MOE to stop publishing names of top students?
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atutor2001:
Just something interesting on how \"hard\" these kids had \"worked\". After today's A level Chem paper, most them straight away know that 6 of the MCQ questions were \"repeats\" from past year papers with exactly the same values. (is that HOT or ...)
:faint: Donno whether to laugh or sigh - It is so ironic, isn't it? HOT questions when repeated year after year gets memorized for exam, so what's the difference after all? What a joke.
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slmkhoo:
:goodpost:pirate:
How is a Kiasu Pirate supposed to chart a course like that? Like I asked earlier, just be kiasu and take the IP route or tikam-tikam with the O-level route and keep fingers crossed? Assuming of course the kid is seaworthy.
I don't think I'm particularly kiasu, depite my membership here, and I don't say my way is the only/best/right way, but I'll share what I've done so far. First, let me say that I have 2 kids who are quite different in ability levels. For my older, not so academically able child, I have always chosen a less challenging route. She didn't do PSLE as we live overseas, but even in the US system which is behind Singapore in Maths and Science, I have not tried to accelerate her, so she is behind the Singapore standard at the moment (Sec 3). Even if we had had the choice, we would not have chosen an IP programme for her simply because she can't take stress, she has slow processing speed, she gets discouraged easily, she's not very independent. Putting her with a lot of smart kids would inhibit her learning. She can learn, just not at that kind of speed, and probably not to the same degree of excellence as those 'smart' kids. That's how she is made, and we accept that. When we get back for her 'A' levels, we are going to try to get her into the 3-yr programme, not a 2-yr one, for the same reasons. So that's a case where we have assessed her as not very 'seaworthy', to use your term, and made our choices accordingly.
Our younger one is different. We have judged her 'seaworthy' and told her that we felt she could aim for IP. She has always seemed bright and quick, and we felt that she could take challenge and some stress. Unlike her older sister, we have had her accelerated in the US system (but probably not ahead of Singapore) as she found the work too easy. We brought her back to Singapore for the PSLE last year, having done some prep. overseas plus 3 mths in Singapore school. She got a score high enough to get into an IP programme, and we encouraged her to go for it. But through all the run-up to getting her score and selecting schools, we always reminded her that IP vs 'O' level were just different routes to the same goal, and if she didn't qualify or chose not to go for IP, it was still OK. I don't think she would have lost out a whole lot by being in an 'O' level track, and we didn't try to pressure her to work very hard with IP in mind.
So, for what's it's worth, that's what we did - look objectively at the child's ability and make-up, and choose the route where the child is likely to cope best without too much stress on both child and parents. I know that the end point will not be the same for both girls, and that can't be helped. It may seem 'unfair' that one child seems to have been given so much more in terms of opportunities, but I know that my older one would not be able to make the most of those opportunities, and the effect on her might be more negative than positive in terms of self-esteem and stress. My goal is not to have them both 'succeed' equally in terms of qualifications, job status, pay etc. It will be enough if they are self-supporting (at whatever level they can afford), and satisfied in their work and life, whatever that might be.
Question: If your older child had cried \"not fair\", she has to take so much challenges, while the younger not, and the younger one cries \"not fair\", the older one gets so many 'privileges' while she has to take a longer route, what would you say to them?
I think each and everyone of us would have our own answers. -
pirate:
HOT is really not that big a deal. I'm not even sure if HOT can be taught - it has to be experienced. HOT simply means to not simply accumulate facts, but to be able to apply the facts in different situations. A child that is not exposed to different situations will find it very different to develop HOT.SAHM_TAN:
So cannot say no teaching of HOT. Perhaps it boils down to teacher and students again. If a child has not been exposed to critical thinking in primary school, the kid might not progress as much in such skills in sec level.
Arrrggggghhh! It all starts with the primary school?![](\"http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-scared002.gif\")
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-scared002.gif\">
But slmkhoo is right. The best way to get the child doing HOT is to get them to keep asking \"why\". Don't be satisfied with facts like: \"1+1=2\". The fact is, 1+1=2 only because the Arabs started designing a decimal system during the Middle Ages. And 1+1=2 is not a suitable base for computers because computers can only work with on-off signals which implies \"0\" and \"1\" states only which means they can only understand that \"1+1=10\" in base 2. So \"1+1=2\" is not really universally understood, but is meaningful only within our modern human context, and it has its strengths and weaknesses.
This is HOT. Can it be taught if the child is not natively curious about the \"whys\"? I don't think so.
Would the child be able to form associations with other facts - that 1+1=2 is only meaningful within the decimal context - if he has not been exposed to the concepts of \"bases\"? I don't think so either.
Can teachers teach these concepts at Primary School levels when students are just being introduced to numerals? I don't know. What do you all think? -
pirate:
:rotflmao:SAHM_TAN:
So cannot say no teaching of HOT. Perhaps it boils down to teacher and students again. If a child has not been exposed to critical thinking in primary school, the kid might not progress as much in such skills in sec level.
Arrrggggghhh! It all starts with the primary school?
Sorri. Notti notti pirate. Go stand in the crow's nest.
The learning of the skill is easier if exposed to such exercises earlier. But don't worry, old dogs still can learn new tricks, just need more effort.
Give you 1 example. I was speaking to 2 mothers abt Eng compo. My time no narrative compo. Both told me to find good compo and get the kid to memorise. I was told this is the only way to score. What do you think is the creativity level and thinking skills of the kids if parents keep telling them to memorise everything. I'm not saying that memory work is not required but I'm wondering abt the level of understanding. -
concern2:
Thanks for bringing up this irony. What is \"HOT\" becomes cold once it is exposed. So the number of \"Cooled\" questions keeps increasing. This is the situation with our P6 math. New HOT question (a few) will be introduced each year so as to differentiate between the \"round\" and the \"square\". However, they turned cold and is added to the \"cooled\" list. Those \"square\" students will have a hard time memorising. On the other hand, if no new \"HOT\" question is introduced, then there will be lots of students with full mark. It is something that is yet to be resolved.atutor2001:
Just something interesting on how \"hard\" these kids had \"worked\". After today's A level Chem paper, most them straight away know that 6 of the MCQ questions were \"repeats\" from past year papers with exactly the same values. (is that HOT or ...) :faint: Donno whether to laugh or sigh - It is so ironic, isn't it? HOT questions when repeated year after year gets memorized for exam, so what's the difference after all? What a joke.
For A level it is easier to allow repeat questions (to help the weaker students to get marks), because most subjects have more than 1 paper. The killer questions can be confined to a certain paper where the questions are definitely \"HOT\". -
Just so I can have some perspective, because it's easy to be tossed till gong-gong in all these whirlpools.
By 2020, we shall have
- 5 universities
- cohort size: 45,000? 48,000?
- target: up to half of the cohort receiving govt-subsidised degree education
- IP schools' intake: (based on today's numbers, not factoring in new schools) 4200
I think I can be quite happy for my young kids.
Even if they don't care for a degree education, they'd still be part of an educated workforce. :razz: -
I have a HOT mcq question: Why the top students cannot be named. Is it because:
I. There are 46,249.62 parents (at a 95% confidence level) very stressed by the PSLE exams.
II. The top scorers may be from hot GEP and may already got CO DSA Academic into a top IP school and parents may ask to have that same unfair advantage.
III. Public may ask if our country doesn't have brains and may start asking for hard data to support the claims?
VI. Parents feel their 12 year old kids are more childish than other kids taking PSLE.
V. All schools are good schools.
A. I and II only
B. II and VI only
C. I, II and III only
D. V only
Ans: :censored:
Sorry edited the question after realizing the earlier question was a LOT question. Edited a second time to add in the real reason. -
Sun_2010:
It's a real joke isn't it?
After all the generalizations and sweeping statements , not a single hard fact to support it , not even rough statistics , you have the verve to talk about sheer ignorance and ulterior motives. Seriously :slapshead:sinoboy:
It is painful to be told the truth. People get very defensive and abuses starts coming up especially when those who that have benefited from an exploit is uncovered and attempts are made to close off the exploits.
Talk about GEP,
GEPpers parents ( Directed at the whole group) starts to say my kid is smart what. Talk about DSA, they say fair what just a bit slow only.
Talk about ASEAN scholar, because we Singaporeans no brains...
Can you show more than one post that states this to make sweeping statements?
This is but a very small sample of the defensive voices. Wait till the parents come back from their year end holidays.
Insight is not a common trait. -
sinoboy:
LOL. You have left out the real reason. MOE wants parents to believe that all primary and secondary schools are good schools. By not disclosing scores, parents would lose the ability to compare and therefore by not knowing, they will not be stressed into thinking that they and their kids have been short-changed by signing up with a second rate school.I have a HOT mcq question: Why the top students cannot be named. Is it because:
A. There are 46,249.62 parents (at a 95% confidence level) very stressed by the PSLE exams.
B. The top scorers may be from hot GEP and may already got CO DSA Academic into a top IP school and parents may ask to have that same unfair advantage.
C. Public may ask if our country doesn't have brains and may start asking for hard data to support the claims?
D. Parents feel their 12 year old kids are more childish than other kids taking PSLE.
E. All of the above.
Ans: :censored:
The goal (of reducing parental stress) is noble. The execution (by removing information) is left wanting. -
ChiefKiasu:
Yes, perhaps those are the \"hard truths\" that parents would have to accept going forward.
LOL. You have left out the real reason. MOE wants parents to believe that all primary and secondary schools are good schools. By not disclosing scores, parents would lose the ability to compare and therefore by not knowing, they will not be stressed into thinking that they and their kids have been short-changed by signing up with a second rate school.
The goal (of reducing parental stress) is noble. The execution (by removing information) is left wanting.
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