Hi Mr Tan,
Recently, there was an article about MM Lee acknowledging that admission to primary school is "unfair"
http://edvantage.com.sg/
I have a toddler myself and I am aware of the "pressures" that many parents face when thinking about their child's education. Many parents start signing up for parent volunteer work, planning for move, when the child is like 2-3 years old (maybe even younger) and there's alot of emphasis on which schools to go to, based on the "perception" that some schools are better than others. For the teachers, I am sure those who are from the "elite" or more popular schools will face added pressure of keeping up their "reputation", will it inevitably focus more on academic results than the development of the child per se?
I am overseas, and until the day i return to Singapore, I guess I am "fortunate" not to be overly stressed by this issue. But I am just wondering aloud here, is it unthinkable that the education ministry scrap all these "crap" about alumnus, parent volunteer etc, and let the MAIN critieria for admission be proximity to the school and siblings being in the same school. Wouldn't that level the playing field, instead of the current vicious cycle?
Recently, there was an article about MM Lee acknowledging that admission to primary school is "unfair"
http://edvantage.com.sg/
I have a toddler myself and I am aware of the "pressures" that many parents face when thinking about their child's education. Many parents start signing up for parent volunteer work, planning for move, when the child is like 2-3 years old (maybe even younger) and there's alot of emphasis on which schools to go to, based on the "perception" that some schools are better than others. For the teachers, I am sure those who are from the "elite" or more popular schools will face added pressure of keeping up their "reputation", will it inevitably focus more on academic results than the development of the child per se?
I am overseas, and until the day i return to Singapore, I guess I am "fortunate" not to be overly stressed by this issue. But I am just wondering aloud here, is it unthinkable that the education ministry scrap all these "crap" about alumnus, parent volunteer etc, and let the MAIN critieria for admission be proximity to the school and siblings being in the same school. Wouldn't that level the playing field, instead of the current vicious cycle?
Do you have any views? Whether what I suggest is a viable option to consider by our government?
MY REPLY
Parents have the choice to ignore these competitive requirements and send their child to a nearby school, i.e.instead of competing for the "good" schools.
I was educated in a primary school near my home, and it was not a "good" school. I was able to top the school without too much hard work and continue my secondary school in Raffles Institutition (which I entered on merit). I did receive an education that was suitable for my working life.
Tan Kin Lian
Manila, Philippines
3 comments:
A "good school" is only part of the equation. To begin with, who is to say what a "good school" is? MOE?
I got into a Chinese school, which had a good reputation, but it was located in an HDB estate and was not a brand-name school like RGS or Fairfield or Henry Park etc. All of us students were from around the neighbourhood, which was mostly HDB with a sprinkling of private housing nearby. We spoke Mandarin all the time and the school even had to impose "Speak English Day" to force us to speak English!
When I got into secondary school (which was definitely a "good school" starting with R), nobody had heard of my primary school. They all thought it was some cheenabeng school.
Lo and behold, a few years after I left, MOE designated my cheenabeng school a SAP school. Suddenly, my primary school became a super hot school. Too bad I don't have children because I could have gotten my child in under Phase 2A1!
Name of school? Ai Tong.
Alamak, I think if you believe that the schools are vastly different, then you need to do your part to get your child in like thousands of other parents. You can not expect to do nothing and just complain.
My own experince at least in the primary school, there is not that much difference. The good school merely attract better students whereby the parents are very focus on their kid's education. Only the top two classes are outstanding because the parents take responsibility and pour in the resources for tuition etc. The rest of the 8 classes are no different from the other schools.
So if you dont do your part and pour in the resources and your child is in the D or E class, the outcome of the PSLE exam will be no different from other schools for your child.
The top school will focus on the top two classes placing their top teachers to nurture the children who are eager to learn in the first place and very competitive and more than willing to take tuition etc and forgo play and entertainment.
I have gone through that so I know. However, in the secondary schools, it make the world of difference whether you are in RI or Hwa Chong because the resources of the schools are vastly different and the school development software is totally different. Ask most of the kids in the normal schools to sit for the two schools exam and most would not pass! So now you know why for the top JC, 98% of their students get into the university versus may be 20 to 30%?
Tan Wa Lau
Off topic, just want to give feedback.
Since the switch to this pink blog scheme I find the site is very slow compared to before.
Wonder if everyone feel the same?
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