ruohoo97:

\"My friends included the children of hawkers as well as of millionaires. Differences in wealth never bothered us. That I think is a good thing.\"

--Lee Wei Ling

Agree!

Once upon a time, our Education system caters for children from all walks of life ranging from hawkers, politician to millionaires. Differences in wealth has never been a factor that dictate how well you do. Sadly, it has been a factor today. Nanyang has become an elite school n there is no diversity now.

Why must group all the students with similar ability in one school? As such, nanyang has become an elite school and students mostly from similar background.

Honestly, I shouldnt have complained about it as my dc has benefited and will continue to enjoy the privilege from the current system if nothing has changed!

However, is it correct？ privilege is not going to help them and can weaken them. I may jeopardize my dc's future by calling for a change.

至少他能理直气壮,活得坦坦荡荡。
该面对，就面对。当承受的，应当承受！
拥有牺牲小我，完成大我的精神。


This makes them tougher and I'm still a proud mother!

Twinkies:

CayennePepper:

[quote=\"BeContented\"]

Good point.
Without LKY, probably we won't even have this GEP/DSA/IP issues to consider. Most of us will probably not be as educated as we are now. Can even look over our shoulders & rejoice over our less stressful, less competitive life.

Well, maybe in the near future we can look forward to such blissful lives. :boogie:

Haha, yes, indeed, CayennePepper, :imanangel: it'd be so blissful that me/my children would be the smartest of all in the neighborhood, but then again, those below still would complain and lobbying for the bar to be lowered, yet again (?)

Then, one day we will be blissfully look around SG that ALL OF
US ARE IN THE SAME INTELLIGENCE LEVEL, no one is smarter than the other, so peace with all (?)

It's like Marxism Education System ? and the eventual attainment of a classless society (?)[/quote]断章取义,只根据自己的理解或需要截取片断或部分. 悟透不出原意呢?还是没有意识？ :sad: :faint:

CayennePepper:

Melodies:

Honestly, your 'obstacles' are the schemes that allow resourceful parents to explore and hence create this 震耳欲聋的呐喊声 situation.


It is a matter of trading off between the consequences of these schemes that affect the majority/public and whatsoever to pave way for training this small privilege group.

Aiyo, what so big deal about this GEP program? You go to UK/US/Australia/western countries, this is the way (unstructured way) how they teach their pupils la! ha!ha!ha Don't tell me Angoo kid is more gifted than our kids and they can cope but we can't cope. :rant:

Exactly. There is no big deal about the GEP. Differentiated learning and curriculum happen elsewhere too.. Pathlight and Assumption Pathway Schools come to mind.

I find myself keep repeating the same thing over and over again!

david59:

concern2:

The last 2-3 pages of comments confirms the fact that parents are taking such exams as a competition which I find is the need for change. I feel like I am re-watching the 2012 Olympic Games - so and so broke the record - cannot be- she must be doping... :slapshead: Although it isn't about cheating here, but it is like saying there is non-level playing ground and unfairness, which is what education should not be in the first place - it should not be viewed as a competition in the first place. All these talks about who is top and if not you are mediocre is driving everyone madly in a competition of academic competition - at the expense of real learning and real education.


The key issue is that many people have a very narrow definition of success. And such narrow definition of success being ingrained in children at this very early stage is uncalled for, is dangerous, and detrimental to future success of our country. We have been carrying this narrow definition for the past decade. To continue to prosper and propel ourselves, we need to take on a broader view and celebrate success in various fields. Although I would personally prefer that things be more transparent, instead of censoring this and that, there comes a time when things tend to take on extreme and side-effects, and calls for some form of administering.

I do not believe that those who are already working hard would stop doing so because top students are not being glorified, unless the ultimate aim of the student / parent is to be in that limelight. To go on to say why not stop disclosing this achiever and that achiever is carrying this too far and is not being rational in thinking.

On the contrary, I see goodness and nobility in shining the lime light on those who have all odds against them to succeed, yet they did it, although they may not be the best of the best in results. It gives hope. At least for now.

:goodpost:

May I add, why so much stress just simply in primary school education? I feel a lot is due to the schemes like dsa n GEP.

DSA pushes some parents to make their kids join certain sports or activities with the unceasing hope that their kids can get into top schools despite their mediocre academic results. Pushing the kids to do things they may not like is unhealthy for family bonding. It's fine if the kid enjoys. However, the greatest stress comes when the kid finds himself struggling to perform in the elite school he would otherwise be unable to get into.

GEP robs the neighborhood schools of their top best students and give them to the elite schools who thus constantly perform excellingly above national average in PSLE. How then can these neighborhood schools ensure that they can continue to produce top scorers above 270 in the yearly PSLE?

I know some neighborhood schools select and form an elite class of a smaller 20 to 25 students in Primary 5 n 6 with the hope n objective of achieving a few top scores with 270 n above. This elite class is given the best resources n teachers to achieve this aim. I wonder what happen to the weaker students then. I see unjust treatment in our educational system here. I believe many students in elite class come from well educated n well to do families with great resources to help their kids academically. Yet they also receive top class treatment from their schools. The elite class is therefore stressed with lots of works to achieve the schools' desire for top scorers. Their parents are also stressed to help their kids to keep up with the demand set by the teachers.
The parents of weaker students who are more likely of lower educational background n lower income group cannot afford good quality tuition for their kids as the schools are unlikely to put greater effort to help them due to thinly spread better resources for the elite class. Thus, these parents are desperate for miracles to happen or send their kids to cheap group tuition centres that really hardly help. Instead, more time is wasted n the kids are stressed with more tuition work they cannot do, on top of school works.
The best way to present the success of a school that is truly educating their students academically is not by displaying a huge banner showcasing their top students but by displaying the average aggregate PSLE score whereby we total up the scores of all the students and divide it by the total number of students. By doing this, every school will have to make every effort to help all their students to do better as any neglect of any class will likely result in a low average score for that particular school.
It is important to groom the best but to do so at the neglect of the weaker ones is unjust meritocracy ! It simply promotes a greater divide between the smarter n the weaker ones.

:goodpost:

Honestly, your 'obstacles' are the schemes that allow resourceful parents to explore and hence create this 震耳欲聋的呐喊声 situation.


It is a matter of trading off between the consequences of these schemes that affect the majority/public and whatsoever to pave way for training this small privilege group.

Aiyo, what so big deal about this GEP program? You go to UK/US/Australia/western countries, this is the way (unstructured way) how they teach their pupils la! ha!ha!ha Don't tell me Angmo kid is more gifted than our kids and they can cope but we can't cope. :rant:

CayennePepper:

Melodies, I like your 成语s
And I get where you're coming from. Really.
It's just that I don't think removing all the perceived 'obstacles' to a more equitable (I don't mean equal) playing field is THE solution to address the 震耳欲聋的呐喊声.

I have to be very careful with my words.

Sadly, I happened to know some GEPpers are attending tuition and heard some from others. I really can't comment whether it is a rare case or common in sight as I don't have the statistics.

That's why I'm asking parents to share their experiences..

isetan:

Hi melodies,

You seen GEPers taking tuition in sec? Rare case or common in sight? Just curious to know.

janet_lee88:

phankao:

[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]

So moving on, I really hope my son will get to enjoy his school :xedfingers: and TEACHERS WHO TEACH. I am not asking for too much right ?
Ultimately, this is the REASON why our kids go to school.

I really wish this is the case. My boy who just finished Sec 1 this year - we had to get him a Math tutor halfway thru the year. And he improved significantly. And when I asked him why, he said he understands his tutor, but he doesn't understand his school teacher even when he approaches the teacher for clarification. And... his school teacher is always \"so busy\". Make appointment and 90% of the time don't turn up or is rushing to go off.

I think will need to get him a Science tutor soon too for Sec 2, so he can understand his school syllabus instead of bungling thru with school teachers.

*sigh*. when I was in sec sch, it was the school tr who helped me improve significantly. Not a tutor that we have to pay extra money to.

So that means sec and primary school is the same? Tutors, not teachers help child understand syllabus :faint: I am having my worries about son and whether he can cope with math and science. Die lah, 8-9 subjects.[/quote]Janet, don't give up! keep fighting!!! This is not an isolated case, even GEPper in sec are not spared, some are attending tuition too in sec... Do keep sharing your experiences and hopefully MOE will hear this and intervene..Just VERY Unhealthy now...n we don't want this to continue... :hugs:

CayennePepper:

sinoboy:

希望当局能够考虑废除天才班，或透过DSA直接收取天才班，和直通车等这些让家长和孩子们都感到焦虑的条例与政策。

若当局把高材测试延至小六， 会让更多家长安心吗？

家长和孩子感到焦虑， 是因为他们把得失看得太重了吧！如能随遇而安。。。

非也!非也！并非家长们把得失看得太重。若能随遇而安，何乐也不为呢? 冰冻三尺，非一日之寒。洽洽相反，随遇已不能安矣！若不是求救无门，山穷水尽的边境。局势哪能从初衷的呻吟声演变成今时的震耳欲聋的呐喊声。

CayennePepper:

sinoboy:

There are some other sensitive socio-economic issues which I shan't elaborate but put yourself in the majority people's shoes please.

Hahaha, I AM in the majority! :evil:

Everyone is in the majority!

I trust that MOE would consider all walks of life with different backgrounds including those with very humble background. Don't worry..

VALyap:

GLORYmum:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]

Melodies, don't take this the wrong way but you have to careful how you phrase your posts in forums. There are many uninformed parents who take postings as gospel truth. And it will only serve to misinform the populace and lead to rumours. In your post highlighted above, you linked DSA to EESIS. There is no link between the two. Also, you raised the case of the student with 265 with no EESIS. Again, those of us who have experience with EESIS know that that would be impossible and hence advised garfield to check his documents carefully. You instead posted that there is a potential case of non-EESIS for someone with 265. Why would you highlight this when it's already been determined that the COP is 262? And parents have already posted here that T-scores of 263 and 264 have confirmed EESIS?

agree with Jtoh, doesn't matter if you had speculated but it will be better to state the fact rather then deduce the fact otherwise pple like me will think it is true and believe faithfully. cheers.

Well said! EESIS is given to cohort of top 3%..as long as the student meet the COP
Those that don't get EESIS may not meet the COP 262.[/quote]Jtoh,GLORYmum n VALyah
Yes, parents have posted but they did not clarify that their dc is not gepper n I wanted to make sure their dc is not gepper since gepper has a different criteria to meet for getting eesis n their t score does not determine whether or not they will get eesis. Hence, all the gepper's t score should be excluded.