kwcllf:Sun_2010:[quote=\"KKKS\"] Let me sidetrack a little.
Let's try to answer the following questions :
- who will be the president scholars this year ? (My answer : definitely there are students from RJI, and perhaps HJI)
- who are the members of the World Maths/Physics/Chemistry/Biology Olympiad team ? (My answer : definitely there are students from RJI, and perhaps HJI )
- which school is the overall champion of the sports events ? (My answer : RJI)
The list can go on. I am a parent too. Given a choice, I would definitely want my kids to go to RJI or HJI. I will think of all possibilities (tutions, tutions for GEP, DSA, special training in sports,etc) in order to maximize the chance for my kid. This comes the stress.
I could recall during my school days, the top positions of any competitions, whether academics or sports, could be from either of the schools below, just to named a few :
- RI
- SJI
- ACS
- RGS
- Nanyang
- Dunman High
- RV
- Chung Cheng High
- St Nic
- Catholic High
- Chinese High
- SCGS
- ACS
- Maris Stella
- Anglican High
- Tanjung Katong
Any of them has some chance to win. That made the school competitions more fun and interesting that way. Our stress level at that time was far lower than the kids now.
I think we have gone overboard by too much differentiating and labeling. Perhaps it is time to re-look at GEP program. Also, the ministry could look into putting in policy to restrict DSA program.
To make people believe that ALL SCHOOLS ARE GOOD SCHOOLS, the ministry could impose compulsory limitations of the % of students the school can enroll based on the PSLE score. For instance :
For those 1% of cohorts score 270 and above. Each school can only be allowed to take in 5% maximum of this band of students.
The next 1% of cohorts score 266 - 269. Each school can only be allowed to take in 5% maximum of this band of students.
The list goes on.
This is just an example. With this, we will have a more even distribution of the students among schools. We will have more lively and healthy school competitions.
Boy, I do miss the good old days...
Just wondering aloud the logic , so if I got 270, i would not stand a chance of getting into say RGS, but If I got 269 I will surely get in?
Good point.
Perhaps, to make the process less confusing, MOE could just widen admission thru DSA. This will allow a more diverse range of students with different strength, not merely academic, to get into the so-called top schools.[/quote]I am just trying to initiate a discussion. The whole idea is to reduce the stress level of both parents and students.
During my time, if you were a slightly above average student, you would have no problem in studying in any of the schools I mentioned above. But now, as someone mentioned, you would not be able to survive in RI or HCI if you were not in the top 3%. I am OK if this kind of competition happened in University level - such as MIT, Harvard, Cambridge, Tsinghua, etc. But differentiation at this early stage can be unhealthy.
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