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    Parents, not enrichment centres, are key to result

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    • S Offline
      Strparent
      last edited by

      Kodomosuki:

      There is a saying , it takes two to tango ,but for me , it takes 3 tango..
      School, enrichment, home sweet home.
      :yikes: :yikes: we are seriously going in the wrong :censored: direction :rant:

      3 to tango ? imho, Family, Life ( includes play ), Education - in order of priority

      My kids will not have tuition/enrichment if I can help it, but HCL boh pian, so they have it only in P6. After that, they learn to pace themselves and do the needful.

      Tuition, enrichment as priority ? the problem does not lie with the children....but with the ksp. :slapshead:


      ksi:
      I read marks as competency in a subject, not a direct measurement of smartness, at least that is how I look at my child.
      :salute: :salute: :celebrate:

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      • C Offline
        Chenonceau
        last edited by

        ksi:

        Why does your son peg smartness to 90+ scores in academic subjects? If your son enjoys so many other things in life, scoring 80+ is also a pleasure and he is already considered smart.
        This was what I told him too, at that time. But he accused me of being biased. \"You're my Mom. Of course you think I am smart\". Amongst the kids themselves, there are those the kids themselves refer to as the are \"smart ones\" and the \"not smart ones\". Besides, if you're classed as the \"not smart ones\" by the school, you get popped into the bottom classes where you're taught in such a way that really makes you dumb. The child's world is not just the parent. It is made up of Teachers and other kids, who will all define the child's self-concept.

        I had to sit up and seriously get something done about my son's idea that he was NOT smart, even though I wasn't the one who gave him the idea. I had to start giving him the kind of resources his classmates already were getting from enrichment centres just so that I could prove to him that he wasn't dumber than the next guy. I had only one condition, that it would be HIS effort, not the Tutor's.

        If ya wanna be one of the \"smart ones\"... then ya can't do normal assessment books. These are not at the level of difficulty discernment one needs to be in the 90s. The point is, if my son scores 80+ because that's all he is capable of, then it's one thing. BUT, if he scores 80+ because he was over exposed to easy material and not enough exposed to challenging material then that is another matter.

        It isn't that he is not capable. He just wasn't taught.

        We haven't done a single assessment book for Science and English (in our whole lives). For Math, we ONLY do Ammiel Wan. For Chinese, we haven't touched assessment books either since I took over and his CL has improved in leaps and bounds. At first (in P1 to P3), we had no assessment books because I didn't believe in drilling at lower primary. Now, we have no assessment books because these are often badly written and too easy. Over the weekend, my DS and I went over to Popular to find a book on Circles. He had identified that topic as a weakness. I pulled out about 5 books and DS shook his head each time - too easy... too easy... too easy. In the end, we bought EPH's Book 3 of the Math Olympiad Competition Manual and intend to do only the chapter on Circles. DS said the others were too easy and would be waste of time to do. I dun wanna waste his time. I want him to have time to play.

        Doing normal assessment books won't get you better results. It gets you more of the same middling results. And it takes away precious play time. If every other parent is sending children for Olympiad training, the Olympiad performance requirement will come out in PSLE. For this reason, the last 4 to 6 questions of school exams are set at the Olympiad difficulty levels. It is after all, a normed exam.

        It is tempting to argue that a child with good internal stuff will naturally know how to do the sums. Research says otherwise. Highly performant individuals in every field dun get there through pure internal good stuff alone. They get there through hard practice and pure internal good stuff. Ya think the Math Olympiad participants dun practice?My DS has the talent (yesterday, his school asked if he wanted to take part in a Math Olympiad... EVEN THOUGH I've never sent him for formal training... we're just doing enough to get by the PSLE because we've Chinese to worry about), and thankfully, he has developed judgment on what to practice on because I always tell him that time to play is precious and he should focus his efforts on what is necessary and gives greatest mileage for time spent. For this, the run of the mill assessment books just won't do.

        Where assessment books are concerned... less is more.

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        • L Offline
          limlim
          last edited by

          KSP:


          If anyone had read last Sunday Times would have seen their 1/2 page (on 2nd page) ads. Their School Mission is something like : To nurture leaders for the nation. Very similar to top Sec Sch.
          wah.. I'm really worried as I read this..

          What type of leaders? those who say \"No amount of engineering can prevent it?\", or, \"income gap, is it the responsibility of the govt? I do not think so\", or, \"if no retrenchment, then I worry..\", or, someone who judged few months to be 50years?!!??....... \"I don't know what to say\"..........

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          • L Offline
            limlim
            last edited by

            Or, how about the "experts" who proudly proclaimed that they have found the root cause to the floodings…


            It is due to a sudden, huge increase in rain fall…

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            • K Offline
              KSP
              last edited by

              limlim:
              KSP:



              If anyone had read last Sunday Times would have seen their 1/2 page (on 2nd page) ads. Their School Mission is something like : To nurture leaders for the nation. Very similar to top Sec Sch.

              wah.. I'm really worried as I read this..

              What type of leaders? those who say \"No amount of engineering can prevent it?\", or, \"income gap, is it the responsibility of the govt? I do not think so\", or, \"if no retrenchment, then I worry..\", or, someone who judged few months to be 50years?!!??....... \"I don't know what to say\"..........

              It is Nurturing future leaders. It could be corporate leaders too.

              http://www.thelearninglab.com.sg/

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              • L Offline
                limlim
                last edited by

                KSP:


                It is Nurturing future leaders. It could be corporate leaders too.

                http://www.thelearninglab.com.sg/
                what type of corporations? SMRT? :evil:

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                • C Offline
                  Chenonceau
                  last edited by

                  limlim:
                  KSP:



                  It is Nurturing future leaders. It could be corporate leaders too.

                  http://www.thelearninglab.com.sg/

                  what type of corporations? SMRT? :evil:

                  :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

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                  • K Offline
                    KSP
                    last edited by

                    limlim:
                    KSP:



                    It is Nurturing future leaders. It could be corporate leaders too.

                    http://www.thelearninglab.com.sg/

                    what type of corporations? SMRT? :evil:

                    keppel corp..

                    dun pray pray, i'm the shareholder ok....

                    mediacorp, sembcorp.....

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                    • corneyAmberC Offline
                      corneyAmber
                      last edited by

                      Chenon, the question of practice is a no-brainer. Whatever is learnt needs practice, even the world musicians and mathematicians will tell you that 99% diligence and 1% intelligence. Practice reinforces concepts and develops methodology to solve problems. I do not believe in learning all methodologies, too many to learn and I believe in innovation, if one can solve a problem better why use the so-called heuristics and do it in more steps? A personal experience. Recently I saw an example written by an enrichment teacher to solve a Math question. It was in 9 steps. I did it in 3 steps.


                      I have 2 points to make here:
                      1. Don't always think there is a better heuristics out there to learn. Create your own after cementing the concepts if your idea is to be the top of the top.
                      2. To give the enrichment teacher the benefit of doubt, the method used may be to detail the steps to reinforce concepts. Once become a veteran in Math, then the 3-step method can kick in and this would be something that a child can discover on his/her own.

                      So concepts are important to grasp, heuristics can develop on your own if the concept is strong.

                      Heuristics is currently a big money-spinner for tutors because parents believed strongly in it. A friend whose kids are taught by a GEP Math teacher proudly toot about heuristics learnt but after 2-3 years, the Math results are still so-so. Why? 🤷

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                      • corneyAmberC Offline
                        corneyAmber
                        last edited by

                        Strparent:

                        ksi:

                        I read marks as competency in a subject, not a direct measurement of smartness, at least that is how I look at my child.

                        :salute: :salute: :celebrate:

                        Strparent, I am glad we share the same philosophy. :celebrate:
                        If I say this, some parents who know me better here may take my head and do this: :stupid:
                        but I have to share with you that my child may appear to have competency in the subjects in school but she has not attained my definition of smartness yet which is more holistic...... I am sure you understand what I mean. 😉

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