Education as an equalising instrument for society

[pixiedust]

Did you all see this in today's ST forum page ?


This also contributes to the high competitiveness at PSLE, hence the blooming tuition industry and why only t-score >260 is considered \"good\".

I am sadden to read that teachers in JC treat the non-IP students differently. Indeed our education system spawns elitism.

From ST Forum 17/12/2011 :
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[3Boys]

You will see that even in this short thread, the seemingly common position ‘there is something wrong with the system’, actually encompasses several incompatible positions.


Bottom line…you can’t please everyone.

I am actually reasonably comfortable with how our system is working, apart from the P-school priority admission system, which DOES stratify socially between the haves and have-nots.

Yes, right now some families with means will have an advantage, but if you look back beyond the last 50 years or so, it has always been the case, and far worse, I would put it to you. Equality in education is a recent concept even in so-called advanced countries, admirable and desirable, but less than easy to realise. Does not mean we should not try, but I don’t believe the answer is to dumb down the system.

Is there a correlation between tuned-in parents and kid’s results? Absolutely, but that’s okay, isn’t it?

[Chenonceau]

You don’t have to dumb down the system. Teach better. No one would complain if the gap between what is tested and not taught, were small. It’s all a matter of degree. The gap between what is tested and not taught is far too large. Instead of acknowledging the problems with

(1) inadequate textbooks
(2) inadequate teaching resources to provide skills practice
… there is PR spin after PR spin about how wonderful the MOE is.

I can recognise none of the initiatives I have recently been reading about.

I was a very staunch government supporter but even I am increasingly turned off (retching) at the national newspapers’ PR efforts about how great our education system is. Every parent who has accompanied a child through PSLE and knows how wide the gap between the tested but not taught is, will be able to see the disjunct between public communication and actual reality.

And the PR spin will backfire.

To say that no system can please everyone is a cop out statement. We have tried to give well-reasoned feedback. We have tried to propose solutions but we have an MOE that believes it is good enough. Instead of doing something about textbooks and online resources (which would REALLY level the playing field) it wastes time on PR spin after PR spin in newspapers and in school fairs set up to "show off" to parents what the MOE can do.

I think it is disgusting.

Widespread education is itself a recent invention. Monarchies were toppled and democracy and communism ushered in as a response to the social inequities of the past. Pointing to equality of opportunity as a recent invention is also no excuse for inequality of opportunity today. Either we accept social inequality and think it is inevitable… and that over time, we will have different social classes such as those in Victorian England, or we believe that we should have a level playing field and work towards that.

[3Boys]

Well, as with all thing of recent vintage, the take time to grow an mature, do they not? And yes, social inequality is inevitable.


I am sanguine not because i think i have any advantage over any one else. In fact, there are far more motivated parents than i. I am sanguine because i don’t think it makes much of a difference in the long run at all. The newspaper clipping speaks of late bloomers. There are plenty of those, and i dont see that the Singapore system disadvantages them all that much.

[3Boys]

When i say that you cannot please everyone, it is a statement of fact. Even the bcest solution will have detractors. I betcha there are plenty of parents satid with status quo who will not countenance fiddling.

[Chenonceau]

3Boys:

Well, as with all thing of recent vintage, the take time to grow an mature, do they not?

Nothing will mature if powers that be insist that they are already mature enough.

[Chenonceau]

3Boys:

When i say that you cannot please everyone, it is a statement of fact. Even the bcest solution will have detractors. I betcha there are plenty of parents satid with status quo who will not countenance fiddling.

I am not sure many parents would object to better textbooks and widely available online resources that are closer to the material tested.

[Chenonceau]

3Boys:

And yes, social inequality is inevitable.

Inevitable it may be but acceptable to the point where we deny disadvantaged children a fair shot at making it, it is not. Cold winters in Michigan are inevitable but that does not mean we do nothing to temper its ill effects on people.

The oft cited PISA shows that we have had, in the past, a good record in educational equitability. More recent data (citing Lee Hsien Loong himself) indicates that children from poorer homes are less able to make it now. The inequality was not worse before. It is worse now.

I would like to be understanding and patient and supportive too. I have been in talks with senior people in MOE. They still think all is peachy and all this thing about inequality of opportunity is inevitable and therefore, nothing can be done. Again I say that it is disgusting that MOE would channel Teacher time to organising school fairs just to show off how great they are... and waste resources in PR publicity every few weeks.

Parents know what MOE can do. All our children go to school, so we know. There is no need to organise fairs to show us what they can do... only for us to discover from our kids that well... it was not effective. There is no need to plaster PR all over the newspapers... PR that parents don't recognise. One wonders if they describing OUR MOE or some other country's.

I say again that such PR efforts convinces no one who has seen their child go through PSLE - rich or poor parent, we know what schools are doing or aren't. And when our experience squares not at all with the PR spins, it is the government who loses credibility.

But I think I shall stop venting forthwith. It's no use writing so much knowing that nothing is gonna change. It did feel good to vent a little though...

[kaka]

Chenonceau:

Our educational system actually stratifies our society. Children get streamed into best better good schools. They make friends with people with similar grades. As they grow up, they hang out with the same people. The social structure settles into strata.

Isnt this \"anti-equalising\"? the root of our society diversity starts as early as primary school. I read that Finland children has the least variance in terms of their knowledge among their cohort compare to other countries, but our system increase the variance by ranking our children into top classes as early as p3.

[tutormum]

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a life time. I believe the same for all children.

My children do not have tuition except some guidance from me. I rather they learn to study on their own than depend on tuition. Yes, it’s irony for a tutor to say this. I used to turn down straight As students. I told the parents to save the money for their children’s higher education and let them study on their own. Instead, most of them were so kiasu and still insisted on tuition cos they were afraid that their grades would slip. Honestly, now I don’t turn down any students cos I find that without tuition, most children nowadays will find it difficult to score straight As. Partly cos of the "tough syllabus" and the dependency on tuition so much so that schools are not teaching as much as they should. There’s always a big gap between what children learnt in schools and what they are supposed to know. I have students who improved their grades at least a notch after tuition with me. No, I’m not a miracle worker, just a tutor who knows how to fill in the gap. I teach them how to study ie. how to learn on their own and show them what they are capable of. Students are pleasantly surprised at what they can achieve. One of my students scored B for Maths for this year PSLE. An achievement bearing in mind that she has been failing Maths for 2 years and only managed to pass it during the prelim. During these 2 years of tuition with me, she learnt not to fear the subject and approach it with confidence. Gradually from hating the subject and refusing to do any assignment, she became one of the top scorers in her class cos the main thing she learnt is how to explore and use the different approaches to solve problem sums.
As I was working and had a maid, I "took it easy" with DS1 and DS2 when they were little. Besides, I wanted them to have a stress-free childhood. They were average students, never in the best class but never fail also. However, for DS3, I became a SAHM for a while before I became a full time tutor. I realised that times have changed. That’s no way that I can let him have a stress-free childhood like his elder brothers. I have to equip him to deal with the ever increasing "standard". So, I did what I knew best - gave him the love of learning and one way is through reading. The only rule that I set down for my own children is to read the S.T. daily. I started reading S.T. when I was in primary 2 - moving from comics to world news. I graduated to Readers’ Digest in sec 1. On top of that, I read lots of Enid Blyton’s story books. Reading is my pleasure. DS3 learnt to read as soon as he learnt to talk. He was able to read Enid Blyton’s story books on his own before entering Pri 1. He read the S.T. when he was in Pri 1 and Readers’ Digest in Pri. 3. He uses the computer extensively - googling for information. He has a stress-free childhood in a way cos he learns at his own pace. He cruised along in primary school. He would have made it to RI if he worked hard but he didn’t. He wasn’t ‘ambitious’ and was happy with his grades. I just tell him that he has to live with his own decision - max his potential or cruise along. When he was in primary school, it did a survey on how many students have tuition esp those from the best class. He’s always proud to declare that he’s doing well with no tuition. Only a few days ago, he told me that he was surprised that his classmates know nothing much beyond textbooks and finds it pathetic. I believe he’ll do better than his peers in life even though they may get better grades in school. My point is, don’t depend totally on the school for our children’s education.