Primary school maths: A vicious circle (from TODAY May 8)

[Pris.011283tang]

kitty2:

:goodpost: My friend did the same thing as you,all got fired :nunchuk: Time had wasted too :mad:

i know she cannot go tution center because she will be dreaming away thats why i got a home tutor but it was not meant to be is still better i coach myself.

My granny told me she said to the tutor herself wah u get paid so much to chit chat very good hor?? :mad: :mad:

[Sun_2010]

I am not sure why it is being assumed it is the parent's role to teach academics (if needed learn and teach)

It is the teacher's role to teach. If i as a parent can or want to do it then great! But what about the child who has parents who have no time, no competence, no means to affortd tutions ?
My parents did not teach me Nor did parents of most of my classmates. Yet we did well. Well enough .

Not so for todays kids - if more than half the kids in the class fail - that means something is gravely wrong - it is the failure of the teaching.( I did not say teachers). It means children have not been taught the right stuff, or they have not been taught the right way or the material is beyond the potential of the children. Miraculously the children score well in PSLE. So how?
Public education is about educating all. If the schools feel half their pupils need tution it means they are admitting they are not discharging their duties.

In fact schools should not be focusing on PSLE. It is a competitive exam, but Primary schooling isnt just about T-score. It is about getting strong foundations in learning both academic n character.

Its funny how it has come to be the norm for us parents to put our career to help the child score well in PSLE.
The time parents spend with kids gets streamed into the study time.
We dont give our household kids chores - they dont have the time.
So much so we land up helping them pack, etc etc during the rush period - bcoz they dont have the time.
Character building cant be done with a timetable

[blessed777]

Laura02:

Actually, I agree with most of what nansk said. Dd is in P4, but she doesn't go for tuition in any of the academic subjects. She does ballet and guzhen.

I agreed that learning the model method is quite challenging, but how can we expect our kids to master the model method, if we ourselves give up on trying to learn it. What sort of message are we giving our kids if we say to them \" Ah girl or Ah boy, mummy and daddy don't understand your maths, but die-die you must not only learn it, but must also score 100% for Maths.\" it isn't fair to them.
It isn't fair to expect our kids to sit down and study all day, while we ourselves had the luxury to play, and dream as kids. Yes, we can blame the system, other parents, the whole world ... But at the end of the day, it's up to the individual parents to say \"enough is enough\" and draw the line at where and how much we want to pressure our kids.
Remember, the mood pork hawker may not have a degree, but he can still sell his secret recipient for a million dollars and retire in comfort.

I do think that drawing model is a helpful tool for the kids to understand the concepts through visualization, but the challenging part is not really in learning it, it is when u find some challenging questions that cant be solved with model drawing or too complicated to be solved with model drawing then u realize that learning other methods on top of drawing model would help the kids but those methods are not being taught in most schools. In my dd school, they r teaching most of the required methods but its not until she is in p5 n 6, seems like they put in most effort & resources for psle. 

[Pris.011283tang]

Sun_2010:

I am not sure why it is being assumed it is the parent's role to teach academics (if needed learn and teach)

It is the teacher's role to teach. If i as a parent can or want to do it then great! But what about the child who has parents who have no time, no competence, no means to affortd tutions ?
My parents did not teach me Nor did parents of most of my classmates. Yet we did well. Well enough .

Not so for todays kids - if more than half the kids in the class fail - that means something is gravely wrong - it is the failure of the teaching.( I did not say teachers). It means children have not been taught the right stuff, or they have not been taught the right way or the material is beyond the potential of the children. Miraculously the children score well in PSLE. So how?
Public education is about educating all. If the schools feel half their pupils need tution it means they are admitting they are not discharging their duties.

In fact schools should not be focusing on PSLE. It is a competitive exam, but Primary schooling isnt just about T-score. It is about getting strong foundations in learning both academic n character.

Its funny how it has come to be the norm for us parents to put our career to help the child score well in PSLE.
The time parents spend with kids gets streamed into the study time.
We dont give our household kids chores - they dont have the time.
So much so we land up helping them pack, etc etc during the rush period - bcoz they dont have the time.
Character building cant be done with a timetable

:goodpost: :goodpost: totally agree

[Sun_2010]

Laura02:

Actually, I agree with most of what nansk said. Dd is in P4, but she doesn't go for tuition in any of the academic subjects. She does ballet and guzhen.

I agreed that learning the model method is quite challenging, but how can we expect our kids to master the model method, if we ourselves give up on trying to learn it. What sort of message are we giving our kids if we say to them \" Ah girl or Ah boy, mummy and daddy don't understand your maths, but die-die you must not only learn it, but must also score 100% for Maths.\" it isn't fair to them.
It isn't fair to expect our kids to sit down and study all day, while we ourselves had the luxury to play, and dream as kids. Yes, we can blame the system, other parents, the whole world ... But at the end of the day, it's up to the individual parents to say \"enough is enough\" and draw the line at where and how much we want to pressure our kids.
Remember, the mood pork hawker may not have a degree, but he can still sell his secret recipient for a million dollars and retire in comfort.

For me the model method is not challenging, it is in fact a very good method to visualize. In fact when i first saw it in my child's book, i thought what a fantastic method for young children. To each his own. The point is why are parents expected to learn and teach the child?

Why isnt it fair ? If the teacher is teaching them , they learn it - plain and simple.
Who taught us algebra - our parents ?
Was it unfair to us? Did we complain that our parents were having fun while we slogged with our studies? Did our parents plan their lives around our school/enrichment class schedule?

It is unfair if they are not being taught.
It is unfair if they are not being provided the resources to learn.
That is exactly why the parents are protesting - that it is unfair to the child to be treated thus.

[fightingmom]

Sun_2010:

I am not sure why it is being assumed it is the parent's role to teach academics (if needed learn and teach)

It is the teacher's role to teach. If i as a parent can or want to do it then great! But what about the child who has parents who have no time, no competence, no means to affortd tutions ?
My parents did not teach me Nor did parents of most of my classmates. Yet we did well. Well enough .

Not so for todays kids - if more than half the kids in the class fail - that means something is gravely wrong - it is the failure of the teaching.( I did not say teachers). It means children have not been taught the right stuff, or they have not been taught the right way or the material is beyond the potential of the children. Miraculously the children score well in PSLE. So how?
Public education is about educating all. If the schools feel half their pupils need tution it means they are admitting they are not discharging their duties.

In fact schools should not be focusing on PSLE. It is a competitive exam, but Primary schooling isnt just about T-score. It is about getting strong foundations in learning both academic n character.

Its funny how it has come to be the norm for us parents to put our career to help the child score well in PSLE.
The time parents spend with kids gets streamed into the study time.
We dont give our household kids chores - they dont have the time.
So much so we land up helping them pack, etc etc during the rush period - bcoz they dont have the time.
Character building cant be done with a timetable

:goodpost:

[mamemo]

Sun_2010:

Laura02:

Actually, I agree with most of what nansk said. Dd is in P4, but she doesn't go for tuition in any of the academic subjects. She does ballet and guzhen.

I agreed that learning the model method is quite challenging, but how can we expect our kids to master the model method, if we ourselves give up on trying to learn it. What sort of message are we giving our kids if we say to them \" Ah girl or Ah boy, mummy and daddy don't understand your maths, but die-die you must not only learn it, but must also score 100% for Maths.\" it isn't fair to them.
It isn't fair to expect our kids to sit down and study all day, while we ourselves had the luxury to play, and dream as kids. Yes, we can blame the system, other parents, the whole world ... But at the end of the day, it's up to the individual parents to say \"enough is enough\" and draw the line at where and how much we want to pressure our kids.
Remember, the mood pork hawker may not have a degree, but he can still sell his secret recipient for a million dollars and retire in comfort.

For me the model method is not challenging, it is in fact a very good method to visualize. In fact when i first saw it in my child's book, i thought what a fantastic method for young children. To each his own. The point is why are parents expected to learn and teach the child?

Why isnt it fair ? If the teacher is teaching them , they learn it - plain and simple.
Who taught us algebra - our parents ?
Was it unfair to us? Did we complain that our parents were having fun while we slogged with our studies? Did our parents plan their lives around our school/enrichment class schedule?

It is unfair if they are not being taught.
It is unfair if they are not being provided the resources to learn.
That is exactly why the parents are protesting - that it is unfair to the child to be treated thus.

:goodpost: :goodpost:

[Chenonceau]

Sun_2010:

I am not sure why it is being assumed it is the parent's role to teach academics (if needed learn and teach)

It is the teacher's role to teach. If i as a parent can or want to do it then great! But what about the child who has parents who have no time, no competence, no means to affortd tutions ?
My parents did not teach me Nor did parents of most of my classmates. Yet we did well. Well enough .

Not so for todays kids - if more than half the kids in the class fail - that means something is gravely wrong - it is the failure of the teaching.( I did not say teachers). It means children have not been taught the right stuff, or they have not been taught the right way or the material is beyond the potential of the children. Miraculously the children score well in PSLE. So how?
Public education is about educating all. If the schools feel half their pupils need tution it means they are admitting they are not discharging their duties.

In fact schools should not be focusing on PSLE. It is a competitive exam, but Primary schooling isnt just about T-score. It is about getting strong foundations in learning both academic n character.

Its funny how it has come to be the norm for us parents to put our career to help the child score well in PSLE.
The time parents spend with kids gets streamed into the study time.
We dont give our household kids chores - they dont have the time.
So much so we land up helping them pack, etc etc during the rush period - bcoz they dont have the time.
Character building cant be done with a timetable

Thank you for writing so cogently. I am too distraught to write well. :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost:

[Chenonceau]

mamemo:

Sun_2010:

[quote=\"Laura02\"] Actually, I agree with most of what nansk said. Dd is in P4, but she doesn't go for tuition in any of the academic subjects. She does ballet and guzhen.

I agreed that learning the model method is quite challenging, but how can we expect our kids to master the model method, if we ourselves give up on trying to learn it. What sort of message are we giving our kids if we say to them \" Ah girl or Ah boy, mummy and daddy don't understand your maths, but die-die you must not only learn it, but must also score 100% for Maths.\" it isn't fair to them.
It isn't fair to expect our kids to sit down and study all day, while we ourselves had the luxury to play, and dream as kids. Yes, we can blame the system, other parents, the whole world ... But at the end of the day, it's up to the individual parents to say \"enough is enough\" and draw the line at where and how much we want to pressure our kids.
Remember, the mood pork hawker may not have a degree, but he can still sell his secret recipient for a million dollars and retire in comfort.

For me the model method is not challenging, it is in fact a very good method to visualize. In fact when i first saw it in my child's book, i thought what a fantastic method for young children. To each his own. The point is why are parents expected to learn and teach the child?

Why isnt it fair ? If the teacher is teaching them , they learn it - plain and simple.
Who taught us algebra - our parents ?
Was it unfair to us? Did we complain that our parents were having fun while we slogged with our studies? Did our parents plan their lives around our school/enrichment class schedule?

It is unfair if they are not being taught.
It is unfair if they are not being provided the resources to learn.
That is exactly why the parents are protesting - that it is unfair to the child to be treated thus.

:goodpost: :goodpost:[/quote]Yes... :goodpost: :goodpost:

[fightingmom]

I can’t remember the year where MOE introduced the use of calculators in PSLE. But I think Maths paper has become more and more challenging since the children now has the aid of calculators in paper 2 now. And if I am not wrong, the number of questions to answer increased too. If you really break down the number of questions per minute for problem sum solving, it is about 3-4 min per question.


I try solving some. Most of the time I can’t even solve within 10 mins ! The children are always pressured for time to complete the whole paper. If we parents don’t help them, then who ? If we can’t roll up our sleeves (either due to no time, not competent enough…), we just have to engage outside help. How many school teachers can do 1-1 and are they willing to stay back just to help that few students that are not up to the "standard"?