MOE to stop publishing names of top students?

[janet88]

Melodies:

Why there is such unhealthy stress level for both parents and students in the first place? Has anyone thinks hard about it? Kiausuism in nature? Or inequitable education system only benefits certain group of children? If singaporean is kiasu by nature, shouldnt we have the education system that works out well for this nature of singaporean? MOE can change the education system but we can't change Singaporean.

there is an unhealthy stress because some parents want their children to be in elite schools, take IP or DSA. some parents only have eyes for HCI, RI, RGS, NYG for eg...no matter how MOE changes the education system, singaporeans will not change.

[happy to be mum]

3Boys:

It's the parents creating the stress, not the system.

How absoultely true! If parents are more relaxed and stop going all the way out to sign up for branded tuition centres TLL, MS, LP, etc... But people are doing it cause it is a vicious cycle. It is like all parents signed up their kids for it, why should my kid be the odd one out!

I have a friend whose kid is only in K2, you named it, the kid has it. TLL, Berries, CMA, ICR, Schinda.. She is only in K2! Madness! Sometimes I will be affected by it and wonder should I start my kid in all these classes. Am I short changing my kid if I don't let them attend? No, I am not!

So parents, be more relaxed lah!

As for MOE not naming the top PSLE scorers, it is not giving recognition to the hard work to the top scorer. Seriously, I don't think parents or kids will be stress knowing who is the top scorer cause their concern is their kid's score and the COP.

[winchester]

znzyzyzx:

Fairy:

I fail to understand why some parents feel stressed just because the names and scores of a handful of top students out of a cohort of say 50,000 students are made known to the public. :? :skeptical:

Trying to be ostrich ?

a simple but sharp observation!

[winchester]

happy to be mum:

3Boys:

It's the parents creating the stress, not the system.

How absoultely true! If parents are more relaxed and stop going all the way out to sign up for branded tuition centres TLL, MS, LP, etc... But people are doing it cause it is a vicious cycle. It is like all parents signed up their kids for it, why should my kid be the odd one out!

I have a friend whose kid is only in K2, you named it, the kid has it. TLL, Berries, CMA, ICR, Schinda.. She is only in K2! Madness! Sometimes I will be affected by it and wonder should I start my kid in all these classes. Am I short changing my kid if I don't let them attend? No, I am not!

So parents, be more relaxed lah!

As for MOE not naming the top PSLE scorers, it is not giving recognition to the hard work to the top scorer. Seriously, I don't think parents or kids will be stress knowing who is the top scorer cause their concern is their kid's score and the COP.

totally agree! it's self imposed. the reason such parents give is that it is competitive out there and everyone is doing it. i can't dispute that, but success in adult life is more than about psle scores.

yes, moe is knee-jerk in blackout on success stories. missing the forest for the trees.

[Twinkies]

znzyzyzx:

Fairy:

I fail to understand why some parents feel stressed just because the names and scores of a handful of top students out of a cohort of say 50,000 students are made known to the public. :? :skeptical:

Trying to be ostrich ?

That's a sharp one.

For the parents' whom think that by announcing the yearly top scholars would be an unhealthy stress imposed into the educational system, it probably mean that they are indeed very stressed up already, regardless of top scholars made known or not!

MOE's move of not to announce top scholars may just be a dose of placebo ?

[OrangeJuice]

below letter in today's forum page on Straits Times, my sentiments exactly...


http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/psle-dont-change-the-worse-20121122

PSLE: Don't change for the worse

I AM not certain what the advocates for changes to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) want, or what the decision to stop naming the top scorers means (\"MOE stops naming top students\"; yesterday).

The system has worked well, and offers a fair and transparent way to allow the most academically inclined pupils to have their pick of secondary schools.

The message is clear: To qualify for the school of your choice, you must work for it.

Fight for your place if you believe that the school you want is relevant to your ambition and can provide the education you desire.

Work harder if the school has a higher cut-off point, or ease up if it has a lower cut-off.

Parents must learn to accept that perhaps their children are destined for other paths to success, and help them realise their potential.

It is not a recent development that renowned schools like Raffles Institution, Hwa Chong Institution, Anglo-Chinese School and National Junior College have dominated scholarship lists, and produced outstanding graduates in top universities like Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Stanford.

Demand for places in these schools will certainly outstrip supply; these schools have the pick of the best candidates who will benefit the most from their programmes.

To enable children to get into their desired schools through a relaxation of the criteria is a travesty of meritocracy, akin to telling Cambridge and Harvard not to offer places to the brightest, and multinational corporations not to select the best.

Have our children become so sheltered that their parents are not prepared to let them fight and compete for something worth their while?

How long can we shield our children from the harsh realities of life?

The sooner they learn to accept life's simple truths, the better for them.

Resilience, adaptability and competitiveness are hallmarks of success. These are the qualities that will stand our children in good stead as they progress in life, and not to have what they want handed to them with less effort.

The Government should not swing to the other extreme and possibly dumb down the education system, as Britain has found to its cost. In Singapore's case, the damage might be irreparable.

Ang Peng Seong

[doodbug]

I’m neutral, maybe slightly partial towards minority view here that it’s fine to do without releasing the names.


For sure, non-name publishing will NOT lead to less stress on parents’ part, nor will it lead to more holistic education or a lesser emphasis on grades. So I wonder what MOE is trying to achieve. Perhaps as an earlier post pointed out, this is the first in a series of plans to lessen how deterministic the PSLE is. I am probably more curious to find out what the next steps are to deemphasize the PSLE. The newspapers did mention something about including P5 end of year results?

Top scorers are already rewarded and recognized at the school level, as well as with the option to select any secondary school, EESIS etc. Not sure if non-naming of top scorers is a slippery slope towards educational mediocrity.

The fundamental tenet of meritocracy cannot be compromised. I agree that we should not and cannot let standards slip. Every society will have inevitably ‘rank’ and ‘stratify’ its cohort sooner or later. We cannot run away from that and meritocracy must be the basis for ‘streaming’. Singapore happens to do it’s first cut streaming very early at 12 and there may be room to reduce the deterministic streaming at 12. Much as there are efforts to make it more permeable for students to move between educational pathways, I would still venture to say that getting into Law or Medicine for example, is still virtually impossible if one went through the Polytechnic route. Sorry, a little off topic.

[Daddy D]

[quote]
THE Ministry of Education's (MOE) decision not to name pupils who top national exams may help ease the \"PSLE effect\" during Primary 1 registration, which has seen applications soar at schools that produce top scorers.[/quote]Simi logic? :?
The reporter's or MOE's?

[doodbug]

Daddy

[quote]
THE Ministry of Education's (MOE) decision not to name pupils who top national exams may help ease the \"PSLE effect\" during Primary 1 registration, which has seen applications soar at schools that produce top scorers.

Simi logic? :?
The reporter's or MOE's?[/quote]Think MOE can foresee that in the not too distant future, some popular schools may have all their places taken up in Phases 1 and 2A, and they don't know what to do about it... so trying to tackle this in all ways? Dunno I am just guessing.

[SAHM_TAN]

doodbug:

Daddy

[quote]
THE Ministry of Education's (MOE) decision not to name pupils who top national exams may help ease the \"PSLE effect\" during Primary 1 registration, which has seen applications soar at schools that produce top scorers.

Simi logic? :?
The reporter's or MOE's?

Think MOE can foresee that in the not too distant future, some popular schools may have all their places taken up in Phases 1 and 2A, and they don't know what to do about it... so trying to tackle this in all ways? Dunno I am just guessing.[/quote]Maybe worse than that :evil: ..........maybe SG kids will not be top :siam: