DSA Appeal 2011
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went to RI today,they rejected all DSAappeals due to MOE
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verykiasu2010:
Vks2010, sorry to say this, but your speculation a little too one-sided and skewed. If it is only HCI stopping the transfer, why are the other schs like NUS High, VS, DHS, ACSI etc. not allowing transfer to RI / HCI then? What about the gals' schs - no DSA CO appeal as well? Cannot be 1 HCI stop the whole DSA CO appeal process right?just my speculation
HCI is using MOE to be the reason. nothing wrong, and is very convenient. the real reason could be HCI this year refuses to release. that is all. and they did inform the students early early \"no transfer allowed\" way in advance
and MOE website as well as the exercise option form did not say cannot appeal cannot change cannot transfer
every one knows the transfer is an agreement between the schools concerned, then submit name list to MOE, not the other way round
nobody knows why HCI refuses to release, but the reason is probably need not be said
if you were the HCI principal, you would be very sore at the post-PSLE DSA transfer out every year too.........and it surely has to come to a stop....and too bad for those parents/students caught this year -- no transfer
but HCI forgets something they said last year : no point keeping students who don't want to stay, no point forcing them to stay
to move on, HCI should work on why people want to transfer out even after the DSA CO ?
I personally think this is a case of MOE stepping in to stop the whole DSA CO appeal process, after seeing the amount of admin work increasing yearly from the multiple DSA applications to DSA offers to DSA appeals. Much as I sympathised with the parents and kids who are affected by this, I also feel this is a long called-for measure given the worsening of the DSA situation, and making a mockery of the DSA system.
DSA is for recognition of talents and acceptance of these talents who will contribute to the school. It is not meant to be a safety net, in case your kid does not perform well in PSLE. As more parents and kids use this as a safety net, there is thus a need to stop this practice and ensure DSA serves its due purpose. -
Chenonceau:
On the MOE website for DSA, it does say that the \"parents\" will *indicate* and \"parents\" will *submit* for their child ....
Basically, the scholarship board will assume that children absorb their parents values... and in the absence of any other information, this DSA CO info will just have to do as a proxy for what the child MIGHT do in the future.
http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/dsa-sec/flowchart/ -
I think it is more of fulfiling a child’s dream than a safety net. To most parents, both schools are equally good, the only difference maybe is just the distance. However to the child be it because of peer pressure or some other reasons, he has his own dream school. Now he only has CO for his second choice, not that he thinks it is a lousy school but still it is not his dream school. It is not an easy decision to make, to accept or reject. Can’t the CO comes with terms and conditions? Maybe DSA transfer can only be considered if the child scores say 5 points or even higher than the COP of the school in that year. In this case, decision making becomes easier for the parents and the child. They also did not commit any sin because the CO allows transfer but the child has to work much harder as the COP has been raised.
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I'm disinclined to believe that all this ruckus was because HCI wouldn't release students. There are pressing national reasons to close this loophole. There could also be personal gains for those who did not get into their dream school.
NATIONAL LONG TERM INTEREST
(1) The Ministry promised that there would be more \"good schools\". We all know that school results (in academics and CCA) result from the quality of intake. Like it or not, RI is seen as the best of the best. Everybody who can get into RI, wants RI. Not surprising then that RI produced 50% of 2010's batch of scholars. HCI produced 25%... and all other JCs produced 25%. This kind of pattern has made many parents cry foul in the past. It seems that the scholarship process was biased towards RI... when actually part of the reason is that RI simply is able to attract top talent year on year (aka PSLE t-scores... aka DSA talent).
The promise to have more good schools can be best seen when future statistics show that scholarships are more evenly distributed across the different JCs. In the past, there have been cases where such scholars were found in a non-RI and non-HCI JC. My friend's DD (from a non top JC) went to Stanford on a prestigious scholarship. However, such cases were rare because the raw potential all ended up in RI. RI got the best of the DSA. RI got the best of the t-scores.
Going forwards therefore, closing this loophole ensures a more even distribution of top talent across schools. In time to come, non RI nor HCI scholars should be more prevalent, and then parents would start to believe that Singapore has more than one top tier school.
(2) One of the largest lacunae in the education of our best and brightest is their lack of exposure to less talented people. Top t-scores hang out with top t-scores. Friendships you make in school last you all your life. It is not a bad thing to distribute our highest t-scores better amongst the schools so that every one of them can build social bridges with those less talented than themselves. From these interactions, they learn patience and humility. You can't practise leadership when interacting with other leaders. You practise leadership by interacting with followers. Some of these followers will follow you for the rest of your life. The boss of KC Dat built his company upon the friendships he forged with the Malay kampong boys he grew up with. The experience of NOT always hanging out with the best t-scores will mean that our best and brightest will really learn the qualities future leaders need to have.
Someone commented that ACSI old boys can still pick up the phone to call classmates. This could be because for a long time, ACS made it a point to educate all boys and not just the best. As such, ACS alumni grew up accepting differences in strengths and weaknesses and knowing they needed to look out for each other, instead of compete. I'm just surmising from someone else's comment. I dunno much about ACS.
PERSONAL INTEREST
The experience of really top talent in a non-top school is that Teachers and Principals bend over backwards for you to make sure you get the opportunities to pip students from RI and HCI. Such individualized coaching and attention will be hard to get when you're part of the masses in RI/HCI. One criticism I heard of a certain top school is that unless you're at the top, you pretty much just exist whilst others get to do fun stuff.
It MIGHT be a good thing to be in a 2nd choice school with access to the same opportunities but more attention from the Teachers and Principals who see in you the hope for glory. Surely, your 2nd choice school isn't a bad school?
NOT A PAROCHIAL REASON
I seriously doubt that MOE will step in so strongly JUST BECAUSE HCI refused to budge. -
Pen88n:
Fully agree with you. I don't think it has anything to do with any school (HCI or otherwise) causing this. Not everyone sees RI has the dream school. My son scored high enough to qualify for RI but we chose HCI although RI is just nearby from our home. In fact before this year we thought it would have been good if he can go RI. We just feel more comfortable with HCI after attending their open houses.
Vks2010, sorry to say this, but your speculation a little too one-sided and skewed. If it is only HCI stopping the transfer, why are the other schs like NUS High, VS, DHS, ACSI etc. not allowing transfer to RI / HCI then? What about the gals' schs - no DSA CO appeal as well? Cannot be 1 HCI stop the whole DSA CO appeal process right?
I personally think this is a case of MOE stepping in to stop the whole DSA CO appeal process, after seeing the amount of admin work increasing yearly from the multiple DSA applications to DSA offers to DSA appeals. Much as I sympathised with the parents and kids who are affected by this, I also feel this is a long called-for measure given the worsening of the DSA situation, and making a mockery of the DSA system.
DSA is for recognition of talents and acceptance of these talents who will contribute to the school. It is not meant to be a safety net, in case your kid does not perform well in PSLE. As more parents and kids use this as a safety net, there is thus a need to stop this practice and ensure DSA serves its due purpose.
Ultimately, I think stopping the DSA appeal process is fair to students who didn't participate in DSA. If DSA appeals are allowed, just think about those abandoned CO cases resulting in vacancies in schools - those who went through *only* S1 posting will be denied a place. And if they didn't try to appeal they would not have been able to fill the vacancy vacated after the S1 posting exercise. -
Chenonceau:
:rahrah: I fully agree with this! One of my boys would too!
It MIGHT be a good thing to be in a 2nd choice school with access to the same opportunities but more attention from the Teachers and Principals who see in you the hope for glory. -
Hi everyone,
I'm a new user
I know RI and HCI are really popular choices, but there are many other good schools around too, maybe just not too focussed on publicising their good work.
I live in the East. And if you're hunting for a good Chinese Orchestra for your daughter to join, I can suggest Dunman High (6-year IP) and Temasek JC (they are currently offering 4-year IP and will start their 6-year IP in 2013). Both schools have done consistently well in the SYF competitions.
If I remember correctly, TJC on their main page, did state that about 4 or 5 of their students were top winners in the National Arts Council's National Chinese Music Competition last year? That is quite remarkable!
Both DHS and TJC also offer the Music Elective Programme. So, I guess, they are good schools to develop your child's music potential.
Hope this helps -
phankao:
I know a school Principal whose DS could make the RI cut off. He went instead to a no name JC who gave him SO MANY opportunities to shine that he went on to get an EDB scholarship and is now in Harvard. I was shocked at her unconventional decision. The Principal explained that her son might get lost in RI amongst all the smarties as smart as him or smarter... and she made a decision to put him in No Name JC instead.
:rahrah: I fully agree with this! One of my boys would too!Chenonceau:
It MIGHT be a good thing to be in a 2nd choice school with access to the same opportunities but more attention from the Teachers and Principals who see in you the hope for glory.
This was the decision of someone who knows the system from inside.
A place in Harvard is almost impossible to get. Only TWO Singaporeans every year get picked. So hey... RI is not the end of the road... and it isn't even the best means to get to the end of the road depending on where your end happens to be. Harvard doesn't give 2 hoots that you're from RI. They get valedictorians from top US institutions applying. They dunno the various rankings of our JCs, and they dun care. They wanna see what your child has done. For that, your child needs the opportunities that they're more likely to get when they stand out amongst the crowd. -
Chenonceau:
Fully agree. Most parents would agree with the above but not many children will have the wisdom and maturity to understand this or they understand but they still think that friends are more important.
PERSONAL INTEREST
The experience of really top talent in a non-top school is that Teachers and Principals bend over backwards for you to make sure you get the opportunities to pip students from RI and HCI. Such individualized coaching and attention will be hard to get when you're part of the masses in RI/HCI. One criticism I heard of a certain top school is that unless you're at the top, you pretty much just exist whilst others get to do fun stuff.
It MIGHT be a good thing to be in a 2nd choice school with access to the same opportunities but more attention from the Teachers and Principals who see in you the hope for glory. Surely, your 2nd choice school isn't a bad school?
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