FYI, I read on ChannelNews from May that Pri 1 maths syllabus will be tweaked from next year.

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1200575/1/.html

According to the article, MOE plans to drop part of the Primary 1 mathematics syllabus, measuring and comparing objects' physical mass through the use of non-standard units. Instead, they will be taught about the orientation of objects such as whether they are facing left or right or pointing up or down. With such an adjustment, PSLE format will change for students from 2008.

Thus, more numeracy skills will be required for the exams. They said the review can help to lighten the workload and improve students' numeracy knowledge. I'm just not sure if it can make students less stressed as probably instead of testing the measuring and comparing, they can focus on more complicated maths.

Thus, it may end up even more stressful!

slmkhoo:

Will_lim:

Thanks for the replies guys.


Correct me if I'm wrong, in most western countries like the US, the students only take SATs at the end of high school and bam! they go to university. So, the kids there are on pretty much the same playing field all the way till they are 18 years old. Whereas in Singapore, students have to take PSLE, \"O\", \"N\", and \"A\" Levels before they finally reach university. It's like just when you think it's over, you are up against the next big exam already. It's an exam-crazy culture.

I actually prefer the US's education system because firstly, it is much less stressful than our education system. Secondly, it builds better self-esteem because students are not given this message that they are lousier than other students in \"better\" schools at a young age. I remember when I was young, I would go for inter-school competitions and when I knew I was up against a good school, my morale would already deflate a little bit. Sometimes, I give my kid a Raffles paper to do and he is like \"wuh, cannot la...they are too smart for me..\" My son like me, had already lost the battle even before we stepped into the battlefield.

Perhaps, this constant streaming is necessary for our country because of our limited resources. After all, we don't have that many schools like in the US. Over there, they have about 200 plus universities. We only have 3 so far. Therefore, competition is necessary because of the low supply. Sigh.

I don't think this is entirely true. US kids don't go through big public exams in earlier years, but there is some separation of more academic kids from the less academic. This is done more by pull out classes or differentiating the work required. There is also stiff competition for certain schools at all levels, except that it's by where you live, and sometimes entrance tests, only that some parents may not try as hard as Singapore parents. But yes, it's a lot less stressful.

There is a downside to the esteem-building in US schools, though. Kids get used to being praised and getting high grades, so they 'don't know that they don't know', if you know what I mean.

I quite agree with slmkhoo on this issue. US kids also need to struggle and compete with each others to get into good universities. I admit that they don't have many exams like the way it is in Singapore but they are sure stressed enough for their exams.

Moreover, I think they face other problems that are not from the academic side. Instead of studying theories, they will spend time doing other things like playing sports, participating in outdoor activities, joining art clubs. And in such a culture like US, I'm pretty sure that students will strive to win and to feel a sense of accomplishment, or to receive praise from their parents and teachers. And more importantly, these activities are parts of important criteria for good universities. Hence, it is not that they are not having any exams, they are just having different types of playing field.

I know it’s quite conservative but I really want to limit my boy’s time spent on watching TV.


It’s really easy for him to get distracted and spend the whole night watching TV shows.

Do you think it would be too strict?