Top schools obsession!
-
limlim:
I agree that maybe we don't need to know the ins & outs of the details and I probably would pass to my m-i-l who helps my daughter with her Chinese but I think we would still like to know some of the information e.g. what they are learning, when they are going to be tested, what they will be tested on.
Can I expect/demand the subject/English teachers to speak mandarin if I don't understand English? :evil:nms1:
My daughter's school has a number of girls studying Chinese who do not have anyone at home who can speak Chinese.
Should the Sch make sure every class have a Chinese, Malay and Tamil speaking staff around in case the parents doesn't speak English?
Why I feel that it is not necessary for MT teachers to cater to non-MT speaking parents.. if you can't speak MT, how are you going to guide/teach your kids? you can't, right? so, what's the point of understanding in detail the criteria? However, I feel it is reasonable to ask for handouts in MT. If you cannot teach, you may be engaging a tutor or the like. Just pass the handout to the tutor, they are expected to be able to read right?
So, back to the point, why is there a need for non-MT speaking parents to demand the teacher to converse in English so that they can understand the requirements when effectively they cannot coach their kids in the language?
English is the main language in our schools and the working language in Singapore so I don't think it's unreasonable - I'm sure the teachers can speak the Principal in English if asked!
There are at least 3 girls in my daughter's class who come from totally non-Chinese speaking families. Don't these parents have the right to know what is going on and to find out something about their child's progress? -
limlim:
Can I expect/demand the subject/English teachers to speak mandarin if I don't understand English? :evil:nms1:
My daughter's school has a number of girls studying Chinese who do not have anyone at home who can speak Chinese.
Should the Sch make sure every class have a Chinese, Malay and Tamil speaking staff around in case the parents doesn't speak English?
Why I feel that it is not necessary for MT teachers to cater to non-MT speaking parents.. if you can't speak MT, how are you going to guide/teach your kids? you can't, right? so, what's the point of understanding in detail the criteria? However, I feel it is reasonable to ask for handouts in MT. If you cannot teach, you may be engaging a tutor or the like. Just pass the handout to the tutor, they are expected to be able to read right?
So, back to the point, why is there a need for non-MT speaking parents to demand the teacher to converse in English so that they can understand the requirements when effectively they cannot coach their kids in the language?
If the teacher knows the student well enough, the teacher would know if the parent can speak english or chinese.
I dont know about your world, but in my neighbourhood world, there are a lot of parents will cannot speak english, and some even chinese.
It might be strange to you, but there are also malay / indian / \"others\" parents who sent their kids to sap school.
Conversely, why cant the teacher speak english? If the principle cant speak chinese, wont there be a communication gap? -
TheAnswer:
They might not be able to cope with the fast pace in the end. More competitive, more stress. Especially if they appeal in with a much lower score. It's a personal choice I guess. But if they meet the cut off point but missed marginally, it's a different story.
Some schools have exam for appeal cases...no guarantee child gets in even after passing those tests.
I wanted my son to try for them...but those appeal tests cost money.
IF my son does get in, he will be a small fish competing with big big ones.
As it is, secondary school life is much tougher with more subjects. If he does get into his dream school and has to work even harder, that would be very stressful...what if he cannot make it, the principal might ask him to leave. -
I don’t bother waiting till PTC to find out from the tchrs my kiddo’s progress. I will email the tchrs as & when I have any queries. The tchrs do reply, may not be immediate but they will reply, except for DS’s form tchr last year.
-
Top school obsession? Why do adults aim to work for certain companies, why do some prefer MNCs over local companies, why this industry and not that?
When in school, I hope to be able to get into certain schools due to the perceived image, plus the impression that these schools have better resources and options. -
nms1:
wouldn't it be better if your mil attend the PTM with you? Not sure about your sch but I guess guardian can attend PTM on behalf of parents. For my kids sch, they never indicate only parents can attend.
I agree that maybe we don't need to know the ins & outs of the details and I probably would pass to my m-i-l who helps my daughter with her Chinese but I think we would still like to know some of the information e.g. what they are learning, when they are going to be tested, what they will be tested on.
English is the main language in our schools and the working language in Singapore so I don't think it's unreasonable - I'm sure the teachers can speak the Principal in English if asked!
There are at least 3 girls in my daughter's class who come from totally non-Chinese speaking families. Don't these parents have the right to know what is going on and to find out something about their child's progress?
Teacher do what they specialize in. I do not expect a teacher to be well verse in all areas. Better to be expert in one (MT for e.g.) then jack of all trades but master of none. If they are not proficient in English, it may be stressful for them to speak English in front of the whole class.
Also, if a parent expect the teacher to speak English, how about the CL and ML parents who doesn't understand English? waste of their time rite?
If you are talking about your child's progress, than, it implies individual discussion and not class speech. Sure, you can, since it is done in private. But I feel it is better not to disturb the class speech. After the teacher has done talking, the parent can approach the teacher in private to ask for translation after the speech. -
As parents, I think we need to have a good understanding of our kids' strength and weaknesses before talking about top schools... I assume the top schools mentioned here are for those top 10% of cohort? I assume if our kids are just average, top schools is not in the consideration at all. I rather be realistic.
My dd1 is sitting for PSLE this year. For P5, she received the top 25% award. So for Sec 1, we are looking at school COP range around 230-245. As this is what we think she will maybe land :xedfingers: (if all goes well)....
Schools in this range are not top schools to begin with. She has classmates aiming for DHS, etc... and she told me, that is not her aspiration as she don't like overly competitive environment. With peers influence, she does have a few schools in mind.
Their FTs started sharing Sec schools with them. They do have affiliated school but frankly, that is the last school that I want my kids to go. Recently their FT told them that, one of the students did very well during PSLE and decide to go to the affiliated school. She was put in top express class and is happy. Her decision was probably based on distance to home. So FT was probably trying to get them to think differently... -
Dreamgear:
Can speak English doesn't mean it is their duty to translate.
Conversely, why cant the teacher speak english? If the principle cant speak chinese, wont there be a communication gap? -
limlim:
They dont need to translate. They can just speak in english
Can speak English doesn't mean it is their duty to translate.Dreamgear:
Conversely, why cant the teacher speak english? If the principle cant speak chinese, wont there be a communication gap? -
janet_lee88:
Yes! based on the trend of P1 registration enquires asked, many parents nowadays aim for the popular, Top neighbourhood school, in their vicinity.TheAnswer:
Who are the ones being obsessed about entering top schools? Parents or students?
Probably the parents more than the kids.
example:
those staying in
Serangoon & even Ang Mo Kio - many parents target Rosyth
Bishan - many parents target Ai Tong, Catholic High
Sengkang - many parents target Nan Chiau
Central, Novena - many parents target ACS Barker / Junior, SCGS, SJIJ
Clementi - many parents target Nan Hua
Jurong - many parents target Rulang
Bukit Merah - many parents target Radin Mas, Zhangde
Bedok - many parents target Red Swastika
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login