No cows too sacred...

[zhihau]

What's the alternative?

Don't rush into a solution and let's dissect the issues further, shall we? If the spirit of education isn't changing, every thing will be in status quo.

The education system in Singapore had always been churning out serfs to keep the economy going. Young enthusiastic learners slowly made to conform into economic digits to feed endless grinding economy.

As you've rightfully pointed out, good jobs with good pay comes with the paper qualifications as a prerequisite, and parents will continue to game the system regardless of how we change it.

Back to the spirit of education- political agendas that is interwoven into the fabrics of our education system has to be unhemmed and picked out. If it has to destroy that fabric, then so be it.

Now the solutions- You allow the young kids to have dedicated form teachers following them through their developmental years in primary schools for 6 solid years and the kids gets grounded in good values.

You undo the high stakes assessments at PSLE, you bring down that tuition industry by more than 35% but you increase that joy of learning in kids by multiple folds.

Placements into secondary schools can make use individual primary schools P6 end of year assessment as a guide. Every school is a good school, the ministry made this claim not too long ago. Extend that logic to secondary levels, shall we?

If kids can't decide what they want to do in life by sixteen, then their parents can shoulder that burden of deciding for their kids, no?

That being said, it means a radical and dynamic change in the secondary education where kids get to choose their favorite subjects and explore their capabilities. My love for literature only blossomed when I was reading Shakespeare in the army camps. Believe or not.

The diploma, A levels, SAT and/or IB can then be the first high stake assessment for placements into universities.

In terms of discipline- Caning must be allowed in primary schools and be caned by the form teachers and/or discipline teachers. Incorrigible brats can be sent directly to military boot camps by 16 years old.

Refreshing enough?

 

[zhihau]

Why bother about school for the kids?

Heard of chaos theory and the butterfly effect?

 

[hofmann]

Refreshing enough?

Very much. Very idealistic and sounds like you just described Canada.

Honestly I have little faith the current establishment will go even a tenth of the way you described.

It will take a major philosophical shake up at MOE level for serious change to happen. And there is no impetus for such change; no one is going to rock the boat in the civil service nor, and our current ministers lack moral courage to fight for such change.

My love for science grew out of hobbies years after leaving school. It was context and application that finally made me grasp principles that made little sense in textbooks.

I agree very much with what you said we need to get done. But I am not hopeful it will happen under our current leadership.

 

[winnipegjets]

the limited and dwindling sinkie gene pool is the root cause of increasing degenerative diseases in sg, including but not limited to autism and retardation. learning difficulties at any age is part and parcel of sinkies fucking each other in a very close environment for too long. the ft policy will change that. thanks to the pap.

Sinkees will soon need to learn to shake their heads like Indians. When saying no, shake head like yes. When saying yes, shake head to indicate no. When disputes arise, point to the head shake as defense.

 

[winnipegjets]

It's high stakes because I want my kids to become BGs or perm secs. Otherwise, my investment in their tuition and entry into the top schools would be wasted.

You should aim higher ...let your kids become Sam Leong.

 

[zhihau]

Very much. Very idealistic and sounds like you just described Canada.

Jog my memory, when did I describe Canada and what was the context?

I thought I was describing Finland's education system at best.

 

[zhihau]

Sinkees will soon need to learn to shake their heads like Indians.

No need for that. I squeezed more information over the weekend.

Sinkies are in total denial when the teachers called the parents up to relate to them regarding their child's misdemeanor/s, they go straight into the defensive and claiming that their child is an angel at home and very well behaved.

Verbal abuses are common, parents threatening to sue also fairly common, and from what I gather, emails and letters to the MOE HQ is most abundant.

 

[hofmann]

Jog my memory, when did I describe Canada and what was the context?

I thought I was describing Finland's education system at best.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provincial_examinations

 

[hofmann]

We should legislate against verbal abuse of teachers and staff.

If parents are caught verbally abusing teachers, their children will be suspended from school.

Teachers don't need to deal with more shit as it is.

No need for that. I squeezed more information over the weekend.

Sinkies are in total denial when the teachers called the parents up to relate to them regarding their child's misdemeanor/s, they go straight into the defensive and claiming that their child is an angel at home and very well behaved.

Verbal abuses are common, parents threatening to sue also fairly common, and from what I gather, emails and letters to the MOE HQ is most abundant.

 

[zhihau]

If parents are caught verbally abusing teachers, their children will be suspended from school

I propose hard labor camp for those nincompoop, plus public shaming so they wake their to their senses.

Poor parenting or lack thereof resulted in brats we have on the streets these days. Suspensions wouldn't help a bit as the wayward kids are more than happy to be away from school- it just means more time to go galavanting, more freedom to pose their pictures on Instagram and Snapchats.

Good info from my squeeze, aye?

 

[pakchewcheng]

I propose hard labor camp for those nincompoop, plus public shaming so they wake their to their senses.

Poor parenting or lack thereof resulted in brats we have on the streets these days. Suspensions wouldn't help a bit as the wayward kids are more than happy to be away from school- it just means more time to go galavanting, more freedom to pose their pictures on Instagram and Snapchats.

Good info from my squeeze, aye?

You a wimp!

Rotanning should be done!
Public rotanning , male or female, or ahqua.

 

[hofmann]

I propose hard labor camp for those nincompoop, plus public shaming so they wake their to their senses.

Poor parenting or lack thereof resulted in brats we have on the streets these days. Suspensions wouldn't help a bit as the wayward kids are more than happy to be away from school- it just means more time to go galavanting, more freedom to pose their pictures on Instagram and Snapchats.

Good info from my squeeze, aye?

Suspending them is to torture the parents! Force them to make child care arrangements.

Always good to have inside track on things.

 

[zhihau]

Suspending them is to torture the parents!

The care givers are usually the domestic helpers as bro hasley rightfully pointed out in an earlier post. The parents are more interested in making money and leaving the parenting to the teachers.

I'm very perplexed as to why primary school kids would need to use a smart phone. Have you noticed how some families behaved during a meal? Atrocious. Young and old each fiddling with their mobile devices.

 

[hofmann]

Statistically speaking there are 250,000 fdw here, and at least a million households. So it cannot be the majority are looked after by maids. Anecdotal evidence can be misleading.

The notion of meal time as sacred family time is another sacred cow to be slaughtered. Perhaps the family bonds at different times from meal times.

Not just families, I've seen groups of young people hanging out physically together but none of them talking to each other; all using phone for godknowswhat.

It's just the way it is nowadays.

The care givers are usually the domestic helpers as bro hasley rightfully pointed out in an earlier post. The parents are more interested in making money and leaving the parenting to the teachers.

I'm very perplexed as to why primary school kids would need to use a smart phone. Have you noticed how some families behaved during a meal? Atrocious. Young and old each fiddling with their mobile devices.

 

[zhihau]

Anecdotal evidence can be misleading

I should quantify, as per how bro hasley puts it, parental care being relegated to fdw as well as grandparents

 

[zhihau]

You undo the high stakes assessments at PSLE, you bring down that tuition industry by more than 35% but you increase that joy of learning in kids by multiple folds.

Was NCM reading my post? Just watched a snippet on "Let's think about it" on CNA and heard the folks talking about the joy of learning in preschools. Can extend that joy to primary and secondary schools?

 

[hofmann]

" in response, Mr Ng said that research on the impact of class size on student achievement has not thrown up conclusive findings.

Smaller classes may help level the playing field and enhance equality of opportunity for students from disadvantaged families.

"It is teachers and how they teach that makes a critical difference, not just the class size," said Mr Ng. "We should not fixate on a single dimension of success in education."

NCM has done little to convince the people, the majority of whom support smaller class sizes, that keeping class sizes unchanged will lead to improved outcomes.

It is he and his ministry who is fixated on AVOIDING the challenges of implementing smaller class sizes which will undoubtedly lead to improved outcomes in student learning.

Of course other issues need to be addressed like curriculum objectives and teacher quality (which MOE has already been working on for years), but the elephant in the room remains class size.

They have already partially acknowledged its benefits by reducing lower primary class sizes to 30. And for years the GE programme operated with 25 students per class.

I wonder which we will see first in our lifetime:

1) Abolishing the PSLE or
2) 25 students per class from P1 to JC2

 

[hofmann]

Can extend that joy to primary and secondary schools?

Can extend that "joy" to job, career... Life?

I think it's a cruel joke to play on the kids, giving them this false joy of learning only to have it crushed like a cockroach the minute they enter the formal school system.

And even if they take the joy of learning all the way to uni or beyond, more often than not the joy is crushed by the reality of work.

"Joy" ... Bah humbug.

...sorry off topic.

 

[zhihau]

Can extend that "joy" to job, career... Life?

...sorry off topic.

Still within scope. the essence of education is to ingrain that joy of learning all the way into adulthood- life long learning or so they called it.

Replicating that joy when a child discovers something new and getting all excited to explore fully? It's that drive and innate curiosity which in turns spurs innovation.

 

[zhihau]

"It is teachers and how they teach that makes a critical difference, not just the class size," said Mr Ng. "We should not fixate on a single dimension of success in education."

Elitism is deeply entrenched in the fabric of education. The streaming in primary schools, placement into different secondary schools, and so on and so forth. The ranking in level as well as ranking in class. How do we change that? Class size in GEP set at 25 for years and yet it's not extended to regular classes. Speaks volume, doesn't it?

NCM wants to look at the quality of teachers and curriculum? Let me paint a bigger elephant in the room no one dare discuss- the socio-economic status of the child and psychological readiness. When the student's basic physiological and psychological needs aren't fulfilled, you'd thought they bother listening in class? You'd thought they bother coming to school?

That's more food for thoughts.