Parents, not enrichment centres, are key to result
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psle2011mum:
I met that guy too over another matter. The experience was not as good as yours. In any case, let's hope this guy is better.Hi Chenonceau
I just have a few minutes while waiting for my Minister of Transport to uh... arrange my charriot ride home but I did want to say a few things:
a. I do believe lots of parents share a lot of your views but yes, working parents don't have much time; I pop by off and on but the thread has spun on so quickly... and I take so long to catch up with the reading :(, so I remain silent but I do agree that better resources for all would be a great start;
b. I admire your spunk and energy -- but for myself, when I was faced with DD's PSLE, I had so little time so I just rolled up my sleeves and got the job done - there was so little time for engaging any other party; DD does feel that she was homeschooled and went to school to meet her friends [ and get away from Mummy's homework too of course]
c. I have tried to engage the MOE Curriculum specialists on the issue of better textbooks in 2009 [ long story as to how a group of Mummies got this 'lobang\", but it involved someone knowing the then Minister of Education - not me though - I just tagged along]; I found them really nice people --- they took the time to hear me out, look at all my materials [ this was for Science where I tried to show the inadequacy of the textbooks and also the poor QC for quite a number of school papers] and well, let's just say in 2011, when I had to revisit PSLE, I decided that doing it my way was still the way to go.
So Chenonceau and the many other parents here who pour their heart and soul to level the education playing field, I salute you and commend you for your efforts.
Rest assured that there are \"silent readers\" like me do agree and had we more time, would join in vocally to support you too
Gotta run - ride is here. GB! This really is none of my business. My kids are already out of the school system. But I am deeply troubled by what I hear and what I see.
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insider:
So far, I have yet found anyone with pictures, whatever color their parties wear (white or blue). And I have brought some issues up to the highest guy in Singapore.2ppaamm:
Opportunity to have your views heard at the highest level in education in Singapore. If you want to attend, PM me. It will be great to meet some of you.
If you are meeting those 'all talks no pictures' people and if you can and have the opportunity to bring up, please help me to feedback that it is NECESSARY for those 'elite kids' to mix with 'commoners' else Singapore politics got no future (the problem with PAP is really they are too out of touch with the majority commoners).
Then they may come up with if mixed then difficult to teach leh.
So my proposal is to split during main subject lessons and mix for those soft lessons (music, humanities, PE, etc).
A school cannot have only pure 'elite' kids and they should have mixed abilities kids in different classes to provide a common ground for all to rub shoulders, to learn and play together. Then Philip of 6A who comes in a Jaguar every morning will know about Ah Kow whose father is a hawker of 6Z and how Ah Kow is living his life by helping his dad over the weekends to save some pocket money for a calculator, instead of Philip only knows about the poorest person in his class stays only in a condo and father is driving a Toyota...
PS: This is a very true scenario coz one of my daughter's friends told her these words, \"I didn't know there are poor people in Singapore\" and these are almost the exact words that were shared by a friend who is two years senior to me. This friend's father is a high ranking officer with Ah Gong and she told me, \"Honestly, I really didn't know that there were poor people in Singapore when I was young. I only know when i grow up.\"
But we should never give up, should we?
Our children are our future. When I am old, and I hope to retire in Singapore, I will be in their hands. And, it's gotta be good hands, I hope. Hence, I must not give up. So for my own future, to bring up great future leaders, I will bring up only 5 points. I have 3 of my own already, now add yours.
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insider:
This is actually happening in school. I know the mainstream kids and GEPpers are integrated in exactly the subjects you have mentioned. You think like the Ah Gong leh. However, just to let you know....they are drawn to their own kind somehow. So there is a bigger barrier to break in the mindset.
So my proposal is to split during main subject lessons and mix for those soft lessons (music, humanities, PE, etc). -
HAPPYH:
Our next investment could be starting a tuition/enrichment centres 
Looks like iron rice bowl:)
Yes, why not? Once we managed to convince the parents to sign the kids up, we sing them the tagline \"Parents, not the enrichment centres, are the key to results\". How convenient! :evil:
I know I am being very sceptical just starting out to discover the pre-schooling scene as well as first encounters with enrichment centres etc. I am not liking it much.
I am sure most of you self-sacrificing parents out there will insist that indeed parents, not enrichment centres, are key to results. Actually, you are probably if not most definitely right. Then in this case, I think there is no need to waste money to go to enrichment centres, just DIY ya?
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insider:
Well, cannot give up. Can take a break from it. I have already taken all the kids out of the system because I think it does not make sense for my kids, for the public education does not add to their future. But that does not mean I give up. This is homeland, and we are true blue Singaporeans. Already, we can feel the invasion of a 'third kind' - imported scholars, workers, executives, businessmen etc. If we don't fight for our own children's future, who will?2ppaamm:
Our children are our future. When I am old, and I hope to retire in Singapore, I will be in their hands. And, it's gotta be good hands, I hope. Hence, I must not give up. So for my own future, to bring up great future leaders, I will bring up only 5 points. I have 3 of my own already, now add yours.
for me, I gave up long ago. From a very enthu one til today 'no more air' oredi...
Thanks for trying!!!
PS: Sad to say this, that I see no future for the true blue Singaporeans in their own homeland, esp if we cannot minimise elitism here...
It also does not mean all of us should only worry about our own kids. We need to worry about our future. When we are old, who will chart our directions, who will ensure we are well taken care of. That big money in the place called 'reserve' was partly earned by my father, mother, my husband and me. I want somebody to administer it properly, ethically for me. Unless we raise our kids (yours, mine and that Philip and Ah Kow) properly, our future will be doomed.
I have a buffer to go somewhere else with an alternative residency. Even I am not giving up. Nobody should. -
insider:
Currently these schools in your list have children split into normal class versus GEP(school-based programme different from primary school) class as well. So it's a case of higher achievers and high achievers mixed, like that ok? not 100% higher achievers :?
emmm...I hope to also break up the RI, RGS, HCI, etc... (don't stone me hor...). They should have 50% top students and the other 50% mainstream students instead of 100% higher achievers... -
2ppaamm:
Hope you can make some levers move.. :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:
Our children are our future. When I am old, and I hope to retire in Singapore, I will be in their hands. And, it's gotta be good hands, I hope. Hence, I must not give up. So for my own future, to bring up great future leaders, I will bring up only 5 points. I have 3 of my own already, now add yours. -
insider:
GEPpers not that many and so teachers when want to 'maniplulate' to achieve our 'ulterior motive' have to do it 'intelligently' (minimise the chance for the elites to only hang out together. Not sure how they 'distribute' the GEPpers around now...).
This is actually happening in school. I know the mainstream kids and GEPpers are integrated in exactly the subjects you have mentioned. You think like the Ah Gong leh. However, just to let you know....they are drawn to their own kind somehow. So there is a bigger barrier to break in the mindset.ksi:
[quote=\"insider\"]
So my proposal is to split during main subject lessons and mix for those soft lessons (music, humanities, PE, etc).
emmm...I hope to also break up the RI, RGS, HCI, etc... (don't stone me hor...). They should have 50% top students and the other 50% mainstream students instead of 100% higher achievers...[/quote]From my experience, the GEPers get to mix with the mainstream TOP classes. Unless it is different in another schools from my kids'. Also, why even have GEP? The meaning of GEP has diluted over the last 25 years. The style of education, the philosophy, the thinking has changed completely. The original batch of teachers themselves are disillusioned. Tay Eng Soon's initial aim was to find that ONE or TWO special one among the 500 selected. Now, they are looking to breed 500 top 1%, at the expense of that ONE or TWO.
The top schools. Top students (10%) used to be distributed into a few good schools, now they congregate in one or two elite schools. The environment has changed, the fun, the diversity has changed.
And, don't get me wrong. I am no sour grapes, I had kids in all elite levels. And I was from an elite school. I just don't think this makes good education for my kids. Yes, I do agree some are attracted to their own kind. And, we should let them find those few 知己amid the top 10% or top 25%, and not within 10 or 20 IQ points. (or in Singapore's context tuition affordability or parents' involvement) This is not reflective of the real world. In the real world, it is impossible to find people of the same that close to your thinking, unless you work in the university. But how many will? If every top brain works in the university, we will not have great entrepreneurs, philanthropies, adventurers and doctors.
In the real world, even in an academic one, it is not about your ideas, how well-researched and how smart you are. It is how you work with your peers, the ability to give and take, sell your part of the story, and how you connect with people at different levels, in different countries. Realistically, most people are inferior to GEPers or top 1%. So how do we get our points across to people who cannot understand half of what you are saying? Write them off as stupid? How do you sell your ideas politely without losing yourself? It is not the one who has the best brain that gets his ideas published, but the ones who know how to sell them properly, the ones who know how to connect to the right collaborators/partners. It is the same in the academic and commercial world.
These soft skills should be taught in schools. As it is, many of our elitist kids think too highly of their mental prowess to care about 'selling' their knowledge to the less knowledgeable, often focusing on how 'right' they are rather than how convincing they are. And as if this does not matter, Singapore schools don't bother to inculcate these skills. Sadly, these are so much more important than training a walking lexicon, yet the latter is what brings the educators pride and joy. -
DesertWind:
The best schooled children are the ones with the most dedicated parents. The most fortunate ones. Look at the number of successes we get from children of KSP. This is very similar to homeschooled kids. I have not read all of this thread, but if this has not been mentioned, US data has shown that homeschool kids outstage their public-schooled counterparts.HAPPYH:
Our next investment could be starting a tuition/enrichment centres Looks like iron rice bowl:)
Yes, why not? Once we managed to convince the parents to sign the kids up, we sing them the tagline \"Parents, not the enrichment centres, are the key to results\". How convenient! :evil:
I know I am being very sceptical just starting out to discover the pre-schooling scene as well as first encounters with enrichment centres etc. I am not liking it much.
I am sure most of you self-sacrificing parents out there will insist that indeed parents, not enrichment centres, are key to results. Actually, you are probably if not most definitely right. Then in this case, I think there is no need to waste money to go to enrichment centres, just DIY ya?
That is why, even top colleges are wooing homeschooled children. Singapore government is not encouraging this, but we can see that many parents are already doing this while still sending kids to school, because we know it makes sense. Parents are indeed the best teachers. No doubt about it. As for enrichment centers. Er... :censored: who wouldn't want money thrown at them? (as one of my China students related how naive Singapore parents are. We are a bunch of clowns.) -
insider:
Currently these schools in your list have children split into normal class versus GEP(school-based programme different from primary school) class as well. So it's a case of higher achievers and high achievers mixed, like that ok? not 100% higher achievers :?ksi:
[quote=\"insider\"]
emmm...I hope to also break up the RI, RGS, HCI, etc... (don't stone me hor...). They should have 50% top students and the other 50% mainstream students instead of 100% higher achievers...
I referring to the sec schools as well. Cannot put all the 'elites' together else the 'worst elite' among them can be one whose score is 265 and can only manage ONE ballet Gold... According to my daugher from her observations, many elite kids (in her sec school) look down on neighbourhood school children and I learnt the term \"NSK' from her when they talked among themselves don't like 'NSK' (neighbourhood school kids). Oohhh...the air of superiority...how to be the future leader of Singapore...[/quote]So true. I recently asked my son why he called his best friend less often. He said because he is spending more time with another friend. And this former best friend would not mix with the newer friend, because they don't mix with NSK. I thought this is really pathetic. And to add, the NSK has got better 'O' levels results than this elite school boy. This did not matter. The elite boy had affiliations, and 'bought' a place in an elite school with tens of thousands, this NSK did not have. This is still happening in Singapore. :roll:
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