Dear all
I am leaving this forum of my own volition. My apologies for my recent threads on SG vs UK education. All education systems are great.
Be happy, healthy and may your God go with you.
To Chiefkiasu please review my PM to you and action accordingly.
Latest posts made by optimistforum
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RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
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RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
iRabbit:
Oops sorry I was not offended. I was just qualifying that our system is so good that I am humble at its orchestration and deployment.Oops, sorry. I don't mean that education in the UK is no good. It has to be really good to have converted your initial apprehension into fervent support and I respect that.
I've friends who lived in the UK. They told me the education there is on par with the health care. So I guess the health care in UK is pretty solid too. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
iRabbit:
ChiefKiasu:
[quote=\"iRabbit\"]But but ... since we were given the impression we should not be celebrating academic achievements (one gets that impression from the discontinued practice of listing top scorers from our national exams, but strangely for sports it's okay), perhaps our MSM should take a leaf from MOE and not print this. :razz:
:rotflmao: It's in today's papers. Front page even. I guess it's ok to apply the rules discriminately if you make the rules.sushi88:
Can tell labbit is still a bit soreiRabbit:
But but ... since we were given the impression we should not be celebrating academic achievements (one gets that impression from the discontinued practice of listing top scorers from our national exams, but strangely for sports it's okay), perhaps our MSM should take a leaf from MOE and not print this. :razz:
A result of hasty decision puts this in a joke book.
, not that his son is even remotely near the top scorers. Just don't agree with the principles behind it.
Alas, discussions have drifted to whether the good standings were due to tuitions. Does it matter? Tuitions seen at this scale were only prevalent in the last 10 yrs or so, and I suspect only at primary level. Those were 15 yr old being tested. And I doubt sec sch students have that much disposable time to go for many tuitions anyway.
Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether Singapore is placed 1st, 2nd or last compared to the other Asian countries known for having a tuition culture. What I find significant was the progress made in the last 50 years or so. Tuition or no tuition, we caught up and surpassed the more established countries, for instance the UK, for Math and Sci; at least at the sec sch level.
That alone speaks volumes.[/quote]Not sure I agree with your last sentence in your penultimate paragraph. Asian countries follow a rote education, and the OECD exams are rote. Interestingly, I sat my o levels in the early 80s. Children, now, in the UK cover a lot of the subjects, that I learnt at 14, 15 and 16 from age 9. You need to see our KS1, KS2 papers to see what is tested at Primary. It combines minimal rote with free thinking across a broad expanse of subjects.
As for KS3, most start learning their GCSEs at age 12 to 13. Again, they cover same topics as earlier years but the nuances and interpretative qualities of the questisons posed become more sophisticated. At KS4 our GCSEs require much more analytical thinking than O Levels of old. At KS5, I am staggered at my niece's A Level Papers in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Pure/Applied Maths. They cover much more than I did, in terms of breadth and depth. She is off to study Dentistry in the autumn should she make her grades.
It is true that SG and Asia have done exceedingly well in education. So have we, certainly since the introduction of the National Curriculum in the late 80s. I started off as a heavy detractor of UK education, as I valued a rote based system. I subsequently realised that I was wrong, and am so humble and grateful at the free and high quality education afforded to us in the UK. The litmus test results are proved in the vast numbers of Brits attaining exec level position in companies, locally and internationally. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
lee_yl:
I wish our spending was a so high, but you are woefully wrong. I used UK Dept of Education Report 2013.
If you use the same yard stick to have a fair comparison, the figures for UK are comparable. The education budget for UK is around £95bil (say, $190bil) and the number of primary and secondary pupils in UK is around 8.3 mil which comes up to $23k per student. In fact, in terms of GDP spending on education, UK's figure at 6% is almost 2 times higher than SG's at 3.4%.optimistforum:
Lee_yl
For a city state one billion dollars is a lot. It occurs to me that the $1bn spent has provided a synergistic benefit
Btw the government average spend per child in England is SG $12K, whereas in SG it is SG $21k, according to the SG MOE Education Stats for 2014. It assumes 473375 students across primary, secondary, mixed level and junior colleges. So with a $10 bn investment that equates to $21k per student. This rises to $23k a head when the $1bn tutoring is included. I am envious with the investment afforded your pupils, as it is an investment in the future. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
Lee_yl
For a city state one billion dollars is a lot. It occurs to me that the $1bn spent has provided a synergistic benefit
Btw the government average spend per child in England is SG $12K, whereas in SG it is SG $21k, according to the SG MOE Education Stats for 2014. It assumes 473375 students across primary, secondary, mixed level and junior colleges. So with a $10 bn investment that equates to $21k per student. This rises to $23k a head when the $1bn tutoring is included. I am envious with the investment afforded your pupils, as it is an investment in the future. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
lee_yl:
There won't be a difference simply because there's a strong cultural belief in pursuing academic excellence. Academic excellence to many is an end by itself. Additionally, the high social status accorded to teachers further entrenches the respect for learning.
Where did I write that all SG kids need tuition. Please show me where I stated that. I merely mentioned that SG results have been inflated by tutors. Take them away would the aggregated scores of schools be so high.optimistforum:
[quote=\"janet88\"]it is not fair to imply that all kids need tuition because school teachers are not doing their job....for weaker kids, how can parents expect the teacher to zoom in and personally coach?
true, parents send kids to school...but they cannot expect one-way traffic. for those parents who are able to coach their kids in school work, I guess they would...but not every parent can do so...so that's why we have tuition.
my daughter has caring and responsible teachers.
It is ironical that someone who spends so much on SG textbooks is so negative about the SG educational system.[/quote]All but about 12 of the books are retained at home. The rest were binned. Infact, I have spent thousands on books from SG, UK, USA, South Korea, Canada, India and Australia. Negativity about SG books is because of the thousands spent, a vast majority of the books were found to be dross.
I think your education system is great. SG schools + plus a lot of SG Tutoring = Great Results. We hear politicians, in the UK, highlight SG schools as a beacon of great practice. They may well be good, but your results are down to tutors....for the umpteenth time of saying.
I shall shortly provide this forum with further cornucopia of URLs to good practices, and books - particularly from the UK. I think forum members are loathe to share good practices. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
I am not judging you on level of tuition. I am merely stating, yet again, that tutoring is an endemic part of SG schooling, and that if you took that away then that leaves what is provided by your schools. You have to admit that your out of hours tutors are positively subsidising the grades of your schools.
I am off to pick up my UK Y5 (or SP P4) son from his school now, before he starts on his Prep for his exams - UK Year 7 Maths, UK Year 8 problem Solving, SG S2 vocabulary, UK Year 9 Synonyms and Antonyms, Inference Comprehension and Cloze Tests -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
There’s nothing wrong with out of school tuition. But take that away in SG, would your aggregated scores be so high.
Ps how many junior schools and senior schools in your city state.
Pps, the Asian emphasis on education is warming and laudable. Education is a precursor to social mobility and aspiration. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
janet88:
Where did I write that all SG kids need tuition. Please show me where I stated that. I merely mentioned that SG results have been inflated by tutors. Take them away would the aggregated scores of schools be so high.it is not fair to imply that all kids need tuition because school teachers are not doing their job....for weaker kids, how can parents expect the teacher to zoom in and personally coach?
true, parents send kids to school...but they cannot expect one-way traffic. for those parents who are able to coach their kids in school work, I guess they would...but not every parent can do so...so that's why we have tuition.
my daughter has caring and responsible teachers. -
RE: Singapore Tops Biggest Global Education Rankings
Rrmummy
State and private schools follow the National Curriculum. But the pace varies. Very good private schools hols are two years ahead.
My son is in state secondary Y7, which is SG P6. He has already achieved equivalent of GCSES grade C passes in his subjects