MP echoes calls for PSLE to be scrapped
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verykiasu2010:
Can use other countries education system as case studies, but not all are applicable to S'pore. There are a lot of factors that also need to be taken into consideration like our resources, economy & trade etc in S'pore. I layman can only c that far, there're more to it in building a nation so I salute LKY. :salute:
my children are sensibleMychildren:
If they start to change & implement something just because of some complains, I think that's no good. They should know why & what should be change.
Short term goals is not enough, need to c further down the road. MOE should sit down & review what the future generation should be heading to & plan accordingly. After implementing & changing, they can only c the results & outcome in another 20 or 30 years time.
I'm not from MOE & I understand its easier to say than to have it done.
vk, I'm learning to be sensible from all the seniors here so don't teach me to be notti. :nunchuk: -
cherryc:
Totally agree with Chen. The majority of us took PSLE before and we all turn out pretty balanced and unscathed. The whole 6 years of primary school life is getting very daunting for many students and parents now and scrapping PSLE may turn out to be more confusing for some groups of students and parents. I do hope the excessive stress (esply parental stress) , tuitions and parental involvements in our current education system can be alleviated.
Agree. PSLE was fine in my days. Then they introduced Pri 3 streaming. Then we have GEP. After that, they introduced IP. And then DSA...
Let's not look for sacred cows just for the sake of it. Perhaps we should start with all the other 'improvements' to the system. -
pirate:
Honestly, sometimes we try to chew more than we could take. Only PSLE and P3 streaming is across the board. GEP, IP and DSA are all options only but we would make it sound like everything affects us. I took time to understand them and once I did, there was no stress!cherryc:
Totally agree with Chen. The majority of us took PSLE before and we all turn out pretty balanced and unscathed. The whole 6 years of primary school life is getting very daunting for many students and parents now and scrapping PSLE may turn out to be more confusing for some groups of students and parents. I do hope the excessive stress (esply parental stress) , tuitions and parental involvements in our current education system can be alleviated.
Agree. PSLE was fine in my days. Then they introduced Pri 3 streaming. Then we have GEP. After that, they introduced IP. And then DSA...
Let's not look for sacred cows just for the sake of it. Perhaps we should start with all the other 'improvements' to the system.
If not for a few teachers pushing me to sign the screening for GEP for my child, I would have opted out. DSA was never on my plan for my child after I understood what it was all about from my friends during the time my child started primary school. I felt that it was not applicable to her because I wanted her to get into a school of choice based on PSLE. At the end PSLE scores still count. IP is also depending if she can cut it. If not, an express route is nothing wrong. Every road leads to Rome, most important criteria is not external, it is SELF! MOE just provides options and parents should wisely map the children to these options and not try to chase every scheme possible. No wonder so stress. -
Agreed. MOE should not be changing for the sake of changing. There is no perfect system and there is merit to streaming and PSLE. There are kids who may need help and by allowing them to learn at a more appropriate pace, it may be more beneficial for them. Similarly, there are children who needs to be stretched and keeping them occupied at a faster pace actually prevents them from getting into mischief.
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Chenonceau:
Hah? I always think I say things very nicely leh... why people always say I fierce. I never say people rubbish or what or what or what... I only dunno how to use emoticon when on Samsung only what.[/quote]opposite of soft <> fierce..
Why so 'soft'...unlike your style..... Kekeke...ksi:
[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]
I agree.
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I am all for PSLE to stay. After all, it is the Primary School Leaving Examination. The P6 students do need to take a standardised test nationwide so as to settle into the right places as they leave their primary schools, regroup and move on to new secondary schools. For those who are for scrapping, I wonder if they already have somewhat secured places in popular schools via affiliations or GEP.
I also wonder why until now, nobody has brought up the issue of the time given for PSLE EL & CL Compo - it's only 50 minutes! Need to produce a logical and reasonable plot, plan how to start, how to end with a nice and sensible conclusion, check mistakes in spelling/grammar/sentence structure... Phew! I had the shock of my life when I realised how much the standard of Compo has gone up a few years ago when my eldest son started P2. His & his classmates' P2 Compos were more atas than my Sec 2 Compo! Despite the fact that primary school students are expected to turn in high standard of writing over the years, the time given has not increased. I find this perplexing and quite disturbed by it... Cos I'm a left-hander and I also cannot write fast :oops: But more importantly and relevant to the rest, I think giving such a tight time limit (in my opinion lah) gives undue stress to the kids and their parents. Those who want to do well tend to overprepare to the extremes. It also encourages parents to send their kids to Creative Writing classes so that their kids are exposed to as many scenarios as possible (can regurgitate model compos given by enrichment centres) and if they have regular weekly practices, they should have sufficient competencies (writing skills and speed) to meet the high demands. The tight time limit gives undue stress to the poor kids and their parents. I think the kids deserve better childhood and the parents better parenthood.
Can't more time, like 1 hr 10 mins or 1 hr 15 mins (or maybe more) be given instead? When we step into the working world, any of our bosses set a timer to 50-min and say die-die must hand in report when time's up? -
Abolish PSLE? I'm against it too.
Why dont make changes to the syllabus and expectations so that it is not so stressful.
Why dont they put in other \"activities and subjects\" into the curriculum other than just academic?
Currently, the music and art lessons are not quite music and art (my perception). I remember when my kids were younger, they have the opportunity to study part of their primary years overseas. For music lessons, children are given the opportunity to explore different types of instrument each semester (not just some kind of singing or recorder, half-hearted kind of lesson). For art, they explore different painting media using brush, paper marche, clay, oil painting, etc. Not just give you a piece of paper and just draw something.
Extra CCAs (perhaps 2) for kids to give them opportunity to explore other interests like scouts, computer, dancing, etc. Now sec sch kids are encourage to stay in the same cca throughout the 4 or 5 years so as to gain pts and seniority. :nailbite: Seniority!!
No homework scheme - all work to be completed in sch. If the teacher teaches a topic, give classwork for that topic, and hand-in the same day? Why is there a need for homework?? Go home means go home and enjoy being at home.
If the MOE abolish psle, the next complaint will come when the children cannot go to the sec sch of their choice. How to determine which kids go to which sec sch? RGPS goes to RGS, ACS (Pri) goes to ACS (sec)??? Bedok pri to Bedok sec?? The next problem will emerge!! -
Picolo:
Hi Picolo,I am all for PSLE to stay. After all, it is the Primary School Leaving Examination. The P6 students do need to take a standardised test nationwide so as to settle into the right places as they leave their primary schools, regroup and move on to new secondary schools. For those who are for scrapping, I wonder if they already have somewhat secured places in popular schools via affiliations or GEP.
I also wonder why until now, nobody has brought up the issue of the time given for PSLE EL & CL Compo - it's only 50 minutes! Need to produce a logical and reasonable plot, plan how to start, how to end with a nice and sensible conclusion, check mistakes in spelling/grammar/sentence structure... Phew! I had the shock of my life when I realised how much the standard of Compo has gone up a few years ago when my eldest son started P2. His & his classmates' P2 Compos were more atas than my Sec 2 Compo! Despite the fact that primary school students are expected to turn in high standard of writing over the years, the time given has not increased. I find this perplexing and quite disturbed by it... Cos I'm a left-hander and I also cannot write fast :oops: But more importantly and relevant to the rest, I think giving such a tight time limit (in my opinion lah) gives undue stress to the kids and their parents. Those who want to do well tend to overprepare to the extremes. It also encourages parents to send their kids to Creative Writing classes so that their kids are exposed to as many scenarios as possible (can regurgitate model compos given by enrichment centres) and if they have regular weekly practices, they should have sufficient competencies (writing skills and speed) to meet the high demands. The tight time limit gives undue stress to the poor kids and their parents. I think the kids deserve better childhood and the parents better parenthood.
Can't more time, like 1 hr 10 mins or 1 hr 15 mins (or maybe more) be given instead? When we step into the working world, any of our bosses set a timer to 50-min and say die-die must hand in report when time's up?
the time given is actually 1hr 10min to do a compo and a situational writing. Teachers usually advise students to take 50 min to write the compo, 5 min to check. 10min to write the situational writing, 5min to check.
Given enough practise, yes, it is do-able. Unfortunately, as far as i know, children are given very little compo practise in sch. I know of a kid who did one compo in the first semester. While i understand the teacher has to mark almost 40 compos for every one compo given, still i think one compo per semester is too pathetic. How to get enough practise?? Perhaps then this is why parents have to resort to tuition - creative writing classes whereby kids get to write at least one compo a week. -
ksi:
Honestly, sometimes we try to chew more than we could take. Only PSLE and P3 streaming is across the board. GEP, IP and DSA are all options only but we would make it sound like everything affects us. I took time to understand them and once I did, there was no stress!pirate:
[quote=\"cherryc\"]Totally agree with Chen. The majority of us took PSLE before and we all turn out pretty balanced and unscathed. The whole 6 years of primary school life is getting very daunting for many students and parents now and scrapping PSLE may turn out to be more confusing for some groups of students and parents. I do hope the excessive stress (esply parental stress) , tuitions and parental involvements in our current education system can be alleviated.
Agree. PSLE was fine in my days. Then they introduced Pri 3 streaming. Then we have GEP. After that, they introduced IP. And then DSA...
Let's not look for sacred cows just for the sake of it. Perhaps we should start with all the other 'improvements' to the system.
If not for a few teachers pushing me to sign the screening for GEP for my child, I would have opted out. DSA was never on my plan for my child after I understood what it was all about from my friends during the time my child started primary school. I felt that it was not applicable to her because I wanted her to get into a school of choice based on PSLE. At the end PSLE scores still count. IP is also depending if she can cut it. If not, an express route is nothing wrong. Every road leads to Rome, most important criteria is not external, it is SELF! MOE just provides options and parents should wisely map the children to these options and not try to chase every scheme possible. No wonder so stress.[/quote] :hi5: :goodpost: -
Lynn2010:
I agree that not much compo practices are given in school. Think my kid only did 1-2 compo per Term. Even if the compo was marked, there was no guidance on how to improve the compo.
Hi Picolo,Picolo:
I am all for PSLE to stay. After all, it is the Primary School Leaving Examination. The P6 students do need to take a standardised test nationwide so as to settle into the right places as they leave their primary schools, regroup and move on to new secondary schools. For those who are for scrapping, I wonder if they already have somewhat secured places in popular schools via affiliations or GEP.
I also wonder why until now, nobody has brought up the issue of the time given for PSLE EL & CL Compo - it's only 50 minutes! Need to produce a logical and reasonable plot, plan how to start, how to end with a nice and sensible conclusion, check mistakes in spelling/grammar/sentence structure... Phew! I had the shock of my life when I realised how much the standard of Compo has gone up a few years ago when my eldest son started P2. His & his classmates' P2 Compos were more atas than my Sec 2 Compo! Despite the fact that primary school students are expected to turn in high standard of writing over the years, the time given has not increased. I find this perplexing and quite disturbed by it... Cos I'm a left-hander and I also cannot write fast :oops: But more importantly and relevant to the rest, I think giving such a tight time limit (in my opinion lah) gives undue stress to the kids and their parents. Those who want to do well tend to overprepare to the extremes. It also encourages parents to send their kids to Creative Writing classes so that their kids are exposed to as many scenarios as possible (can regurgitate model compos given by enrichment centres) and if they have regular weekly practices, they should have sufficient competencies (writing skills and speed) to meet the high demands. The tight time limit gives undue stress to the poor kids and their parents. I think the kids deserve better childhood and the parents better parenthood.
Can't more time, like 1 hr 10 mins or 1 hr 15 mins (or maybe more) be given instead? When we step into the working world, any of our bosses set a timer to 50-min and say die-die must hand in report when time's up?
the time given is actually 1hr 10min to do a compo and a situational writing. Teachers usually advise students to take 50 min to write the compo, 5 min to check. 10min to write the situational writing, 5min to check.
Given enough practise, yes, it is do-able. Unfortunately, as far as i know, children are given very little compo practise in sch. I know of a kid who did one compo in the first semester. While i understand the teacher has to mark almost 40 compos for every one compo given, still i think one compo per semester is too pathetic. How to get enough practise?? Perhaps then this is why parents have to resort to tuition - creative writing classes whereby kids get to write at least one compo a week.
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