Hi everyone, thanks very much for all your views. As of now, we're still deciding! :frustrated:


But with the announcement of the population white paper, sentiments seem to have changed, and it might just trigger us to really go over.

Dora1:

shine:

Hi, hi, I’m just an ordinary citizen who bought my 1st HDB and have stayed there ever since. Know nuts about property and investment. I welcome the recent cooling measures but at the same time, do find some sense about this JannettLee comment about people hogging HDB flats after they got the 2nd private property.


My elder brother had to return his HDB flat at a loss as he was unable to sell it off within 6 mths after he got his condo many years back. What was the reason for the change of policy where HDB dwellers are able to retain their flats even after they got a 2nd property? Is it to reduce cases of people selling at a loss like what happened to my brother, or to encourage people to venture into property investment if they have enough cash? Kindly share your views and knowledge. Thanks.

So that the HDB flat can be rented out to the FTs mah... if not the millions of FTs, where are they going to stay??
And SCs will be happy mah, money making leh, who won't like? Win-win situation!
The only losers are the young couples trying to get a new flat to stay because of the sky rocketing price.

pirate:

This part of what she said actually makes sense. But I think the change was implemented at a time when the property market was weak.

So, don't be surprised if Cooling Measures 8 require existing HDB flat owners who buy a private property to sell their HDB flats within 6 months. And don't be surprised if CM9 requires existing HDB flat owners who also own private residential properties to sell either their HDB flats or private properties.

Thanks for your views, think I understand now. The change in policy was to drive up business in the construction sector at the time when property market was sluggish. However, when people started speculating and plunged into reckless investments by buying multiple private properties, property prices rocket up, and at the same time, created a vacuum for genuine 1st time HDB buyers when HDB dwellers hogged the flats.

Indeed, the problems were created by the “short-sighted” government, whereby policies created did not anticipate and respond in time to the changing economic environment, and only tried to put out fire by introducing many rounds of cooling measures when things started to spiral out of control.

Personally, I think the government needs to think through the whole situation carefully, and comes up with more holistic policies rather than in piecemeal form to solve each problem as they arise, so as to ensure they do not have to keep coming up with cooling measures. Building new flats continuously but at the same time allowing people to hog flats will never satisfy the ongoing demand for genuine buyers, especially when the increase in population is in the cards.

Hi, hi, I’m just an ordinary citizen who bought my 1st HDB and have stayed there ever since. Know nuts about property and investment. I welcome the recent cooling measures but at the same time, do find some sense about this JannettLee comment about people hogging HDB flats after they got the 2nd private property.


My elder brother had to return his HDB flat at a loss as he was unable to sell it off within 6 mths after he got his condo many years back. What was the reason for the change of policy where HDB dwellers are able to retain their flats even after they got a 2nd property? Is it to reduce cases of people selling at a loss like what happened to my brother, or to encourage people to venture into property investment if they have enough cash? Kindly share your views and knowledge. Thanks.

jowee:

Till today, yet to rec the second letter for both scholarship and Eagles awards. Any one still waiting?

Still waiting for the 2nd letter for my girl's edusave character award. :scratchhead:

You've got PM.

2ppaamm:

Nebbermind:

[quote=\"ruohoo97\"] Hi, Jedamum, being in a All boy school, doesn't mean no interaction with girls, in fact, they have so many chances, co-projects, join-celebration, charity drive, tuition class..., you name it, worse is introduced by friends, :lightrod: I just found out recently... no wonder he started to ask for hair gel and pimple cream early this year.

Now it's my turn!

This is gonna sound so funny!!

I've been trying to get my boy (14 too!) to wash his face frequently coz of pimple problem and comb his hair...it's been such a chore!!

Me too! Just that mine is 12 and I did his facial last night! I make him scrub his hair 100 times every time he washes so that the forehead will have less pimples. He said he will not do it 100 times, but 200 times because someone called him mooncrater yesterday![/quote] :rotflmao: all these really cracks me up...errr BTW :offtopic:

verykiasumummy:

JJ1111:

I am not sure about JC teacher. But poly and ITE teachers confirm not NIE trained. A few of my friends become poly and ITE teachers. They required only industrial experience. Which is more relevant.

jc / poly / ite all classified as tertiary education.. they should be the same..

As far as I know, Pri/Sec/JC teachers must have professional teacher training qualifications, be it degree/post graduate diploma at NIE or at recognised overseas universities. Usually (not all) Honours grads would be posted to JC after graduating from NIE.

sleepy:

From what she relayed to me about her daily interaction with classmates, I don't find the kids in her class extremely competitive with one another. It's probably more of a 'on the same boat, if sink will sink together' kind of kinship :rotflmao:

More importantly to me, she made new friends, fostered some close friendship & enjoyed her lessons in gep immensely.

Hi sleepy, many thanks for sharing your experience, really appreciate it. You mentioned your DD has “kinship” kind of friendship. Just wondering, are her classmates majority girls?

chamonix:

shine:

[quote=\"chamonix\"]

Is it possible for parents in GEP to be totally hands-off (and no enrichments/tuitions) if their children are enjoying the process but not scoring well like 70% and above? Won't the teachers have a word with the parents in such a scenario?

This is what I fear, got to be involved in their work and then no more ME time liao!

Hi Shine,

If that's what you are worrying about, then take it that certain amount of parental involvement is required by the program. From friends' experiences, this is very true.

This is the first time my son is taking school exams in Singapore. So, it is a learning experience for me. Now, I do understand why most parents still send their kids for enrichments/tuitions (or are involved in their studies) even though their kids are at the top...[/quote]Thanks chamonix for your views. Yes, I think it’s not easy to adapt to school life here if the child is used to the \"western\" education system. A friend who stayed in the States came back and the son (mid primary) could not really adapt well. The son was actually very smart (think was top student, forgot whether identified as gifted) and creative, but his creativity was not very well received here. He couldn’t adapt/conform to the rigidity of the education system here due to differing requirements.

Friend said concepts are taught differently and teachers over there are more engaging. Even his teachers here acknowledged that he would probably excel in the US, as he would feel stifled here due to the overall school environment and expectations.

Hang in there. It’ll take some time to adjust, and I’m sure your son will, with your guidance. By then, you could probably let go. :boogie:

tayv:

Well, I am not trying to start a words war here.


The key point I am trying to bring out is \"You Will Never Know The Outcome Until You Have Tried\".

Let's say the situation whereby a parent kept receiving both positive and negative comments from the forum, is he/she still able to draw a conclusive decision based on all the comments?

Amongst receiving negative comments about the GEP programme, would I still let my kid accept the offer when selected? My answer is a straight \"Yes\". What did not work out for others does not mean will fail on me and what fails on me does not mean it is not good for others.

Just like a job interview, you will never know whether the company is one which you are going to be happy working in just by talking to the HR person who interviewed you.

As individual, we have to make choices all the time in our life. So go with our heart and make them.

I guess anxieties will flow starting next Thursday and parents will start asking their kids to watch out for the mysterious coloured envelope. Some of them would even hunt for the prized envelope themselves by calling the school teachers and even principals asking for the catch. What will come will definitely arrive. *PEACE*

Lets just stay cool as this is just one of the many evaluations which our kids will face along the education journey.

I’m sorry but I think you still didn’t “get it”. If you belong to the norm with a typical child and parent with typical kiasu thinking, then I would say yes, what you’ve described above should and would be the typical response. You might like to read ALL the posts, especially those in the past few days (starting pg 72), to understand the context of the questions and answers, instead of making assumptions.

Why take GEP tests? First of all, it’s FREE! Secondly, it’s good experience and exposure for the kid. Best of all, NO NEED to prepare! :rahrah: Some parents just let their child take the tests without knowing exactly what GEP entails.

Every child is different. There were parents who actually gave up GEP for the child’s sake (they believed that would be the best for their child's development), or because they have other more important priorities in life.