Newspaper Article: Sorry, your child is not bright enough

[Busymom]

Pen88n:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"coast\"]With adequate materials available in schools to ALL students, I think it is a right move to a level playing field and enabling social mobility.

Yes!! :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

So get Learning Lab to produce materials and train teachers for all the primary schools in Singapore??? :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I can't believe I said that...... [/quote]But I heard not every student who has attended Learning Lab has done well in school.

Still a case of finding the right enrichment/tuition for your child eventually.

Some who are homeschooled will do better if the mummy is extremely resourceful or capable. We have some in this forum...

[looking4Tutor]

coast:

Personally, I think the magic is the centres' materials (worksheets). Even at P1 level, I have seen an inadequacy of the official textbooks and materials.


With adequate materials available in schools to ALL students, I think it is a right move to a level playing field and enabling social mobility.

Personally, I think KSP provides better help than ds's primary school.

[Busymom]

coast:

Busymom:

Did anyone watch the documentary \"Being a Child\"on CNA recently? I caught one episode late at night recently and it was on what Japanese preschool children go through to get into top elementary schools in Tokyo (there were other episodes on China, Hong Kong and India as well, but was too late, couldn't keep my eyes open).


I was left completely bewildered after watching it and really felt sorry for the kids, and parents - from attending enrichment classes that cost more than $1000 a month (not sure how long is the duration of the class, but have the impression that it isn't a daily class), or doing worksheets for up to 4 hours daily (so that the amount of worksheets done is as high as the height of the child), to going for mock exams and interviews prior to entrance exams of the elementary schools and going shopping for appropriate dressing for both mother and child for the interviews... Many also had to be good in their sports like Karate for boys and gym for girls. One boy had Karate on one day, swimming the next, gym another day, then Kumon on yet another day... What really struck me as crazy was that at one of the enrichment classes that charge more than $1000 a month, good performance would be rewarded with a seat in the first row in class... Also noticed a few of the children yawning while being filmed - a case of lack of sleep??

After watching this, I think we are still quite fortunate in Singapore...

Hi, there is actually an episode on Singapore as well! I did not catch the show from the beginning so not sure what I have missed but here's what I caught:-

(i) an expensive pre-school that charges S$1,300 per month (guess many parents here know about these schools anyway)
(ii) a Kindergarten boy having to attend a few enrichment classes on Sats ... he said Sat is a working day ...
(iii) another Kindergarten boy attending many enrichment classes, including very late at night ... he said he wants to be number zero and that number one is being 2nd

What intrigues me is how the parents in the show think about the Singapore education system.

While I know tuition/ enrichment is really common these days, it still alarms me that some parents would ask their Kindergarten kids to spend so much time on academic classes and worksheets at home for \"P1 preparation\". I hope viewers of the show would not think that is common in Singapore. I suppose this show is presenting a certain segment (enrichment classes?) and not reflecting the whole society in general?

I wasn't aware that was also an episode on Singapore. The Japanese one was the first episode (based on info provided at the time when documentary was shown). You are probably right in that the show reflects only a certain segment of the society in each country, as in how parents prepare their children for primary school, and sometimes to the extremes. However, it is clear that in certain countries such as Japan, children will have to go through entry tests and interviews in order to gain entry into prestigious primary school that are privately run (some offer through train to well-known universities). We don't have this in Singapore and this is what I feel fortunate about.

[Busymom]

coast:

I have a different view on the psychological impact on children who fail the entry tests. Such an entry test should not have a serious impact. If it does, then will the kids be able to handle other setbacks in life (school tests, exams, ... etc)? It is just a test. We should help and guide our kids to grow stronger each day ... to understand that there are many setbacks in life but you just stand up from where you fall and move on ... 失败是成功之母。。 I always tell my DS ... even world No. 1 in his favourite sports does not win every time, be gracious when one loses (try your best but accept the result), move on and focus on the next match

:goodpost:

[Chenonceau]

Oh dear… my son was spending all day trying to amuse himself feeding spaghetti to ants pre-P1. Maybe that’s why he did so badly from P1 to P3!!

[looking4Tutor]

Very soon we will be the world No.1 for such news -

Worry over high student suicide rate in India

EDUCATORS in India are worried over an increasing figure - that of the rising suicide rate among adolescents.

Its main cause? The pressure to do well in school, said a Times of India (TOI) report.

And the pressure is not from teachers but from parents,the report added.

India has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and recent studies suggest about 40 percent are adolescents.

At least 125 people aged 29 years or below are committing suicide every day and 51 per cent of the total suicide victims are graduates, college students or younger.

In several cases, students commit suicide after failing exams, according to local newspaper reports.

In Mumbai alone, 25 students have taken their lives since beginning of the year, leaving parents, teachers and officials struggling to understand the reason behind the deaths.

High marks, college admissions

Mr Mahesh Poddar is one such grieving parent as his daughter, Mini, committed suicide in 2001 when she was 15 years old.

She was distraught about college admissions and had just missed out on getting into the college of her choice.

Union human resource minister Kapil Sibal said that the sudden spike in suicides among students is a result of the growing parental pressures on the child to beat his peers, said TOI.

In many cases, the trigger appears to be academic pressure, said a report in CNN.

India's education system is based on rote learning, or memorisation, with a strong emphasis on scoring high marks.

Authorities are organising counselling sessions, said MrSanjay Kumar, education secretary of Maharashtra state, in which Mumbai is located.

The suicides were a wake-up call for educators, said Mrs Sangeeta Srivastava, principal of Sardar Vallabhai Patel Vidyala, a government school in North Mumbai.

Though none of the recent suicide cases in the city involved students from her school, she is worried.

Recently, a student from her school ran away from home before exams.

She said: \"As teachers, we have a lot of effect on the students, even more than parents have.\"

This article was first published in The New Paper.

[tankee]

Pen88n:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"coast\"]With adequate materials available in schools to ALL students, I think it is a right move to a level playing field and enabling social mobility.

Yes!! :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

So get Learning Lab to produce materials and train teachers for all the primary schools in Singapore??? :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I can't believe I said that...... [/quote]
:idea: train the teachers instead of students?


IMHO, the students that did well are already the better ones in the first place.

[coast]

Pen88n:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"coast\"]With adequate materials available in schools to ALL students, I think it is a right move to a level playing field and enabling social mobility.

Yes!! :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

So get Learning Lab to produce materials and train teachers for all the primary schools in Singapore??? :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

I can't believe I said that...... [/quote]I need to clarify that I have NOT seen Learning Lab's materials. I have read from this forum that they have dedicated resources developing materials and I have friends who told me about their materials. But why do we need Learning Lab? It should not be an issue for MOE to come out with adequate materials.

[LLK]

In my opinion, Learning Lab is an enrichment centre, and not a tuition centre. That is the difference.

[coast]

Busymom:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"coast\"]With adequate materials available in schools to ALL students, I think it is a right move to a level playing field and enabling social mobility.

Yes!! :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

But I heard not every student who has attended Learning Lab has done well in school.

Still a case of finding the right enrichment/tuition for your child eventually.

Some who are homeschooled will do better if the mummy is extremely resourceful or capable. We have some in this forum... [/quote]Yes you are right. Every child is unique. What works for one might not work for another.

But if school doesn't provide good materials while enrichment centres do ... it makes the gap wider