PM Says new Stat Board to oversee pre-school education
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Musings:
I later found out that people who find P1 tough are those who need to TOP the class or cohort... Different league.
I don't agree with this. My first son is in P1 and the syllabus is v manageable. In fact on hindsight almost all preschool syllabus more than cover P1 work. in fact I just complain to my second son's preschool - which my elder son also attended that it is ridiculous to expect N2 kids to master addition within 20 when this is exactly what my older son is doing in first semester P1. I was told I was the oddball because all the parents want their kids to 'accelerate' and learn all these stuff in the name of preparation for P1. Such attitudes are what is taking away our children's childhood. I don't blame the preschool because they are responding to demands of parents.rinoa538:
PM Lee says, let your children have their childhood.
How to? The education system took away their childhood!
Take a look at Primary 1 textbook, no wonder parents are preparing kids before entering P1.
For parents whose kids are not yet in primary school, it is easy to be swayed by hearsay about the many things kids need to know by P1 and go into an overdrive. It is not necessary. If the kids are keen on learning, by all means accelerate and give them more advanced stuff but it is not true P1 syllabus is that demanding. Now I know P1 is not the monster people make it out to be and I am taking it easy for second son - go with his interest and give him stuff when he is ready to learn. I do not want my son to look back and only recall his preschool years to be filled with endless classes and worksheets. -
3Boys:
Same here, my child plays all her life, even now.
Some teaching in pre-school is useful preparation, but one does not need tuition or double session kindy's to manage. I have 3 kids, and all they do is 3 hours of preschool. They all enjoyed/enjoying the preschool, can't see how anyone can say that the education system has taken away their childhood. All down to parent's choices, in my view.rinoa538:
PM Lee says, let your children have their childhood.
How to? The education system took away their childhood!
Take a look at Primary 1 textbook, no wonder parents are preparing kids before entering P1. -
How come no1 :rahrah: for paternity leave?
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ksi:
Just noticed you have nice eyelashes (the better to see us with)
Same here, my child plays all her life, even now.
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3Boys:
Hoooowwwwwwwwwwl.....Think I have to live up to my WOLF name...
Just noticed you have nice eyelashes (the better to see us with)ksi:
Same here, my child plays all her life, even now.
Having said this, my playful child cannot be the norm these days...so I will still support the motion of playschool.....I mean preschool giving the children some idea how to handle P1 even though my own child went to P1 quite blindly...with only Chinese best equipped. -
Pen88n:
I think it depends on which level you are coming in from. Those parents of this forum are generally well-educated and able to guide their kids by cultivating reading, learning habits at home and enriching their experiences. However, there are some lowly educated parents out there who are unable to guide, or teach their kids. These are the kids who attend the lower end preschool, and are inadequately prepared for P1. They also have no external party (tutor / tuition centre) to turn to should they have problems with school work etc. These are the ones who really deserve the government's attention and intervention to ensure they are given the opportunity through levelling the playing field for preschool.
Agree. But, even after leveling the playing field for pre schools, when the kids enter into primary school, the field becomes unbalanced again :sad: Given the current disparity in primary school teaching standards (please don't say all primary schools are the same - obviously they are not...why put the Aaron maple leaf over the eyes :scratchhead:... Reminds me of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' story. Well, nebbermind), kids with well off parents can attend expensive, higher quality tuition to bridge the gap. So now most kids who attend the top few secondary schools tend to come from better off and more educated family backgrounds. -
Snow Crystal:
All schools are not the same indeed, the neighbourhood ones are better.Pen88n:
I think it depends on which level you are coming in from. Those parents of this forum are generally well-educated and able to guide their kids by cultivating reading, learning habits at home and enriching their experiences. However, there are some lowly educated parents out there who are unable to guide, or teach their kids. These are the kids who attend the lower end preschool, and are inadequately prepared for P1. They also have no external party (tutor / tuition centre) to turn to should they have problems with school work etc. These are the ones who really deserve the government's attention and intervention to ensure they are given the opportunity through levelling the playing field for preschool.
Agree. But, even after leveling the playing field for pre schools, when the kids enter into primary school, the field becomes unbalanced again :sad: Given the current disparity in primary school teaching standards (please don't say all primary schools are the same - obviously they are not...why put the Aaron maple leaf over the eyes :scratchhead:... Reminds me of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' story. Well, nebbermind), kids with well off parents can attend expensive, higher quality tuition to bridge the gap. So now most kids who attend the top few secondary schools tend to come from better off and more educated family backgrounds. -
Lilac66:
Some parents (who can afford) will want their kids to go for enrichment. Their reason? \"Otherwise the kids have nothing to do at home, so good to go and learn something\"The whole approach of leveling the field for preschool education with more help for the disadvantaged families is laudable. :rahrah:
Hopefully his advice not to send 4 , 5 year old kids for tuition will not fall on deaf ears.
I think, sometimes, it is good to let the kids' mind to \"idle\" and explore things at home. -
The parents with the means and aspirations will continue to send their kiddies for enrichment classes. I fully encourage exposing little ones to music, art or speech & drama type of classes. They are fun and kids benefit from playing and having fun. I hope the new anchor operator will incorporate more of this type of activities into their program. Let kids from all walks of life be exposed to this type of classes. Make our kindies fun. Focus less on the ABCs, that will come later. Focus on inquiry and exploratory based learning, and life skills.
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Imami:
Thank you musings. To hear this from someone who has walk the path is very comforting. I am one of those parents who have been \"frightened\" by what other people said. Yes, I am concerned by the demand (if any) of pri 1 but I manage control myself (not to go into over drive mode) and take the cue from my child instead.
I don't agree with this. My first son is in P1 and the syllabus is v manageable. In fact on hindsight almost all preschool syllabus more than cover P1 work. in fact I just complain to my second son's preschool - which my elder son also attended that it is ridiculous to expect N2 kids to master addition within 20 when this is exactly what my older son is doing in first semester P1. I was told I was the oddball because all the parents want their kids to 'accelerate' and learn all these stuff in the name of preparation for P1. Such attitudes are what is taking away our children's childhood. I don't blame the preschool because they are responding to demands of parents.Musings:
[quote=\"rinoa538\"]PM Lee says, let your children have their childhood.
How to? The education system took away their childhood!
Take a look at Primary 1 textbook, no wonder parents are preparing kids before entering P1.
For parents whose kids are not yet in primary school, it is easy to be swayed by hearsay about the many things kids need to know by P1 and go into an overdrive. It is not necessary. If the kids are keen on learning, by all means accelerate and give them more advanced stuff but it is not true P1 syllabus is that demanding. Now I know P1 is not the monster people make it out to be and I am taking it easy for second son - go with his interest and give him stuff when he is ready to learn. I do not want my son to look back and only recall his preschool years to be filled with endless classes and worksheets.
If he is cool about learning more advance stuff, fine and I am cool too. But if he shows signs resistance/stress, i will back off/feedback to the teachers.[/quote]Actually P1 syllabus is really manageable. Having my 2 older kids in P5 and P4, I used to think P1 is scary too... In fact my stress started when kids enter P1. Apparently the stress level never reduce but it just went higher and higher.
However recently I started to tell friends that P1 and probably P2 is actually honeymoon period so take it easy. This is after we looked at P4/ P5 requirements.... For term 3 assessments, I started to take it \"easy\" with my P1. Never expect her to get 100% but just got to train her to read instructions, check her work and make sure she understand those concepts along the way. I sort of felt that maybe this is the time to let her make mistakes and learn from it. By not having level/ class ranking in the report book sort of help too.
However, the scary part is really the peers.... Eg. my P1 dd's best pal (the boy sitting beside her) already knows his timestable while she is probably still clueless as I didn't get my kids to rote learn. I prefer them to understand the concept of timestable along the way.
So I come to a conclusion that the monster is not P1 syllabus but the kiasu parents around who prepares their children. In order to keep up, we got \"no choice\" but to keep up too as personally, I feel that if the child is able to cope well, this will increase their self-esteem. The last thing for us is for our child to think she is lagging behind her friends..... so yes it's that kiasu mindset. It's a chicken and egg story....
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