8 Junior Colleges are Merging? Rumors or Reality?

[hquek]

Daddy

This \"Don't Need Degree\" propaganda is starting to sound like the \"Stop At Two\".

I like Mr Yeoh's reply on ministers overestimating their ability to forecast...


http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/what-matters-ability-not-university-degree-ong-ke-yung

\"SINGAPORE — Urging the public not to be “overly fixated” with the university cohort participation rate, Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung stressed on Monday (May that skills would be sought after by employers in the new economy, and not paper qualifications.

“Skills are what carry a premium now, and skills need to be honed throughout our lifetimes ... All of us need to keep learning and deepening our skills throughout our lives,” he said.

Mr Ong’s comments on Monday came after his remarks at the 47th St Gallen Symposium last week sparked a spirited public debate among some, including former GIC chief economist Yeoh Lam Keong.

During the event held in Switzerland, Mr Ong spoke about the need for Singapore’s education system to be aligned with the structure of the economy, and this means that the proportion of graduates in a cohort has to be capped at about 30 per cent to 40 per cent. In a Facebook post, Mr Yeoh said Mr Ong had trotted out the “same old unimaginative line”, and argued that “the history of education policy is full of examples of existing policy makers underestimating the skill and education needs of the modern economy and overestimating their ability to forecast them”...\"

So easy to say overcast undercast. At that point in time if population were to breed unchecked, would govt have the resources to provide good education for all? Would pp have the ability to give their best to their precious 2?

Anyone who can forecast accurately all the time, would appreciate if u can pm 6 numbers to me. Juz tryin'

[lee_yl]

slmkhoo:

lee_yl:

The contradiction in logic is obvious; why does your daughter need to go university if you question \"why everyone needs a degree\" and \"why should OUR kids have a degree\", yours inclusive.


The way you put it, only those who can get into university needs a degree and the corollary of this argument is that those who can't get into a university doesn't need it.

She doesn't NEED a degree in the sense that she can live her life without one, and we were prepared for her to carry on with life without one; but having been offered a place, it seemed like she ought to accept, with gratitude! When we thought she wasn't going to make the grade for a university education, I did not say that there were insufficient university places, just that she hadn't done well enough. Not getting a degree is not the end of the world.

My main point is that I don't agree that the government is being unfair to students by planning for \"only\" 30-40% to be graduates. We cannot expect every child to get a degree, or that the government should be expected to provide university places for all who want one.

Going by your logic, probably 6 years of primary school education should be enough for everyone. Your daughter can live her life without a degree, I also don't need a degree to be a SAHM but having gone through university, I value the mental training, the thinking process etc. which make me a better person than if I were to stop my education at an earlier stage.

I did not say Not getting a degree is the end of the world. I did not say every child should be a degree holder. I did not say the government is expected to provide a place in the university for all. Please do not try to insinuate and seemingly put words into my mouth.

Where did you get the figure of 30-40% to support your statement that the planning is a fair one? Because OYK said so? Or simply your gut feel? Go read up more about OECD education, at what % are other developed countries admitting their students into universities and the MOE report in 2012 prepared by Lawrence Wong and endorsed by Minister HSK. They were confident that our country and economy should be able to support more than that.

[sharonkhoo]

lee_yl:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"lee_yl\"]The contradiction in logic is obvious; why does your daughter need to go university if you question \"why everyone needs a degree\" and \"why should OUR kids have a degree\", yours inclusive.


The way you put it, only those who can get into university needs a degree and the corollary of this argument is that those who can't get into a university doesn't need it.

She doesn't NEED a degree in the sense that she can live her life without one, and we were prepared for her to carry on with life without one; but having been offered a place, it seemed like she ought to accept, with gratitude! When we thought she wasn't going to make the grade for a university education, I did not say that there were insufficient university places, just that she hadn't done well enough. Not getting a degree is not the end of the world.

My main point is that I don't agree that the government is being unfair to students by planning for \"only\" 30-40% to be graduates. We cannot expect every child to get a degree, or that the government should be expected to provide university places for all who want one.

Going by your logic, probably 6 years of primary school education should be enough for everyone. Your daughter can live her life without a degree, I also don't need a degree to be a SAHM but having gone through university, I value the mental training, the thinking process etc. which make me a better person than if I were to stop my education at an earlier stage.

I did not say Not getting a degree is the end of the world. I did not say every child should be a degree holder. I did not say the government is expected to provide a place in the university for all. Please do not try to insinuate and seemingly put words into my mouth.

Where did you get the figure of 30-40% to support your statement that the planning is a fair one? Because OYK said so? Or simply your gut feel? Go read up more about OECD education, at what % are other developed countries admitting their students into universities and the MOE report in 2012 prepared by Lawrence Wong and endorsed by Minister HSK. They were confident that our country and economy should be able to support more than that.[/quote]I'm sorry I've made you so angry. I responded to what I believe you mean, but I did not intend to \"put words in your mouth\". I have mentioned figures and policies based on what I have read, but don't have the time or energy to locate the sources, neither do I want to get into examining previous speeches etc of the Ministers. I think we should stop here as I don't want to get into further arguments with you. We obviously have too different worldviews to have a discussion on this.

[Daddy D]

No wonder they say Internet is serious business.

You all should chill a bit.

[Daddy D]

Don't care 3, 7 , 21...

:imcool:
http://mothership.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/LKY-majulah-singapura-3.jpg\">

[lee_yl]

slmkhoo:

I'm sorry I've made you so angry. I responded to what I believe you mean, but I did not intend to \"put words in your mouth\". I have mentioned figures and policies based on what I have read, but don't have the time or energy to locate the sources, neither do I want to get into examining previous speeches etc of the Ministers. I think we should stop here as I don't want to get into further arguments with you. We obviously have too different worldviews to have a discussion on this.

No worries lah, it is very common for forummers to have different views. And we are all here to share and learn. :xedfingers:

[janet88]

if JCs can merge, polytechnics may face the danger of mergers too…especially with the falling birth rates.


how many ‘hot’ years are there to sustain schools? dragon year (there is a little boom every 12 years) and maybe the year of the horse. there was a surge during SG50. with unemployment on the rise as well as education stress, i seriously doubt couples would dare to have 2 or more kids.

[yuki2010]

hquek:

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1193950/too-many-graduates-devalue-university-taiwan-warns

good article. Thanks for sharing.

[floppy]

janet88:

if JCs can merge, polytechnics may face the danger of mergers too...especially with the falling birth rates.

While it is possible, Polytechnics, being tertiary institutions, do have some advantages over the JCs in circumventing the danger of merger. For one, they can recruit and increase their intake of foreign students to make up for the shortfall. They can also close down or reduce some schools or courses to focus on a few disciplines only.

[Daddy D]

Year 2015 article, what has changed since then?

Lesser JCs, lesser chances of entry to local university, lesser local graduates.
But many parents will still continue to pay extra $$ for tuitions or overseas degrees.
Whether our kids belong to the 30% local graduates or the 70% who are not, it is not up to the policy makers to decide their future path.

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-wants-kids-skip-university-good-luck?page=1

[quoted from article]

Singapore wants kids to skip university: Good luck with that

Singapore’s Tiger mums are becoming a headache for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is trying to persuade the population that they don’t need to go to university to have a good career. After a clampdown on immigration and a slowdown in the economy, he needs fewer graduates and more workers to fill the shipyards, factory floors and hotel desks that keep the country going.

There is a clear international trend in the developed world to make vocational education a true choice for more young people,” said Professor Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yet, many still see it as a “secondary choice”, especially in Asia, where parents tend to believe that “higher education would be the only key to prosperity and success”.

Singapore already has a system that sorts children into different subject-based bands at school after testing starting at age 10. They’re later placed into junior colleges or technical institutes based on exams at 16 or 17. Those going to junior college have a higher chance of entry into a local university.

“We can’t become a Germany, but what we can do is adapt some of the very strong points for certain sectors and certain types of skills,” Mr S Iswaran, second minister for trade, said in an interview on Feb 24. (earn-and-learn program)

Persuading Singaporeans to go down the same route will be an uphill task after decades of extolling the importance of education. Singapore households spent S$1.1 billion on tutors outside school in the year ended September 2013, according to the most-recent survey by the statistics department.

Many Singaporeans who don’t get into a local college go abroad. Four in 10 graduates in the resident labour force last year got their degrees overseas.

“The government shouldn’t tell people not to go to university unless they can promise the same job opportunities as graduates,” said Mr Kenneth Chen, 26, whose parents spent more than S$170,000 on a sports science degree in Brisbane, Australia, after he graduated with a biotechnology diploma in Singapore. “But obviously that’s not going to happen.” BLOOMBERG