Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition

[janet88]

Chenonceau:

I think I spent too much time on the forum already. Better go do something that'll bring me some money.

Hubby said the same thing to me. No money earned...if mention something and others think it is a slap on their face, I am affected by the bashing up after that.

[hokkiengirl]

dorisp:

BTW I recall hearding some boys from DS's kinddy speaking some dialect \"bad words\" when I was at the school the other day, sigh, and even their mother didn't stop those boys. I sure hope my DS didn't pick these up.

Yeah, too many kids cussing nowadays in all sorts of languages. I get very upset, especially when it happens at 'innocent' places like the playground. Sigh :sad:

[hokkiengirl]

fightingmom:

My DD is already 12 years old this year ... Is a big jie jie to ur 2 boys
And I do agree with you in one of your posts... Children pick up language real fast especially if they are exposed to it daily. My dd picks up basic Malay in school and she practices it with my hubby. She uses it when she wants to share some \"secrets\" with her daddy instead of me. :roll:

Am in the midst of teaching her some basic Korean which I learn from watching kdramas

Oh! ha ha! Can't fault me for tryin'!

But, hey, you guys are a wonderful bunch of linguists. Very impressed. Yup, think it is an excellent thing to learn languages. Instantly opens doors to people's hearts. Good going!

[Intermezzo]

verykiasu2010:

Intermezzo:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]
Group 1 and Group 3 parents will go for even more IQ tests and enrichment classes because if they wait until O levels and don't do well there, how? No PSLE certificate to fall back on!!! Only Kindergarten graduation photo!! Cannot!! How can their precious children's future be dependent on just the O level exams?? What if they don't do well??? Must go actively in search of some interim certification ala iPSLE exam. Then some clever iTLL centre will set up interim certification exams and all these parents will flock there. :faint:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: first time i see jtoh used so many exclamation marks!!!!

she used lots of upside down exclamation marks iiii[/quote]well i must say they really help to put her points across... :rotflmao:

[hokkiengirl]

By the way, many teachers are also baffled by the ‘Teach Less Learn More’ approach. We agree with it in principle (it’s never a problem in principle, is it?), but when implemented, it magically assumes that students already know certain key concepts which we used to teach. So now, teachers scramble to Teach More in a Lot Less Time. Bah.


And from what I hear, teachers in primary school are bogged down by too many non-academic things they have to do to make the schools look good. The non-academic bells and whistles get more and more every year. The teachers are not happy with it, either. But it’s a vicious cycle. Schools have to look ‘good’ so that parents want to send their kids to ‘enriching’, holistic schools. Big SIGH.

For me, as a parent, it’s become a situation where I send my kid to school to ‘play-play’, socialise and have enrichment lessons like sports and drama. All these are great things, especially for the kids from less-privileged families. It just becomes very bizarre when I expect and accept that the real teaching is done at home. By me. And that’s cos I can. Even kids from low-income families whose parents may not be in a position to teach are scrambling for any available and affordable tuition they can find. Frankly, I find that unacceptable. The parent who assumes that the teaching can be left up to the primary school (like in the good ol’ days when mata cheng teh kor-wore bermudas) is in for a rude shock.

[cherryc]

Well said. That is the crux of the problems, and they have to throw in The perplexing model Maths and heuristics questions, parents with master degrees also don’t know how to teach their children and have to scramble for tuitions. Kids go to school to be assessed and be told whether they need more tuitions. Saw someone posted the tuition question in our minister FB account and …no reply.

[Imami]

cherryc:

parents with master degrees also don't know how to teach their children and have to scramble for tuitions.

This is very true.I know of at least one true example - the father is a MBA holder and an engineer but cant help the child's math at p6. :faint:

[beanbear]

Time is a fixed resource and schools these days have alot they want to accomplish with our children using this fixed precious resource. Back in our days, we attended school from 7.30am to 1pm - no supplementary classes at all. Class sizes were also 40 students. No tuition either.Homework is doable without tuition. Dunno how to do, can’t even ask parents coz they also cannot help you.


These days, children stay back on average 2-3 times a week for supplementary classes (not remedial for weaker students, all students must stay back) from Pri 3 onwards because schools say there is not enough time to cover the syllabus. What’s sucking up our kids’ time at school? We are accomplishing less with more time. What’s going on?

There are days on top of staying in school for 9-10 hours and kids then still come home with 2-3 hours worth of homework. I know this is not just my experience in my DS school, it’s happening in other schools too when I compare notes with friends. This is definitely not the parents’ doing, nor expectations. When schools need 40-50 hours of your child’s time a week in order to educate them and yet do an ineffective job because our kids end up failing, there is definitely something wrong. My child went through this brutal schedule until I stood up against this abuse and refused to let him attend anymore of this 9-hour days. Does MOE stop this practice? No, they say it’s a school decision. Who will take responsibility when schools use so much of our children’s time and yet our children can’t pass the school exam?

So I as a parent have to make a decision. I decide how my child’s time used. Because I need this precious resource for tuition (either by me or external parties) to ensure that he’s actually learning something. When my DS spent LESS time at school this year, his grades went UP. So my learning has been, ATTEND LESS SCHOOL, LEARN MORE.

[laughingcat]

hokkiengirl:

By the way, many teachers are also baffled by the 'Teach Less Learn More' approach. We agree with it in principle (it's never a problem in principle, is it?), but when implemented, it magically assumes that students already know certain key concepts which we used to teach. So now, teachers scramble to Teach More in a Lot Less Time. Bah.

YEAH! Agreed with you. And worse.....adopt the 'Teach Less Learn More' approach in a class of 30!!! :siao: I wonder how the \"scholars\" in the MOE ivory tower think and they must be :siao:

[atutor2001]

coast:

In summary, her son scored 3 A* (Eng, Maths, Sci) and 1 A (Chi) ... T-score 244 ... lower T-score than those of his peers with 3A and 1B.

If PSLE awards grades based on above grading system, would you be able to guess how the following is possible (perhaps with some estimated mean and SD):-
......
Three A* for English, Mathematics and Science, an A for Chinese = aggregate score of 244. Most of his friends who managed 3As and a B have better aggregate scores than him.

I thought it is possible (3A* & 1A higher T-score than 3A & 1B) if A*, A, ... is based on a bell-curved and not on a fixed range like the PSLE Grading System quoted above?

Many many thanks if you can offer your views on this.

Hi Coast,

It is possible for T-score of 3A* 1A to be lower than 3A 1B.

Just a quick example,

For simplicity, lets assume the standard deviation for every subject to be 15 and the means of the subjects to be:
English - 65,
Science - 63,
Math - 77
Chinese - 77.

A student with the lowest possible A* (91 marks) for English, Science, Math and A (75 marks) for Chinese will get the following T-scores :
English - A* (91 marks) -> T-score of 67.3
Science - A* (91 marks) -> T-score of 68.7
Math - A* (91 marks) -> T-score of 59.3
Chinese - A (75 marks) -> T-score of 48.7
Aggregate T-score = 244

A student with highest possible A (90 marks) for English, Math, Chinese and B (74 marks) for Science will get the following T-scores :
English - A (90 marks) -> T-score of 66.7
Science - B (74 marks) -> T-score of 57.3
Math - A (90 marks) -> T-score of 58.7
Chinese - A (90 marks) -> T-score of 61.8
Aggregate T-score = 244.5

However, it is unlikely that \"most\" of the 3A 1B will get higher score than the one with 3A* 1A.

Above computation is based on a constant standard deviation of 15. If different SD is used for each subject, it would be easier to come up with a permutation where T-score of 3A 1B is higher than 3A* 1B.

Hope it is of help.