MOE to scrap Banding for Secondary Schools
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daisyt:
:goodpost: This bothered a lot of people in the past. Those with kids who are good in everything and at studies won't feel the lack of opportunity. Those with average kids feel it keenly. Taking away banding with its concentration on awards means that schools won't feel pressured to focus 80% of the resources on the top 20%...to achieve better school ranking. Schools are not profit driven corporate entities. They embody a mission of love. They are the mothering arm of our govt. There is a reason why women tend to be less competitive and more nurturing than men. We are the Loving heartHs (the play on words heart and hearths is intentional) of families... gentle, understanding, patient with little ones... waiting to see where we can mould them into good people.Exactly! Why must CCA be so competitve and whatever gold, silver, bronze in SYF? Sec school CCA has become another stress. It is not based on your interest but more on your strength. I am good in sports doesn't mean I would want to take sports CCA. If I am so keen in sports, I would have go to Sports school. So why am I not given new opportunity to try something different which I might develope the interest later on? I love singing but I might not sing well, why can't I be admitted to choir and learn to sing well?
I believe, we should always be open to try new things. No try, how to know you like it or not? No try, how to know if you are good for it or not?
And how about if a particular CCA is not performing well in competition, then remove the CCA? Yes, I have heard of such case. I find this ridiculous!
How about creaming out the best of the best and make them the best best? And leave those not the best ones feel demoralize?
We should cultivate a kind society from school. The good ones, help the weaker ones and learn what is sharing. It is very sad to see young teens to behave selfishly, not willing to help the weaker students, do CIP for the sake of clocking CIP hours. In the first place, what is the purpose of CIP if there is a min hours to clock? I simply cannot understand ...
Can a mother afford to mould only her best children?
The awards and ranking are systems of management that work in manufacturing. They work well because those organizations produce machines. Singaporeans, according to some, are of inferior stock. But we are the children of this country. I know my son is not gifted. He isn't the best in many things he does. He is of inferior stock because I am of inferior stock. I still love him.
I so very much like the part that you wrote about cultivating a kind society from school. -
Chenonceau:
Haha Chenonceau, very humble of you but many people wouldn't consider those with PhDs as poor stock! It requires so much hardwork, perseverance and ambition to attain a doctorate. If our schools are able to turn everyone into hardworking souls, it would be a great achievement for the economy. I can safely say that all the mugging prowess imbued in many university graduates is an indication of success for the system; it demonstrates the embrace of diligence and determination quite nicely.
:goodpost: This bothered a lot of people in the past. Those with kids who are good in everything and at studies won't feel the lack of opportunity. Those with average kids feel it keenly. Taking away banding with its concentration on awards means that schools won't feel pressured to focus 80% of the resources on the top 20%...to achieve better school ranking. Schools are not profit driven corporate entities. They embody a mission of love. They are the mothering arm of our govt. There is a reason why women tend to be less competitive and more nurturing than men. We are the Loving heartHs (the play on words heart and hearths is intentional) of families... gentle, understanding, patient with little ones... waiting to see where we can mould them into good people.
Can a mother afford to mould only her best children?
The awards and ranking are systems of management that work in manufacturing. They work well because those organizations produce machines. Singaporeans, according to some, are of inferior stock. But we are the children of this country. I know my son is not gifted. He isn't the best in many things he does. He is of inferior stock because I am of inferior stock. I still love him.
I so very much like the part that you wrote about cultivating a kind society from school.
I'm not sure if the removal of banding will have direct effect on raising the level of diligence in students, but the relook of the assessment of teachers' performance could do something good there. -
To box a young child into a particular CCA for 4 - 6 years is to kill their interest and restrict them from exploring. This is a very effective way to kill the cat in the child. Hence, Singapore needs FT do get medals because the locals are so sick of their sports.
btw it is extremely hard for your child to get into the cca you like. To be in the school swimming team, your child ought to start training COMPETITIVE swimming at kindergarten age. To be in the school chinese orchestra your child needs to be able to play an instrument, yes, they ought to start at age 5.
What will I do if I get the pay check of ah heng?
Continue CCA that is but do away with all these unnecessary national inter school competition. But let the sports cca participate in the bi-annually fun and social bonding event - Singapore National Games. As for the art cca let then participate and perform in the Singapore Arts Festival.
If a child is serious with his/her sports then let him/her join the respective national sports association and recognize it as CCA. -
I think the removal of banding will make students LESS diligent. Now my son is TOO diligent.
I can't believe it... for this whole year, he was not allowed to run and get sweaty at recess so as not to stink up the classroom. His school as a lovely green grass field and the children aren't allowed to play there. Sports must be played in the sports hall. My son started wearing glasses this year.... study too hard... not enough sun. The last I heard kids cannot run across the quadrangle.
I am so glad I allowed him space to catch grasshoppers... jump in rain puddles... use his own body as a canvas... fight with me over gardening space... sell French Fries in the school bus after school.... hop from one CCA to another (NONE of them academic). I can't believe that one particular parent who sends her own son to all sorts of academic CCAs AND also tuition can pontificate to ME about not being kiasu. My son, at least, had a childhood in lower primary. Of course, we paid a high price in Upper Primary. There was so much to catch up on... at least 3 years worth of Chinese. But man... DS said it was worth it. For the fun he had, he said, the lousy grades were worth it.
It's a bit like getting punished after you had stolen and EATEN someone's ice cream. Yup... there is a heavy payback BUT man! That ice cream was good. We stole his childhood back from the educational system for him.
Me... I dunno. I think I paid a heavier price than he did. First, I felt guilty that I had not been more kiasu. And THEN, in P5 and P6, I felt guilty because I made him study so hard... so hard... so hard. Then I had to scale back my work and become a housewife almost. Lost earnings. Loss in my own self-esteem (for a while)... now I don't regret a thing.
With schools and teachers lifting their feet of the academic acceleration pedal, I think my son and I will be a lot more playful and a lot less diligent. Taking away banding will help us play more.
The too high value placed on diligence has made my family go the other way. In the past 2 years, I tell the all and sundry \"Laziness is a virtue\". DD, all 8 A level distinctions of her, touts the life philosophy of \"Driftology\", defined as... why try so hard... watch, wait and grab the opportunities. Work smart. Not hard.
AND this is a family who USED to believe in diligence. Anything in extreme is no good.
Edited: Just saw simkhoo's post... :goodpost: I agree with you. -
slmkhoo:
Hey slmkhoo, agreed that we need to maximize our children's talents in areas where they have passion. It'll help Singapore a lot more.
Why would you want to see a raising of the level of diligence in students? I think many students are already spending too much time on mugging to meet exam requirements. I would hope that students would be diligent enough to acquire the knowledge required to equip them for their next stage of life, but also make efforts to develop other strengths. Some poor souls who can only manage academic stuff will have to limit themselves to academic work, but those with other skills and talents are much-needed in society. If the whole of society were Phd holders, the nation would grind to a halt and probably starve to death! I'm not saying that Phd holders are entirely useless (I'm happily married to one), but there are many things they can't do well despite their brain-power. I feel that what our society needs is to increase our appreciation for non-academic skills and talents, and more importantly, be willing to encourage our children to take on those roles if that is where their talents lie.AceTutors123:
Haha Chenonceau, very humble of you but many people wouldn't consider those with PhDs as poor stock! It requires so much hardwork, perseverance and ambition to attain a doctorate. If our schools are able to turn everyone into hardworking souls, it would be a great achievement for the economy. I can safely say that all the mugging prowess imbued in many university graduates is an indication of success for the system; it demonstrates the embrace of diligence and determination quite nicely.
I'm not sure if the removal of banding will have direct effect on raising the level of diligence in students, but the relook of the assessment of teachers' performance could do something good there.
Perhaps everyone's kids here are in really good schools and are very well taken care of by their families, but are we forgetting the those in the normal streams? Given how many of them are spending their time after school, I seriously think our system needs to instill the notion of hardwork more strongly into many of them. Definitely does not have to be in the academic arena alone, but it should be their areas of strength in the non-academic aspects. -
Is it really that a balance cannot be achieved? That it’s either play or academic excellence?
I’m trying for the middle path and see how it goes. -
SAHM_TAN:
Yes yes SAHM TAN, a balance is what we need. Both for the overworked students to play more, and for the underworked students to be more hardworking in general.Is it really that a balance cannot be achieved? That it's either play or academic excellence?
I'm trying for the middle path and see how it goes. -
AceTutors123:
You don't raise diligence by forcing hard work on Normal Stream kids. The populace in Mauritius descended from slaves who were forced too work too hard and not given a sense of pride. It is said that the Mauritian workforce is an extremely UNdiligent one.
Hey slmkhoo, agreed that we need to maximize our children's talents in areas where they have passion. It'll help Singapore a lot more.
Perhaps everyone's kids here are in really good schools and are very well taken care of by their families, but are we forgetting the those in the normal streams? Given how many of them are spending their time after school, I seriously think our system needs to instill the notion of hardwork more strongly into many of them. Definitely does not have to be in the academic arena alone, but it should be their areas of strength in the non-academic aspects.
You raise diligence by honoring every child's right to PLAY. No matter how bad things got this year and last, I forbade my son to work on Sundays. At first, it was Saturdays too but the pressure got to us and we gave in on the Saturdays. When I plan his work schedule, I plan DAYS OF PLAY. Since my son is secure in the knowledge that there WILL BE play days, he focuses well on work days. He knows that he won't be allowed to work in the 2 weeks leading up to the exams and he can't touch his books DURING exam weeks... so he had better get all his studying done BEFORE.
You raise diligence by giving the child some sense of pride and success. It was important to me that he experience some top-of-class moments because that gave him a sense of pride within a community where grades are used to bitch about friends.
Do adults honor the Normal stream kids' right to play? Do we give them a sense of pride in who they are? -
ST Forum Letters
Published on Sep 14, 2012
Resolve unhealthy stress in schools
IN ABOLISHING the banding of secondary schools ("MOE scraps secondary school banding"; yesterday), Education Minister Heng Swee Keat touched on the stress faced by students, which concerns parents like me.
I am a psychiatrist and my son finished his primary schooling with relatively manageable stress. Four years on, my daughter faces a much more difficult time.
The amount of homework given by teachers - who often do not coordinate with one another although they are supposed to - is unbelievable.
I spend more than $1,000 a month on my children’s tuition for Chinese and mathematics because my wife, who was a teacher, and I can no longer help my daughter as the levels of difficulty of the school work are beyond us.
Physical education classes are often replaced by make-up lessons, or the duration of recess is reduced to give teachers more time to teach.
I am glad the ministry has now started to act.
The question is, how will its pronouncements translate into action and plans?
As a psychiatrist, I am well aware of the deleterious effects of undue stress on the mental health of children.
While parents do not want a system absent of stress, the current state is unhealthy.
American wit and novelist Mark Twain once quipped that he would not let his schooling interfere with his education.
But I believe this is what is happening here.
The number of school children seeking mental health care is on the rise, and many are scarred psychologically due to the labelling and stigma of being unable to cope.
The ministry must roll out specific action plans to address this pertinent issue, and parents must come together to lobby for reform.
Joshua Kua (Dr) -
SAHM_TAN:
I think we achieved both. But it did mean that I pulled him out of school sometimes to protect his play time.Is it really that a balance cannot be achieved? That it's either play or academic excellence?
I'm trying for the middle path and see how it goes.
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