wellness:

Hi wwcookie & EN,

Well he was crying about attending Math in class - sitting there, cannot move etc (he is in the top class of his level) - so the principal arranged for the school counsellor to talk to him. My son told the counsellor that he ranks school, especially Math, 4 out of 10. That's when we decided to seek gep's opinion and maybe recommend him for accelerated math (ie. let him attend P3 math class).

But the result was that he was 'bright & should be given challenging work differentiated from his classmates. It will not help even if accelerated' and therefore, no need for acceleration but just wait till P3's gep test.

So sad. Don't see any new learning for him in Math.

Yes, wellness, it is very sad. Sometimes the teachers simply don't know what to do. There is no well thought out program for them at all in the lower primaries.

tamarind:

I totally agree. I think many parents are neglecting this aspect. Even if a child is gifted, he/she should still make friends with kids of lower abilities, without feeling that he/she is \"lowering\" herself. Why can't a bright kid make friends with not so bright ones ? In fact, helping weaker students is an important part of character building. It is also very important to teach the child to be sensitive to other people's feelings, to know how to say the right things at the right time. I think it is really up to the parents to teach the child.

Agreed. All kids must mix with all other kids regardless of abilities and character building is more important than all else. But I think the point here is not whether bright kids should make friends with whomever but whether the education system is providing for their needs. As can be read from some parents here, the kids really do have problems in the normal classrooms stemming from the teaching styles and curriculum. The ideal would be to have differentiated learning within a classroom of mixed ability kids but that is quite impossible to implement in reality. Im also not really comfortable with extra supplementary lessons on top of the normal school hours as already the kids are spending 6 hours sitting in the classroom. So what's the next best solution besides dedicated classes? Pull-out programs within curriculum time? Any parents heard of this in any Singapore schools?

tamarind:

breguet:

But I guess many of us are working mommies, and we cannot afford to do the same. But we can still try our best to provide a rich learning environment at home, when the child return home from school. Even if a kid is not in the GEP, there are still many ways to develop their potentials.

I beg to differ. Working mommies like us really are pinched for time. For my case, my boy is in the morn session so he needs to zzz by 9pm. I usually only come home by 7 plus and after gobbling up my dinner, its usually already close to 8 by the time I can sit down with him. So there's really very little time spent with him to 'develop his potential'. Even if there's time, I do not want him to do more 'academic' work at home. They spend most of their time in school so learning should come from there, imo.

wellness:

My son was 'recommended' to take a test at the GEP dept in June this year. I took up the offer as he is always quite reluctant to go to school and he finds Math 'very boring in class'. So I thought of taking the opportunity to see what GEP can recommend. In the end, it wants his class teacher to give him special worksheets to challenge him and then wait till he 'gets into the gep programme' as he is already quite accelerated (he's a mensa member).

I am really in a loss as to what best to do so that he could be challenged appropriately together as a group with his friends. I quite agree with the newspaper article regarding identifying some bright kids earlier so that they can be put together to 'enjoy their own pace of learning'.

cheers

Hi wellness,
How did your son get 'recommended' to take the test at the GEP Dept? I also find it important that they be put together earlier to learn at their own pace.

EN:

Hi wwcookie


In some top schools, since there are so many bright students in comparison to the weaker ones, opportunities to help the weaker students are lesser. Is that the situation that is happening in your son school?

Hi EN,

You are right - his class is full of bright students so there's really no opportunities to help the weaker students. Although the school does not rank the children, I can see from the statistics given out in their SA1 results that there are others who scored better than him..

tamarind:

Well I am not gifted. So I do not completely understand how the minds of other gifted children work. May be they already had tuition at home, and already knew everything in the subject very well. But it will still do them a lot of good if they go about helping other students.

When my son was in kindergarten, his teacher did just that. He was appointed as a little teacher or teacher asst and he helped the other children with their work and he really enjoyed going to school then. But now that he's in primary school, there's really no opportunity to 'reprise' this role cos the class is conducted such that they are not supposed to distract each other..

tamarind:

From what I read, West Grove offers the high ability students extra classes in more advanced maths, research, etc. These students continue to attend normal classes with other medium/low ability kids every day. This is very different from the gifted program, where the kids attend \"special\" classes every day. Kids in the gifted program are separated from other kids of \"lower ability\", and in a way they seem to be more superior than others.

tamarind:

I don't agree. My older brother studied in a \"no name\" primary school. He got into Raffles Institution. He was known as the \"maths genius\" in RJC, and he eventually won a scholarship to study in a prestigious university in UK, and returned as the top Singaporean student. Both my parents had never attended school before, and were unable to help him at all. At that time, there were no GEP and no streaming. He owe his academic success to the gift he was born with, as well as the education system in Singapore which gives all students, whether rich or poor, a chance to excel. That is why I feel that the GEP is not necessary..

tamarind:

I agree that MOE should lower the profile of the program. The model in Canada which I posted earlier, is a low profile and unobtrusive program, which I hope that MOE will adopt. .

tamarind:

If the system can properly identify gifted kids at a young age, then at least the kids can have teachers who are trained to handle them in a sensitive and understanding manner. But the tough part is how to identify them. Some kids may even refused to be tested.

Sorry tamarind, no offense but I find your stand confusing. When you say that GEP is not necessary, you sound like you don't agree to any form of differentiated learning tailored to the abilities of the students, yet you want to enrol your daughter in West Grove which offers such a program. But not all schools offer these kinds of programs so what happens to those kids who are in these schools? Every kid should be valued and I truly believe that these kids deserve to get an education that is tailored for their different needs.
Tamarind, maybe you are trying to say that some kind of differentiated learning is necessary but should be low profile and unobtrusive, unlike the current GEP program?

heutistmeintag:

Peronally, I think special programs like GEP is necssary ..just like sports school, La Selle etc We need an avenue and a choice for kids with special abilities in certain areas to develop to their fullest.


This controversy is aggravated when you have GEP+Kiasu-ism together. Practically every parents want their kids to excel, to be somehow better than themselves (yes, I am guilty of that too). I guess it's a homo sapien instinct to evolve...but carried to the extreme in our Singaporean context, we are now also hearing that we need to be ahead of the pack to survive ..because we do not have natural resources. In the pursue of excellence and survival, compassion and grace have unfortunately taken a backseat.

So I would like to exhort all KSPs not to debate the definition of Giftedness anymore. What is more important is to consider if we had done the right things for our children. Contrary to what the name of this webby insinuate, I have become more enlightened and less KS since I started coming to this forum. Seriously, this KSP.com label doesnt do us justice.

I agree its necessary to have programs like GEP cos without it, the truly gifted kids will be left with nothing! They will be forced to languish in classrooms that cater to the majority of kids. Their potential will never be realised and they will just totally give up and 'switch off' mentally. What I have grouse about is that the GEP program starts way too late at P4. Many of these kids will have 'switch off' by that time and it will be just too late for them. The schools have special programs that cater to special needs children like the dyslexic and autistic right from the beginning but why not for gifted kids? If you think about it, they are special needs too. It is sad, really sad.
I also agree that the GEP program is in such controversy now because of the KS mentality of some parents who try all ways and means of making sure their kids get in because of the so-called 'prestige' factor. But isn't it true that some of the top PSLE pupils do not come from the GEP program? To me, the GEP program, by right, should cater to the different learning needs of these children which are not met in the normal classroom.
Maybe the MOE should lower the profile of the program, like make it 'underground' so that it is less contentious? And the program should really start at P1 in my humble opinion. Im sure all the parents here with these kids will agree with me - the kids will be spared most of the confidence and self-esteem problems they faced in school and will be much happier.
Re compassion and grace, these should be largely taught at home. We should not put all blame on the school because our children are not compassionate or graceful, should we?
Re feeling superior, it also depends on what is being taught at home. We never told our boy that he is gifted or cleverer than the other children. In fact, we didn't even tell my in-laws about it. We always tell him that everybody has their own strengths, like his friend may not be good at reading but he's good at running. What is most impt is to do one's best.

breguet:

Anyway, isn't the big test of life how happy and well adjusted you are as an adult rather than \"I had an IQ of XWY when I was young\" or \"I was in some gifted programme in school\"?

I totally agree with you. What is most important to me is that my boy leads a happy and well adjusted life, not how smart he is.

breguet:

Having said all that, there are quirks of some g (I dislike the word, actually. So elitist!) children for whom parents need help from other people who have btdt. Personally, I feel a bit pai seh to write because it can be seen as bragging. Of course I love the holy-guacamole-moments when he does some mental somersault. But it's the issues that go along with it (aptly called co-morbidities) that leave me speechless because my 5 yrs of parenthood hasn't equipped me to handle them. You can hear from the tone of some of us parents that we need advise and sympathy rather than congratulations !!!!

You are so right breguet. My sentiments exactly!