Intrepid:

Fatmi:

Bro Anthony......you have led the boys for these long but it ended with shame

The boys who are now good men out there is his lasting legacy. This good work will outlast this episode. That cannot be taken away from Bro Anthony. Let us also remember that and be compassionate.

I agreed. Wish him luck .....

GEP selection has nothing to do with the kid’s level position in school. Some of the kids being selected are not even in the top 50 in level position in their own school.

david59, what you said here is correct. GEP students do not have to take HCL if they do not feel like it. BUT I think your student did not explain in details to you. For those who are taking HCL, their chinese test paper is not the same as the mainstream HCL.

> mathsparks wrote:

> the paper taken by the gep non bicep students in son's school is the same as that taken by the mainstream higher chinese students.

I guess different school has different policy then. Most of the GEP schools chinese paper taken by GEP students is not the same as the same school mainstream HCL. In fact, the exam period for GEP students is not the same as mainstream students in most GEP schools. So how can they have the SAME paper?
Please do not make a conclusion based on special case. Because in other GEP schools, there are different set of papers for GEP and mainstream.

I think what acforfamily meant is the chinese test papers taken by GEP students are not the same as the mainstream. The format is quite different too. The comprehension part is definitely more difficult for the GEP students. Since they are using the same text book, so if you do not consider this as GEP chinese, I can respect your reasoning.

One good thing about GEP is it will train a kid to be more mature and independent. Yes, there are still GEP kids who go to those high price tuition centre for Maths and Science enrichment. And to be honest, I do not understand why their parents are doing that. GEP is a program that is supposed to train a kid to be independent and being able to solve problems by themselves. If the kids have problems with school work, they should discuss with their classmates or seek help from the GEP teachers. All the GEP teachers are special trained to handle all kind of gifted kids. Sometimes, I think parents just have to learn to let go of their kids and let them handle their own study. We will be surprised how well they will do if they have the right mind and attitude. The baseline is to teach the kids to be motivated and have the right attitude towards learning and most important - towards life.


Being selected for GEP does not mean that the kid is suitiable for the program. The parents are in the best position to know that if their kids are ready for the program. If a kid has to go to tuition center for english, maths and science tuition when they are in P3, then I think the parents better think twice before sending the kid into GEP. A poor GEP kid once written in his english eassy " Everyday is like hell to me". If I were the parents, I would pull him / her out of the GEP program because the program is hurting the kid’s little heart. Don’t just go for GEP because it is GEP. Only go for GEP if you think that this is the best route for your kid.

> highly self motivated and have a high degree of flair for Maths and Science


The selection test is based on Maths and English.
But once you are in GEP, you have to cope with very high standard of Maths, Science and English demands. Even now the GEP Chinese is getting harder than mainstream.

> ie, students crying when they are not selected for 2nd rd, I guess GEP is even MORE important than topping the school!!


I think students cry mainly because of the high expectation and pressure from parents. If the parents have correct attitude towards GEP, this should not happen. And to be frank, there are also students cry when they do not do well in P6 prelim, some even wants to kill themselves. As parents, we should try to tell the kids what GEP is all about and let them know that it is ok if they do not get in.

> I totally agree with you.. you sound like a teacher. Are you?


Sorry, I am not.

> so they should take pride of their good results and be complimented to encourage the other to do the same.


I think ALL good result should be treated equally; it does not matter if it is GEP or PSLE. For those who got selected for GEP should take pride of THIS good result too.

Of course GEP is just a small step in life, it does not guarantee anything. And it does not mean that all GEP kids are smarter. What I am saying here is I hope some parents can be fairer when it comes to GEP. It is wrong to assume that all those who got selected are trained. In fact, only a small portion of GEP kids are trained to do so. And these are the ones who might suffer deeply in GEP.

Let’s look at PSLE. It has the same problem too. There are kids who spend a lot of money to go to enrichment center to prepare their PSLE. There are also kids from poor family who can not afford that. So can the poor kid keep saying that it is unfair? What good does it do?
There are a lot of unfair things in this world. There are people who do not need to work as hard but still are rich because they have rich parents. Some hit 4D, some hit Toto. Some got promoted for being know how to kiss butt. The important thing is not to complain about it. The important thing is to teach your kid how to deal with it.

I have read some articles in this forum about how bad GEP is. And some of the parents do not quite understand what GEP is all about. They just assumed that "the kids got trained to get in" or "GEP kids got advantage when it comes to DSA". I can respect all these views but I also hope that some parents can see thing from different angles.

My intention is not to create a war here. I have equal respect for both GEP and mainstream kids who work hard and try their best. As parents, this is all we can ask from our kids.