2013 Sec 1 Discussions

[kwcllf]

wonderm:

fifiyeo:

I think school should give all families an option to attention or not attention supplementary lessons. If the child can have better personal help at home, and doing ok, then why hold him/her back with a big group? Why the pressure to attend? Sometimes longer hours do not mean better work or understanding. Quality is more important.


Understand that some parents would prefer to have their kids stay in school longer to learn more but some might feel otherwise. I just feel that kids should have time off to play, relax and be a kid. How to be creative and nurture general knowledge if you are caged up all day?

Manpower side has limits on working hours and break times etc. How come school kids don't? If you don't give the employees the required rest and they have to starve through lunch, they'll just quit on you or worse still, make a report. :yikes:

You are right, if parents and students do not find the supplementary/remedial classes helpful and believe they have better personal help at home, they should be allowed to opt out. I think schools do allow opting out as I read in KSP before some parents did opt out.

My DD's primary school allows opt-out. Before any programmes, the school would issue a consent slip. When my DS was in the primary school, one of his classmates didn't attend supplementary class as his mom thinks she could provide better revision for him at home.

Maybe, for parents or kids who don't think supplementary classes are necessary, then perhaps you may want to talk to the school.

[pchong]

slmkhoo:

But so many P6 kids are staying in school till quite late because of supplementary classes, so maybe the change in hours isn't really so great? I do agree that expecting growing kids to wait until 2+ or 3pm to have lunch is ridiculous. Which office worker would stand for that? I actually wrote to MOE last year to complain, and got the usual 'thank you for your feedback, we will look into it' letter, but nothing gets done. Maybe more people should write in too?

Totally agree with you. My office has lunch at 11.30am and my dd in primary sch has snack break in class for 10min everyday because her sch ends at 1.45pm, she takes sch bus and can only manage to have her lunch at 2.45pm or sometimes 3pm.

[janet88]

mummy so kiasu:

janet_lee88:

Son told me his teacher told the class supplementary/remedial lessons are given for those who fail any tests...while I do appreciate the teacher's effort to provide extra time after school, it seems like the supplementary lessons are compulsory after all. I just sent in an email to seek clarification...very blur now.

All these sound very familiar to me. All of us face these situations in P6 & now Sec 1? :?

We faced this situation last year. For P6, I trusted my tutors to deliver and customise to son's weakness.
But Sec 1 is different. There are extra lessons for humanities...and my son doesn't have tuition for Lit/History/Geog. So it may be a good idea to stay back for them. But I just wonder if he can absorb...Mondays, English from 230-330pm, followed by humanities from 330-430pm

[fifiyeo]

We were one of the 2 special cases who opted out of supplementary classes during P6. The rest of the parents who had initally wanted to opt out were pressured to let their kids attend even after they wrote in officially. So there was no real option to opt out at least in DS’s ex-school.

[mummy so kiasu]

fifiyeo:

We were one of the 2 special cases who opted out of supplementary classes during P6. The rest of the parents who had initally wanted to opt out were pressured to let their kids attend even after they wrote in officially. So there was no real option to opt out at least in DS's ex-school.

Nobody opted out for supplementary classes in my boy's ex school last year. Maybe parents worry that their kids mght miss out important tips given by teachers.

[fifiyeo]

I can feel that the teachers are watching to see if we can deliver the ‘lessons’ at home ourselves. Once we show signs of not being able to produce the expected quality work, then they’ll all come after us.

[janet88]

fifiyeo:

I can feel that the teachers are watching to see if we can deliver the 'lessons' at home ourselves. Once we show signs of not being able to produce the expected quality work, then they'll all come after us.

Let me tell you something. Sorry this off topic bcos it is happening in a primary school.
My friend's son is in this primary school in the North. The English teacher called my friend to upsell her services...ie to engage her as son's private tutor for $85/hour...no bluffing. My friend has already turned her down and the teacher is still persisting.

[ngl2010]

janet_lee88:

fifiyeo:

I can feel that the teachers are watching to see if we can deliver the 'lessons' at home ourselves. Once we show signs of not being able to produce the expected quality work, then they'll all come after us.

Let me tell you something. Sorry this off topic bcos it is happening in a primary school.
My friend's son is in this primary school in the North. The English teacher called my friend to upsell her services...ie to engage her as son's private tutor for $85/hour...no bluffing. My friend has already turned her down and the teacher is still persisting.

Isn't there a regulation to forbid this? It is like conflict of interest. Can report the teacher or not?

[janet88]

Firstly, I am sorry to this lady for disclosing this matter.

Parents are at the mercy of such unethical so-called teachers…these people have no right to be teaching.

[kwcllf]

ngl2010:

janet_lee88:

[quote=\"fifiyeo\"]I can feel that the teachers are watching to see if we can deliver the 'lessons' at home ourselves. Once we show signs of not being able to produce the expected quality work, then they'll all come after us.

Let me tell you something. Sorry this off topic bcos it is happening in a primary school.
My friend's son is in this primary school in the North. The English teacher called my friend to upsell her services...ie to engage her as son's private tutor for $85/hour...no bluffing. My friend has already turned her down and the teacher is still persisting.

Isn't there a regulation to forbid this? It is like conflict of interest. Can report the teacher or not?[/quote]At the beginning of last year, my DD's (P3 then) Chinese teacher hardly gave any homework. When I asked my DD what she did in class, she always gave me the same reply, \"nothing much lah! same thing lah!\". Then one day, after more than half a year, when I happened to talk to the mother of one of my DS classmate, I accidentally found out that my DD's Chinese teacher was the same person giving my DS classmate Chinese Oral tuition (for P6). Not only that, she also gave quite a few of my DS other classmates tuition. I was also told that her service was highly-demanded.

What's more, before the parent-teacher meeting, she also instructed all her students (including my DD) that if any parents what feedback, just called her as she would not be around during the parent-teacher meeting. We found her behaviour/commitment wanting and the other parents of my DD's classmates were also very fed up with her attitude.

Immediately finding out, we went straight to see the principal and told her what we had found out. The principal said teachers are given clear guidelines that their first commitment is to the school, although that does not include disallowing them to moonlight outside. The principal then told us she would speak to this Chinese teacher. When the new term started, she was no longer in the school.