Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition

[Chenonceau]

Funz:

Chenonceau:

Did you expect me to shoot you? Gee... I am a bit perturbed if you do. As I recall, I jut lay down the logic and argumentation clearly. Apologies to all if I intimidate. I don't mean to.

Yes... I get you. Balanced view right?

For me, it's just that I didn't believe in guiding my kids at all academically. I had always focused more on character and food and play. But when exams test what teachers don't teach, then well... I have to teach. So... in essence, I am DS' tutor? Does that make sense to you?

Hence, since I teach what the school did not teach but did test, I conclude that kids learn what they need to know to cope with exams from tutors. How is that over-crediting my role as DS' tutor. I don't think I am being imbalanced here. It is a logical and balanced conclusion from what I have experienced.

I didn't guide DS at all in Lower Primary. We bought our first assessment book in end-P3. DS had no enrichment before P1... no tuition... no guidance from me.

I didn't know I was supposed to guide in academics too. I didn't do that with DD and she did fine simply because I built character. I thought that if I taught my kids to be diligent, hardworking (character education), the academics will sort themselves out... but no matter how good a boy he was, DS couldn't keep up... and when I sat down in P5 to analyze gap between exams and homework practice, I knew I had to step into the academic gap.

I now have to teach. If a parent can't teach, then tutors need to teach what Teachers don't. Funz, does that make sense to you?

SAHMTan... if my comments today make a difference to how MOE runs it schools, may your children get to P5 and be spared the trauma my son went through because he had a Mommy who was as laid back as you.

See. riddled with bullet holes liao. Hahah. Ok just teasing you.

I am not referring to you per se when I wrote that. Your situation with your son is genuine and I may encounter the same issue when DD hits upper primary. You deserve every credit where your son is concern.

I do have friends telling me of similar problems. And I also see a lot of other friends who are on the other end of the scale. I will not use my experience as DD is still in lower primary. But looking at my niece she took her PSLE 2 yrs ago, no kumon, no TLL, no tuition, no parental guidance, well only Tien Hsia and she scored 253. She is not gifted, not in GEP but she is a serious and diligent girl. How I wish DD is more like her.

Another friend's kid, same thing, no additional classes, average kid in school, scored 240+. Then another who complain a lot about how the schools don't teach, etc, tuition in everything and the kid scored 220+. All are in different schools. Among my friends and while tracking the progress of my ex students, I see a good mix of those who go for every possible tuition and enrichment and those who do not and their results are just as mixed.

For now with DD & DS, their teachers in school do teach. And mummy needs to step in only when they do not fully understand what teacher has covered. I fill in the gaps. This gap could be a result of the teacher not teaching but it could also be a result of my kid not grasping what was taught or not paying enough attention.

Bottom line, tuition and enrichments do have their purpose and advantages and some are really truly good. But to give them all the credit for every kid that aces his/her exam and saying they are doing so well not because of the school is being too lopsided. I feel.

Ok, going to mend the holes in my shirt oredi.

Meanie.

[Chenonceau]

SAHM_TAN:

I'm trying to understand.


What sort of practice qns are not enough in maths textbks?

Whatever sort of qns or areas that my dd1 is weak in, I just write out similar qns for her to practice. I just change the names of the characters and qty hor, nothing complicated. Oh I hate maths, don't understand models, heuristics, and don't see the point of IQ like qns for P1 :rotflmao:

It seems the new normal that parents have to \"write out similar qns for her to practice\". I don't find it normal at all because my parents never did that for me. I never did that for DD. If that is the new normal accepted by parents, then I don't have to feel paiseh for making money off parents who wanna learn how to teach their kids positively.

That can only be good for me and mine. :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

[Funz]

Chenonceau:

Meanie.

Me? Noooo... I'm :imanangel:

[Chenonceau]

Funz:

Chenonceau:

Meanie.

Me? Noooo... I'm :imanangel:

[limlim]

Chenonceau:

verykiasu2010:

my kids' cousins attended Kumon and found them hopeless and useless. of course they quit.

what do their profit-loss reports say?

They are successful salesman.

[Chenonceau]

Funz:

Among my friends and while tracking the progress of my ex students, I see a good mix of those who go for every possible tuition and enrichment and those who do not and their results are just as mixed.

I am not surprised. I notice this too.

I am probably the most expensive tutor I can find for DS but after discussion with my husband, we both thought that there was no way to pre-ascertain tutor quality... and we had no time in end-P4 and early P5 to try out tutors, change tutors and all... I bit the bullet and got down to work... even for Chinese, in which I am illiterate.

[verykiasu2010]

Funz:

Before I get shot to bits. I declare first, I am not saying there is nothing wrong with the education system in Singapore but just need to understand certain things that I keep reading.


There have been many posts that say tutors and enrichment centres are the ones teaching, not the schools. I find that improbable. How is it that a tutor can cover the entire syllabus within that 2hrs once a week while the school with 5 days and min of 45mins each session is doing such a dismal job.

I am in the midst of switching my kids from TienHsia to private tuition for chinese. To me, it is not because the school is not doing its job teaching, but due to our family's lack of Chinese proficiency, we are unable to guide our kids. As they have very limited exposure to the language, they need to revise but left on their own, we as parents and they, our kids have no idea where to begin and hence the tutor to facilitate their revision and focus on areas in which they are weak. Are they failing? No, but I do not want to wait and see, for base on experience, I know how hard it is to play catch up and how easy it is to hate a subject and totally give up on it.

So while we have our frustrations with the school system, we need to balance our perspective, no? Give credit where it is due and not over credit where it is not due.

:goodpost: :goodpost:

[SAHM_TAN]

Chenonceau:

SAHM_TAN:

I'm trying to understand.


What sort of practice qns are not enough in maths textbks?

Whatever sort of qns or areas that my dd1 is weak in, I just write out similar qns for her to practice. I just change the names of the characters and qty hor, nothing complicated. Oh I hate maths, don't understand models, heuristics, and don't see the point of IQ like qns for P1 :rotflmao:

It seems the new normal that parents have to \"write out similar qns for her to practice\". I don't find it normal at all because my parents never did that for me. I never did that for DD. If that is the new normal accepted by parents, then I don't have to feel paiseh for making money off parents who wanna learn how to teach their kids positively.

That can only be good for me and mine. :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

new normal? I don't see it as new normal or not normal. A teacher's concern towards my children will not be the same as mine. A teacher's responsibilities towards my children will not be the same as mine.

I am not against you. I have learnt alot from your posts.

[Chenonceau]

SAHM_TAN:

new normal? I don't see it as new normal or not normal. A teacher's concern towards my children will not be the same as mine. A teacher's responsibilities towards my children will not be the same as mine.

I am not against you. I have learnt alot from your posts.

I agree with your words in red completely. And I don't think you're against me in any personal way. You're just clarifying your thinking. Words are uni-dimensional images on a page. Hard to flesh out every meaning.

In my previous worldview (and in my current worldview) too, I believed that Teachers' concern should not be same as mine. Teachers teach. I look after health and morals. Like I said, I never had to devise similar questions for DD... I fed her, encouraged her, scolded her, held her accountable for her work.

I did not mark practices and all that. Her Teachers did all that. For you, it is indeed very acceptable to be assigning practices to your child and marking them. To me, that is not normal/acceptable... though I have resigned myself to having to do so for my son.

[Suz855]

I think the school is trying to do too many things n end up leaving a lot of gaps for parents, tutor to fill. Most school each lesson is around 1/2 an hour, teachers move in n out n one innovative school which my dd happen to study in try moving students around classes too due to a few marks difference as they try to ensure student with the same calibre learn together but they fail miserably to understand or trying not to recognise that there is no differentiation in the teaching at all due to the quality of their teaching staffs. Anyway back to the 30 minutes, teacher come in lecture here n there abit ... Before more in depth teaching or discussion the period is over ... So what if our kids spend a lot of time in school , how much time did real teaching take place, I wonder. On another hand, we send our kids for tuition or enrichment, each session is at least an hr to 2 hr long, they are subject specific, the kids have time to settle n as the class is usually smaller or best 1 to 1, the kids learn, practice n get instant feedback ...so I am not surprise why some kids don't get it in school strive after tuition ... :sad: