Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition
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I’m not discussing abt home schooling. I’m only using it as an example as a reason as a way to withdraw my kids.
Relating and respecting others is not about schooling experience. If such values are not taught at home, no amount of school time will have an impact. -
tuition_czar:
With the advent of online gaming, smart phones, iPads, FB and Twitter......(list goes on), whatever real world socializing skills a child picks up in his early years, will eventually be decimated by the strong tentacles of virtual reality.[/quote]the curse of technologyverykiasu2010:
[quote=\"SAHM_TAN\"]If I view tuition centres/ enrichment centres as competitors to MOE, and felt the centres are doing a better job, I would have withdrawn my kids from MOE, state homeschool as reason, and just send them to study at such centre. But I'm not doing that.
part of the schooling process is learning to be a social being and how to relate with others / peers / authorities (teachers), doing and compete in group activities and sports - this is difficult to replicate in home school -
Kids need to be taught abt the social skills in the virtual world too.
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SAHM_TAN:
Kids need to be taught abt the social skills in the virtual world too.
good point
the problem is, in a virtual world, all manners are lost and virtually non-existent ...... -
That’s not going to stop me from trying to make sure that my kids behave well in the virtual world.
A person must always be responsible for his/her words and action whether it’s seen by a thousand or none. -
SAHM_TAN:
If I view tuition centres/ enrichment centres as competitors to MOE, and felt the centres are doing a better job, I would have withdrawn my kids from MOE, state homeschool as reason, and just send them to study at such centre. But I'm not doing that.
All along, the context of my comments is the detrimental effects on MOE schools if teaching staff are allow to moonlight and teach at private establishments.
The competition for resources with regards to manpower and expertise/skills.
And you bough in your views on consumers
which is totally irrelevant to the context of my posts.
MOE enjoy monopoly for consumers.
But it doesn't mean it is immune to resource drain. And it could end up providing lower quality education to it's \"customers\".. while having the monopoly.
it should put a stop to by by disallowing any of it's employees from moonlighting, to maintain the quality of education it provides to it's customers. It is obligated to provide quality education as a national duty. -
SAHM_TAN:
totally agree with you !That's not going to stop me from trying to make sure that my kids behave well in the virtual world.
A person must always be responsible for his/her words and action whether it's seen by a thousand or none. -
I couldn’t find out why MOE allow teachers to give private tuition. I’m interested to know why.
With or without tuition centres, teachers still have the choice to provide private tuition. I really do not see tuition centres as competitors.
I really don’t know if providing tuition will cause the teachers’ students to suffer. It seems the logical conclusion but I would like to hear from teachers who give pte tuition. -
I am trying to get a sense of logic in this discussion thread. Forgive me if I come across as daft.
On one hand, I get the impression that teachers are paid well.
On the other hand, they are not.
But it is the curse of the moonlighting bug that is deterring them from doing their real job in school and compelling them to quit because they are paid tons more ....
So teachers should not be allowed to moonlight as tutors??
Are you kidding me?
This discussion is detracting from the REAL reasons why teachers quit.
1. Weekends wasted from 9am to 6pm accompanying kids to NDP parade practice for weeks on end when they can better spend the time preparing for lessons. Newbie teachers are especially targeted for this kind of extra
curricular activities, so in effect, these teacher's 'bubble' of wanting to make a significant change in their pupils' lives are shattered within the first year of stepping into the schools they are posted to.
2. Attending rubbish meetings from 2pm to as long as 7pm, or in house
sharing sessions or courses when information can easily be disseminated
online.
3. The 100hr quota that they must fulfill attending courses.
4. Taking on additional duties outside of curriculum hrs or holidays eg accompanying kids for CCA if it is out of school, competitions, preparing pupils for inter-school seminars or presentations or school events. The grander the better.
5. Having your proposals to improve the in house curriculum structure
turned down time and again by superiors because they are comfortably ensconced in their comfort zone.
6. Holidays taken up due to exam prep for kids eg 'O' level or overseas field trips due to competitions etc.
7. Marking, marking and more marking of course.
8. Fulfilling of rubbish KPIs.
9. Other roles they have to take on for instance mentorship to kids which means scheduling meetings after curriculum time to discuss issues.
And more lah ... can add on, need to think somemore .....
If teachers should be banned from moonlighting, then so should all others in various other line of jobs or profession. Why should teachers' personal life
be impinged upon just because of a few bad apples? Yes, I want to qualify that there are some wet blankets in this profession, just like in any other profession, and cringe when I hear of them being given credit when it is NOT due to them.
:idea: Perhaps there are teachers who took loans to study and had to, not
want to, moonlight in order to pay off the loans? That is just one example. There could be many other valid reasons.
And anyone, I am very sure of this, who is in the civil service and not a
scholar or have good honors degree, will attest to the fact that the pay increment and promotional prospects can be marginal, for obvious reasons.
You want good teachers? Then interview sessions should be even more stringent. Course contents/curriculum or disciplinary advice towards students to trainees can be re-vamped/re-structured.
One has to move with the times :imcool:
Ok, just some of my thoughts here. My boys are sleeping, so log in here
lor ....
Am I :offtopic: now :?
Or maybe I am treading on dangerous waters here ....
Better :siam: before I kena :torchme: -
Org like CDAC, MENDAKI and SINDA have tuition prog too I wonder do they use school teachers?
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:torchme: you?
Naah.. upz you..
For coming outright and saying IT as IT truly is.
A lotta people like to blanket sweep cos they ARE not teachers themselves, so they do not know....... So they cannot understand the tribulences at the other end... where it seems is forever the chopping board. :roll:
For parents who teach for their rice bowl, it's even worse off. They may not even have much quality time to spend with their families. -
:offtopic:
Hello dear, long time no see, sexy mama with the whip -
SAHM_TAN… there are also schools that offer the stAr programme after curriculum hours are over. ie. evenings. These programmes are taught by current school teachers for students at subsidized costs twice weekly.
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My eldest DD.. buds_chubs and my dragon boi are down with the flu. It's depressing to come in here only to read the saaaammmme ol' thing discussed abt teachers.. the teaching profession.. even though on different \"new\" formed threads. :roll:
Here we go. Agaaaainn.. -
autumnbronze:
I doubt engineers from, say, Shell are allowed to moonlight at, say, Esso? In fact, for most industries, there's a clause that states that they are not even allowed to work in the same industry for 1 or 2 years after they quit from their job!
If teachers should be banned from moonlighting, then so should all others in various other line of jobs or profession.
I believe IRs employ the same clause.
IT industry should be similar too.
so why are teachers different? -
autumnbronze:
I am trying to get a sense of logic in this discussion thread. Forgive me if I come across as daft.
You are NEVER daft, Autumnbronze. Thank you for being honest and candid in your sharing. You speak from the heart and telling it as it is.
You have ventured where angels fear to tread. Especially such threads. :ugogirl: :salute: -
limlim:
I doubt engineers from, say, Shell are allowed to moonlight at, say, Esso? In fact, for most industries, there's a clause that states that they are not even allowed to work in the same industry for 1 or 2 years after they quit from their job!autumnbronze:
If teachers should be banned from moonlighting, then so should all others in various other line of jobs or profession.
I believe IRs employ the same clause.
IT industry should be similar too.
so why are teachers different?
You have a point there in your first statement and you are right.
I should clarify that perhaps there may be engineers, customer service officers, clerks etc .... who moonlight as tutors, despatch riders etc ...
Moonlight here on the basis of earning additional income, not so much moonlighting in/within the same profession. -
verykiasu2010:
If my finance is tight, then I'll eat at hawker centre or food court (not cheap, but no need to pay GST). But if I have money to spare and want to pamper myself, I go to restaurants to be served.you have a choice between hawker centre or food court or restaurant
you have no choice for primary school in s'pore, parents not sending their kids to school will be jailed, by law. not everyone will be approved for home schooling..
However it's different for schooling. Kids have to go to school or parents go behind bars. -
Nothing is more cheap then saying “you are not a teacher so cannot understand the difficulties of being a teacher etc etc…”
However, I would say I’ll probably jump at the opportunity if offered a teaching position years ago…
Teachers are not lowly paid… their salary is highly competitive and better than what many MNC offers.
If being teachers is undesirable, why the MOE podium outside the interview room got no lack of applicants…
Sure…
We are not ministers so we can never understand why minister MUST be paid millions to conclude that “no amount of engineering can prevent it”.
IF being a teacher is so TOUGH like some of the pple here say… how can they ever afford the extra energy to moonlight? doesn’t makes sense to me…
Maybe… moonlighting helps them to “relax” from the stressful school activities…
It’s like saying… do more part-time work… it will let you relax from your full time job. -
SAHM_TAN:
I don't view tuition/enrichment centres as competitors to MOE. Parents send their kids to tuition centre for a variety of reasons. Some parents have a choice.
If my child is well taught in school, why would I be spending money getting a tutor ? Tutors have different rates for diff levels.
My friend couldn't coach her son...he attended tuition since P1. Don't mean to compare, but her son's Math & Science foundation is strong. Her boy still passed Math in P5 last year but mine had 30%. The bottom line is, I see tuition centres/tutors as partner to MOE...schools give skeleton (sometimes not even complete) and the tutors pump it up.