Why do you have to be like the others?
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tamarind:
The top few students should spend more time developing in other areas which they are interested in, like arts, music, sports, etc. They should also gain a wide range of knowledge, instead of spending all their time doing countless assessment books of the same subject, just so that they can get perfect marks.
My mum was not educated and she wanted to give me and siblings good education. However, she never pressure us to be top in class but she expected us to read widely and gain more knowledge. She saved to buy us a set of encyclopedia and encouraged us to read the newspaper for current affairs. I started earning my own pocket money every holiday since 13 years old and on reflection, I gain alot of experience and was more \"street smart\" than the average teenagers. By the time I graduated and started working in a MNC, I was able to handle human relationship in the office better than most colleagues. I enjoyed healthy relationship with both people of my age and higher level management.
Children nowadays are told to focus on their study and nothing else by parents, teachers and society! Is that healthy? Many lack \"Life Skills\". I fear for the next generation! -
This could also be one reason why so many singaporeans with average-ability kids want to migrate.
it is definitely policy. you hardly find this kind of crazy Primary level grading in developed countries…
i was talking to my wife about it last night… (she’s so stressed for my P5 son)…
she’s a teacher and she can’t figure out quite a number of the solutions to the P5 math this year… i was telling her… someone up there amongst the govt is not paying enough attention to this…
sure, our primary resource is people in this country… but if you develop so many academically proficient citizens with this type of educational system, what will you eventually churn out? you think they’re gonna want to work in Resorts World? -
the athlete who runs for the love of running, but never takes part in competitions, will forever be an average runner, because he/she is not stressed by the prospect of competition and will never be pushed to the limits.
the athlete who may not love running much (but cannot detest it of course), but is stressed by the prospect of competition, may actually accomplish more than the athlete who runs merely for the love of it, because he/she is being forced to the limits of capability and in doing so, actually expands his/her ability.
Of course, the athlete who accomplishes the most, is one who loves running and competition, both at the same time.
But how many of us and our children belong to the last category?
The abolishment of exams is the start to the decline of education. The Scandinavian countries have just started this policy…lets wait another 20 years to see the "fruit" of such a policy. It will inevitably lead to the decline of their education. -
skunk:
skunk, this is very insightful. Thank you! It echoes what our PM said about Singaporeans having to be on our toes all the time, despite the stress it brings, otherwise Singapore may degenerate back to a kampung.the athlete who runs for the love of running, but never takes part in competitions, will forever be an average runner, because he/she is not stressed by the prospect of competition and will never be pushed to the limits.
the athlete who may not love running much (but cannot detest it of course), but is stressed by the prospect of competition, may actually accomplish more than the athlete who runs merely for the love of it, because he/she is being forced to the limits of capability and in doing so, actually expands his/her ability.
Of course, the athlete who accomplishes the most, is one who loves running and competition, both at the same time.
But how many of us and our children belong to the last category?
The abolishment of exams is the start to the decline of education. The Scandinavian countries have just started this policy...lets wait another 20 years to see the \"fruit\" of such a policy. It will inevitably lead to the decline of their education.
But I would like to put forth another argument. We ourselves are the products of an educational system that has produced a few generations of hardworking and process-oriented worker bees, unparalleled in delivering high-quality products and services, but generally lacking in business agility due to the rigid system we went through. Will the changes we make to our educational system address the issue of us lacking in entrepreneurial creativity? Or are they intended to create more efficient worker bees? -
Fluffy:
Fluffy, you have a wonderful mum ! I fully agree with her way of doing and she was doing the right way to educate and nuture her children. :celebrate:My mum was not educated and she wanted to give me and siblings good education. However, she never pressure us to be top in class but she expected us to read widely and gain more knowledge. She saved to buy us a set of encyclopedia and encouraged us to read the newspaper for current affairs. I started earning my own pocket money every holiday since 13 years old and on reflection, I gain alot of experience and was more \"street smart\" than the average teenagers. By the time I graduated and started working in a MNC, I was able to handle human relationship in the office better than most colleagues. I enjoyed healthy relationship with both people of my age and higher level management.
Children nowadays are told to focus on their study and nothing else by parents, teachers and society! Is that healthy? Many lack \"Life Skills\". I fear for the next generation! -
I have never been a strong supporter of the Singapore Education system. However, in recent years, I do feel that they are making an effort for an all-rounder education as well as developing their talents, hence the setting up of sports school, School of science and technology etc…
It’s a little unfair to comment that they are focusing only on academic since DSA was set up to recognise students who are gifted in a particular area and to be placed in a school that can nurture the talent. The minimum requirement is a grade that will allow them to enter the minimum stream in the school. i.e. if the school only has express streams and the cutoff point may be 240 but as long as the student attains a minimum point to get into express stream for that yr e.g. 210 and has gain DSA into the school, the school will accept the student.
Some may argue that if the student scored 210 and joins a 240 cohort, he may not be able to cope with the work. But look at US, even if a student gets a football scholarship, he is expected to at least pass all his subjects otherwise he would be in danger of losing his scholarship.
As for special needs students, there are a number of schools that have been set up for children with special needs. For example, Anderson Pri has help for dyslexic students, Pathlight was set up for autistic students,etc.
Having said that, I do agree on certain points though, which is ranking of students. I know that some schools rank the students by their results and the students with the overall results are streamed into the "best" class whereas the poorest ones are all streamed into the "last" class. Young children can be cruel at times as they have not learned the finer art of tact and thus, this kind of streaming is only going to hurt the self-esteem of the so-called "poorer" students and this may cast a shadow on them. Having a good mix of good and poor students can actually benefit the children more on character building in terms of understanding that everyone’s abilities are different and not creating an "elitist" mindset in them.
Tests, exams and grades are nonetheless important still as it helps the educators to identify if a student understands a subject thoroughly. Therefore, it is still beneficial for students to have mini tests on topics and a final exam to see if they can identify the topic and apply the knowledge accurately.
Looking at MOE’s framework and the direction that they are moving in, it is an encouraging sign. However, educators themselves i.e. principals and teachers, must identify with the principles and ideology before we can move on to an all-rounder education. This is because if the schools do not subscribe to an all-rounder education and focuses only on pushing students to attain higher academic results to polish up their own report card at the end of every PSLE year, students will still be subjected to the stress academically.
But then again, why are schools results-oriented? That is because, we as parents, are results-oriented as well. It has always been human nature to compare yourself with others, therefore, knowingly or unknowingly, we may have compared the children academically as this is the most common yardstick to measure our children by. When we choose a school, do we choose one that is nearest or do we choose one that has produced excellent results? If we ourselves cannot stop comparing, then who are we to say that schools should not push children for better results?
To nurture interest in a child cannot be done in a short period of time. When parents don’t see results, they blame the school. Thus, schools can only focus on the only thing that is measurable, which are results. It is a vicious cycle and we as parents have to manage our own expectations as well before real change can take place… -
3greatkids:
I agree it's a good idea to have people of different capabilities learning together, however, the gap in ability cannot be too great, or else it's very difficult for the weaker ones to catch up, and the better ones will not be stretched to their potential....the practical implications are tremendous....i think it's easier said than done....for now it might just be a pipe dream.Young children can be cruel at times as they have not learned the finer art of tact and thus, this kind of streaming is only going to hurt the self-esteem of the so-called \"poorer\" students and this may cast a shadow on them. Having a good mix of good and poor students can actually benefit the children more on character building in terms of understanding that everyone's abilities are different and not creating an \"elitist\" mindset in them.
As for the hurt to self-esteem, and elitist mindset, cruel as it sounds, it's just too bad. Those who are weak, must learn to be strong and disregard cruel comments, those who are strong, must guard against elitism, in case arrogance weakens themselves. This is a problem that children must learn to overcome sooner or later. -
I agree it is unfair to say that the Education here only focuses on the academic. There’s now SOTA, Sports School, etc for kids with talents to pursue their interest at greater depth. Sadly, many parents are too afraid to let their children go to these schools even when they qualify. Most of the time against their kids’ will. Most of the time, they’ll listen to rumours from the grapevine without even thinking about the kids needs and what the school is all about. Kids who are talented in an area wants to be with their kind. It does not mean that they don’t like the academics. It’s just that they want to pursue the activity they like even more than what a mainstream school can offer. These specialised schools are the best places for them as they can take care of their needs in balancing their interest and studies. Besides, 99% of parents misunderstand that going to sports school=becoming a sport person and going to SOTA=becoming a pianist/artist/dancer etc. The kids from these schools eventually have choices to go to polys, JCs and Unis just like any mainstream kids. In fact, they have such a holistic education they are usually welcomed in higher institutions which they wish to go later.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that as parents, we need to be insightful and not just follow people blindly. We listen to our children’s needs and help them to choose and not just choose for them. Let them decide if they want tuition. Let them take some ownership of what’s being done to their lives.
My friend’s relative move to Australia complaining that the education system here is too stressful for his daughter but once migrated. his daughter is attending lots of tuition and enrichment classes there. So, it’s not the country. It’s the culture of the people that makes the system. Once, an IBM educator said the government can spend millions of dollars on technology, education methods to improve the the system but one thing that it will have a lot of difficulty changing is the culture, ‘kiasu, kiasi’, cannot let go. ‘FEAR’ is a 4-letter word. To overcome this, we need another 4-letter word ‘LOVE’. Let whatever we decide for our kids be based on love and not our fear of the future because the future is certainly uncertain.
Ranking is good or bad depending on which side the kid is in. If the kid is bright, ranking is good as he gets a challenging environment. If he’s weak academically, then it’s bad. For teachers as well as the bright kids, being in a homogenous class is great for learning and teaching. At the end of the day, the conclusion is that the top is always better taken care of. Having a mix-ability class will make the bright ones elitist as they are always the top in class.
I agree that mini-tests are much better than exams. More time should be spend on exploring the subjects in relation to real life problems than just doing worksheets and assessment books. -
The education system has come a long way and has moderated itself to extend to a wider group of learners. Certainly it can still improve but I am at least now content to say that the progress is commendable.
As for the academic rat race, it is people who implemented the guidelines, the parents, the children and definitely education service providers that make the race seem somewhat stressful.
Schools vary significantly in their approaches even though they are given the same guidelines from MOE. Why? Because the neighbourhood schools are trying to establish themselves as much as possible as to become a premium school while the established ones try to differentiate themselves in different ways. In doing so, I personally find the neighbourhood schools more goal-getting in terms of academic drive…hence the school pushes harder in this case.
For the established or elite schools, the parents push harder than the school as their ambitions, expectations and aspirations are higher considering that they would take the trouble to send the children to elite schools. So the stress is mainly generated by the parents.
As for the children, the competitiveness is instilled in them since young depending on parents and type of preschool education, So when such children go to school, they also push themselves harder.
Service providers providing all the brain enhancement services are definitely guilty of pushing the stress level to a higher level. Most people who invested will try to see their return of investment as such investments are typically hefty. All these outsourcing strain the purse-strings and increases the stress level.
Regarding the streaming of children to the same ability, I too feel that it is necessary for effective learning. Easier for the teacher and children. I thought MOE has solved this issue when they abolish the EM3 streaming system? Children who are strong in a certain core subject will gather in a virtual class to study together while still remaining together in a fixed class of mixed ability children for non-core subjects. So in effect they can potentially have 4 different sets of classmates. Some schools have now done away with P3 streaming for top classes by practising this model. Having said this, as long as there is some form of streaming, parents will "cheong" to ensure that their kids are in the "best" class so the problem of stress will never go away whether they take away the best class streaming or not. Stress can only go away if we recognise the level of the kid’s ability and be contented that the child is learning and progressive.
It is also true that MOE has taken some higher levels curriculum like sec 1 syllabus down to P6, P6 down to P5…etc… However, this is also driven by the fact that parents are making the children smarter and smarter these days by attending all the preschool programmes at an early age and driving advance learning senselessly. MOE has to catch up with times too if so many "smart" kids are being churned out by the service providers and affluent parents these days. In some cases, for the super smart, hot-housed or naturally so, MOE has to resort to setting very tough questions to sieve them out.
The vicious cycle is in fact contributed by a group of super ks parents and some genuine parents with gifted kids. However, the majority is suffering if you want to compete at that level. If however, we are contented at our own level, i.e. competing with ourselves, the stress can be diminished because you know how to push yourself to your next level but it is much harder to push yourself to someone else’s next level to win them. Take for example DSA, if children qualifies for it, the stress is manageable but if children do not qualify for it, it puts on additional stress to prepare for it. Some parents prepare for it as young as preschool days intentionally.
Stress is contagious…no matter how nonchalant some parents may be…it will catch on them as soon as they realise that the ks ones have pushed things out of proportion and they have to start responding. So can the academic rat race diminish on its own with random mindset changes? No, because a vicious cycle already exists there.
Hence, people are looking to MOE policy help to send a decree to pace people better or invest in a budget to conduct seminars/workshops/true-stories wake-up call to bring parents to more realistic levels for a mass mindset makeover and to regulate the claims made by service providers who play up on the ks mindset of parents.
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