Aristocare

[BeContented]

What people wanna do to get into GEP, I can't control.

I just make sure I am not one of them.

[Daddy D]

[quote]
I'll never be kiasu again in my life...\"[/quote]Quoted from one of the parents interviewed... Must be from KSP...
:siam:

[worrisome_dad]

I pity Kelvin Ong. We are also partly to blame for being gullible and I feel we as parents are accomplices in creating all these hype, gigantic PR jobs for him, further misleading other parents. I have known of one parent friend who consistently boasted about her son’s GEP classes with Kelvin Ong. She was a staunch supporter of Mr Kelvin and any less than favourable critique from me will succumb her to displeasure or possibly a temporary cold war. She had always remarked that I was sour grapes. After I had SMS her on this,she refused to talk to me ever again. I guess she thinks that I am gloating over her since she had spent a huge amount of tuition fees on Mr Kevin Ong but that was really not my intent.


Back 3 years ago, when tuition started to boom, CASE actually warned us about the hype and the best way to back up a tutor’s claims is to personally verify the tutor’s credentials. But i think as parents, we can come across as very petty to the tutors to check on these details as these are all very personal in nature.

Parents are partly to blame too: Case

By Amelia Tan

PARENTS duped by tutors are guilty of not checking credentials, says the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case).

Case received 19 complaints last year against tuition centres, tutors and education agencies for providing unsatisfactory services and making misleading claims.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said the responsibility of ensuring that only credible tuition teachers are hired falls on the parents.

One of the worst cases was highlighted last week when a bogus tutor was jailed two months for recommending an alleged Ministry of Education-approved programme costing $14,000. The woman claimed to be registered with the MOE, although private tutors do not need to be registered with the ministry.

However, a ministry spokesman said private schools which include tuition centres need to be registered with the MOE under the Education Act.

One complaint Case received was from a parent who was impressed by an advertisement from a tuition agency that guaranteed all its teachers were certified.

After hiring a tutor from that agency, the parent discovered that the tutor was not interviewed by the agency, uncertified and was merely assigned the job.

Another consumer hired a tutor who claimed to be trained by the National Institute of Education and MOE.

However after the first session, the tutor was unable to produce her qualifications and she could not even speak English. The agency demanded that the consumer pay for the lesson anyway.

‘Most of the cases we received were of parents who assumed the agencies are credible based on their (own) assurances,’ said Mr Seah.

‘I urge all parents to ask tutors to present their certificates on the first lesson.’

Parents whom The Straits Times interviewed said they hire tutors based on recommendations from friends and family members.

Regional human resource manager Winnie Ong, 38, hired a Chinese tutor for her daughters, aged 10 and 11, three years ago based on recommendations from friends.

‘I don’t want to hire someone whose background I am unaware of,’ she said.

‘It gives me peace of mind knowing that my friends have had good experiences with the teacher.’

Homemaker Laura Lim, 43, who hires tutors for her three sons, aged 10 to 17, checks on the tutors through feedback from her sons and monitors their progress regularly.

The principal of North Vista Primary, Mr Phua Kia Wang, said parents should avoid sending their children for tuition.

‘Tuition is unnecessary for the majority of students as there are many programmes in schools to help students, be it in English or Mathematics,’ he said.

‘I hope that parents realise that tuition places unnecessary stress on children.’

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 1, 2009.

[Imami]

BeContented:

What people wanna do to get into GEP, I can't control.

I just make sure I am not one of them.

:salute: I want to be like that too....

[Zeng]

What is quite amazing is that you have someone who apparently has a diploma but managed to convince many parents of the quality of the teachings (even with own books), and managed to get kids into GEP over many years. In one KSP thread, someone mentioned he was apparently the first to start GEP training here.


What people are upset about is the dishonesty involved, the question is whether parents are responsible when tutors or centers make false claims and where are the avenues to seek reddress. If there is an intention to cheat, how do parents check?

In many instances, how does one verify bec even certificates can be forged and claims of successes are difficult to verify bec many parents may not agree to the release of names of their kids.

Most parents would probably like others to believe that their kids make it to GEP on their merit rather than thru’ training. In KSP threads, which parent has declared that their kids made it to GEP thru’ training? Rather we only read responses from those whose kids made it on their own but could this be only the tip of the iceberg?

[Mawar]

Just curious, anyone knows what the course covered, and if the materials were good. Otherwise how could he have stayed in business for so long and so successfully?

[Way2GO]

worrisome_dad:

I pity Kelvin Ong. We are also partly to blame for being gullible and I feel we as parents are accomplices in creating all these hype, gigantic PR jobs for him, further misleading other parents.....

u may empathize with him as a fellow human being for d plight he has fallen into,
but his deliberate con deserves no pity fr any quarter.
He shd be given 20 of d best lashes n made to sit on his split buttocks.
Dis is not a one-off commodity/service he is selling, but kids education.

[Lynn2010]

jtoh:

LOLMum:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]

And that someone spent $15,000 on GEP prep classes!

http://i50.tinypic.com/2d7aty1.gif\">

hope the child got into gep!

Well if the child did get into GEP, I hope the parents aren's spending tens of thousands of dollars giving him tuition to keep up with his GEP class.[/quote]Not only tens of thousands for tuition but also $$ to outsource projects

[Way2GO]

Snow Crystal:

My personal view - Parents are willing to fork out such monies because of DSA. Like what GEP parents have mentioned, 80-85% of the GEP kids get COs in IPs via DSA. Thus a seat in GEP at p4 gives a child 80-85% chance of entering a good IP at P6 DSA exercise. To me, this is a more compelling reason for these parents to fork out $15K than face or pride of having a GEP kid.

That's why my personal view is that MOE reviews the whole DSA exercise. What is the true meaning and purpose of DSA?
Most GEP kids are bright enough to get into IP via PSLE S1...
Also, GEP program should be enjoyed by the able kids themselves with no parental involvement. It's ok to hand in a less than perfect project which is the kid's own piece of work or get lower marks for GEP exams if there are no DSA considerations.

My personal views only lah... :nailbite: :pokeeye: don't flame

Why link everything to DSA?
Take out Academic DSA in which domain most GEP n other HA mainstream students apply to, there isn't dat much talents left (by numbers) in other domains such as arts, music, dance, sports etc to make DSA exercise worth d time, effort n resources put in.

Even if d parents prep n pay their kid's way into GEP, there is no guarantee d kid will get thro GEP well enuf to DSA into d school of choice.
I believe d true intent of DSA was to match-make students & schools for real talents. How it ends up in current scramle for DSA places is not MOE's doing, its kaisu parents at play.

[Lynn2010]

Way2GO:

worrisome_dad:

I pity Kelvin Ong. We are also partly to blame for being gullible and I feel we as parents are accomplices in creating all these hype, gigantic PR jobs for him, further misleading other parents.....

u may empathize with him as a fellow human being for d plight he has fallen into,
but his deliberate con deserves no pity fr any quarter.
He shd be given 20 of d best lashes n made to sit on his split buttocks.
Dis is not a one-off commodity/service he is selling, but kids education.

i wont pity this guy. If there's a demand for \"intelligent pill\" and I start to supply. \"pitcha lobang\" one day that the pill is actually vit C. All the \"customers\" come after me...... should I be pitied?? Should i say \"my mother told me that this is intelligent pill\"??