MOE Relooking P1 registration - Too much priority to alumni

[magiccastle]

Beanstalk .

I agreed with u.
I see the difference in the values placed by mission n govt school.
My boy attended catholic school. The principal in his speech will thank God for the achievement that the school has attained n pray for wisdom & protection for the students. In contrast , the govt school that my girl attended don’t even allow a religion ornament , ie she can’t even bring a little cross to school.
As a Christian , I m quite pissed off by the school rule.
On the distance issue, if let say my boy need to choose Hwa Chong instn n a neighborhood school opp my hse, I will definitely ask him to go HC without thinking twice even it is a long distance from my place. But if the school opp my place is Victoria school ,then I will need to evaluate n decide before we make a choice. At the end, may ask him to go to Victoria taking distance into consideration.
So it is a comparability issue.

[janet88]

Mission schools have been around for a long long time because there are old boys/girls who contribute. Not every parent pays one-time fee to join alumni to get into Phase 2A1.


Parents who contribute their time and effort raising money for their alma mater do so wholeheartedly…their children are already studying in the school. Many old boys/girls don’t go MIA after their kids enter the school.
There are mothers who contribute 2 hours everyday at the school gate to make sure strangers do not enter the school.
Like Phase 1, Phase 2A should stay.

[limlim]

beanstalk:

I think going by the principle of 'what is in the child's best welfare' is fair. However that may hold different meanings for different parents. I may not mind my child taking an extra 15 mins to get home if the school environment (academic standards, religious formation or lack thereof etc) suits him. To me, it might be in his best welfare to 'waste' that extra 15 mins as he would get a better education, at least by my standards.

It is not always possible for people to move within 1 km of a school. Some people simply cannot afford to.

There is a bit of misunderstanding here...the religious teaching at school is not intended to replace that provided by places of worship. It reinforces the latter. For people in that religion, it is important that their kids receive consistent messaging. A secular educational environment teaches values but does not associate the values with spirituality, which some people would want for their kids. This is a need that may be as important to one parent as it is for another whose kid needs alot of sleep. I don't think you should attribute selfish intentions to people without really knowing them. Much worse, to even accuse them of religious hypocrisy because of this.

The present system has checks to encourage diversity in a school and that's a good thing in the national interest. I guess with the caps, each group thinks it should have a bigger piece of the pie than they currently have. That includes you and me. I believe we both have valid concerns.

You quote my post and you typed a lot.. but you failed to address the key point in my post.

\"Why should connection be valued over practicality?\" Where is the justification?

If you say, those with connection shd be given priority over those who doesn't, and both as same distance away, that is fair. I totally agree.

But the key issue now is, WHY shd connection be given priority over distance? Why not distance <1km in P2B and alumni/associations/clans in P2C?

\"Best interest of the child\". we're talking about 2 kids attending the same school and who shd hv priority, the nearer one or the one where parents have connections? So, don't use \"better sch environment\" as an argument for \"best interest of the kid\" bcoz we're talking about the SAME school.

Again, we're debating on who shd have priority for the same school, NOT which school should you attend for the individual (where your preference of sch environment over sleep applies). Look at it from the context of the schools, not the individual preference, on who shd have priority.

[limlim]

beanstalk:

This is a need that may be as important to one parent as it is for another whose kid needs alot of sleep.

Yes. this is a fair statement.

But,

WHY your needs have more priority than another person's needs?

THAT, is THE KEY ISSUE.

And from this principle, I say, alumni/associations/connection shd Not be given priority over distance.

Where distance is same, the alumni/clan/church priority is fine and fair. That, is my stand.

[toddles]

actually, no point discussing this already right? the MOE announcement has been made and there is no change to Phase 2A or 2B. So 说什么都没有用。。。

[verykiasu2010]

toddles:

actually, no point discussing this already right? the MOE announcement has been made and there is no change to Phase 2A or 2B. So 说什么都没有用。。。

still pushing for 'Next Change' .... you been to cinema ?

[janet88]

toddles:

actually, no point discussing this already right? the MOE announcement has been made and there is no change to Phase 2A or 2B. So 说什么都没有用。。。

MOE has made a prompt solution giving absolute priority to SC. This has created about 10% more vacancies at Phase 2C, to the advantage of SCs.
10% more vacancies is about 30.

[phtthp]

10% take back from PR kids - give it back to our 2B, 2C SC kids.


10% … 30 pupils … can open another new class of SC pupils.

[lim72]

You guys are arguing about giving priority to alumni members. Then what about grassroot leaders? Why are we mixing politics with our children’s education? We are coming back to the same question and they are more or less related. Do you see the picture? I doubt there will be any changes to these.

[janet88]

The issue should not be focused on old boys/girls anymore.

As of this year’s P1 registration, Phase 2C will have another class of just 30 SCs once occupied by SC & PRs. New policy is with immediate effect, so much so that PRs do not have time to figure out what step to take next.

If there is any more unhappiness, perhaps look at grassroots. What does that group have to do with children’s education ?