All Schools are GOOD Schools

[limlim]

I Voted "NO".


Based on my tutoring experience for Secondary Schools, the quality of the material and worksheets differ greatly. Those better schools have better quality worksheets that explain concepts in greatly detail to allow students to understand better, including some of the teacher’s own effort explaining in their own words. Some schools, the teacher simply copy from textbooks and put inside so call "handouts"… duplicate of information… and the teachers attitude is also bochap, as told by the students.

For the better schools, normally I just need to explain how to tackle more challenging and difficult question and impart some analytical skills. For the no good schools, have to actually teach the students the basic and they practically learn nothing much from the schools…

As for Primary schools, I hv no experience but Better schools seems to have better materials to help students.

It is a fact that schools are different. But, as I mentioned in the P1 threads… The basis for formulating priority schemes have to be based on "all schools are the same"… or else nothing can progress. And the impact of a school on a student is difficult to say also…

Getting into elite/branded school don’t guarantee good results… but getting into a faraway school definitely is added strain on the child and the parents.

[Nebbermind]

Sec schools are a different monster. They already gone thru 1 stage of filtration!! Some of these schools have pulled away so far that it's like the GEP vs the late developers!!

[doodbug]

Nebbermind:

Sec schools are a different monster. They already gone thru 1 stage of filtration!! Some of these schools have pulled away so far that it's like the GEP vs the late developers!!

Yes, secondary schools in Singapore are S-T-R-A-T-I-F-I-E-D. And we are probably one of the few societies for which schools are so clearly stratified by academic measures. We are separated by academic performance early in life, and for girls especially, who do not have to undergo NS, some of us will not have the institutionalized opportunity to interact with all segments of society, until we enter the workforce.

[doodbug]

limlim:

I Getting into elite/branded school don't guarantee good results.. but getting into a faraway school definitely is added strain on the child and the parents.

This is a key summary statement! And if I may add to the end of the sentence, 'added strain on the child and the parents, to achieve the same level of results if the child was in an elite/branded school.'

Take any PSLE score target, say 250 hypothetically, it's not just a statistic that a child has 50% chance of getting 250 in NYPS (or any of the top schools) vs 5% in a neighbourhood school that doesn't churn out or have access to good resources. That's a 10-fold difference. Strip away the enrichment, better parenting, socioeconomic demographics etc, all things being equal, just based on teachers and resources alone, the child already has a higher chance of hitting 250 in a better school.

[verykiasu2010]

doodbug:

Yes, secondary schools in Singapore are S-T-R-A-T-I-F-I-E-D. And we are probably one of the few societies for which schools are so clearly stratified by academic measures. We are separated by academic performance early in life, and for girls especially, who do not have to undergo NS, some of us will not have the institutionalized opportunity to interact with all segments of society, until we enter the workforce.

It is called transparency and parents and students do not need to second guess which school is \"better\" and whether to believe all the advertisements by the schools.

Whether officially \"ranked\" or not, many cities (major ones) do have some unofficial rankings of their schools.

http://www.best-schools.co.uk/league-tables/sixth-form-colleges.aspx

[doodbug]

verykiasu2010:

doodbug:

Yes, secondary schools in Singapore are S-T-R-A-T-I-F-I-E-D. And we are probably one of the few societies for which schools are so clearly stratified by academic measures. We are separated by academic performance early in life, and for girls especially, who do not have to undergo NS, some of us will not have the institutionalized opportunity to interact with all segments of society, until we enter the workforce.

It is called transparency and parents and students do not need to second guess which school is \"better\" and whether to believe all the advertisements by the schools.

Whether officially \"ranked\" or not, many cities (major ones) do have some unofficial rankings of their schools.

http://www.best-schools.co.uk/league-tables/sixth-form-colleges.aspx

There is a difference between ranking and stratification.

There are rankings everywhere. With rankings, there are schools that are performing above average, everywhere.

What I am trying to say is that there are few cities for which each school has a narrow and defined range of students academically. It's hard to find an RI equivalent anywhere else (where there are students only at the top 5% of their cohort academically), in a public school system.

[Michelle Shen]

well i wld think that it’s more important for MOE to have MORE/ALL good teachers! : )

[doodbug]

Michelle Shen:

well i wld think that it's more important for MOE to have MORE/ALL good teachers! : )

Agree!!

[1amber]

I think there are many good teachers, passionate about teaching and imparting, that got crushed under heavy KPIs and paperwork. So the more enterprising ones leave to start good enrichment centers, knowing that solid teaching and adequate resources are what exactly students desperately need ... :roll:

[doodbug]

1amber:

I think there are many good teachers, passionate about teaching and imparting, that got crushed under heavy KPIs and paperwork. So the more enterprising ones leave to start good enrichment centers, knowing that solid teaching and adequate resources are what exactly students desperately need ... :roll:

Yes, I hope MOE realizes AND addresses this trend.