Your kid must have tuition... OR ELSE...

[tianzhu]

A forum reader asked,

Is our educational curriculum so cumbersome that the lessons cannot be adequately taught within the six to eight hours of each school day?
Or are our teachers so incompetent that, at the end of each day, half the children leave their schools totally clueless about the lessons taught earlier in classes?

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_248249.html
June 16, 2008\t
Private tuition: Is this the face of primary education?
WHAT does it say about the state of our education system when private tuition services blossom into a multimillion-dollar industry?
Is our educational curriculum so cumbersome that the lessons cannot be adequately taught within the six to eight hours of each school day?
Or are our teachers so incompetent that, at the end of each day, half the children leave their schools totally clueless about the lessons taught earlier in classes?
A friend was flabbergasted recently to discover a group of K2 students struggling over mathematical concepts that used to be taught in Primary 4.
Why should we rob our children of their childhood and burden them with a curriculum which is ridiculously beyond their age-appropriate mental capabilities? Are we unfairly setting them up for failure?
How then can we reasonably expect our children to develop a love for the subjects they learn?
I remember my own primary school days when I had time to play 'hide-and-seek' after school and spend hours doodling cartoons. Not a minute was spent on tuition. It did not stop me from topping my PSLE cohort, getting into a top secondary school, scoring straight As and winning a scholarship to study overseas.
The curriculum could be easily understood and thus adequately mastered within the allotted time. Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case, particularly at the level of primary education.
Two years ago, I was a volunteer manning a crisis hotline when I answered a distress call at 9.30pm. The caller was a nine-year-old girl. She was calling on behalf of her classmate who was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, having had to complete one worksheet after another. It was a classic case of kiasu parents who had unwittingly become victims of an overzealous education system. The number of workbooks they bought for their nine-year-old? Forty-two.
Is this then the face of Singapore's primary education? Is it any wonder that some families have migrated elsewhere while some others have resorted to home schooling?
How creative and resilient will be our workforce when they are bred on a diet of worksheets?
Children should be able to spend more time outside the classroom where life - itself a great teacher - can provide an even more enriching education.
If this calls for an overhaul of our primary education curriculum, so be it. After all, sticking our heads in the sand and pretending everything is fine has never been the Singaporean way.
Yusri Ithnin

[tianzhu]

A reader lamented that S'pore education system works - with tuition


[http://www.straitstimes.com/print/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_181887.html
Nov 30, 2007
S'pore education system works - with tuition
THE Minister of State for Defence, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, praised the Singapore education system in his article, 'Singapore's education system works' (ST, Nov 24). There are two issues which need clarification.
Prof Koo commented that 'without the GEP, many outstanding students from working-class families in neighbourhood schools would not have been able to move to the good schools'. Is he implying that neighbourhood schools which do not offer the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) are not good schools? That all GEP schools are good schools?
The annual Primary 1 registration is already stressful for both parents and schools. Some parents, eager to put their children in 'good' schools, clocked up numerous hours in volunteer work, only to find that they did not have the luck of the draw. Then there are parents whose children had already secured places in such schools. Fearing that their little ones might not be able to cope with the demands of the school, or to give their kids a leg up, they enrolled them in enrichment programmes and, thence on, it is tuition all the way till the PSLE.
Implying that neighbourhood schools are inferior to GEP schools is being very unfair to non-GEP schools and their teachers. Moreover, this puts additional pressure on some parents to get their children into GEP schools.
Prof Koo concluded his article by pronouncing that the Singapore education system is one that works. I do not refute this, but there is a missing addendum - with tuition.
It is a well-known fact that a large proportion of our students, from pre-primary all the way to pre-university, have tuition.
Some children are so reliant on tuition that even though they score above-average grades, they would insist on continuing with tuition the following year, for 'security' reasons.
Students in schools with the integrated programme (IP) are supposedly the cream of the crop, yet there are many who have tuition. A few centres have been called 'IP tuition centres' because of their large number of IP students.
When a child says that he does not have tuition, but his parents coach him using assessment books, that is tuition in a sense.
So, Singapore's education system does work - with tuition.
Ng Kim Yong (Mrs)

[nicsmom]

phantom,


actually during meet the parents sessions, my boy’s teachers asked on a few occasions if i have engaged tutors for him. personally, i feel that somehow the sch teachers are not really teaching enough at school. my boy often tells me that his tutor taught him more things than the school teachers. I must say, tuition is a must. Getting the right tutor is very impt. I am glad that I have one who works closely with me. My child has met a fair share of good and bad teachers at school. His chinese teacher ever scolded him in class and asked him, ‘what is your tutor doing with you, how come u dont even know how to write this word!’ after hearing this incident, I was fuming mad.

[lurline]

after reading this, i am stressed, so any good tuition teacher to recommend me…primary level.

[SoWoW]

Hi, by reading and hearing what all the mummies got to say about tuitions and enrichment. Cant help but feel stressed. And will also start to wonder whether to send the kids for tuitions and enrichment. If my kids can afford the time and i can afford the money, i really dont mind to send them to a good tuition or enrichment centre.

[puspa]

Hi,


May I know which level your child is studying and what are the subjects that you are looking for?
I know this tutor who taught my son. I find her good. He improved quite a lot.

You can email me the details at puspagopal@gmail.com

[gajidouma]

I was so stressed out after reading all these. Previously I was pretty much against the idea of sending kids for tuition… but now I am not that sure.


Can’t imagine my little one also has to join this kind of rat race so early as P1 which is in 2 years’ time.

Can any parent who didn’t send their children for tuition but still managed to pull through quite well please share some of your success story here too?

Last year the top PSLE student from St. Hildas didn’t go for tuition as I read from newspaper… if it is ture, that shall give me some comfort…

[nicsmom]

PM me for my child's tutor's details

i heard she is starting to take in students for next year to replace those taking psle this year
(for both group tuition or private tuition)

[amylqf]

last night, I attended one of the talk @ our neighbour commitee center. This lady who give the speech talked about how she help her daughter from average score student to 2A and 2A* top student after PLSE. Basically she quit her job and use about 8 month time to teach/tutor her daughter. from the way she describe of what she did, it seems like quite a lot of work to do as a mother, even better than the tutor.


Now the world is no longer the same compare with our childhood time. Teacher teach how much and we learn how much. Parents involvement is very limited. only the worst student go to tuition.

Now, It seems our primary school teacher can only teach the basic and concept. when during the exam, the school will make more challenge questions. If the child doesn’t explore beyond what they learn, doesn’t know how to apply the knowledge to more difficult questions, they are just getting average result. so, the parents either hire a tutor or coach themselves in order to get A.

As Chief mentioned, we are @ the crossroad. The question is how we strike the balance?

[ChiefKiasu]

amylqf:

...Basically she quit her job and use about 8 month time to teach/tutor her daughter. from the way she describe of what she did, it seems like quite a lot of work to do as a mother, even better than the tutor....Now, It seems our primary school teacher can only teach the basic and concept. when during the exam, the school will make more challenge questions...

Personally, I feel that any child will do well in school if there is a dedicated stay-home parent tutoring the child at home. However, I feel if this is not done properly, it might set up an artificial environment (it's equivalent to hot-housing) and creates unhealthy dependency of the child on the parent to monitor and control every single aspect of the child's life. The purpose of scoring all A's in school may become the be-it-and-end-all of life for both parent and child.

The children I really respect are those who do well even with parents who doesn't give a hoot about their studies. These are the children who will grow up with purpose-filled lives of achieving targets they set for themselves, and NOT by their parents.

Also, it may be too sweeping to say that teachers today do not teach. They do, but they have also come to expect their students to be more advanced than teachers of our time. And that is entirely our fault, because in our eagerness to ensure our children to be ahead of whatever is taught in class, we have put our children through external lessons. So if most children have such lessons, those that don't become a minority and the teacher can only point this out to their parents out of concern. Of course this would appear that the teacher is \"promoting\" tuition.

The only way to resolve this is to lower the PSLE standards so that more students can make the bar. This will make parents realize that they are overdoing their involvement in pushing their children. However, in a nation that values progress and moving on to higher and higher bars, it is unlikely that such a proposition will ever be supported by MOE.