What is wrong with our system?

[KSP]

Education in Singapore is heavily subsidised for the majority to send their kids to. Not many can affort private or international schools where the teaching method is very different from our gov schools and focus a lot on creative.


If we are talking about stress on parents and pressure on kids. I have friends in Hong Kong and Taiwan who told me their education systems are more stressful than Singapore. In Hong Kong they even interview and ask the child to perform during the P1 selection for top primary school.

I feel it will do more harm than good to ask our children to not to take school work seriously or just tell them to do their best as long as they like it. Our environment simply doesn’t allow that. We will be invited for "high tea" by the school if the child cannot meet the min grade.

I guess we have a little or no control over what our kids want to do after they graduated. But when they are still studying, we as parents should help them to accomplish as much as possible.

As the saying goes: "If you cannot beat them, join them."

[jedamum]

Donkey Kong:

Where are our SMART Alexes?


We are only scorers? No doers?

Why?

so what if we have no big shots. we still need regular people to do regular jobs..
so what if we are Jack of all Trades, Master of None. that will allow us to be more versatile.
why look at others' success and belittle our own kind? we have come this far in a pretty short time.

[tamarind]

mathsparks:

If we go strictly by statistics, it would be near to impossible for our tiny country of 4/5 million to produce a bill gates who came from a country of 300+ million.



I wouldnt fault our education system too much where maths and science are concerned. Much changes have been made in the syllabus to move away from rote learning to creative thinking. We will get there someday.

Seriously, how can we blame the system when some of our kids are still memorising entire compositions, humanities essays etc just to ace the exams.

I don't have much hope of a Bill Gates coming out of Singapore, but what about people like famous authors, movie makers, etc ? Hong Kong is also very small, but they make far better movies and TV series than us. The stuff showing on Channel 8 are garbage.

Don't talk about J.K. Rowing. How about a best selling author like Stephanie Meyer or Sophie Kinsella ?

Oh you right, kids are memorizing entire compositions, how to come up with anything creative ?

BTW, is it the parents making the kids memorize, or the teachers in school ?

[tamarind]

jedamum:

Donkey Kong:

Where are our SMART Alexes?


We are only scorers? No doers?

Why?

so what if we have no big shots. we still need regular people to do regular jobs..
so what if we are Jack of all Trades, Master of None. that will allow us to be more versatile.
why look at others' success and belittle our own kind? we have come this far in a pretty short time.

Actually we do have many big shots, though not as big as Bill Gate lah.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2006/0904/075.html

Singapore's reputation as a business haven is underscored by FORBES ASIA's inaugural list of its 40 richest businesspeople. These tycoons, who hail from a country with a population of only 4.5 million, are worth a collective $28 billion, $2 billion more than their Malaysian neighbors and $8 billion more than their Thai counterparts.

[markfch]

Here’s my 2cts. By regional standards, we’ve actually done very well. I mean as an island w/o natural resources (we don’t even have enough water supply to begin with), we’ve made really good progress in terms of education. We should feel proud about it.


But in no way should we kid ourselves that we’re world-class standard. I’ve a friend whose son was an overseas scholar (used to ace his exams even amongst the local elites). When his son went to Harvard, he found out to his dismay that there’re so many people who are better than him (academically). And they came from all over the world.

I think what will be interesting is to learn from the Nordic countries. They’ve small populations just like us, but many inventions, world-class brands have come from them. To improve further, we should learn what makes them tick.

[Donkey Kong]

Thank you for your comments.


But, I am a little lost in Singapore and I don't know what can I help my kid. I noticed many average pple, including BTC (Never study) earning more than me. Friend (O Level) owns a few pubs, driving bigger car, owns few properties. Just look at SME bosses, how many from branded schs and unis?

A good example is SMRT COO, company annual report said he earns 875k p.a. He is NUS Arts grad, with MBA from Phoenix U. Many of my scholar friends, Oxbridge Harvard/Yale grads, don't earn this much. SMRT CEO is about 1.3mil p.a. She is NUS Science grad. Why?

So, branded schools not equal to high salaries. Shall we tell our kids to study or not to study? I guess (may be wrong) we don't be so stressful over kids grades. If they are good, they will make S$1 mil even they are BTC. (never study)

What is your view.

[markfch]

Donkey Kong:

Thank you for your comments.


But, I am a little lost in Singapore and I don't know what can I help my kid. I noticed many average pple, including BTC (Never study) earning more than me. Friend (O Level) owns a few pubs, driving bigger car, owns few properties. Just look at SME bosses, how many from branded schs and unis?

A good example is SMRT COO, company annual report said he earns 875k p.a. He is NUS Arts grad, with MBA from Phoenix U. Many of my scholar friends, Oxbridge Harvard/Yale grads, don't earn this much. SMRT CEO is about 1.3mil p.a. She is NUS Science grad. Why?

So, branded schools not equal to high salaries. Shall we tell our kids to study or not to study? I guess (may be wrong) we don't be so stressful over kids grades. If they are good, they will make S$1 mil even they are BTC. (never study)

What is your view.

I think society is full of examples of successful people who were less-academically inclined when in sch. Have you read the Life section article recently about the housing agent who's aiming to make 1 million bucks a yr? To be rich & successful, there're other variables at play such as personality, opportunity, guidance & even luck.

In any case, to pursue education solely for financial benefits is to take a very narrow view of education.

[adhdadhd]

markfch:

Donkey Kong:

Thank you for your comments.


But, I am a little lost in Singapore and I don't know what can I help my kid. I noticed many average pple, including BTC (Never study) earning more than me. Friend (O Level) owns a few pubs, driving bigger car, owns few properties. Just look at SME bosses, how many from branded schs and unis?

A good example is SMRT COO, company annual report said he earns 875k p.a. He is NUS Arts grad, with MBA from Phoenix U. Many of my scholar friends, Oxbridge Harvard/Yale grads, don't earn this much. SMRT CEO is about 1.3mil p.a. She is NUS Science grad. Why?

So, branded schools not equal to high salaries. Shall we tell our kids to study or not to study? I guess (may be wrong) we don't be so stressful over kids grades. If they are good, they will make S$1 mil even they are BTC. (never study)

What is your view.

I think society is full of examples of successful people who were less-academically inclined when in sch. Have you read the Life section article recently about the housing agent who's aiming to make 1 million bucks a yr? To be rich & successful, there're other variables at play such as personality, opportunity, guidance & even luck.

In any case, to pursue education solely for financial benefits is to take a very narrow view of education.

After reading all your posts, it occured in my mind of an old saying: 一命，二运，三风水， 四读书 。。。 seems to make sense... Academic achievements should not be the yardstick for Average Peoples, no more. I have classmates, who had obtained great basic degree, but committed suicide...

Has it ever come to your mind, that Singapore's huge daily prints were/are \"regulated\" to propagate/market the message of \"how great achievements can be\" in this meritrocratic society, versus, the smaller nightly prints are more pragmatic, and we can even speculative and superstitious contents in it?

The point I am trying to put forward here is, all these backdrop settings are projecting similar image to capitalistic ideals (which may have become skeptical due to financial melt down)..

Singapore is a city state, frequently promoted as \"the little red dot with a big heart\" in primary schools today, ... however, we cannot predict it will remain red in 50 years time, it may turn purple, it may be otherwise. A glimpse of such uncertainty is evidential, as our recent Blue Ocean's vibrancy is due largely to controversial development 2 IR's, albiet against the wills of some nation builders, and even the hardcore baby boomers... after this compromise, will we have \"more good years'?

A volcanic erruption in the bankruptted Icesland, can have global impact, financial deficit in Greece, can deter the investment sentiments.. if our kids still hide in the well, and be so proud about being the conquerors of exams in the red dot, is like a frog in the well.. one would never know, how fast and great a mind can ever be, in the world!

As the matter of fact, I come to this kiasuparents.com, as part of my research to answer my child's academic directions. As I suspect that I am one of the victim of re-active education systems.

Sorry for grumbling so much.. I have to much in my mind, as I am equally lost...

[adhdadhd]

watmekiasu:

.............because our kids are wasting too much time brushing up on their weakest subject in school and not focussing on their strength to go further. That's the result of the PSLE. In the end, everyone is just an average Joe or Jack of all trades but master of none.

:goodpost:

[minnie2004]

I also think PSLE may be the killer of kids' creativity and curiosity. The future of a kid is being determined way too early. To do well in primary school is not so difficult as long as the kid works hard. However, real talents are often late boomers, who are being punished by the system.


My kids are still in kindergarten so I have yet to experience the pressure. But according to a parent I talked to whose daughter just went thru PSLE, the 6 years in primary school \"killed her daughter's childhood\" .