2018 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (Born in 2006)

[Estéema]

lee_yl:

Some geppers have high expectations of themselves. That day, DD2 saw her classmate sobbing and left the classroom within 5mins upon collecting her result.


DD2 went up to console her and tried to cheer her up. Alamak, turn up this girl’s tscore was higher than my daughter’s. :roll:

One of her super bright classmate also appeared to be suffering from depression. I believe a child who choose to end his/her is likely to suffer from some form of depression.

In hindsight, there was a possible tell-tale sign: “ I see no future”. People suffering from depression see the world as very bleak.

It’s sad when we missed our kids being overly pressurizing themselves. That’s why we hv the impt role as adults to guide our young ones to be realistic & down-to-earth and not be carried away by what society & world is doing. We need to be discerning ourselves coz I find it so easy to slip into the trap of looking out and let our eyes leave our kiddos. Somehow, kids get the vibes fr what parents are doing & we need to explain ourselves so they’re not led to their own conclusions.

I’ve shared this before in other threads, abt an ex-MP’s son who excelled but had constantly put pressure on himself & he sank into depression thinking he didn’t do well enuf to graduate in Oxford & ended his life even before his results. He did well & awarded posthumously. I’m sure it broke his parents’ hearts as it was heart-reaching for me to heat of it.

I guess u can say no one suggest or pressurize him to be top of the top performer. I won’t be surprise somewhere in his desire to please his parents, to make his parents proud pushes him. Very often, we’re not conscious when we praise or speak highly of other kids, our own may aspire to be noticed. We need to constantly affirm our own children, hug our kids more, esp after punishment for corrective actions or discipline, we need to put our love in action of love to show how we differentiate our never changing love as oppose to actions/behaviour that are not acceptable.

Sorry, don’t mean to ‘lecture’ but just sth I learnt fr a frd right after this oxford student’s demise, we might not realised our family & kids shld be of priority over our outside life (work, Social life, etc). Once we loose touch with our kids, it’s hard to reach out to them in a deep sense.

[Estéema]

laughingcat:

J N is a funny chap. Motivating teacher. Kept asking DC1 \"you sure? This is what you want?\" then jokingly tell DC1 \"not to talk to him about other school but must visit him every single year\" :lol: DC1 is so cheeky to send him a note thereafter.

I’ve lots of respect for this teacher, :salute: with a very bod heart to encompass & include all others kids as his own - true educator’s heart. God has given him a child with physical imperfection & manifold special needs, but he nurtured other kids as his own. A very great fatherly figure (albeit young father). So many other selfless fathers & their presence in school as a blessing to the boys, when there many who are busy working, traveling, etc. and a school with plenty of female teachers & is mothers hanging ard our boys’ life. Thankful for them.

Yr DC1 also very sweet to drop him a note. I’m sure it reflects a mum’s values imbibing in him. You’re always touching lives yourself.

[zac's mum]

Not sure if you have seen this poem, but it was making the rounds on FB today. It won the prestigious Commonwealth Essay Competition 2018.


Taking a look at the thoughts of a “typical 12-year-old” on the right side of the poem, you can see how stressed out and “sad life” a PSLE student feels.

I wept at the poignancy of this poem. They just want the assurance that they are loved by us, regardless of their grades. Are we giving them this assurance?

(Not even touching on the sadness of the left side of the poem or the impressive maturity of the author)
https://i.postimg.cc/BvfHCHxF/B0-ECDF28-68-F2-4521-AAB2-6-D3-A8-D43-B30-E.jpg\">

[Derek_Lee]

zac's mum:

Not sure if you have seen this poem, but it was making the rounds on social media today. It won the prestigious Commonwealth Essay Competition 2018.


Taking a look at the thoughts of a “typical 12-year-old” on the right side of the poem, you can see how stressed out and “sad life” a PSLE student feels.

I wept at the poignancy of this poem. They just want the assurance that they are loved by us, regardless of their grades.

(Not even touching on the sadness of the left side of the poem or the impressive maturity of the author)

Yeah, it has been making its rounds.... What amaze me more is how thorough the poem is, showing the full side of our education system from the 12 yo perspective.

[laughingcat]

Read this in FB. That is the life of most P6 kids. :faint:


When I showed this to my Caucasian frz, he said wow to SGP education that a 12/13 years old is able to pen such beautiful, thoughtful and powerful poem. Not an easy feat

[celeste.08399chua]

So I have a different take on this poem. I think the poet implies too, that our kids are blessed that their biggest problem, is just about doing well in some exams. Compared with what other 12yos face in this world, this is stress yes, but not life and death.


And learning how to handle stress is just one of those things that we must learn in life.

Do I sound rather harsh?

[Derek_Lee]

celeste.chua:

So I have a different take on this poem. I think the poet implies too, that our kids are blessed that their biggest problem, is just about doing well in some exams. Compared with what other 12yos face in this world, this is stress yes, but not life and death.


And learning how to handle stress is just one of those things that we must learn in life.

Do I sound rather harsh?

True in another perspective if we are to compare the left poem with the right one...

[laughingcat]

[quote]Compared with what other 12yos face in this world, this is stress yes, but not life and death.


And learning how to handle stress is just one of those things that we must learn in life.

Do I sound rather harsh?[/quote]
Not harsh. Agreed. Sometime the \"stress\" is overrated. Managing it is part and parcel of life.

[Estéema]

@ zac’s mum Thank you for sharing.


Stress is in midst of our lives. As parents, we need to help our kids navigate it, be resilient tonit or fend those toxic stress off.

[MrsKiasu]

laughingcat:

MrsKiasu:

[quote=\"ngl2010\"]I think rather than spend so much time in HCL, it is better to just take CL and spend more time on other subjects. The child may get 10 points higher than a miserable 3 points (maximum) which he/she may not be able to use it to apply for admission to SAP schools. JMHO

true and I agree..told kid before, and reply received was same same, cl and hcl :? and surviving so I thought just let it be if offered.

Guess what MKS.... I contemplated it after DC was offered HCL. But my DC's ex-school teacher advice not to proceed. Thinking about it, my DC will never go SAP school. So I have decided to drop it.[/quote]I m not sure abt the school/teacher whether encoursge or not, I m neutral..dd is the one who wants it. The way I see, like treat both as (same) Chinese papers and in terms of marks of course hcl is lower than cl. I seldom print cl/hcl past year papers for her to do since she already has tuition..dont say revising tingxie..earlier of the year esp first qtr, I still see her recording own tingxie and replay to give herself tingxie..I offered my help she says no need. After that, back to usual self haiz.

leeyl, xiao dingdang arh? likely no.. actually I m not sure what comic books..eg the Bt Merah library is small right, so once there she will go to that section and say she is so happy to see so many comic books, those with continuation/episodes type..I saw her roping in the librarian to help her find also..the 32 books loan was the 2nd batch after exam..I was quite unhappy say after this loan no more borrowing le since everytime also comic books..how to learn eg proper sentence structure right.