World Class education!

mojito · Jan 17, 2013

winnipegjets said:
It is a well-known, but not elite, school.

I am outraged! How presumptuous of these reporters!

winnipegjets said:
Diurnal.Anemometer.Navvy. Osseous. Philately.

These are some of the words in Creative Vocabulary 6, a book which is on a 2013 list of reading materials given to pupils from a primary school in the west.

I think the wisecracks who came up with this book should try to use all 24 words in an essay of not more than 500 words. Really, communication is about getting your point across in the most succinct manner. You are not to use obtuse lexicons to impress some but obfuscate others from comprehension. Alas, these public schools are full of fools eager to overcompensate for some insecurities during their own childhoods.

king_of_abalone · Jan 17, 2013

winnipegjets said:
It is a well-known, but not elite, school.

So where does one draw the line between elite and merely well-known?

I didn't even know there was such a distinction.

Which one of the below are elite and which are well-known but not elite? I am so confused by all these Singaporean labels and categories.

Anglo-Chinese School
St Andrews School
Hwa Chong Institution
Raffles Institution
St Joseph's Institution
Catholic High School
Henry Park School
Nanyang Primary School
Singapore Chinese Girls School
Methodist Girls School
Tao Nan School
Rosyth School
Pei Chun School
St Nicholas Girls school
Crescent Girls School
St Margaret's school

Airhead · Jan 17, 2013

Spock said:
There is no need to know those words if the only reason to learn them is to get rich.

Education has to be a broad base training. Parents are spending to much time and money on classical ballet classes. Children should have chosen their own interests.

lesMISERABLES · Jan 17, 2013

M0LANY0NG said:
Hi, are u feeling MISERABLE or lessMISERABLE?

What do YOU think? What do you THINK? WAT do you think?

***********************************************

tempora meliora veniant

lesMISERABLES · Jan 17, 2013

king_of_abalone said:
So where does one draw the line between elite and merely well-known?

I didn't even know there was such a distinction.

Which one of the below are elite and which are well-known but not elite? I am so confused by all these Singaporean labels and categories.

Please define ELITE.

******************************

tempora meliora veniant

king_of_abalone · Jan 17, 2013

lesMISERABLES said:
Please define ELITE.

******************************

tempora meliora veniant

Brother

Elite and well known is not I say one

Is ST leeporter say one

I oso very confused

M0LANY0NG · Jan 17, 2013

lesMISERABLES said:
What do YOU think? What do you THINK? WAT do you think?

Thank u for your reply. Someone zapped u -12. Should be the same person that zapped me 2 days ago. If it's a single zap then it's not difficult to find out who has power 24 / 25 :biggrin:

Cabby · Jan 17, 2013

M0LANY0NG said:
Thank u for your reply. Someone zapped u -12. Should be the same person that zapped me 2 days ago. If it's a single zap then it's not difficult to find out who has power 24 / 25

You mean it is always half. This means the positive one will be 24/25.

Fatality · Jan 17, 2013

Cabby said:
You mean it is always half. This means the positive one will be 24/25.

Hi, i need a cab now so are u free? :biggrin:

Zap ratio is half of your rep power.

lesMISERABLES · Jan 17, 2013

M0LANY0NG said:
Thank u for your reply. Someone zapped u -12. Should be the same person that zapped me 2 days ago. If it's a single zap then it's not difficult to find out who has power 24 / 25

I'm NOT at all bothered by that someone. Anyone is welcome to zap me. There is a French saying: Ça ne m’empêche pas de dormir

*******************************************

temporar meliora veniant

Excellent · Jan 17, 2013

Cabby said:
You mean it is always half. This means the positive one will be 24/25.

Excellent! but no fatality.

Ash007 · Jan 18, 2013

This "problem" here is a matter of the education system not getting its priorities right. Its a natural thing in Singapore that if students needs to know X amount of words to be proficient why not X+Y amount. Which leads to teaching them words that are of little use in daily situations. The measure of progress is based on the amount of knowing, not on the usage, command, being of it. Having something, doesn't imply you can use it in a proper manner.

blur sotong said:
The teacher may be a scrabble enthusiast. :*:

I find words such as "navvy", "pithy", "diurnal" and "epithet" very useful for scrabble.

Especially when kana 2 V together ... :p

blur sotong · Jan 19, 2013

Ash007 said:
This "problem" here is a matter of the education system not getting its priorities right. Its a natural thing in Singapore that if students needs to know X amount of words to be proficient why not X+Y amount. Which leads to teaching them words that are of little use in daily situations. The measure of progress is based on the amount of knowing, not on the usage, command, being of it. Having something, doesn't imply you can use it in a proper manner.

Bro Ash007,

I totally agree with you. :smile:

The KS nature of Singaporeans. What to do?? :confused:

:*:

Wonder when a teacher will ask the kids to learn the dictionary. 2 weeks one alphabet. After 1 year, all done swee swee. OMG!! :eek:

Leongsam · Jan 19, 2013

If this is the expected standard of English, why do the twits in this forum not know the difference between "advise" and "advice"? :rolleyes:

A classic case of teaching someone to run when they aren't even at the crawling stage.

What a pathetic nation.

Loose · Jan 19, 2013

Loose

Leongsam said:
If this is the expected standard of English, why do the twits in this forum not know the difference between "advise" and "advice"?

You forgot about lose and loose.

Cabby · Jan 19, 2013

Fatality said:
Hi, i need a cab now so are u free?

Zap ratio is half of your rep power.

Thanks. Now I know.

Ash007 · Jan 19, 2013

I actually started reading the dictionary when I was in primary school. Got bored after a while. Back then no one told me that was a dumb way to learn the language. Its sad that Singapore has to go down this route where basic proficiency is still inadequate. They are just primary school kids! Just gets the basics right first.

blur sotong said:
Bro Ash007,

I totally agree with you.

The KS nature of Singaporeans. What to do?? :*:

Wonder when a teacher will ask the kids to learn the dictionary. 2 weeks one alphabet. After 1 year, all done swee swee. OMG!!

jw5 · Jan 19, 2013

Ash007 said:
I actually started reading the dictionary when I was in primary school. Got bored after a while. Back then no one told me that was a dumb way to learn the language. Its sad that Singapore has to go down this route where basic proficiency is still inadequate. They are just primary school kids! Just gets the basics right first.

Reading the dictionary doesn't help. You'll forget more than half the words, and there is no context to them.
Read more books of the language you want to get better at, and check the dictionary for the words you don't know.

yinyang · Jan 19, 2013

Ash007 said:
..why not X+Y amount. Which leads to teaching them words that are of little use in daily situations...not on the usage, command, being of it. Having something, doesn't imply you can use it in a proper manner.

Had a ah neh classmate in sec 2, who used too many (needless) 'bombastic' words in his essay. Principal scored him out, saying he was intoxicated by the exuberance of his verbosity

Best test of vocab is with words with close meaning, only a shade of difference. Like word power test in Readers Digest but grew out of it from secondary days, as ultra conservative (you'd be forgiven to say right wing):p

Ash007 · Jan 19, 2013

Which lead me to my original post of reading the dictionary when I was in primary school. How wrong that is. It is only later in life that I learned how to learn something correctly.

yinyang said:
Had a ah neh classmate in sec 2, who used too many (needless) 'bombastic' words in his essay. Principal scored him out, saying he was intoxicated by the exuberance of his verbosity

Best test of vocab is with words with close meaning, only a shade of difference. Like word power test in Readers Digest but grew out of it from secondary days, as ultra conservative (you'd be forgiven to say right wing):p

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