limsatine\" post_id=\"2084043\" time=\"1664458320\" user_id=\"122933:
Hi mummies & daddies,
My son has a CO from SST. Reading through the previous pages, I am concerned about the % of students who went to JC. Of course, it could be an issue of students who qualify and choose not to go JC.
My older boy is in Gan Eng Seng School where AL varies from 10 - 15. The % who qualified for JC at GESS was 97.5%. I am certain of the % as it was shared to parents during the talk. So far, I am happy with the holistic development at GESS, though the school is very academically driven. (e.g students are taught upper sec concepts in lower sec). Currently, older son is taking triple Science there. Being teenagers, he play games with his classmates, studies at the last min but results are still ok. Science papers are difficult but with the way the teachers are teaching, I am sure he will stand a good chance to go to JC.
My hubby is not keen to accept the offer and wishes for my younger one to go to a school with a higher % of students going to JC. While I know that it depends on my son's preference, I am also concerned if SST would prep my son for the national exams. Nonetheless, my boy is very excited to be there.
Would love to hear from fellow parents. 
Hi limsatine,
Just wanted to share some of my own experiences with SST students (as I taught English at one of Enrichment centres down the road from SST). Based on my interactions with SST students, I have found them to be strong metacognitive thinkers and learners. In a classroom with both mainstream students and SST students, my SST stu would usually be the one who can make connections from what was discussed in class, to some other topic from another subject, and draw parallels/make inferences based on the connections he makes. Additionally, the SST students I have encountered (I don’t want to generalise), are unafraid to ask questions in class. The few SST students ive had are a joy to teach, because they enjoy learning and they enjoy asking questions because (I assume) they are naturally curious and want to learn more. In contrast, many of my mainstream students require a lot more prodding to get them to participate in class/attempt challenging questions. From these observations, I infer that the applied learning approach adopted in SST helps their students develop other important skills (beyond the academic subjects), such as communicative competency, being good problem solvers, being intellectually curious, being good collaborators..
My personal opinion, based on my observations of SST vs mainstream students in my classroom, is that SST does a far better job than most mainstream schools at developing intelligent problem solvers who are curious about the world. (A caveat, my IP students are also just as curious, eloquent and engaged in class).
My suggestion would be for you and your husband to think about whether it is important to you that your son develops the above mention skills well. And to ask yourself if your son is a problem solver by nature, and someone who is already naturally curious about how the world works, and if he is passionate about science. If he is, then i think he would certainly thrive in SST, and enjoy his 4 years while he is at it. I echo another commenter’s thoughts about JC no longer holding the same status as before.
As a small aside, my husband is Vice-dean at one of the local universities here. And after numerous admissions exercises, his personal opinion is that poly grads are just as competent and intelligent as students from JC. These days, JC or Poly can be a matter of choice, so I think the thing to really focus on is whether you think your son will enjoy the type of applied learning, because that is not for everyone. (Just as how the mainstream schools approach to classroom teaching is not for everyone..). For me, I’m not much of a science person, but my husband is a full blown geek ( as a boy he would make his parents really mad because he used to take apart computers and gadgets to see how things work inside). He WISHES that there was a school like SST around when he was young. Instead of being lectured by his mom, his insatiable curiosity might hv been encouraged instead.
Frankly, i think your son is extremely lucky to have both you and your husband concerned about his future. And just because of that, I think your son will do well no matter which path he ends up taking. (Exercise CO for SST or go to mainstream school). More importantly though, I think your son should have just as much say (or perhaps more say) in his choice of secondary school than you and your husband. Let him attend the SST session at the end of October and ask him what he thinks about the school. Perhaps you may get a chance to address your concerns about how SST will prepare the students for O levels (actually, im not sure if there are sessions running in parallel for parents and if we are allowed to go on that day, perhaps you could ask your son to ask on your behalf).
Perhaps our sons might end up as schoolmates or classmates in 2023
All the best to your son for his remaining 2 exams!
Take care.
P.S. Regarding triple science, I also shared a similar concern and asked the school about it. And from what I understand, triple science is no longer a requirement for medicine. I’m not sure if that is your concern, or if it is some other reason. Just FYI, that not taking triple science will not close doors for him at undergrad level.
