Is GEP really necessary?
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2ppaamm:
IP only started in year 2004, and EESIS is not restricted to GEP only
Plus a scholarship for the rest of your secondary school years, plus all the benefits you get, plus the cohort you mix with, plus the branding. Sure is the rest of your life for some poor families who cannot afford this kind of education.
O, plus better DSA chance into a good sec school.
Imagine a child gifted in English ONLY from a poor family. He will have no opportunities to go to a good sec school, deprived of a GEP class he deserves. I have one such case. Fortunately, he was identified in 1996 (P4). He could not afford an IP education without that GEP scholarship. Imagine, this same person nearly had no tertiary education. And, guess what. He is gifted, so gifted in humanities and write so well that he is rare... -
2ppaamm:
My dd had teachers in GEP who were wonderfully tolerant of those who asked endless questions and one who I suspect had ADHD and was disruptive in class. I remember thinking that the teachers were well-trained to handle the idiosyncratic behaviours of these students. Perhaps your son was unfortunate that his teachers were not as tolerant.[
Gifted children take less for granted, asking the hows, whys and whats forever. This irritates the Singapore teachers. Unfortunately, by the time they reach P4, this wonderful skill would have been tamed and removed by our system. But there are a few die-hard ones. I venture to guess these are the ones who are truly different. But guess what. They also will be weeded out by P5 when GEP comes down with a cane for their attitude. Challenging anything (including that wrong spelling on the wall, or why should I go for music class when I already have grade
is considered rude and bad attitude. I am not endorsing this behavior but remember, they are gifted and they have asynchronous development. While they are gifted intellectually, they are still 10 and need to be taught which things can be challenged, which cannot. Do those challenges a few times and sayonara. -
Is GEP really necessary?
If it’s designed to cater to kids with special needs, yes.
If the intention is to groom leaders or specialists in a developing country to raise the quality of the human resource, yes. But Singapore has progressed beyond this need.
Unfortunately, the GEP is used as a guaranteed passport to an elite education. This is the grand prize that pushes all parents to overdrive.
So much is invested in so few, and these few are given the best tools and resources. And at the end of P6, the same students fight an unfair placement fight with the GEPpers given an almost confirmed DSA. The leftover places in coveted secondary schools forces parents to a feeding frenzy. -
jtoh:
I am not actually here to rally for my son's cause, but looking at a bigger picture. He has already moved on.
My dd had teachers in GEP who were wonderfully tolerant of those who asked endless questions and one who I suspect had ADHD and was disruptive in class. I remember thinking that the teachers were well-trained to handle the idiosyncratic behaviours of these students. Perhaps your son was unfortunate that his teachers were not as tolerant.2ppaamm:
[
Gifted children take less for granted, asking the hows, whys and whats forever. This irritates the Singapore teachers. Unfortunately, by the time they reach P4, this wonderful skill would have been tamed and removed by our system. But there are a few die-hard ones. I venture to guess these are the ones who are truly different. But guess what. They also will be weeded out by P5 when GEP comes down with a cane for their attitude. Challenging anything (including that wrong spelling on the wall, or why should I go for music class when I already have grade is considered rude and bad attitude. I am not endorsing this behavior but remember, they are gifted and they have asynchronous development. While they are gifted intellectually, they are still 10 and need to be taught which things can be challenged, which cannot. Do those challenges a few times and sayonara.
I know of at least 4 other children (incidentally all boys) who had exactly the same problem, and all from different schools. One was asked to go to Pathlight for classes. I met this boy, he is, to me, really normal in behavior. He could calculate like a human calculator and has a queer sense of humour but he got along fine with my boy. I overheard his mom explain a zillion time to him how he is very smart and that's why he is in GEP. But unfortunately, he needs to be there for help. No, he is not at all disruptive. He just like to dream away. Not sure if he managed to get out of Pathlight.
Another two cases. These two got sent back to neighbourhood schools. One apparently was rude to the teacher, and one beat up the teacher. Of course it is wrong to do those! I do not condone these. But, do these actions make them less gifted? So if this happens, we ban them from schools forever?
One more case. This one teachers say he disrupts because he asked so many questions they cannot teach. Also, the teachers say they cannot tolerate the parents because parents also ask a lot of question. So, because of that, the child is less gifted?
To take a gifted child and put him/her in GEP is good, if there is environment is healthy and conducive, and an understanding of giftedness. As it is, the GEP teachers are a mixed bag of good and bad. So what is the differentiating factor from the mainstream, and consequently, what's the fuss? In addition, even the teachers themselves have difficulties of understanding gifted behavior and instead of guiding, punish advanced behavior like organizing protests that only gifted children can do. If we keep exasperating these little gifted ones, instead of steering them to achieve useful things, some will end up as gifted Al Capones? -
Tempted to share another case. This one is the opposite. At P5, he became strange and refused to go to school. For the whole year, he attended only Term 1. He missed terms 2, 3 and not sure if he also missed term 4. This one gets to stay in GEP. :? No problem = stay. Problem = go?
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GEP is not a guaranteed passport to an elite education. There have been cases of students ending up in neighbourhood secondary schools. Also those who have not had their GEP status renewed and hence are not awarded EESIS.
It is true though that there’s an unhealthy frenzy by parents to get into GEP thinking that it’s a guaranteed pathway to success in life. There was even a post by a forummer who thought being a GEPper guaranteed the student Officer status in the Army and a good career. It is this mistaken belief or kiasuism that’s led to a flourishing of GEP preparatory centres.
GEP isn’t a guaranteed path to success. Neither is not getting into GEP a guaranteed path to failure or mediocracy. If you are good in your studies, you will still get a place in a top school and you will still get your EESIS scholarship. This student will not be any worse off nor better off than a GEPper. -
Mawar:
I like the cater to kids with special needs part. I think that's what I think should be it, too! As it is, those who survive the GEP will survive anywhere and are great achievers with or without GEP. Let's land help to those who need it most. Those with special needs and learning disabilities but clearly bright intellectually and cannot fit in. That way, we nurture more capable folks into the work force and possibly lead in many areas as well.Is GEP really necessary?
If it's designed to cater to kids with special needs, yes.
If the intention is to groom leaders or specialists in a developing country to raise the quality of the human resource, yes. But Singapore has progressed beyond this need.
Unfortunately, the GEP is used as a guaranteed passport to an elite education. This is the grand prize that pushes all parents to overdrive.
So much is invested in so few, and these few are given the best tools and resources. And at the end of P6, the same students fight an unfair placement fight with the GEPpers given an almost confirmed DSA. The leftover places in coveted secondary schools forces parents to a feeding frenzy. -
verykiasu2010:
Ok, not IP school. School which school fees was $200+ then. Independent school?
IP only started in year 2004, and EESIS is not restricted to GEP only2ppaamm:
Plus a scholarship for the rest of your secondary school years, plus all the benefits you get, plus the cohort you mix with, plus the branding. Sure is the rest of your life for some poor families who cannot afford this kind of education.
O, plus better DSA chance into a good sec school.
Imagine a child gifted in English ONLY from a poor family. He will have no opportunities to go to a good sec school, deprived of a GEP class he deserves. I have one such case. Fortunately, he was identified in 1996 (P4). He could not afford an IP education without that GEP scholarship. Imagine, this same person nearly had no tertiary education. And, guess what. He is gifted, so gifted in humanities and write so well that he is rare...
I'll share a little about what he said.
He told me he felt out of place all these years in GEP because he was gifted in Humanities and not Science and Math. It exasperated the teachers, he could not cope at all with those subjects. But wow, his humanities was like really fantastic. So his teachers had wanted him to drop out of GEP at secondary school because of his science /maths subjects. However, he comes from a very poor family, and if they were to remove him from GEP, he would have to go to a neighbourhood school, because the school fees in his school was $200+, and his family could not afford that. So his teachers help him stay in GEP until Sec 4.
This student then went and signed on with SAF after A levels. He returned to school after his contract to finish his tertiary education after he earned enough to put himself through university.
As true as it can get.
Anything else to pick?
In today's world, he will have no chance of GEP, go to an independent school, but making it to uni? Maybe, if he did not go astray. -
Hello,
Just managed to skim through the posts here.
May I know what does EESIS stand for??
Thanks in advance
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autumnbronze:
http://www.abbreviations.com/EEISHello,
Just managed to skim through the posts here.
May I know what does EESIS stand for??
Thanks in advance
End-to-end Information System or Engineering and Evaluation and Investigation Services :evil:
Or, someone else will put up the full name of this scholarship.
Hm... good idea. Everyone should be on the same criteria before they get their scholarship, GEP or not. I think that is good. Do you think this will be fair? How come GEPers have a different set of criteria for EEIS as of today? Might as well don't do PSLE.
http://www.moe.gov.sg/initiatives/edusave/funds-grants-awards/eesis/
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