Newspaper Article: Sorry, your child is not bright enough
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damn sad hor, now kids have to take tuition so that they can qualify for more tuition
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My DD's boyfriend was identified for Math Olympiad training in primary school. He said he purposely failed his eval so that he would have time to play. The really smart kids dun mind breaking Dad's ego to protect playtime!!
:rotflmao:
Ego extension!! :rotflmao: -
what is the difference between enrichment centre vs tuition centre ?
how do you measure the performance of both ? -
Chenonceau:
Our future 'thinking out of the box' smart boy :boogie: :boogie:My DD's boyfriend was identified for Math Olympiad training in primary school. He said he purposely failed his eval so that he would have time to play. The really smart kids dun mind breaking Dad's ego to protect playtime!!
:rotflmao:
Ego extension!! :rotflmao:
Bravo !!! SG .........got hope liao :hi5: -
This is the business world. If this is the way some businesses are managed; to cream away the top students from the mediocre ones in order to boost their reputation, we gotta accept that the entry test is inevitable.
Personally, I do not concur with such practices, but I feel it takes two to tango. As a parent, if I do not think my children are capable of benefitting from the "rigorous training" that they may undergo, I would never even consider signing up. This brings us to the next issue, which coincidentally, is more sensitive…
If the child is signed up for the entry test and is deemed to be unsuitable for the enrichment course, what kind of emotional impact on the child are we talking about here? For me, I would not want my children to face such an difficult situation. Here, the plain bare truth is, let’s not force what is somewhat unachievable. We never know what repercussions may behold.
A child’s learning is unique in every sense. Some are visual learners while others are more kinesthetic. Not even every bright child may learn the same way. So, before we enrol our children for any enrichment classes, we should find out how the school conducts their courses. Understanding the teaching methods and analysing if they are suitable for our children’s learning is imperative.
More importantly, let us spare a thought for our poor children. Our current education system may be in stark contrast, compared with the way we are educated. Sometimes, we do acknowledge that the stress level in schools can be quite a challenge, especially to our children. The very least that we can do is to help negate some of this stress so that they can still enjoy their precious childhood.
I always believe that if we do not gain enjoyment in whatever we do, chances are that we may not do as well. -
Busymom:
Hi, there is actually an episode on Singapore as well! I did not catch the show from the beginning so not sure what I have missed but here's what I caught:-Did anyone watch the documentary \"Being a Child\"on CNA recently? I caught one episode late at night recently and it was on what Japanese preschool children go through to get into top elementary schools in Tokyo (there were other episodes on China, Hong Kong and India as well, but was too late, couldn't keep my eyes open).
I was left completely bewildered after watching it and really felt sorry for the kids, and parents - from attending enrichment classes that cost more than $1000 a month (not sure how long is the duration of the class, but have the impression that it isn't a daily class), or doing worksheets for up to 4 hours daily (so that the amount of worksheets done is as high as the height of the child), to going for mock exams and interviews prior to entrance exams of the elementary schools and going shopping for appropriate dressing for both mother and child for the interviews... Many also had to be good in their sports like Karate for boys and gym for girls. One boy had Karate on one day, swimming the next, gym another day, then Kumon on yet another day... What really struck me as crazy was that at one of the enrichment classes that charge more than $1000 a month, good performance would be rewarded with a seat in the first row in class... Also noticed a few of the children yawning while being filmed - a case of lack of sleep??
After watching this, I think we are still quite fortunate in Singapore...
(i) an expensive pre-school that charges S$1,300 per month (guess many parents here know about these schools anyway)
(ii) a Kindergarten boy having to attend a few enrichment classes on Sats ... he said Sat is a working day ...
(iii) another Kindergarten boy attending many enrichment classes, including very late at night ... he said he wants to be number zero and that number one is being 2nd
What intrigues me is how the parents in the show think about the Singapore education system.
While I know tuition/ enrichment is really common these days, it still alarms me that some parents would ask their Kindergarten kids to spend so much time on academic classes and worksheets at home for \"P1 preparation\". I hope viewers of the show would not think that is common in Singapore. I suppose this show is presenting a certain segment (enrichment classes?) and not reflecting the whole society in general? -
From the article, 2 MPs (both involved in Education) used strong words (in my opinion those are strong words) against such practice. I believe they have good reasons to do so. However, the article did not give much insight into the MPs' views but I hope it is enough to let parents think hard especially if their kids are stressed by the classes and homework given by the enrichment centres. If the kids enjoy the classes and the parents are happy to part with their :moneyflies: then I think there is no issue
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singmathstutor:
:goodpost:This is the business world. If this is the way some businesses are managed; to cream away the top students from the mediocre ones in order to boost their reputation, we gotta accept that the entry test is inevitable.
Personally, I do not concur with such practices, but I feel it takes two to tango. As a parent, if I do not think my children are capable of benefitting from the \"rigorous training\" that they may undergo, I would never even consider signing up. This brings us to the next issue, which coincidentally, is more sensitive.....
If the child is signed up for the entry test and is deemed to be unsuitable for the enrichment course, what kind of emotional impact on the child are we talking about here? For me, I would not want my children to face such an difficult situation. Here, the plain bare truth is, let's not force what is somewhat unachievable. We never know what repercussions may behold.
A child's learning is unique in every sense. Some are visual learners while others are more kinesthetic. Not even every bright child may learn the same way. So, before we enrol our children for any enrichment classes, we should find out how the school conducts their courses. Understanding the teaching methods and analysing if they are suitable for our children's learning is imperative.
More importantly, let us spare a thought for our poor children. Our current education system may be in stark contrast, compared with the way we are educated. Sometimes, we do acknowledge that the stress level in schools can be quite a challenge, especially to our children. The very least that we can do is to help negate some of this stress so that they can still enjoy their precious childhood.
I always believe that if we do not gain enjoyment in whatever we do, chances are that we may not do as well.
Yes, I think having the interest (and being movitated) is the most important factor for most kids to do well.
I have a different view on the psychological impact on children who fail the entry tests. Such an entry test should not have a serious impact. If it does, then will the kids be able to handle other setbacks in life (school tests, exams, ... etc)? It is just a test. We should help and guide our kids to grow stronger each day ... to understand that there are many setbacks in life but you just stand up from where you fall and move on ... 失败是成功之母。。 I always tell my DS ... even world No. 1 in his favourite sports does not win every time, be gracious when one loses (try your best but accept the result), move on and focus on the next match
Having said this, I just heard from a friend that some kids cried after scoring 250++ because they can't enter RXX ... hmm ... I can understand the pressure these kids were having before PSLE as they need to be the top 3% to meet their own (or their parents) expectations. Maybe, if they did not have the burden and stress of such expectations ... they could have ... -
I don’t really care that there are centres like these targeting parents like that. Such centres won’t get my money so their existence is irrelevant to me. What I do care about is that these centres tend to produce very high performing children that the MOE uses to set new PSLE benchmarks.
In other words, I don’t care that these centres exist as long as they only impact the lives of crazy parents. I do care however that these centres perpetuate a cycle of ever higher performance because our MOE insists on developing tests and exams to differentiate talent at the top of the curve. And because of this, I now have to ENRICH my son too.
For many parents, this means extra business for Learning Lab. Enrichment is now a necessity. For me, it means more homeschooling because the school does not go near these levels of difficulty. -
kiddo:
Yup, this is really happening!!
Our future 'thinking out of the box' smart boy :boogie: :boogie:
Bravo !!! SG .........got hope liao :hi5:
It's very common that parents insisting their kids to apply for this and that DSA schools which the kids is not interested in. Most kids will only have one school in mind but parents will have backup plans and also backup-for-backup plans...so their list is endless.
Therefore the kids will purposely do badly for those schools they r do not want to go (for whatever reasons).
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