School Examinations Too Difficult
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lim72:
Let me laugh first... for every point of pain that we've tried to point out, the MOE has a historic rationale. For example, lousy textbooks with only a SINGLE key word in the whole chapter, can be explained by the fact that MOE had decentralized the curriculum to schools. This excuse was reported a in the newspapers few months back to explain lousy textbooks. I noted it and rolled my eyes but wrote nothing about it till now... In other words, it is not the MOE's fault that textbooks are lousy. Parents need to work directly with schools to fix issues of curriculum because MOE is no longer in charge of curriculum. Makes you wonder what the headcount for Curriculum Specialist is doing at HQ level eh?
:goodpost: Great article indeed!
Since it has been 5 long years and no actions have been taken from the govt/moe, shall we have a petition to voice out our frustrations!
Petitions and feedback are no use because the intelligent people at MOE have a rationales to explain away all the pain parents and children face... INCLUDING why we should continue to live with lousy textbooks.
I don't think parents care whose fault it is. We just want a nationwide fix to the issue of lousy textbooks because textbooks are so important a learning tool. At this moment, even if we don't BUY the textbooks, our kids can still do well as long as parents invest in the necessary guidebooks from Popular and give their kids high quality resources written by tuition centres.
How can textbooks be so easy when exams are so difficult?
So... there is a stalemate lor... it is likely we will have to live with lousy textbooks as a necessary consequence of the benefits of giving schools the power to decide curriculum. Everything got pros and cons mah... so living with lousy textbooks is the price parents and kids have to pay for the benefits of letting schools have more flexibility in deciding curriculum.
This esoteric and highly sophisticated argumentation, the product of superior minds, can convince Minister Heng and perhaps even LHL... It can buy peace for a while... but I doubt it'll convince batch after batch of PSLE parents who will go to the polls in 2016. The same criticisms will come back louder and louder... by different people... and eventually, we will reach a tipping point. Change at that point will be even more unpleasant for some people in MOE, than if they were to develop some degree of empathy and understanding NOW of parents' and children's pain.
The same thing happened for flooding in Singapore... for HDB prices that skyrocketed... for SMRT issues. Feedback was given over many long years but nothing was done because civil servants had nice explanations that lulled our politicians into complacence. Problems cannot get explained away. They disappear for a while when explained but will come back in another form and with a vengeance as evidenced by Ian Tang's article.
It's a matter of time. We can wait.
Meanwhile... why not sign this petition? http://www.petitiononline.com/SgEd2011/petition.html -
Chenonceau:
No wonder Popular bookshop is so popular and owners of those tuition centres are smiling all the way to their banks! :rant:
At this moment, even if we don't BUY the textbooks, our kids can still do well as long as parents invest in the necessary guidebooks from Popular and give their kids high quality resources written by tuition centres. -
fightingmom:
At the end of the day, it's a question of how Public Relations can compete with Parents' Real Experience. No prizes for guessing the winner.
No wonder Popular bookshop is so popular and owners of those tuition centres are smiling all the way to their banks! :rant:Chenonceau:
At this moment, even if we don't BUY the textbooks, our kids can still do well as long as parents invest in the necessary guidebooks from Popular and give their kids high quality resources written by tuition centres. -
Chenonceau:
chenonceau
The same thing happened for flooding in Singapore... for HDB prices that skyrocketed... for SMRT issues. Feedback was given over many long years but nothing was done because civil servants had nice explanations that lulled our politicians into complacence. Problems cannot get explained away. They disappear for a while when explained but will come back in another form and with a vengeance as evidenced by Ian Tang's article.
It's a matter of time. We can wait.
Meanwhile... why not sign this petition? http://www.petitiononline.com/SgEd2011/petition.html
OT a bit, today news about KBW on flat sizes not shrinking for past 15 years. Told a big lie in broad daylight. he :siao: ? -
chenonceau
Have read Ian's Standards are Unrealistic.
Like you said \"let me laugh first\", me too. Tianzhu's child is same age as my elder one. I experienced Ian's frustration 5 yrs ago. My younger one is 5 yrs difference. So 5 yrs, nothing change.
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chenonceau
OT a bit, today news about KBW on flat sizes not shrinking for past 15 years. Told a big lie in broad daylight. he :siao: ?[/quote]
No lah, it is just that last time we don't have aircon ledges, bomb shelters and bay windows mah.
Or maybe HDB has changed their measuring tapes to using foot (real foot hor). :rotflmao: -
lim72:
No lah, it is just that last time we don't have aircon ledges, bomb shelters and bay windows mah.
Or maybe HDB has changed their measuring tapes to using foot (real foot hor). :rotflmao:
:rotflmao: :rotflmao: You are evil lah... -
Iβve always been disturbed by the over emphasis in Math for pri students. Why do they need to be so good and pushed so hard at such level?
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[quote=\"fightingmom\"]Current school exams are not just difficult, they are also testing the speed of the children in solving the question. That is especially so in Maths. Imagine for Paper 1, the children are supposed to solve 30 questions in 50 mins. That is practically almost 1.5 min per question (no calculators allowed) and for Paper 2, a total of 1h40mins is allowed to solve some complex problem sums which works out to be about 3-4min per sum.
I must admit - i can't solve some of the questions within 10 mins ! I pity our chidren that they are being pressured and drilled over and over again to complete such tasks within that short period of time.[/quote
I can foresee for the coming SA1 Maths , my DD would not be able for complete Paper 2 on time.. :sad:
Before the march school holidays, attended Parents-teacher session, I was shock to hear from Maths teacher that she expects the whole class to score above 77 !! Nothing less... :shock: Haiz.. so pressurizing on the kids and parents too ! -
How can textbooks be so easy when exams are so difficult?
Need to ensure there is business for assessment / guide books authors / publishers / sellers, and business for tuition / enrichment centres and private tutors
. Education sector is a large part of our economy :evil: else there will be more unemployment 
:nailbite: :scared:
:rotflmao: :rotflmao:
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