phtthp\" post_id=\"2104213\" time=\"1680607240\" user_id=\"35251:
Veyron,
Can ask u a qn ?
In the first case, dont understand why u bother to start this kind of thread ? I am sure there are other types of topic(s) under the sun, more worthwhile. Spend your precious time, on more worthy causes.
Just ask yourself this basic, fundamental question.
You look around, u know, inside that white party government, so many of them hail from where ?
Hail from
RI, ACSI or ACS boys.
Even PM LHL himself, also from an IP-JC.
Do u think white party will ever throw away PSLE ?
Of course not.
If throw away PSLE, then whose precious sons can get into
( RI / ACSI / Hwa Chong / National JC ... etc ) ?
Just answering this qn alone, u will know the fate of PSLE.
You think, the parents who are MPs inside this white party, are readily (easily) contented with sending their precious sons, to attend simple, ordinary \"TT\" schools, without \"putting up an intense, intellectual fight\", at PSLE, 12 years old ? Those who opt to sit for PSLE, will get into the better renown Secondary schools, first.
If indeed one day, \"TT\" schools were to come true, then those who choose to opt out of PSLE,
will have to wait patiently
until
ALL those who had taken PSLE have gotten a slot into a Secondary school first, before can come their turn next, for processing. Of course, those who had sat for PSLE, will have priority, to pick their schools, first.
Any other remaining, residual places left behind, inside these TT schools, because they had never sit for PSLE before, will have to take Internal admission tests, in the event demand exceed Total number of vacancies available, in each of the TT school
To answer your question, we may need to look back into the history of Malaya.
According to records, 2 of the oldest school in Malaya is the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca founded in 1820 by Robert Morrison (London Missionary Society) and Raffles Institute, founded in 1823 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles as a Boys only school. In subsequent years in the 1800s - 1900s, many mission and Chinese schools were established in Singapore as well. This is to say, long before we have Singapore, many of these \"IP\" schools were already well established. According to NLB record, PSLE was first introduced to Singapore during the British Colonial era in the early 1960s, which was modeled after UK Eleven+ standard exams. PSLE is actually not a Singapore system, simply a different name for the British system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven-plusWhy do so many \"White Party\" member come from IP schools?
Founding members of Singapore such as Lee Kuan Yew Goh Keng Swee S. Rajaratnam Toh Chin Chye Hon Sui Sen Lim Kim San E.W. Barker Othman Wok etc all have one thing in common. They are all Rafflesian who graduated from RI or Raffles College. It is almost like modern Singapore is created by RI school projects started by Lee Kuan Yew Goh Keng Swee Toh Chin Chye. And in the eyes of the public, these people have already set the gold standards for politicians.
On the opposite side of the aisle, we can also find politicians like Jamus Lim Hazel Poa, Leong Mum Wai, David Marshall, Chiam See Tong, Chee Soon Juan, Sylvia Lim, Gerald Giam, Daniel Goh, Dennis Tan, Louis Chua, Leon Perera, Paul Tambyah etc, who are all from the \"IP\" schools.
I think the interest and merit of keeping PSLE is not to favor politicians or rich kids but to ensure our education system continues to produce quality output and does not become segmented and divided where rich and poor will go on different pathways. Human capital is one of Singapore's most important natural resources.
In UK most students will go through government-funded education, where students will be posted to the closest school from home where they will take SATS at age 7 and 11, not for sec school posting but serve as checkpoints, And the students will take their first exam at GCSEs (o-levels). This is almost like the TT school, but not necessarily in the same school compound, which means property prices around popular secondary schools will become expensive, and this will inevitably favor the rich. Why this could work in UK is because they are less Kiasu. Just like why circle traffic junction can function in UK but not in Singapore.
Alternatively, students may also choose to go for better equipped and higher level education grammar schools for secondary education, by taking an entrance exam in year 6. If they do well, then they can choose their preferred school. This is similar to PSLE (but not at the national level) applying for popular secondary schools. e.g. ACS (I), SJI, MGS. which mean standard of entrance exam will varies from school to school as well.
And there is also the option of private schools like King's College School, where one will find the best education in the country, (maybe similar to our IP schools), but out of reach to most UK citizens due to cost.
If MOE follows the UK system, I think 20% of Singapore students will be in private schools (Perhaps with many PR and foreigners), 80% will be stressing about the entrance exam to get into Grammar school, and eventually, 50% will be feeling they have been \"left\" behind.
As we can see from the UK system, there is no such thing as a level playing field or \"free lunch\". Those with more resources or those who choose to work harder for exams will get into better schools at an early age. At least here in Singapore, all our children are given an equal chance to try for \"King's Colledge School\" (aka IP schools) of Singapore without the need for rich parents or royal lineage and connections.
