Alternative use for tuition

[Chenonceau]

slmkhoo:

Nebbermind:

[quote=\"atrecord\"]

Shouldn't teachers be the one to:
- give good notes to the students
- and more so, make sure that the students understand what the textbook is talking about?

Actually, it's also a little surprising: all textbooks used in Singapore schools are approved by MOE, so if the textbook you used was so bad, how did it get approved in the first place?

Maybe coz I was a science student, I donch remember getting at notes from teachers when I was in sec school....all we had was just textbk.

Is textbook not enough?

Unfortunately, no. Pr textbooks are terrible, and sec school textbooks are only slightly better. I recall my own textbooks as very dense - lots of words, facts, hardly any illustrations except for the essentials. Boring, but useful. Nowadays, textbooks are colourful, low on text, and filled with not very useful 'interesting' sidenotes. They are not very much use for self-study or teaching. Hence the demand for notes, I suppose. I think MOE's textbook writers have forgotten the main purpose of textbooks. They are meant primarily to provide materials for learning, not be pretty and 'interesting'. They also waste a lot of (good-quality) paper by giving so little info on every page.

On notes: I also believe that teachers should provide some notes for guidance as to the scope of the syllabus and some key facts, but that students should be responsible for compiling their own study notes. That exercise alone will help them master most of the material.[/quote]Agree.Agree.Agree.

The problem of bad textbooks is exacerbated in primary by the relatively younger age and higher dependency. In secondary, I found a way around bad textbooks without resorting to tuition by dropping DD of at any uni library nearby. Textbooks at secondary ARE somewhat better... somewhat...

[verykiasumummy]

i find that its the test contents that are the killers!!


pri textbooks only gave simple examples and some easy problems to work with… but when it comes to test n exams, the question suddenly became so hard… no wonder pri kids have a higher tendency to go for tuition!!

my eldest dd no longer go for tuition ever since he went to sec 1… not only busy with hw n activities, there is no longer a need to because he told me most of the things from the text are the questions that will come out in exam… nothing too challenging for him so long as he is good with the textbook…

[Nebbermind]

Yup, have to agree on the pri school text. Why hasn’t someone complained to the MOE, esp the science textbook???

[verykiasumummy]

but i feel it is good training for pri students too… in a way, so they wouldnt be just sticking to the text n refuse to do assmt books…

[verykiasumummy]

slmkhoo:

verykiasumummy:

but i feel it is good training for pri students too... in a way, so they wouldnt be just sticking to the text n refuse to do assmt books...

But why should they be doing assessment books? It's a highly Singaporean thing that I believe grew out of the gap left by inadequate textbooks and teachers not covering the full range of material. If the textbooks contain enough, and teachers teach all of it, then there will be no need for additional materials. I see no reason to do assessment books for assessment books' sake. If a child has interest and time, there are lots of other reading and activities to do rather than assessment books.

u may find it ridiculous, but that makes the difference with other countries' education system.. why so many neighbouring countries strive to come to sg to study? because of the system as well...

no doubts there is no absolute right or wrong in this, just different points of views, but learning is a process that should be nurtured young...

[Nebbermind]

slmkhoo:

verykiasumummy:

but i feel it is good training for pri students too... in a way, so they wouldnt be just sticking to the text n refuse to do assmt books...

But why should they be doing assessment books? It's a highly Singaporean thing that I believe grew out of the gap left by inadequate textbooks and teachers not covering the full range of material. If the textbooks contain enough, and teachers teach all of it, then there will be no need for additional materials. I see no reason to do assessment books for assessment books' sake. If a child has interest and time, there are lots of other reading and activities to do rather than assessment books.

Think Chen has a thread on this sometme back...

[Nebbermind]

verykiasumummy:

u may find it ridiculous, but that makes the difference with other countries' education system.. why so many neighbouring countries strive to come to sg to study? because of the system as well...

no doubts there is no absolute right or wrong in this, just different points of views, but learning is a process that should be nurtured young...

My guess is that (especially for Math), th SG system test beyond the kids' age for pr school.

[verykiasumummy]

Nebbermind:

verykiasumummy:

u may find it ridiculous, but that makes the difference with other countries' education system.. why so many neighbouring countries strive to come to sg to study? because of the system as well...

no doubts there is no absolute right or wrong in this, just different points of views, but learning is a process that should be nurtured young...

My guess is that (especially for Math), th SG system test beyond the kids' age for pr school.

both math n sci in fact...

i was one of the tops for sci back in my days... i thought the pri syllabus couldnt be of any challenge to me untill my eldest ds few yrs back when he was going thru his test paper with me... it all got so different, and i really made a very hard effort to read up on all those reference, guides, texts all over again to get to the bottom of what the kids are doing these days... really hard!!!

[Chenonceau]

Nebbermind:

slmkhoo:

But why should they be doing assessment books? It's a highly Singaporean thing that I believe grew out of the gap left by inadequate textbooks and teachers not covering the full range of material. If the textbooks contain enough, and teachers teach all of it, then there will be no need for additional materials. I see no reason to do assessment books for assessment books' sake. If a child has interest and time, there are lots of other reading and activities to do rather than assessment books.

Think Chen has a thread on this sometme back...

Hah? I do? Anyway... I think I only pushed the thinking as far as inadequate textbooks. I dun think I wrote much about assessment books except that most are mind numbingly BORING and that I could never bring myself to get my kids to do assessment books because I would fall asleep marking them!!

I completely agree with the part in red too.

[Chenonceau]

verykiasumummy:

both math n sci in fact...

i was one of the tops for sci back in my days... i thought the pri syllabus couldnt be of any challenge to me untill my eldest ds few yrs back when he was going thru his test paper with me... it all got so different, and i really made a very hard effort to read up on all those reference, guides, texts all over again to get to the bottom of what the kids are doing these days... really hard!!!

:snuggles: :snuggles: I'm bad at Math and Science. I don't even try to read up. I make DS do it instead and smile at him when he explains to me. I'm good at English though... 98th percentile of GMAT global norms... BUT hor... when I wrote a compo for DS to pass up, I only scored 28/40.

So... yeah... I understand how you feel.