Review Underway of the Educational System

[caroline3sg]

Chenonceau:

caroline3sg:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]
If MOE teaches better and more. Fewer parents will send for tuition. Tuition won't pay so well then.

Transport Minister Lui said state run MRT do not flare as well as private, in response to WP Gerald Giam's call.

Same thing, MOE teachers will never be up on par with tuition centres' teachers. The former are fresh grads & young (many do not have children of their own to know better than parents in terms of children's learning needs) while the latter are experienced academically and know how to motivate students)

Hmmmm... so you mean there is no hope? MOE will always be inferior?

I think they just need to find ways to bring experienced teachers back to the fold.[/quote]To ans your question, yes. MOE is catering to masses. What is their objective? Ensure all have education (primary education is compulsory) and FREE (I am referring to citizens). And what is branded tuition centres' objective? (A/A* results). The disparity is too just great.

Let's not talk about experienced teachers who left due to retirement. Many good teachers left due to different philosophy as we have read that schools / principals chase after awards and teachers have many admin duties.

FYI, when my girl was in P6, she had a good Science teacher who just joined. She complied and gave each of 40 students a manual full of mind mapping of all topics. After seeing them through PSLE, she joined Learning Lab.

[Chenonceau]

caroline3sg:

To ans your question, yes. MOE is catering to masses. What is their objective? Ensure all have education (primary education is compulsory) and FREE (I am referring to citizens). And what is branded tuition centres' objective? (A/A* results). The disparity is too just great.

Let's not talk about experienced teachers who left due to retirement. Many good teachers left due to different philosophy as we have read that schools / principals chase after awards and teachers have many admin duties.

FYI, when my girl was in P6, she had a good Science teacher who just joined. She complied and gave each of 40 students a manual full of mind mapping of all topics. After seeing through them PSLE, she joined Learning Lab.

Actually... many parents who send for tuition now, aren't looking for A. We wanted a Pass. That was my son's case for Chinese.

I agree with you that many Teachers have left for the reasons you stated, but I tend to be somewhat more optimistic than you. MOE refused to admit to a problem before. Now it has... and there is a beginning of a solution.

Also, like I said before, it is a question of degree. There will always be space for tuition, but with every unit of improvement demand for tuition goes down. As demand goes down, prices go down. As prices go down, salaries get squeezed. It really is about economics.

That MOE cannot at all improve, not even one unit, is not a truth written in stone. But well... that's just my opinion.

[caroline3sg]

Chenonceau:

I think they just need to find ways to bring experienced teachers back to the fold. It's a question of economics really. With every one unit of improvement MOE is able to effectuate, the demand for tuition will go down by x units for parents who are price-sensitive.

Bring down that demand enough... with adequate school resources, materials and teaching... price of tuition will drop. Tutoring will be less lucrative. Unless of course we are saying that there is no way for MOE to improve even a bit. Which is kinda unlikely IMHO.

They will improve.

There'll always be parents who will pay for tuition no matter what. But there are plenty others who have better things to do with their money.

When will MOE schools reach the standard of tuition centres like TienHsia, Learning Lab, Perceptum (Mrs Sim & Kelvin from Catholic High), Newton Apple (Mr Cedric Chai, Gene Gan, Ms Lim who were PSLE preparation officers, authors of assessment books and chief invigilator / supervisor for marking)? For those of us who have sent our children there, we know MOE may never attain such standard.

I am not referring to those tuition by CC/RC or some unknown centres. Yes, perhaps these will slowly fade off if MOE improve.

[MdmKS]

caroline3sg:

To ans your question, yes. MOE is catering to masses. What is their objective? Ensure all have education (primary education is compulsory) and FREE (I am referring to citizens). And what is branded tuition centres' objective? (A/A* results). The disparity is too just great.

The branded tuition centers don't warrant you an A or A*.

[Nebbermind]

I believe some of these better teachers who dislike the admin work ended up joining govt-aided or independent schools where work scope could be better defined. Perhaps that's the reason why these schools always managed to do better than others :evil:

[Chenonceau]

caroline3sg:

When will MOE schools reach the standard of tuition centres like TienHsia, Learning Lab, Perceptum (Mrs Sim & Kelvin from Catholic High), Newton Apple (Mr Cedric Chai, Gene Gan, Ms Lim who were PSLE preparation officers, authors of assessment books and chief invigilator / supervisor for marking)? For those of us who have sent our children there, we know MOE may never attain such standard.

I am not referring to those tuition by CC/RC or some unknown centres. Yes, perhaps these will slowly fade off if MOE improve.

Yup!! Agree!! Let's get rid of these first!!

[caroline3sg]

Chenonceau:

Actually... many parents who send for tuition now, aren't looking for A. We wanted a Pass. That was my son's case for Chinese.

I agree with you that many Teachers have left for the reasons you stated, but I tend to be somewhat more optimistic than you. MOE refused to admit to a problem before. Now it has... and there is a beginning of a solution.

Also, like I said before, it is a question of degree. There will always be space for tuition, but with every unit of improvement demand for tuition goes down. As demand goes down, prices go down. As prices go down, salaries get squeezed. It really is about economics.

That MOE cannot at all improve, not even one unit, is not a truth written in stone. But well... that's just my opinion.

If our child is borderline, we want a pass. If our child has attained a B, we want an A. It is at different stages.

For decades, MOE has not changed much if we were to seriously pinpoint details one by one. Example, class size from 40 to 30 (after how many yrs? Back to 40 at P3). Even now, they are into character building. Take how long to implement? They didn't mention about volume of homework. Many topics previously taught at sec level are brought down to primary.

[Chenonceau]

caroline3sg:

Chenonceau:

Actually... many parents who send for tuition now, aren't looking for A. We wanted a Pass. That was my son's case for Chinese.

I agree with you that many Teachers have left for the reasons you stated, but I tend to be somewhat more optimistic than you. MOE refused to admit to a problem before. Now it has... and there is a beginning of a solution.

Also, like I said before, it is a question of degree. There will always be space for tuition, but with every unit of improvement demand for tuition goes down. As demand goes down, prices go down. As prices go down, salaries get squeezed. It really is about economics.

That MOE cannot at all improve, not even one unit, is not a truth written in stone. But well... that's just my opinion.

If our child is borderline, we want a pass. If our child has attained a B, we want an A. It is at different stages.

For decades, MOE has not changed much if we were to seriously pinpoint details one by one. Example, class size from 40 to 30 (after how many yrs? Back to 40 at P3). Even now, they are into character building. Take how long to implement? They didn't mention about volume of homework. Many topics previously taught at sec level are brought down to primary.

I know we're all frustrated. I am/was too. That was why people wrote in and I started a petition. But there is a start. I'm not keen to simply write off the MOE's nascent efforts as completely useless. I have seen many people in organizations (and many organizations) accomplish the impossible.

That the impossible is sometimes within reach was what gave me and my son hope throughout our ordeal with the Chinese language. In days gone past, people didn't think flying was possible. We would NEVER fly as well as the birds. But today, huge planes carrying loads far heavier than any bird can criss-cross the globe... and some fly far longer distances than any bird, without rest.

It's my own character flaw that I'm always hopeful and unable to easily accept that things cannot be done.... never be done... no hope. It also helps that my PhD dissertation was titled \"How do people stay committed to impossible goals and eventually accomplish them?\". I've seen the impossible too many times to easily accept it at face value. If not, for what I learnt there... I could never have helped my son catch up on a 3-year reading level in Chinese in 10 months, whilst being illiterate in Chinese... and having a tutor only for 3 of the 10 months. In 10 months, my son went from Fail to a High B, mostly without tuition (and an unhelpful schoolteacher) and a Mother illiterate in Chinese. We are hopeful for an A soon.

There was also a time when no one thought the Opposition could win a GRC. PAP itself didn't think it possible. But it didn't stop hopeful people from trying.

We can hope. It is unlikely. But we can hope.

But yes... I know and agree that it is very unlikely at present... and MOE hasn't really done anything yet. And we see no results yet. And we are all frustrated and see MOE has a loser. It could well be too that my faith is misplaced... I really dunno, and am not prepared to disagree with you on what is possible or not possible for MOE. So... I suppose you're right then.

[concern2]

Is 有教无类 better, or is 因材施教 better?


The latter seems to be the philosophy adopted in the process of streaming. Seems like what is ideal has its downside because we are dealing with human beings and behavior of the society…

[Oppsgal]

jtoh:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]
CCA is compulsory, but not sports CCA.

Oh dear! I always make my son skip swimming because he already can swim 40 lengths of the pool without stopping and they keep wanting him to get those metallic medals... bronze and silver and gold things. He would like to do competitive swimming but it is not something his school wins at so, no opportunity.

He skips so that he has time play with his chemistry set... and now he is teaching himself to draw. It's just pottering around the house but sometimes kids just wanna have time to do what they wanna do. He's a nerd. I have to enforce mandatory daily jogging because his father is worried about Army Days.

I didn't know CCA was compulsory!!

I think it is compulsory to join a CCA but I suppose you could join one and not show up! :evil:[/quote]Think will not have CCA points then. got detention for not showing up? What if all the CCA, kid don't like, but is forced to join at least one? Waste of time? could better make use of such time to do better on having teacher teach academic subjects? if cannot even cope with school work, why waste the time on un-enjoyable CCA?