Hong Wen

[hquek]

SAHM_TAN:

So the difference of 20 marks between the first and 2nd could be that over the years the first student make better use of his/her holidays.


Maybe MOE should consider shortening school holidays. I think I can feel eggs being thrown at me by various groups as I'm writing this hahahaha

I read that book also, but didn't come back with so much thoughts. Good point there. It seems to give credence to the numerous SG parents who send their kids for multitude of classes each holiday (I used to be one as well, but decided to just give my kids and me a break during hols).

Yet again, I would say it depends on the child and type of learning involved. My personal feel is that if a kid is immersed into too much too soon, and against his will, there may well be a backlash later on.

What I would advocate is for the child to be given access to books - fiction, non fiction, and for the child to fish by himself during the hols.
Perhaps I'm imagining things, but I always feel that kids who read widely (esp if they WANT to) are more likely to 'succeed'.

[hquek]

SAHM_TAN:

:lol: Initially my DD only liked black and purple, I was beginning to think I had given birth to a child who's into Gothic fashion hahaha. I think her teacher could not take it and removed both black and purple so she had to use other colors.

ha ha ha...gothic's funny.

Well, DS1 started to like to colour rainbow colour on everything - even if the description was for a brown dog. DS2 colours his human stick figures very strange shades of colour.

DH and I can't do art to save our lives, so whatever my kids do, we just shut an eye. DS1's teacher feedback that his art is not quite there, I just smiled and told her it's genes.

[SAHM_TAN]

hquek:

SAHM_TAN:

So the difference of 20 marks between the first and 2nd could be that over the years the first student make better use of his/her holidays.


Maybe MOE should consider shortening school holidays. I think I can feel eggs being thrown at me by various groups as I'm writing this hahahaha

I read that book also, but didn't come back with so much thoughts. Good point there. It seems to give credence to the numerous SG parents who send their kids for multitude of classes each holiday (I used to be one as well, but decided to just give my kids and me a break during hols).

Yet again, I would say it depends on the child and type of learning involved. My personal feel is that if a kid is immersed into too much too soon, and against his will, there may well be a backlash later on.

What I would advocate is for the child to be given access to books - fiction, non fiction, and for the child to fish by himself during the hols.
Perhaps I'm imagining things, but I always feel that kids who read widely (esp if they WANT to) are more likely to 'succeed'.

Of course most importantly, the person must want to do it or else all will be for naught

[hquek]

SAHM_TAN:

Of course most importantly, the person must want to do it or else all will be for naught

Then the question becomes how many pp will want to do it. in the face of competing distractions - tv, games, internet...don't you think that the 'rich' kid now has more problems trying to 'maintain' his lead against the 'poor' kid who may not have such?

Anyway, sorry for digressing lah. this should be a thread on HWS. my bad.

[SAHM_TAN]

hquek:

SAHM_TAN:

Of course most importantly, the person must want to do it or else all will be for naught

Then the question becomes how many pp will want to do it. in the face of competing distractions - tv, games, internet...don't you think that the 'rich' kid now has more problems trying to 'maintain' his lead against the 'poor' kid who may not have such?

Anyway, sorry for digressing lah. this should be a thread on HWS. my bad.

Hahaha digress a bit bit should not incur the wrath too much

This is when parents step in to block the distraction. We are not rich but we do have some of the distractions. I guess it's easier for me because I'm a SAHM, I've reduced the viewing of TV from nearly 6 hrs/day to 1hr and some days even zero hr.

[hquek]

SAHM_TAN:

This is when parents step in to block the distraction. We are not rich but we do have some of the distractions. I guess it's easier for me because I'm a SAHM, I've reduced the viewing of TV from nearly 6 hrs/day to 1hr and some days even zero hr.

Yup this is very important. Too bad I'm FTWM and cannot exercise much control over how much tv my kids watch during the day. Good for you and keep it up!

[lionheart]

SAHM_TAN:

hquek:

260 is okay, and I'm happy to note that 2nd wasn't too far behind - so at least there is some consistency and it's not a one shot wonder. Heard of another school where the differential between first and next was more than 20marks.


What's more impt should be how the cohort did and if this is a sustainable result (no point having one off shooting stars). This graduating batch is still part of those from the old facility. I'm very curious to see 2/3 years on, how the results will be - if the increased demand after they move into new school means a higher calibre of student population.

I was reading a book, The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwel. He gave several examples why pple succeed and raised several interesting reasons. Towards the end of the book, he looked into a group of students from poor background and another from rich background. He found that the students initial grades difference were not wide. However over the years, it widen and he suggest that it could be because of the long school hols. During the school hols the rich kids go to enrichment classes or have access to information resources. While the kids from poor background stop studying during the school break. He suggest what kids learned during the hols over the years widen the knowledge gap. To support this he cited a project whereby kids from poor background were randomly selected for a special program whereby the kids studies long hours in school with shorter school break. More percentage of these kids go to college. For him, and I'm simplifying a bit here, as long as a person is smart enough, goes to a good enough school, has a certain amt of EQ, is hardworking and able to make use of opportunities will have a good chance to succeed. The person does not need to be gifted or go to a super good school to get ahead in life.

So the difference of 20 marks between the first and 2nd could be that over the years the first student make better use of his/her holidays.

Maybe MOE should consider shortening school holidays. I think I can feel eggs being thrown at me by various groups as I'm writing this hahahaha

On the other hand, he had some good observations in the chapter 10,000 Hours.... In short, he stated that One worked hard with the right techniques and clock the 10k mileage, that individual will succeed in that field that he spent 10k hours on.. As i see this, this observation is very true in the Sports yet it ridiculed many SG parents whom wanted their children by spending hours on studies.. :). Something was amissing and it is explained in his earlier book \"Blink\". LOL

[SAHM_TAN]

lionheart:

SAHM_TAN:

[quote=\"hquek\"]260 is okay, and I'm happy to note that 2nd wasn't too far behind - so at least there is some consistency and it's not a one shot wonder. Heard of another school where the differential between first and next was more than 20marks.


What's more impt should be how the cohort did and if this is a sustainable result (no point having one off shooting stars). This graduating batch is still part of those from the old facility. I'm very curious to see 2/3 years on, how the results will be - if the increased demand after they move into new school means a higher calibre of student population.

I was reading a book, The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwel. He gave several examples why pple succeed and raised several interesting reasons. Towards the end of the book, he looked into a group of students from poor background and another from rich background. He found that the students initial grades difference were not wide. However over the years, it widen and he suggest that it could be because of the long school hols. During the school hols the rich kids go to enrichment classes or have access to information resources. While the kids from poor background stop studying during the school break. He suggest what kids learned during the hols over the years widen the knowledge gap. To support this he cited a project whereby kids from poor background were randomly selected for a special program whereby the kids studies long hours in school with shorter school break. More percentage of these kids go to college. For him, and I'm simplifying a bit here, as long as a person is smart enough, goes to a good enough school, has a certain amt of EQ, is hardworking and able to make use of opportunities will have a good chance to succeed. The person does not need to be gifted or go to a super good school to get ahead in life.

So the difference of 20 marks between the first and 2nd could be that over the years the first student make better use of his/her holidays.

Maybe MOE should consider shortening school holidays. I think I can feel eggs being thrown at me by various groups as I'm writing this hahahaha

On the other hand, he had some good observations in the chapter 10,000 Hours.... In short, he stated that One worked hard with the right techniques and clock the 10k mileage, that individual will succeed in that field that he spent 10k hours on.. As i see this, this observation is very true in the Sports yet it ridiculed many SG parents whom wanted their children by spending hours on studies.. :). Something was amissing and it is explained in his earlier book \"Blink\". LOL[/quote]I did not read \"Blink\", the way I interpret the 10,000 hrs, is that this is the amt of time needed to put in to achieve expert level at whatever the task be it as sports person, musician, dancer, lawyer, chef, etc. But I think he left out passion, the person must want to do it and to progress for the 10,000 hrs to be effective.

[hquek]

Just received letter from HWS on the class my son is allocated to. So P1 parents can look out.


Curious, will they stick with the same class throughout x number of years, or will kids be allocated to different class after the end of each year?

[SAHM_TAN]

Hi hquek,


To prepare for my next yr budget for P1 purchases, could you give a rough estimate of how much would need to spend on things such as school books and uniforms, excluding school bag and shoes?

Thanks