream of the crop only. Parents are complaining because their kids cannot get full marks, not because their kids fail at PSLE.


School exams and PSLE are 2 different things. Schools set difficult papers so that they can drive parents to get tuition teachers for even the very good students, so that they have a chance to produce the top students and appear in the newspaper .

If we see that our kids are studying consistently, then there is no need to care what kind of papers the school sets.

I do not agree that Kiasu parents are driven by external forces. Kiasu parents are driven by their own desire to outshine other parents.

We must remember that not all children are born to be good at studying. Some children simply cannot make it. But that does not mean that they will be a failure in life. They may be extremely talented in something other than studying.

My girl said she wants to be an artist, or a fashion designer. My boy has a lovely voice and sings beautifully. My greatest wish is for them to do something they love and which they are good at, when they grow up.

[BlueBells]

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder mah .... :lol: I thought it was one of the cuter and nicer uniforms around the area, but the pleats are driving me nuts though ...

[corneyAmber]

tamarind:

It is true that schools set more and more difficult papers. But is it true that PSLE gets more and more difficult every year ? Parents do complain about 1 or 2 very difficult question in the PSLE paper, but does it mean that more than half of the students fail at PSLE ? I have certainly not heard of any year where half the students fail at PSLE. The difficult questions in PSLE is to distinguish the cream of the crop only. Parents are complaining because their kids cannot get full marks, not because their kids fail at PSLE..

You are right abt PSLE results but if the students in those schools cannot even be motivated by the poor scores in school, do you think the journey to PSLE is possible without doing anything? So I think these schools need to review their objective and stop being selfish in realising their own goals at the expense of the kids.

I do agree that there is a % of parents aiming for full marks. For this group, I hv no empathy if they drive their kids nuts and hv to see a shrink and I am inclined to think that this group shud not be more than 25% of population...otherwise there will not be enough sane kids to reach adulthood. LOL... Also for parents who has not tasted sweet success academically themselves, pls go easy on yr kids. I think it is ok to wish better for the kids but trying to get own kids to do what one cannot achieve in their own school life especially when there are signs of struggle...i think it's a pathetic dream.

tamarind:

School exams and PSLE are 2 different things. Schools set difficult papers so that they can drive parents to get tuition teachers for even the very good students, so that they have a chance to produce the top students and appear in the newspaper ...

Again a pathetic dream by schools but u hit the right chord.. maybe there is a conspiracy theory here??

tamarind:

If we see that our kids are studying consistently, then there is no need to care what kind of papers the school sets.
...

Cannot ignore cos ultimately these students are graded by the school they are in and how to know if study is consistent?? An alternative is they transfer to a school with different aim.

tamarind:

I do not agree that Kiasu parents are driven by external forces. Kiasu parents are driven by their own desire to outshine other parents.
...

I believe there are a few types of KS parents. The push-KS(reactive ks) and pull-KS(proactive ks) broadly speaking. Push are those driven by external forces.. Pull are those naturally set to be KS by internal pull/personality or character. Hence the complication of this KS issue....cos everyone just lumps everything into KS and make KS a taboo.

tamarind:

We must remember that not all children are born to be good at studying. Some children simply cannot make it. But that does not mean that they will be a failure in life. They may be extremely talented in something other than studying.

My girl said she wants to be an artist, or a fashion designer. My boy has a lovely voice and sings beautifully. My greatest wish is for them to do something they love and which they are good at, when they grow up.

So happy for your kids that they have you as their parent. Some parents end up super KS becos they think no other alternative other than studying to achieve success or not willing to accept alternatives deemed as less attractive. But ultimately who needs to be happy? the kid or the parent??