Hey you are writing better then me when i am in sec4, so the changing of the system worksOriginally posted by undisputed_seraphim:Well, you can't please everyone.
Being a secondary 4 student myself, I cannot help but whelp at the rate the "gahmen" is changing the system all the time. I look back at the old years of Singapore's infancy and ponder of life back then: people were (slightly) more polite, everything was going at a relaxed pace, et cetera... And now look at us in A.D. 2006. RUde, fast paced, changing all the time...
I'm not complaining that change is bad, or the gahmen is doing a terrible job. Well, at least they're good at changing things, but they need to understand that they're putting a lot of pressure on us students and our teachers. And then they blame us for not being able to respond fast enough.
Think about it: Every year the MOE secretly pushes a few topics off Mathematics and Sciences down the grades (of course, they counterbalance by pushing some up the grades, but that's besides the point). It's nice to know that we're being treated as valuable human resources, but we, after all, are human, not computers. We cannot calculate at the speed of light. And, being organic, we cannot evolve at a rate faster than we change our underwear.
P.S. Did you know that americans do calculus only at "college" (universities)? Or so I read.
If you consider how old American students are when they are at college, you will know why they only do it at college level. And calculus is a subject there, not a chapter in a textbook, like what secondary school students are doing.Originally posted by undisputed_seraphim:Well, you can't please everyone.
Being a secondary 4 student myself, I cannot help but whelp at the rate the "gahmen" is changing the system all the time. I look back at the old years of Singapore's infancy and ponder of life back then: people were (slightly) more polite, everything was going at a relaxed pace, et cetera... And now look at us in A.D. 2006. RUde, fast paced, changing all the time...
I'm not complaining that change is bad, or the gahmen is doing a terrible job. Well, at least they're good at changing things, but they need to understand that they're putting a lot of pressure on us students and our teachers. And then they blame us for not being able to respond fast enough.
Think about it: Every year the MOE secretly pushes a few topics off Mathematics and Sciences down the grades (of course, they counterbalance by pushing some up the grades, but that's besides the point). It's nice to know that we're being treated as valuable human resources, but we, after all, are human, not computers. We cannot calculate at the speed of light. And, being organic, we cannot evolve at a rate faster than we change our underwear.
P.S. Did you know that americans do calculus only at "college" (universities)? Or so I read.
Ah, but still they learn BASIC calculus at college level, no? Is there a difference between learning calculus at an age of 15 over the rest of your schooling life and learning it at an age of 19 over 2 to 3 years? Yes. For one, many of us prefer that we do the 19-year style. Not that calculus is too difficult, but it is absurd that we Singaporeans are so kiasu that a few of us teach ourselves quantum physics just so we can attend the astronomy competitions held in certain schools. At an age of 15.Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:If you consider how old American students are when they are at college, you will know why they only do it at college level. And calculus is a subject there, not a chapter in a textbook, like what secondary school students are doing.