MP echoes calls for PSLE to be scrapped

[verykiasumummy]

Nebbermind:

GLORYmum:

We have more qualified and psle ready tutors than school teachers. why not channel the money used for funding schools to subsidizing our tuition fees instead.

And people who donch need tuition get cash back?

that is like having best of both worlds... haha... :imcool: :imcool:

[verykiasumummy]

Picolo:

verykiasumummy:

made me recall my ds's teacher who was pregnant and took very long leave, i suppose 6-7mths.. she left hurriedly and no one knows why... maybe the teachers and principal knows but parents were not informed... the sch sent a relief teacher to teach thru the entire yr till after exams and the teacher is back... worse still, the relief teacher was changed 3 times throughout the period...

this is what poor management is...

Having relief teachers for a stretched period is a very common issue esp. for P3 and P4 classes, regardless of the popularity of the school concerned. The problem is exacerbated when the quality of relief teachers is extremely poor, to the extent of teaching the kids the wrong concepts, or these teachers having poor anger/stress/class management etc... we should pressure MOE to resolve this perennial problem first before talking about reducing the class size.

but i must say, having 6-7mths maternity is like so long...
and neh inform parents first... how not to go for tuition leh??

and hoh, rmb my dd's tuition center teacher also go on maternity, but she came back during her confinement because it is exam period... this is what i say passion.. or at least responsible...

[corneyAmber]

Picolo:

Having relief teachers for a stretched period is a very common issue esp. for P3 and P4 classes, regardless of the popularity of the school concerned. The problem is exacerbated when the quality of relief teachers is extremely poor, to the extent of teaching the kids the wrong concepts, or these teachers having poor anger/stress/class management etc... we should pressure MOE to resolve this perennial problem first before talking about reducing the class size.

Wah...you just expressed my complete experience in p3/P4. :hi5:

[Laura02]

Coolkidsrock2:

Saw this article and thought it keeps things in perspective (for me) and so sharing it here. In the real world, life experiences, emotional maturity, empathy and lots of communication with sensible adults about their values, passions, and goals are more important.


For me, I will rather DD go to a secondary school with a good match with her ability and spend time developing the above than to a first tier secondary school and spending time at tuition.

As the world's income become increasing diverge, being able to make a difference in the world beyond academic becomes increasingly important in university admission's personal statement as well as at work.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/keldjensen/2012/04/12/intelligence-is-overrated-what-you-really-need-to-succeed/

:goodpost:

I agree that many Asian parents are becoming so focused on the academic rat race that they lose sight of other equally important goals.

[verykiasumummy]

Laura02:

Coolkidsrock2:

Saw this article and thought it keeps things in perspective (for me) and so sharing it here. In the real world, life experiences, emotional maturity, empathy and lots of communication with sensible adults about their values, passions, and goals are more important.


For me, I will rather DD go to a secondary school with a good match with her ability and spend time developing the above than to a first tier secondary school and spending time at tuition.

As the world's income become increasing diverge, being able to make a difference in the world beyond academic becomes increasingly important in university admission's personal statement as well as at work.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/keldjensen/2012/04/12/intelligence-is-overrated-what-you-really-need-to-succeed/

:goodpost:

I agree that many Asian parents are becoming so focused on the academic rat race that they lose sight of other equally important goals.

this is a good point...

but what we are discussing here is that the sch teachers are not delivering what they should.. they teach basics but test them challenging problems.. if cannot solve challenging problems, students have to turn to tutors for proper coaching..

u get our point here?

[Coolkidsrock2]

I had my encounter with poor teachers too but I also know that the takeaway of each child is different. I personally know many kids who make it into the top 10 secondary schools without tuition and they maintain very decent grades there without tuition. In the same class, taught by the same teachers, there are also kids who are struggling even with tuition. When I spoke to some of these kids, they tell me "primary school no need to study, secondary school need to study a bit."

[janet88]

Asians will always be caught up in the academic rat race, be it Singapore, Hong Kong or S.Korea.


It's not about going to RI or Hwa Chong. I know my son's standard and I am realistic.

I fell sick one week ago, bcos of my son's PSLE preparation, plus the hot weather too. Sounds stupid and silly to some people, maybe you can hear me out. I am still very sick bcos of the lack of rest. How can I possibly take medication to have a good sleep when my son was revising alone ? I had to give him the moral support. So i took medication that is milder and doesn't cause drowsiness.

PSLE is a representation of 6 years of primary school education. My son went to school everyday, bringing back worksheets. Prelim exams are intentionally set so difficult...fine, the idea is to get students to 'wake up'. But are those questions ever taught by teachers in school ? The answer is NO. So, whose job/responsibility is it to teach our P6s?

After prelims, students were piled with past year paper after paper. Are students supposed to familiarize themselves with those questions in case something similar will be tested during PSLE ? After last year's (P5) bad experience with 30% for Math, I decided enough is enough.
I brought in tutors in Jan 2012. Son fell sick attending school after prelims, not because tutors gave him too much hw. But the cause was having to finish the school past year papers.

I made a daring decision to keep him at home to revise.
When he went to school yesterday for PSLE English, a teacher made a snide remark to him, \"oh you are here today\" :mad:

Sorry for blasting. But I am really sick and disappointed with the way kids are prepared for PSLE in school. Regardless of my son's results, I am proud of the hard work he had put in these past 9 months. That is effort put in and I will always love him for the grueling time this year without complaining.

[GLORYmum]

Nebbermind:

GLORYmum:

We have more qualified and psle ready tutors than school teachers. why not channel the money used for funding schools to subsidizing our tuition fees instead.

And people who donch need tuition get cash back?

If u don't need tuition you don't need to attend the school too - self learning lah. :evil: more environmentally friendly, less co2 emitted.

[GLORYmum]

janet_lee88:

Asians will always be caught up in the academic rat race, be it Singapore, Hong Kong or S.Korea.


It's not about going to RI or Hwa Chong. I know my son's standard and I am realistic.

I fell sick one week ago, bcos of my son's PSLE preparation, plus the hot weather too. Sounds stupid and silly to some people, maybe you can hear me out. I am still very sick bcos of the lack of rest. How can I possibly take medication to have a good sleep when my son was revising alone ? I had to give him the moral support. So i took medication that is milder and doesn't cause drowsiness.

PSLE is a representation of 6 years of primary school education. My son went to school everyday, bringing back worksheets. Prelim exams are intentionally set so difficult...fine, the idea is to get students to 'wake up'. But are those questions ever taught by teachers in school ? The answer is NO. So, whose job/responsibility is it to teach our P6s?

After prelims, students were piled with past year paper after paper. Are students supposed to familiarize themselves with those questions in case something similar will be tested during PSLE ? After last year's (P5) bad experience with 30% for Math, I decided enough is enough.
I brought in tutors in Jan 2012. Son fell sick attending school after prelims, not because tutors gave him too much hw. But the cause was having to finish the school past year papers.

I made a daring decision to keep him at home to revise.
When he went to school yesterday for PSLE English, a teacher made a snide remark to him, \"oh you are here today\" :mad:

Sorry for blasting. But I am really sick and disappointed with the way kids are prepared for PSLE in school. Regardless of my son's results, I am proud of the hard work he had put in these past 9 months. That is effort put in and I will always love him for the grueling time this year without complaining.

Absolutely agree with you. My wake up call came in a little earlier when my dd came home in p4 with maths solutions that she could not understand simply because her teacher gave them the solution to copy and they were told learn at home! But from who???

My dd class was asked who had tuition by maths teacher at p4. Why is this relevant to the teacher since she is paid by moe not any tutor agency??

Teachers rely on tutor and parents to teach their students! students can score without tuition but very few can do very well by their own and without parental learning support !


It is a failed education system that cannot teach what they hope to deliver. Teach less learn more??

[janet88]

Since schools want to set such ‘wake up calls’ (a.k.a tough CA/SA/prelim exams), train their teachers to teach students how to solve the questions. Don’t pass the responsibility of teaching to tutors. This is unbecoming of teachers. Tutors are NOT paid nor hired to teach kids. They are paid to guide and coach our kids…but it doesn’t seem the case any longer.