A letter in today's TODAY:
'A person who is unfamiliar with Singapore's education system and who reads the Weekend Xtra feature by Noelle De Jesus would think that the system is a total failure.
The reader might think it is a rigid and autocratic system, and that it is capable of producing only mediocre students.
The fact is that the system is held in high regard even by countries such as the United States, which is adopting some of the Singapore syllabuses.
The writer should have done her research.
She complained about the high 40-to-1 student-teacher ratio — but this is because she has sent her children to popular schools for which places were filled through balloting.
My son enjoys a healthy 30-to-1 ratio in his neighbourhood school.
The fact that her children cannot cope with the system implies neither that the system is a failure nor that her children are incompetent.
She has experienced the system for only two years, while many generations of Singaporeans have gone through it. And it is, without a doubt, the foundation of the country's success.'
When I read that weekend article (which I can't find online), I thought that there would surely be a passionate letter or two defending our education system and true enough, here is one.
Aiyah, no need to be so defensive lah. The writer of the original article did not actually say that our system is the pits or anything. She just said that they wanted to try our local system, found it wasn't the right fit for the children and so placed them in a more suitable environment (international school).
If I understand correctly (never actually having stepped into an international school), our system and the systems in the international schools (there must be differences among them) are like apples, oranges, durians, grapes, bananas, etc. I.e. they are different. No crime in being different if things are done for the good of the children. So, if you are used to apples and you decide to try the bananas, and find that the bananas aren't so suitable for you, and so switch to oranges and find the oranges alright, what's wrong with that?
I also want to point out that the fact that 'many generations of Singaporeans have gone through it' doesn't make it the best system for everyone. Anyway, the system today is very different from what it was in our time, what. Indeed, it must be rather different from what it was, say, just 5 or 10 years ago, so that's too much of a generalisation. In any case, if, after 2 years, the parents found that they the children were not benefitting fully from the system, I think they were right to pull them out.
And this letter writer's son's school ah, how did they manage to have only 30 in the class? I thought that after P1 and 2, the norm is still 40 per class?
Other letters here.
'A person who is unfamiliar with Singapore's education system and who reads the Weekend Xtra feature by Noelle De Jesus would think that the system is a total failure.
The reader might think it is a rigid and autocratic system, and that it is capable of producing only mediocre students.
The fact is that the system is held in high regard even by countries such as the United States, which is adopting some of the Singapore syllabuses.
The writer should have done her research.
She complained about the high 40-to-1 student-teacher ratio — but this is because she has sent her children to popular schools for which places were filled through balloting.
My son enjoys a healthy 30-to-1 ratio in his neighbourhood school.
The fact that her children cannot cope with the system implies neither that the system is a failure nor that her children are incompetent.
She has experienced the system for only two years, while many generations of Singaporeans have gone through it. And it is, without a doubt, the foundation of the country's success.'
When I read that weekend article (which I can't find online), I thought that there would surely be a passionate letter or two defending our education system and true enough, here is one.
Aiyah, no need to be so defensive lah. The writer of the original article did not actually say that our system is the pits or anything. She just said that they wanted to try our local system, found it wasn't the right fit for the children and so placed them in a more suitable environment (international school).
If I understand correctly (never actually having stepped into an international school), our system and the systems in the international schools (there must be differences among them) are like apples, oranges, durians, grapes, bananas, etc. I.e. they are different. No crime in being different if things are done for the good of the children. So, if you are used to apples and you decide to try the bananas, and find that the bananas aren't so suitable for you, and so switch to oranges and find the oranges alright, what's wrong with that?
I also want to point out that the fact that 'many generations of Singaporeans have gone through it' doesn't make it the best system for everyone. Anyway, the system today is very different from what it was in our time, what. Indeed, it must be rather different from what it was, say, just 5 or 10 years ago, so that's too much of a generalisation. In any case, if, after 2 years, the parents found that they the children were not benefitting fully from the system, I think they were right to pull them out.
And this letter writer's son's school ah, how did they manage to have only 30 in the class? I thought that after P1 and 2, the norm is still 40 per class?
Other letters here.
Comments
x-tongfang
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/222615.asp
I agree with what she wrote. Implementation is the real problem and one of the main reasons for the implementation problems is the high student teacher ratio. My friend whose sons are in a boy's school said one day she popped by the school to pass something to her son and saw the teacher struggling to manage the class - the boys were talking and playing and the teacher was screaming at them to sit down and keep quiet and that teacher was considered by parents to be one of the better teachers able to manage the class! How does a teacher actually know whether each student understands the lesson and what their individual strengths and weaknesses are?
For this reason and many others, I have decided to homeschool my children.
Together with the rather high expectations of test and exam papers, especially in pri school, I think (I have the impression that sec school exams are more 'predictable'; then again, maybe I'm wrong), many parents have no choice but to make their kids practise exam papers (also mentioned in the lady's article), send them for tuition lessons, etc.
Fuzzoo, thanks for the link. And congratulations on your courageous decision! Yes, I mean it - congratulations. Hope you will write about the homeschooling experience in your blog :-)
X-tongfang, our children will just have to continue to slog and we just have to continue to pray hard for them..