MOE to stop publishing names of top students?

[SAHM_TAN]

I have never seen being celebrated in the various media as a form of motivation to score well in PSLE.


I thought the motivation was getting into your dream school, if the kid had one, knowing that one has done his/ her best.

[pirated]

pirate:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1238431/1/.html


So, MOE has decided to stop publishing the names of top students for all exams, including PSLE, O-levels and N-levels. Apparently, it wants to \"balance the over-emphasis on academic results\".

So, what next? Perhaps schools should also stop giving out prizes for top students? Or sports, music and art competitions should no longer have announced winners in case it results in over-emphasis on sports, music or art? Oh, wait. They already announced that for the SYF. :razz:

What kind of logic is this? What's wrong with celebrating the efforts and talents of those who come out tops? How do we inspire excellence in any particular field if we do not celebrate the best performers in that field? Are we taking the first step towards the slippery slope of dumbing down and a culture of mediocrity?

Not pirating your thought, but I agree totally with what you wrote.

Now the problems is with the policy administrator who over reacts and swing to the other end of the pendulum perhaps in response to some louder than life whiners ?

[pirated]

pirate:

In the past, reporters dug around the schools to find out which are the top scorers because MOE did not publish this information. MOE started publishing the info to save people the hassle of having to ask around the schools. Even 30 years ago, the names of top scorers and which schools they were from were in the papers. There was no problem.


The only difference was that back then, the list may not be complete because the reporters usually only ask those schools that historically produced top scorers. Well... this, and 30 years ago 7 A1s at 'O' levels will get your name in the papers. Now you probably need at least 9.

So now we suddenly have a strawberry generation that cannot tahan that somebody else scored higher than them?

Two strawberry generations - the child and the parents

[Daddy D]

From ST...

[quote]The media is often an easy target for all manner of ills, but those who argue that it contributes to the stress and pressure in schools are barking up the wrong tree....
And then there was always KiasuParents.com, which would have a list up by the end of the day. The site would also have provided an analysis on how much more competitive it had become to get into top schools such as Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls' School.
Tuition centres like The Learning Lab would also put up a list of top PSLE scorers. No doubt, quite a few of them would have taken its classes...[/quote]Must be KSP's fault... :siam:

[hquek]

I won’t take it personally that I didn’t do as well as that kid in the papers. if anything, I’ll just marvel at how superhuman that person is to get that kind of score (good way good way).


Yes, to me, it won’t make much difference whether the news is there or not.

It’s just the motivation (ie to reduce the over emphasis in academics) in trying to suppress this information that I find odd. Plus in this day and age, information suppression just aint going to work. And the only thing is that this poor kid who did super well won’t get his day to bask in the sunshine.

And the way to reduce this over-emphasis is when the ultimate employer (aka govt) stops over emphasising how impt paper qualifications are in taking in/promoting staff. I’m not in civil service but have heard enough to form my own conclusions how impt those pieces of paper must be (true or not, it’s still my impression).

[pirate]

SAHM_TAN:

I have never seen being celebrated in the various media as a form of motivation to score well in PSLE.


I thought the motivation was getting into your dream school, if the kid had one, knowing that one has done his/ her best.

Erhm... no. For kids at the very top of their academic cohorts, just getting into that 'dream' school is, well... insufficiently challenging to serve as a motivation.

[MotherHen]

ChiefKiasu:

If we can understand this fundamental principle, there would be much less complaints about how tall the PSLE ruler is set at. The stress stems from parents' fear of their children not \"meeting the cut\" and ending up in a \"2nd rate\" secondary school. If anything, MOE should look more into convincing parents about the merits of these \"2nd rate\" secondary schools to put them at ease that the schools are really the best fit for their children. That would be addressing the stress directly, instead of simply sweeping PSLE results under the carpet.

I agree. The recent measures by MOE, to me, feel like knee-jerk reactions and tackle superficial matters instead addressing the issue from the crux.

[SAHM_TAN]

Is it really so that pple cannot tahan the high scorers?


My dd1 has no issue with her classmates who score higher than her. I also have no issue with them. I have issue with her mistakes but never her classmate's achievements

I do find it weird that MOE remove the information becos it does not resolve any issues. But I have no problem not knowing the top scorers. Curious yes but not a big deal. As in I don't link it to dumbing down of the syllabus.

I have posted elsewhere, the changes made to the syllabus will not make the coming PSLE easier. I think it will be more difficult. Maybe it's the fear that scores will fall that MOE is implementating this now :evil:

If MOE do dumb down the syllabus then I have made a wrong judgment abt them becos I dont think they would be so foolish.

[SAHM_TAN]

pirate:

SAHM_TAN:

I have never seen being celebrated in the various media as a form of motivation to score well in PSLE.


I thought the motivation was getting into your dream school, if the kid had one, knowing that one has done his/ her best.

Erhm... no. For kids at the very top of their academic cohorts, just getting into that 'dream' school is, well... insufficiently challenging to serve as a motivation.

Ahhhhh. Somehow I feel sad to read that.

I prefer to climb the mountain becos it's there and not becos there will be reporters surrounding me.

[Freesia]

Do our children strive to do well just to be the top and be honoured?

What is the purpose of education? What about other character values?

I have seen top students in my DD’s school who does not allow the weaker students to join their group. Top student who does not want to share their secret to success for fear that someone will overtake them.
As it is for all leadership position in school; academic takes precedence over character. To these junior top scorer, academic is the ultimate power to success and they think they are a motch on top of others just because they do well academically. I cannot imagine their arrogance in the event they are being honoured as a top scorer.

Why should we held a young child in such high honour based on one’s academic excellence? Education is more than academic excellence.
PSLE is only part of the game and not the end of the race. Who would remember the face of the top scorer in time to come? As such, if there is no value add why have it in the 1st place?

Should we not honour and celeberate humanity, compassion, kindness, humility etc ?

I believe each school will still announce their top score and students and the top students still get honoured in school and through various MOE scholarship and grants. There is still recognition and honour and encouragement comes in a different form.