Primary school maths: A vicious circle (from TODAY May 8)
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Totally agree! Just like textbooks are only guidebooks but the guidebooks/assessment books we buy from popular bookshops or notes from tuition centres or compiled by parents are the actual textbooks . And tutors become teachers and teachers are more to guide the kids only??? Interesting, isn’t it?
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schweppes:
Lately, can't help must think that the roles have reversed. Enrichment and tuition centers are here to teach our children and the schools' role is to enrich - with the countless NE, CCAs, learning journeys, competitions and other what-have-you type programs.
The irony of it all... :skeptical: :roll:cherryc:
Totally agree. I'm feeling the heat now although DS is only P1 tis year.Totally agree! Just like textbooks are only guidebooks but the guidebooks/assessment books we buy from popular bookshops or notes from tuition centres or compiled by parents are the actual textbooks . And tutors become teachers and teachers are more to guide the kids only??? Interesting, isn't it?
The heat is on... :mad: -
I agree that teachers are not equipped to teach or do not have the passion to teach…just join MOE cos of stable rice bowl.
a teacher friend admitted to me she prefer to teach P1 cos easy to teach but she was given a P5 class one year and she admitted that the maths was too diff for her to handle (and being her schoolmate, I know Maths is not her forte just managing a C for O levels). She told me she just refer to model answers and and get her students to copy accordingly shocked
Many other teacher frens do not have the passion or perhaps is too saddled with admin etc that most quit the profession. And dear MOE keep raising the salary of teachers at one pt in order to retain talent. But does this translate to improvement in the education landscape?!? -
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oxyleo:
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120608-0000059/A-parent,-a-teacher-or-both?
Thanks for sharing!! -
TODAY Jun 14, 2012
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120614-0000109/A-parents-battlefield-approach-to-education
A parent's battlefield approach to education
From Donna Ong Yen Nee
Updated 04:05 PM Jun 14, 2012
I refer to the letter \"A parent, a teacher or both?\" (June 8). As a parent of two children in Primary 4 and 6, and a toddler, I have given up on Mathematics.
To survive in today's primary school environment, my husband and I have had to divide and conquer. He is more adept at numbers and takes on the task of learning the maths syllabus and teaching our children the heuristic maths model solving.
To us, it is mind-boggling that in the real world, financial problems are solved expediently by algebra and not heuristics. We are confused by the Education Minister's remarks that the Education Ministry is preparing our children for the future.
What we learnt in the past has put us in good stead for today. How revolutionary will future work challenges be? Are we preparing our children for these or creating more challenging academic benchmarks to filter the scholars from the non-scholars?
Faced with the tide of today's age-inappropriate academic requirements, many of my highly educated friends have given up their careers to be a parent and teacher to their children.
Imagine the loss in economic productivity when parents have to do the job for schools. Other parents have to slog harder at work to fund increasingly exorbitant private tuition fees.
In my household, my husband is the \"head of department\" for Maths and Chinese, and I cover English and Science. It may be only four subjects, but we struggle to keep afloat. If our children do well in one examination, the next one is surely going to be tougher.
I have had to study the entire Science syllabus so that I can teach my children how to align their answers, through memorisation, to the key words found in the teacher's answer sheet, to ensure they do not lose too many half marks.
Our children are not taught to be creative or have an inquiring mind. I dread to think about the school environment that awaits my two-year-old.
I used to think that raising children in the toddler years were tough, but when my elder children started primary school, I realised that the worst was to come. I hear the academic rat race is worse after primary school.
My husband and I feel like we have two full-time jobs: One in the office and one as a home tutor, even though our children already have private tuition for all subjects. Our expanded roles are indeed exhausting and squashes any thoughts of having more children. -
coast:
Thanks for sharing !TODAY Jun 14, 2012
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120614-0000109/A-parents-battlefield-approach-to-education
A parent's battlefield approach to education
From Donna Ong Yen Nee
Updated 04:05 PM Jun 14, 2012
I refer to the letter \"A parent, a teacher or both?\" (June 8). As a parent of two children in Primary 4 and 6, and a toddler, I have given up on Mathematics.
To survive in today's primary school environment, my husband and I have had to divide and conquer. He is more adept at numbers and takes on the task of learning the maths syllabus and teaching our children the heuristic maths model solving.
To us, it is mind-boggling that in the real world, financial problems are solved expediently by algebra and not heuristics. We are confused by the Education Minister's remarks that the Education Ministry is preparing our children for the future.
What we learnt in the past has put us in good stead for today. How revolutionary will future work challenges be? Are we preparing our children for these or creating more challenging academic benchmarks to filter the scholars from the non-scholars?
Faced with the tide of today's age-inappropriate academic requirements, many of my highly educated friends have given up their careers to be a parent and teacher to their children.
Imagine the loss in economic productivity when parents have to do the job for schools. Other parents have to slog harder at work to fund increasingly exorbitant private tuition fees.
In my household, my husband is the \"head of department\" for Maths and Chinese, and I cover English and Science. It may be only four subjects, but we struggle to keep afloat. If our children do well in one examination, the next one is surely going to be tougher.
I have had to study the entire Science syllabus so that I can teach my children how to align their answers, through memorisation, to the key words found in the teacher's answer sheet, to ensure they do not lose too many half marks.
Our children are not taught to be creative or have an inquiring mind. I dread to think about the school environment that awaits my two-year-old.
I used to think that raising children in the toddler years were tough, but when my elder children started primary school, I realised that the worst was to come. I hear the academic rat race is worse after primary school.
My husband and I feel like we have two full-time jobs: One in the office and one as a home tutor, even though our children already have private tuition for all subjects. Our expanded roles are indeed exhausting and squashes any thoughts of having more children.
Wonder how many more feedback MOE needs before they do something about it ! :sad: -
oneheart:
From my experience, not all teachers are competent in teaching the syllabus. I hv two primary school kids and it is tikam tikam with regards to the quality of teachers you get. So no choice, have to educate ourselves to educate our kids at home.I agree that teachers are not equipped to teach or do not have the passion to teach...just join MOE cos of stable rice bowl.
a teacher friend admitted to me she prefer to teach P1 cos easy to teach but she was given a P5 class one year and she admitted that the maths was too diff for her to handle (and being her schoolmate, I know Maths is not her forte just managing a C for O levels). She told me she just refer to model answers and and get her students to copy accordingly *shocked*
Many other teacher frens do not have the passion or perhaps is too saddled with admin etc that most quit the profession. And dear MOE keep raising the salary of teachers at one pt in order to retain talent. But does this translate to improvement in the education landscape?!?
Once, my kid brought back math homework and she didn't know how to solve one question. I taught her how to solve it and asked her whether she understood. She replied \"so easy\". Then I asked her whether her teacher had gone through the question with the class and she said \"yes\". But she said the teacher \"go here and go there\" and she could not understand her explanation.
I think beside competency, teachers must also have the right attitude to learn and impart the knowledge to their students. Just wonder how many of such teachers are there! -
fightingmom:
they won't do anything about it till the next general election. Maybe can visit the PM's facebook page and give opinions there. Try the top down approach. It has been shown that bottom up is not going to go anywhere. Looks like they haven't link population issues to education concerns yet.
Thanks for sharing !coast:
TODAY Jun 14, 2012
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120614-0000109/A-parents-battlefield-approach-to-education
A parent's battlefield approach to education
From Donna Ong Yen Nee
Updated 04:05 PM Jun 14, 2012
I refer to the letter \"A parent, a teacher or both?\" (June 8). As a parent of two children in Primary 4 and 6, and a toddler, I have given up on Mathematics.
To survive in today's primary school environment, my husband and I have had to divide and conquer. He is more adept at numbers and takes on the task of learning the maths syllabus and teaching our children the heuristic maths model solving.
To us, it is mind-boggling that in the real world, financial problems are solved expediently by algebra and not heuristics. We are confused by the Education Minister's remarks that the Education Ministry is preparing our children for the future.
What we learnt in the past has put us in good stead for today. How revolutionary will future work challenges be? Are we preparing our children for these or creating more challenging academic benchmarks to filter the scholars from the non-scholars?
Faced with the tide of today's age-inappropriate academic requirements, many of my highly educated friends have given up their careers to be a parent and teacher to their children.
Imagine the loss in economic productivity when parents have to do the job for schools. Other parents have to slog harder at work to fund increasingly exorbitant private tuition fees.
In my household, my husband is the \"head of department\" for Maths and Chinese, and I cover English and Science. It may be only four subjects, but we struggle to keep afloat. If our children do well in one examination, the next one is surely going to be tougher.
I have had to study the entire Science syllabus so that I can teach my children how to align their answers, through memorisation, to the key words found in the teacher's answer sheet, to ensure they do not lose too many half marks.
Our children are not taught to be creative or have an inquiring mind. I dread to think about the school environment that awaits my two-year-old.
I used to think that raising children in the toddler years were tough, but when my elder children started primary school, I realised that the worst was to come. I hear the academic rat race is worse after primary school.
My husband and I feel like we have two full-time jobs: One in the office and one as a home tutor, even though our children already have private tuition for all subjects. Our expanded roles are indeed exhausting and squashes any thoughts of having more children.
Wonder how many more feedback MOE needs before they do something about it ! :sad:
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