tutormum:

Right, if my slow students can make it and do well enough to go to Express stream for sec school and the China students can come in with poor English to top PSLE and get transferred from Normal to Express etc. Why the rest cannot? Singapore kids eat rice just as the China kids. Work hard, Singaporeans and show these Chinese students that we can also make it and excel. We are sleeping tigers and not sick cats. :nunchuk: :nunchuk:

justsay:

dolphinsiah:

Great Thread...Now I know my younger child has hope... :thankyou:

Hi dolphinsiah,

Don't give up. 加油!

dolphinsiah:

Great Thread...Now I know my younger child has hope... :thankyou:

ooptimizer:

Yes, the neighbourhood schools produced the top student this year.

tonytanlt:

The XXXXXX is organising a seminar on Education to discuss the policies change that need is required for our next generation. Our students need to be confident, outspoken, multi-skilled, and be prepared to unlearn what you learnt and to learn like an unlearnt. The learning environment should change. From one where students are asked to accept what is taught to one where students will challenge what is taught. Like a forest, we need to breed new varieties that will add biodiversity to the current. The learning environment should also be representative of the society where different people with varying strengths fulfill different roles. We must start to empower our students.


We will be discussing the following issues: 1.What are the education policies needed to prepare our next generation? 2.How can we make education as the key means of enhancing social mobility and employability of Singaporeans? 3.What are the education plans for Special Need/Disabled Children?

Please join us. Or help forward to friends who may be interested. Thank you.
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Regards, Tony, from XXXXXXX

ponyo:

Dear BornSingaporean


Thanks for sharing your story. It's a real shame what the school did. No one child should ever be written off.

Just to share a short story to encourage you, my nephew was also from the Normal stream. However he did not give up on himself and he eventually did well enough to qualify for SP.

Being artistically-inclined, he took up landscape design and he has been topping his cohort since(I think he even got into the Dean's List). As he will be graduating this year, he has even received invitations from NUS/NTU for their degree courses.

So take heart. All roads lead to Rome, so they say. Just that some will take a longer time. Eventually we will get there. To quote Randy Pausch, who gave a really inspiring lecture before he died from pancreatic cancer, \"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.\"
- Randy Pausch ( 1960-2008 )

If you have the time, do try to read the book \"The Last Lecture\" by Randy Pausch or watch the video (which the book was based on):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Cheers
Ponyo

ponyo:

So take heart. All roads lead to Rome, so they say. Just that some will take a longer time. Eventually we will get there. To quote Randy Pausch, who gave a really inspiring lecture before he died from pancreatic cancer, \"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.\"
- Randy Pausch ( 1960-2008 )

If you have the time, do try to read the book \"The Last Lecture\" by Randy Pausch or watch the video (which the book was based on):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Cheers
Ponyo

bornsingaporean:

My son scored 147 for his PSLE and was put in the N(T) stream. Good news is that he got the school he wanted, well you all know the bad news. Wife was devastated and was trying all ways to appeal but to no avail. His first year was an eye opener for all of us. My son found out that no teacher in his school wanted to teach the Tech class. His form teacher was an Art teacher. There was very little focus on Maths and Science, and I found out that throughout the whole year in Sec one, his class only stepped into the science lab ONCE. But yet the exams included experiments and lab work. Even trying out for CCA's , the Tech boys were often not selected. Needless to say, my wife and I were furious with the school. It seems that the school had already written off these boys and they were just going through the motions until they could off load them to the ITEs.


So we took over his studies, we told him to go to school and make friends and enjoy school life, while the real studying will take place at home. We had good tuition teachers and we got him to study both the Academic and the Tech stream curriculum. You see, my son loves history and geography, but being in the Tech stream, MOE has decided that he is not smart enough to learn about these subjects.

To date , my son has topped his class in Sec one and Sec Two . He scores A's for math science english and CPA and Home econs He managed to get a C for chinese. He has identified the course he intends to do in ITE and has chartered his path to Poly. He knows what he wants and how to get it. He has not given up all though the school has given up on kids like him. He has learnt perseverence, honesty and getting the job done regardless of what others think. Those skills are more important for success in life.

I have no doubt that he will succeed in whatever he does. And to all parents who are in the same situation, my advise is look at your child's strengths and more importantly listen to their plans and ideas and work with them to achieve those plans. Nobody wants to fail. Don't abdicate your child's education to the schools.

Hope this helps.

bornsingaporean:

My son scored 147 for his PSLE and was put in the N(T) stream. Good news is that he got the school he wanted, well you all know the bad news. Wife was devastated and was trying all ways to appeal but to no avail. His first year was an eye opener for all of us. My son found out that no teacher in his school wanted to teach the Tech class. His form teacher was an Art teacher. There was very little focus on Maths and Science, and I found out that throughout the whole year in Sec one, his class only stepped into the science lab ONCE. But yet the exams included experiments and lab work. Even trying out for CCA's , the Tech boys were often not selected. Needless to say, my wife and I were furious with the school. It seems that the school had already written off these boys and they were just going through the motions until they could off load them to the ITEs.


So we took over his studies, we told him to go to school and make friends and enjoy school life, while the real studying will take place at home. We had good tuition teachers and we got him to study both the Academic and the Tech stream curriculum. You see, my son loves history and geography, but being in the Tech stream, MOE has decided that he is not smart enough to learn about these subjects.

To date , my son has topped his class in Sec one and Sec Two . He scores A's for math science english and CPA and Home econs He managed to get a C for chinese. He has identified the course he intends to do in ITE and has chartered his path to Poly. He knows what he wants and how to get it. He has not given up all though the school has given up on kids like him. He has learnt perseverence, honesty and getting the job done regardless of what others think. Those skills are more important for success in life.

I have no doubt that he will succeed in whatever he does. And to all parents who are in the same situation, my advise is look at your child's strengths and more importantly listen to their plans and ideas and work with them to achieve those plans. Nobody wants to fail. Don't abdicate your child's education to the schools.

Hope this helps.

DCparent:

He posted to Commonwealth NA and start the term and just received call that Tech Whye give him a place in Express. :idea: Should I take Teck Whye or remain in Commomwealth? :?


I know Commonwealth is a good school vs Teck Whye but should I choose Express over NA....

DCparent:

He posted to Commonwealth NA and start the term and just received call that Tech Whye give him a place in Express. :idea: Should I take Teck Whye or remain in Commomwealth? :?


I know Commonwealth is a good school vs Teck Whye but should I choose Express over NA....

bornsingaporean:

My son scored 147 for his PSLE and was put in the N(T) stream. Good news is that he got the school he wanted, well you all know the bad news. Wife was devastated and was trying all ways to appeal but to no avail. His first year was an eye opener for all of us. My son found out that no teacher in his school wanted to teach the Tech class. His form teacher was an Art teacher. There was very little focus on Maths and Science, and I found out that throughout the whole year in Sec one, his class only stepped into the science lab ONCE. But yet the exams included experiments and lab work. Even trying out for CCA's , the Tech boys were often not selected. Needless to say, my wife and I were furious with the school. It seems that the school had already written off these boys and they were just going through the motions until they could off load them to the ITEs.


So we took over his studies, we told him to go to school and make friends and enjoy school life, while the real studying will take place at home. We had good tuition teachers and we got him to study both the Academic and the Tech stream curriculum. You see, my son loves history and geography, but being in the Tech stream, MOE has decided that he is not smart enough to learn about these subjects.

To date , my son has topped his class in Sec one and Sec Two . He scores A's for math science english and CPA and Home econs He managed to get a C for chinese. He has identified the course he intends to do in ITE and has chartered his path to Poly. He knows what he wants and how to get it. He has not given up all though the school has given up on kids like him. He has learnt perseverence, honesty and getting the job done regardless of what others think. Those skills are more important for success in life.

I have no doubt that he will succeed in whatever he does. And to all parents who are in the same situation, my advise is look at your child's strengths and more importantly listen to their plans and ideas and work with them to achieve those plans. Nobody wants to fail. Don't abdicate your child's education to the schools.

Hope this helps.