Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition

[BeContented]

buds:

BeContented:

Personally, I think many of us do not realise that we are full of contradictions...... I can say whatever I like to hear, whatever I hope people like to hear and form the image I try to portray.........but at the day, action speaks louder than words. Cos' after doing something, still can give all sorts of reasoning/excuses :siam:

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php

ha ha..... am going to become PE soon (public enemy) :evil:

[Chenonceau]

verykiasu2010:

limlim:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]

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\".

I blame MOE for defective policies.

even for burger king and macdonald, not all burgers or fries are exactly the same from store to store even though within the chain they share the same manual and procedures....what more a school[/quote]If it is different, I cannot tell the difference and that is what matters. The degree of variance between quality of schools is so stark it cannot be ignored.

[janet88]

puff:

limlim:

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..

I got a teacher friend who start work at 6am and most days finish at 6pm or later.... That is 12 hrs of work everyday. To me that seems tough.

Hubby almost did a career switch few months ago. Pay cut is too much...almost $2K difference. In the end, we decided this is too painful and tomgive it a miss. Teachers have to reach school by 715am. Work doesn't end when school ends...there is marking and lesson plan. A reliable source said MOE events are done by teachers who have yet to be NIE trained.

If there is a need to go overseas, teachers who are not trained will be the ones who have to take such assignments.

[LOLMum]

teacher’s job scope doesnt cover just teaching.


there are cca, school events like drama night, fun fair, founder’s day celebration and dinner, open house etc that need the teachers to be heavily involved.

dont forget about overseas trips…

so many things to do as a teacher now…

[BeContented]

LOLMum:

teacher's job scope doesnt cover just teaching.


there are cca, school events like drama night, fun fair, founder's day celebration and dinner, open house etc that need the teachers to be heavily involved.

dont forget about overseas trips.............

so many things to do as a teacher now....

Hmmmm......was watching variety show....and realised.
Used to be easier to be teacher, main criteria is passion for teaching and can teach.
Just like singers of older days....passion for singing and can sing.

Singers these days have to juggle with soooo many different form of skills....sing, dance, act, host programmes, bring tour groups.
Teachers these days also not easy...... after a hard day of juggling sooo much work, most I believe would prefer to rest? To still moonlight....perhaps there is really a genuine need?

[Kissgurami]

Real Reason behind my enrichments (not tuition) for my kids but not an obsession


My P1 girl (DD1) attends chinese and maths enrichment. I will say she is competent enough to do without chinese enrichment. Why she attends it? Couple of reasons, exposure to the culture, believe that natural love in the subject means doing well for it naturally and since mandarin is used sparsely at home. Why? not because I don't like it but mainly due to my british BF. It also scares me that my fellow colleagues doesn't speak mandarin or have trouble writing an email in chinese especially when you have China to deal with. my K2 girl (DD2) goes for chinese as well so that gives that 2 hours to pedicure & massage. Time out.

Maths? her weakness. I can :slapshead: :faint: just by teaching her on my own and I dislike yelling at her due to my lack of patience. This happened in K2 with assessment books. No fault of the teachers. So outsourced the once a week teaching to reduce yelling at home. It also gives me a comfort feel that at least someone is teaching her once a week. my K2 girl? Nope, no intention of signing her for maths. She gets maths just like that so it is easier to teach her without me :rant: :frustrated: .

P1 started, DD1 does her work & homework in school. Her comment is teacher has taught her so she knows how to do it. Her only gripe was music homework during march holidays. That was the only time she asked for help to explain the notes as she forgot.

I have not crossed paths with \"rogue\" teachers yet nor hit the stress partially maybe it is still early. I even thought that the whole preparation for P1 is over-hyped and really made me to believe it is a killer. Wiser now ,so I am taking easy with my DD2 due P1 next year.

DD1 also has such a loving teacher and concern for her well being. Surprisingly, it is due to the easy access and availability of enrichments which I find it hard to shift to UK. It is not compulsory and is an option which I have at my disposable.

Teacher wise, I respect them. :salute: Work from home? Can’t. Take vacation on special days? Tough if it doesn’t fall within term holidays. MNC definitely pay better unless benchmarking against SME though some SME can afford decent increments.

Moonlighting, there isn’t critical information or security breach to “ban” it or image/reputation risk to list it in their contract . I would say no moonlighting be it for whatever reasons to the person drafting the questions for PSLE. As for why it is not imposed for the teachers, maybe it is a compromise to let them earn the pocket money since there are no actual reasons to say no. Then again, if some “rogue” teachers do compromise the education of the students then it should be flagged up repeatedly with reason so that MOE can review or compromise with tougher ruling?

Within an organization, it is already tough to ensure you have consistency in caliber and mindset which is why as leaders or bosses, EQ and various sessions are conducted to adapt to each individual or leadership style. I can see an uphill task to ensure the consistency for 185 primary schools which means ruling with an iron hand where only the 1 place (MOE) sets and plans everything, people just follow and do.

[buds]

fightingmom:

verykiasu2010:

welcome to explore our singapore system ...... our england all returned to england alredi and now we practise singlish ....

Aiyo VK2010, optimistforum may catch no ball what you mean by singlish since he is a foreigner... May I have the honor to give you some examples :

Our Singlish. What it mean
Can lah. - Yes
Can leh. - Yes. of course
Can lor. - Yes, I think so.
Can hah ? - Are you sure?
Can hor ? - Are you sure then.
Can meh ? - Can or not?
Can can. - Confirm.
Can gua. - Maybe.
Can liao. - Already can / Done
Can wor. - Yea.
Can liao la. - ok, enough.

Ok can liao la... better :siam: fast before moderator catch me for :offtopic:

Fightingmom, you may need to quickly include a new one to your growing Singlish dictionary.. after this. :yikes:

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=780900#p780900

for f*** = for what/what for

........... before others really think it is intended to really get what *f* is for!

:offtopic:

[fightingmom]

buds:

fightingmom:

[quote=\"verykiasu2010\"]
welcome to explore our singapore system ...... our england all returned to england alredi and now we practise singlish ....

Aiyo VK2010, optimistforum may catch no ball what you mean by singlish since he is a foreigner... May I have the honor to give you some examples :

Our Singlish. What it mean
Can lah. - Yes
Can leh. - Yes. of course
Can lor. - Yes, I think so.
Can hah ? - Are you sure?
Can hor ? - Are you sure then.
Can meh ? - Can or not?
Can can. - Confirm.
Can gua. - Maybe.
Can liao. - Already can / Done
Can wor. - Yea.
Can liao la. - ok, enough.

Ok can liao la... better :siam: fast before moderator catch me for :offtopic:

Fightingmom, you may need to quickly include a new one to your growing Singlish dictionary.. after this. :yikes:

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=780900#p780900

for f*** = for what/what for

........... before others really think it is intended to really get what *f* is for!

:offtopic:[/quote] :faint:

[Chenonceau]

Kissgurami:

Within an organization, it is already tough to ensure you have consistency in caliber and mindset which is why as leaders or bosses, EQ and various sessions are conducted to adapt to each individual or leadership style. I can see an uphill task to ensure the consistency for 185 primary schools which means ruling with an iron hand where only the 1 place (MOE) sets and plans everything, people just follow and do.

Thanks for your nicely balanced post...

I think though... that ruling with an iron hand is not the only way to get product/service consistency... just like motivation can go way beyond bribes or threats (or pay and promotion). There are other strategies. But as long as people perceive that consistency = iron hand then they will not search for these other strategies... and nothing will improve.

[limlim]

verykiasu2010:

limlim:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]

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\".

I blame MOE for defective policies.

even for burger king and macdonald, not all burgers or fries are exactly the same from store to store even though within the chain they share the same manual and procedures....what more a school[/quote]If the BK and Mac does not control the meat source and allow outlets to choose freely, these will certainly have a significant impact on the quality of the burgers and is deemed a defective policy that is under the jurisdiction of the HQ management right?

And, my comment is largely targeted at a specific area, where MOE did not disallow moonlight by its teachers. This is so wrong, IMO. It has nothing to with individual outlets but rather the rules set by HQ that could have an impact of the quality downstream.