Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition
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limlim:
It should be being MOE teacher is tough. With the number of students they handled 40 and even more per class + so many school activities especially if your leader enjoys lot of school PR activities, CCA, competitions, visits of VIPs and so on. Who initiates these activities? Should teachers handle these activities? Management should relook into these and free the teachers to focus teaching. Those activities can be outsource to those enrichment centres. Or the other way round, leave the teachers handle all these activities and engage tuition centre teacher to teach in the school since they have a way to help our children learn effectively. Would that be more productive?Nothing is more cheap then saying \"you are not a teacher so cannot understand the difficulties of being a teacher etc etc..\"
However, I would say I'll probably jump at the opportunity if offered a teaching position years ago..
Teachers are not lowly paid.. their salary is highly competitive and better than what many MNC offers.
If being teachers is undesirable, why the MOE podium outside the interview room got no lack of applicants..
Sure..
We are not ministers so we can never understand why minister MUST be paid millions to conclude that \"no amount of engineering can prevent it\".
IF being a teacher is so TOUGH like some of the pple here say.. how can they ever afford the extra energy to moonlight? doesn't makes sense to me..
Maybe.. moonlighting helps them to \"relax\" from the stressful school activities.....
It's like saying.. do more part-time work.. it will let you relax from your full time job. -
A friend of mine is a teacher. When she was heavily pregnant, she still had to bring kids to swimming pool although there is a coach. That is understandable. She had to paint the murals on the school walls. The HOD really ‘see-her-up’ …so friend is level head etc etc etc. For CNY, she had to organise ‘lou hei’. For mooncake festival, have to organise lantern get together etc. Her early day is Monday at 4pm. The endless meetings are enough to kill. At a certain time, air con will be switched off and she has to bring the books home to mark.
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limlim:
I must be daft again. Forgive me bro limlim. I know someone in an MNC earning X times more than a teacher leh ...
Teachers are not lowly paid.. their salary is highly competitive and better than what many MNC offers.
limlim:
Good point!If being teachers is undesirable, why the MOE podium outside the interview room got no lack of applicants..
But as mentioned, most likely, they are entering this profession totally unaware of what is unexpected out of them, only to have their 'bubble' burst not very much later. I know of someone, while undergoing his practicum, was given the best classes to teach. The school was afraid of allocating him normal academic and normal tech classes.limlim:
Another good point.IF being a teacher is so TOUGH like some of the pple here say.. how can they ever afford the extra energy to moonlight? doesn't makes sense to me..
Yet, as mentioned in the previous post, desperate situations calls for desperate measures, eg repayment of study loan or even saving for the dream marriage. I also am aware of someone who moonlighted in the past, but only during fridays and saturdays.
Now, why would anyone want to burn their weekends unneccesarily?? -
janet_lee88:
1. yesHi Chenonceau,
My son hasn't gone to sec school yet...so I do not know much about it.
Neighbour's son in Sec 1 told me no more models (Math), algebra is the way to go. English is not taught...no textbook either.
1) Are primary school teachers trained to teach ?
2) Can primary school teachers equip P6 students knowledge to do well for PSLE ?
3) If the answer to both questions is YES, then why do our kids have to go for tuition ?
2. yes
3. because kiasu parents scared to lose out to the next kid who may score higher than own kid - scared to lose face, scared the child cannot get into preferred school, scared to lose bragging rights among relatives during CNY dinner .... the list goes on
ok I am not Chen -
I was told some teachers from good schools like nanyang pri go home earlier and happily. So maybe the school environment does breed good nurturing teachers and better students. And maybe the teachers have more time to prepare materials, all maybe after all, the kids are just rich enough to attend the elitist tuitions or have well-educated parents to teach them.
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I was told some teachers from good schools like nanyang pri go home earlier and happily. So maybe the school environment does breed good nurturing teachers and better students. And maybe the teachers have more time to prepare materials, all maybe after all, the kids are just rich enough to attend the elitist tuitions or have well-educated parents to teach them.
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verykiasu2010:
I think Teachers have training coming out their ears. Unless systems and processes to manage workload and scope change... even the best teachers cannot cope... and the very poor Teachers... well... they have no domain mastery to prepare child for school exams, let alone PSLE.
1. yesjanet_lee88:
Hi Chenonceau,
My son hasn't gone to sec school yet...so I do not know much about it.
Neighbour's son in Sec 1 told me no more models (Math), algebra is the way to go. English is not taught...no textbook either.
1) Are primary school teachers trained to teach ?
2) Can primary school teachers equip P6 students knowledge to do well for PSLE ?
3) If the answer to both questions is YES, then why do our kids have to go for tuition ?
2. yes
3. because kiasu parents scared to lose out to the next kid who may score higher than own kid - scared to lose face, scared the child cannot get into preferred school, scared to lose bragging rights among relatives during CNY dinner .... the list goes on
ok I am not Chen -
cherryc:
I was told some teachers from good schools like nanyang pri go home earlier and happily. So maybe the school environment does breed good nurturing teachers and better students. And maybe the teachers have more time to prepare materials, all maybe after all, the kids are just rich enough to attend the elitist tuitions or have well-educated parents to teach them.
That's just it! We should stop blaming the Teachers. Good organisations get good performance out of average and poor performers. They don't just point the finger at Teachers and say \"They're incompetent\" and at parents and say \"They're kiasu\". -
verykiasu2010:
What if we tell you we are not , would you believe us ? My friends and I do not compare to the next person, but I am only worried as a whole generation, we lost out to the external environment if WE ALL go off the wrong track. Many parents have other means to send their kids overseas etc and they may do as well if not better. I would appreciate all those with successful careers and successful kids to share their experience instead to fill up the gaps in the education system.
3. because kiasu parents scared to lose out to the next kid who may score higher than own kid - scared to lose face, scared the child cannot get into preferred school, scared to lose bragging rights among relatives during CNY dinner .... the list goes on
From the link :
http://singaporemind.blogspot.sg/2012/03/importance-of-expectations-in-education.html
\"\"You think about it ...does it make sense to put our children through this intense competition in education only to have them lose out when it comes to university places and jobs to foreigners later on? The whole system puts Singaporeans on a treadmill to no where. The intense competition in the school system merely serve to push down our own children into pigeon holes of declining expectations to enter a workforce in which they have little edge over some one from Philippines, China or India. This whole system is not about making the Singaporeans better than everyone else but making the Singaporean as bad as everyone else.\"\" -
Ok dunno whether this if :offtopic: ornot but will share this.
Think I may have mentioned this before.
My DS1 is in K1. My MIL, a tutor for many moons herself, is obsessed with preparing my son with P1 stuff NOW. Her reason?? \"The competition, the competition\" ... she has been duly influenced by the parents of her pupils.
I am at my wits end. Its a losing battle for me cuz my DS is not stressed, but rather enjoys being nourished academically. My DH was also prepared before entering P1. But he burnt out a little. And he was bored in class. Thank goodness he was not disruptive.
So what am I doing about it?? Teaching and reminding him (preparing him for the future) to be considerate and helpful in class. What else can I do