Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition
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Imami:
Hopefully, the drastic drop of students attending tuition means the education system has improved such that schools have taught well enough so that the kids do not need to learn the basics or extra from tuition centers. The trend is alarming and the more successful the tuition centers are, the more it means our education system has serious flaws.cherryc:
\"thing will change for the better\" meaning there will be drastic decrease of the current >90% of students attending tuition.
Oh I thought u meant a change in education system. If the above, all the more I don't think there will be a change, already someone is saying ip students are taking o level as a back up so that they have something to fall back on should they don't do well at the end of ip. I believe tuition or any form of supplementary help is here to stay.
Maybe MOE should reward schools with the least number of students having tuitions and give the teachers extra year end bonus ! -
Teo la, teo la, that’s what I think. While genes, environment, up bringing etc play important role, I can’t really control how my child will turn out. I can show him all the doors but I can’t walk on his behalf. I need to tell myself that my child may not be able to make it in the academic rat race so that I don’t kill myself and my child in the rat race. But avoid the race? No, I want to and I hope my child will have the courage to join too. My motto has always been - do your best. If my child’s best is 51/100, ok I will try to make peace with that. But if his best is perfect score but he only get 98, I won’t be happy because that’s not ‘his best’.
Academic pursuit should not become the only goal. Whether he is going to be an engineer, accountant, mechanic or repairman, I hope he be happy earning his keeps and being good in his job. -
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atutor2001:
If they are of any use , there will be no one in this forum.
hmm............................ interesting point..... -
cherryc:
Thanks Melodies! Sometimes it is quite worrying seeing the \"holes\" becoming more and getting bigger as the years go by. And when these \"holes\" get reported in the news, the reply is always please get around the holes by \"seeking alternative paths\" !! But people already drop into the holes wonder how to seek alternative paths ? We parents have to constantly build planks or find detours to let our kids go up from one level to another. If more concerned parents are aware and question about the \"holes\" and request that we want a happy and effective path for our kids, maybe things will change for the better??
Plenty of wisdom behind these 4 simple words \"happy and effective path\".
It is certainly a path (IMHO) many parents are hoping for instead of \"alternative paths\" & \"we cannot stop parents from sending their kids to tuition\".
I really hope someone influencial from our government understands what these 4 simple words mean than the overused \"holistic education\" that seems more like a lip service for certain schools (e.g., CCAs accepting only students with school team potential, compulsory after-school/holidays \"supplementary classes\" for most students). A good start would be to understand why > 90% is having tuition (if MOE thinks it is not so high, let us know what is the actual %). Yes, other factors contribute to the tuition phenomenon but certainly the current education system is a key contributing factor too. Why dismiss it as \"can't stop parents?\" and not listen to constructive feedback (I have read quite a few from various people) and try to improve the situation? -
limlim:
Totally agree. A university professor told me that in university where he is teaching now, the lecturers work \"backward\" meaning they set the exam papers and will check through their coursework that the students are adequately taught, no surprises for the students. Some questions will be set harder to differentiate the smart ones but they make sure the students have sufficient materials to learn and are being taught. He is surprised that in primary schools when the kids are so young, they/ their parents have to scramble around for tuitions, assessment books, notes to grasp the full scope of PSLE syllabus and the kids are not taught systematically from the basics. He thinks that if he is in the current system, he doubts he will ever be a professor.If PSLE test what was taught, I doubt the demand for tuition would be that strong.
You're talking about one school setting easy paper, whereas I'm talking about MOE setting manageable paper for PSLE, and all school teach what is to be tested at PSLE, and PSLE to be testing what the schools teach. -
Imami:
I don't know how valid is the figure, or whether the score is high or low..
The scores seem very low. As a parent, by reading the above para, it makes me think this way - to get beyond 220, my child need tuition or additional help.
But if what you typed is the situation now, then, something is wrong with the education system..
Since when did tuition became a necessity to good grades....? something is very, very wrong..... and need fixing!
It should never have been the case! -
limlim:
I agree with your first sentence! 83% of parents feel that unabridged PSLE past years' papers help to reduce our kids' stress and workload:-If PSLE test what was taught, I doubt the demand for tuition would be that strong.
You're talking about one school setting easy paper, whereas I'm talking about MOE setting manageable paper for PSLE, and all school teach what is to be tested at PSLE, and PSLE to be testing what the schools teach. It totally different issue. And if different schools paper difficulty varies so much, then, it is MOE's deficiency.. They should try to make it similar level.
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35434&start=40
The BIG issue is, MOE does NOT release EXACT PSLE past years' papers, so no one knows what EXACTLY PSLE tests.
So top schools' past years' papers are very popular now. I cannot imagine how many kids and how much time they are spending on these past years' papers on top of their usual school workload, assessment books, tution/ enrichment worksheets, ...
To make it worse, parents might believe that the standard of these top schools' past years' papers is the PSLE standard. -
cherryc:
:goodpost:
Hopefully, the drastic drop of students attending tuition means the education system has improved such that schools have taught well enough so that the kids do not need to learn the basics or extra from tuition centers. The trend is alarming and the more successful the tuition centers are, the more it means our education system has serious flaws.
Maybe MOE should reward schools with the least number of students having tuitions and give the teachers extra year end bonus !
Agree! -
cherryc:
:goodpost:
Totally agree. A university professor told me that in university where he is teaching now, the lecturers work \"backward\" meaning they set the exam papers and will check through their coursework that the students are adequately taught, no surprises for the students. Some questions will be set harder to differentiate the smart ones but they make sure the students have sufficient materials to learn and are being taught. He is surprised that in primary schools when the kids are so young, they/ their parents have to scramble around for tuitions, assessment books, notes to grasp the full scope of PSLE syllabus and the kids are not taught systematically from the basics. He thinks that if he is in the current system, he doubts he will ever be a professor.limlim:
If PSLE test what was taught, I doubt the demand for tuition would be that strong.
You're talking about one school setting easy paper, whereas I'm talking about MOE setting manageable paper for PSLE, and all school teach what is to be tested at PSLE, and PSLE to be testing what the schools teach.