zbear:

cool_hi:

https://www.facebook.com/nicholas.lee.16940/posts/10153632748626415


Hope some companies can step out and sponsor him..
Though No support from the beginning..
But now is still not too late..esp his parents are getting older..

Thanks for the link. It's sad that our garmen does not support local talent as much as foreign talent.

At the end of the day, our local talent brought in the Gold solely on his own self unlike a Bronze from foreign talent who costs more to support.

Is that why Quah doesn't want to try for 2020 Olympics anymore?

I find it appalling that the Schoolings have actually spent US$1mil to nurture and fund their budding swimmer son to realise his dream of becoming an Olympic medallist. And that money has to come from Joseph's aging parents' pocket? What has the G been doing for him all these years in terms of financial support?

Now that Joseph's dream has come to fruition, his gift money of SGD1 mil has to be taxed and so forth, such that he is left with only 2/3 of the money. To begin with, has the G or Sports association granted him with at least $300k to support his exploits in swimming all these years? Our foreign imports have certainly received much much more in comparison from the G for their sporting talents. What a shame! How could the G not identify such a gem in JS right from the start and do all possibles to facilitate his journey and pursuits in education and swimming? Instead he was granted a scholarship from the Texas university. It takes a foreign institution to spot our local rare gems and our G is probably good at spotting foreign talents.

The coming of Joseph Schooling has certainly shed some light into what our local talents have been going through in order to realise their dreams and for us to seriously reflect on exactly how much and how far we can do for them to facilitate and make their journey less complex, but more enriching and fulfilling. Needless to say, financial support is topmost.

It takes extraordinary leaders to make ordinary people extraordinary.

Colin and May Schooling are undeniably the most extraordinary leaders in the life of Joseph Schooling.

It’s saddening to see that parents now are more pushy towards their kids to achieve academic excellence in pursuit for success and great achievements so much so that it has taken centre place in their family living.


But how many parents here actually place emphasis and pay attention to their kids’ character building? Are they just as pushy in instilling core values in them? Values of respect, compassion, empathy, diligence, perseverance, resilience, humility etc.

Academic excellence isn’t everything. I seriously think having desirable characters and good values supercedes achieving just academic excellence. If one is guided by these good values, everything in life’s endeavours will fall into place. Parents need not fret so much over their kid’s learning journey then. Kids will be well-motivated to take captain of their ships and take charge of their own studies and be responsible for the consequences. Along the way, they learn perseverance and resilience because they are self-driven and are ones who push themselves to excel. They also learn empathy and have a compassion for others and always to be sensitive to the needs of others because they understand what it means to go through hardships and failures. They also learn to appreciate the efforts of others and be humble about their own talents and achievements because they know that all things do not come easy but through the concerted efforts and dedications of teachers, mentors, parents and even their own peers.

Looking at the behaviours and attitudes of some of the children, especially in camps and workshops held for GEPpers and mainstreamers, have left me quite speechless and I can’t help feeling a sense of disgust. Whatever happens to good parenting? It’s true kids nowadays have it too good. They get everything done for them and need not lift a finger to help. All they have to do is to just study. They have everything except good core values. They may be book smart but their soft skills and attitudes towards life and people are something that is left to be desired. An ounce of truth here, when you look at the kid, you can jolly well guess what kind of parents they have. But of course, I do also see great wonderful children and they are truly angels. It’s certainly gratifying to have such kids around and I credit it to their excellent upbringing.

Parents, stop driving the wrong message into your kids. Bring them up the right way. It’s instilled good core values in them that will effectively help them sail pass their journey in life. In a more meaningful and fulfilling way.

.

nms1:

I think it's a real shame that schools like RI are all but excluding the mainstream students in DSA. I thought the idea was for DSA to assess children on a more holistic basis. Not all children shine through at P3 especially as the GEP exam is not a pure test of intelligence.

I won't say they exclude the MS students from their DSA exercise. It's just that very few vacancies are allocated to them. Beats me why though as there are a lot of GEMS in the mainstream school too. Not all choose to go into the GEP Programme during P3 or somehow they have been missed out by the GEP exercise. I did have teachers telling me that they were totally baffled why certain bright sparks were not chosen for the GEP whilst some average performers got in. Got to hear of a few examples of such cases already from my relatives and friends.

A note to the MS students applying for RI. The chance of getting CO or even WL is really really very slim even if you are top in your own primary school with your many impressive awards and recognition certificates.


Yes, RI may jolly well choose only 1-2 students per domain as the bulk of the DSA vacancies are allocated to the Geppers. RI is really looking for the best of the best, someone with the ‘X’ factor from the MS students to fit into their criteria. So don’t harbour much hope for a CO. If you do not get the CO, that doesn’t mean you are not good enough. You can confidently try for your dream school via PSLE results. 5 years ago, my DS wasn’t successful in getting the CO from RI even when he was consistently top in his primary school. He was given COs by other schools and went on to attain 27X in his PSLE. On subsequent years, many of the top performers of various MS schools in my neighbourhood also did not get any CO from RI. To date, I have yet to hear of any MS student who has successfully DSAed into RI via academics, except sports. This goes to show how remote of a chance it is for MS students to attain a CO from RI.

My advice is just go for the DSA experience especially if you are selected for the final round. My DS had fun and it was enlightening. No regrets. Make sure you are consistent in your performance all the way and I’m sure you will be well rewarded with your hard-earned dream school.

IMHO, parents need to understand that the DSA exercise is crafted and worked towards the school’s advantage, not the student’s. It’s the school choosing you to fit into their Programme, students whom they think who can fill in their lacks and meet expectations and taking her to greater heights. Not the other way round.


Hence, we virtually have no right or say on how a school wishes to conduct its DSA process. You may think your child or other children that you know of who is deserving in achievements and talents, but the school may think otherwise because they have seen or interviewed many other gems who can better meet their criteria. Fair or unfair play is very subjective and solely left to the discretion of applicants. Parents need to have mutual understanding and confidence in the school they are applying for DSA. Every school functions differently. You apply for this school, you play along with her rules. Whatever outcome or decision the school makes, applicants have to accept it with grace and thanksgiving. No point questioning the system from hindsight and hankering on what you cannot have or change. Go with the flow. No need to feel sore. What you cannot have may mean there’s better things in store for you. If you cannot handle the disappointment, (sadly it will be the parents, not the child), then it’s better that you stay away from the DSA exercise and get into your dream school through your pure effort via PSLE results. To me, this is the fairest and purest form of entry into your dream school.

By the way, both RGS and NYGS are great schools. To each it’s own.

Every School has her fair share of underperforming students, even the top-tier branded schools in SG. It’s just that nobody is talking about them as the focus has always been on those with scholastic excellence. Hence when news of those 10 boys with dismal ‘o’ level results coming from an elite school surfaced, people find it utterly hard to stomach especially the affected students and their parents.


What are the exact reasons to these boys underperforming even with guidance from teachers in a top notch school? There could be many and may be even hard to pinpoint, even for those 10 students and the school, as they were totally caught off guard with the unexpected results. So, let us not speculate on the underlying reasons and start thinking that certain MOE policy or system is not working right or feasible anymore. The affected boys are not talking and sharing much and so does RI. So it can only be our own baseless guessworks.

It’s reported that among the 10 boys, most are atheletes. That means a few may not be DSA sports students admitted into RI and have much higher Psle t-scores in 2011 but apparently did not flourish in the school due to certain reasons and had to be singled out to go to the ‘o’ level class. This is rather common actually in most, if not all, ip schools. It’s great that these ip schools are doing something to help these kids and provide an alternate path for them when things go awry in their learning journey while studying there. Every child matters.

I know of a GEP kid who went to one of the top-tier ip schools but did not perform as well as he should or thought. The kid was not happy in the ip school but remained there and had to sit for the ‘O’ levels and eventually got into a JC among the lowest rung. Over there, the kid performed well and became one of the top performers there. Sometimes, when choosing a school for your kid, you just have to be realistic and find the right fit for them. Take a good hard look at your own kid and his/her learning style and personality, and not just the results. The results don’t 100% tell you everything about your child. Not all can flourish in elite and top notch schools, especially IPs, and sending your child there does more harm than good and by the time we realise the mistake, it’s too late. That’s why we see students with 26X to 27X going for mid-tier Neighbourhood schools.

This episode is indeed a timely wake up call for parents to make the right call when choosing schools for our kids and not to clamour for elite schools regardless of their learning capabilities and interests. We are raising children, not flowers. Discover their passions and not your own.

Justice_justin:

Sutton:

[quote=\"VALyap\"]Suspect she/he is a troll..continue to harp and deliberated act to attack govt agency = PAP. God knows who??!! ...maybe from the dark side... Claiming no children and what on Earth surfing kiasuparents.. The word parents = to have kids. Let's think again his/her (troll) ultimate objective keep harping on it for days...

Exactly...Don't they have better things to do?

And someone here has better things to do by boasting about his 2 sons in RI while another lurks in the forum and make snide comments :evil:[/quote]What I'm trying to say is if people have such deep convictions about the unfairness of certain issues, don't just sit in your backyard to complain. Get out and take proactive steps to correct a wrong or injustice. Then come back here and share with us your exploits. I'll love to hear you out then.

VALyap:

Suspect she/he is a troll..continue to harp and deliberated act to attack govt agency = PAP. God knows who??!! ...maybe from the dark side... Claiming no children and what on Earth surfing kiasuparents.. The word parents = to have kids. Let's think again his/her (troll) ultimate objective keep harping on it for days...

Exactly...Don't they have better things to do?

Strange...has anyone actually bothered to take the time and trouble to approach or confront MOE as to why they have not been more forthcoming in sharing information before issuing new directives?


I'm sure you'll get a more satisfactory answer than ranting and harping on it here like a broken record till you turn green in the face.

Just a suggestion.