Special and Express streams to be merged
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/292058/1/.html
SINGAPORE: There will be no more Special course for students entering Secondary One, starting from next year.
The Education Ministry has decided to merge it with the Express stream and called it "Express Course".
"This is in recognition of the diminishing differences between the Special and Express Courses, following the relaxation of the eligibility criteria for students to offer Higher Mother Tongue Language (HMTL)," said an MOE statement.
The Special course was started nearly 30 years ago.
It was initially offered to students who were at the top 10% of the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations) cohort and who were taking Higher Chinese in exclusive Chinese-medium schools, also known as SAP (Special Assistance Plan) schools.
But over the years the course has expanded to include students taking Higher Malay and Higher Tamil.
And with more Express stream students taking Higher Mother Tongue subjects, the differences between Special and Express courses have faded over the years.
The merger of the two courses will not change the status of SAP schools, which MOE says continue to play an important role in preserving the best traditions of Chinese medium schools and nurturing able students to study both Chinese and English at first language level.
This means that students who are in the top 30 per cent of the PSLE cohort and pass Higher Chinese Language will continue to be eligible for bonus points for admission to SAP schools.
12-year-old Brenda Tan, a head prefect and a straight-A student at First Toa Payoh Primary School, is expected to do well for her PLSE, perhaps even among the top 10% of her cohort.
This means she will most likely qualify for the Special course in Secondary One.
But that will not happen, with the merger of the Special and Express courses kicking in next year.
Still, Brenda is not the least affected.
"I will still continue to study hard as I really want to excel in my Mother Tongue language and all my other subjects," she said.
But some students expect things to get tougher with the merger.
"It will be more competitive, because more people will join our classes and study with us every day....But I will continue to work harder in these combined classes," said Yang Jin, also from Toa Payoh Primary.
MOE says all 53 schools currently offering the Special course already have mixed classes in place.
About 50,000 students qualify for secondary school education each year.
And, more than half of them are eligible for the express or special stream. - CNA/ir
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Hmm... I wonder if it's a good or bad move. Doesn't look like primary school kids are happy over the move. -
ahahahaha..
it was dumb from the beginning actually
we had a joke about this..
wah.. special.. they're so special they're going to the Special Olympics
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Originally posted by the Bear:ahahahaha..
it was dumb from the beginning actually
we had a joke about this..
wah.. special.. they're so special they're going to the Special Olympics -
hahaha. agreed. it is kind of dumb actually.
so when will normal acad and normal tech be merged? -
still, you know the school will put all the supposed special students into 1 class. -
Haha, can't resist it.Originally posted by the Bear:ahahahaha..
it was dumb from the beginning actually
we had a joke about this..
wah.. special.. they're so special they're going to the Special Olympics -
Then you will hear the Normal Tech or Normal Acad students complaining.Originally posted by hiphop2009:hahaha. agreed. it is kind of dumb actually.
so when will normal acad and normal tech be merged? -
Why haven't I thought of this?Originally posted by stellazio:
still, you know the school will put all the supposed special students into 1 class. 
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more of special and express streams students complaining, even if the normal technicals and academics merge. why? if merged, students, especially the express stream students, will complain more, will think that the supposingly special stream students will be much more smarter than them. special stream students, on the other hand, will just think that they are "degraded", though one of the smartest.Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:Then you will hear the Normal Tech or Normal Acad students complaining. -
The distinction will be clear after the 'O' levels anyway. Prove that you are better at the exams lorOriginally posted by BusSpeeder:more of special and express streams students complaining, even if the normal technicals and academics merge. why? if merged, students, especially the express stream students, will complain more, will think that the supposingly special stream students will be much more smarter than them. special stream students, on the other hand, will just think that they are "degraded", though one of the smartest.
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Based on MOEÂ’s education system , notable academic failures like Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison and Winston Churchill would have ended up in normal technical stream.
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no wonder the low birth rateOriginally posted by googoomuck:Based on MOEÂ’s education system , notable academic failures like Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison and Winston Churchill would have ended up in normal technical stream. -
hmm..what has it got to do with birth rate?Originally posted by gigabyte14:no wonder the low birth rate -
Now then I know the difference between Special and Express.
I thought Special was for the elites.
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finally...
what's so special about special???
it takes so many years to make a u-turn... better than never!!!
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..god sakes...
all the fancy shnancy names... but what has the system produced so far??
- NOTHING... just a lot of talk and bad vibes... -
So now no more elites?
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good. there was never a large diff btw the two in the first place.
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It's like so obvious. Primary school students haven't even take the PSLE exams, they already know the difference.Originally posted by BusSpeeder:more of special and express streams students complaining, even if the normal technicals and academics merge. why? if merged, students, especially the express stream students, will complain more, will think that the supposingly special stream students will be much more smarter than them. special stream students, on the other hand, will just think that they are "degraded", though one of the smartest. -
its not a dumb thing really. the govt just want more people to study higher chinese.Originally posted by the Bear:ahahahaha..
it was dumb from the beginning actually
we had a joke about this..
wah.. special.. they're so special they're going to the Special Olympics -
normal acad should merge with exp. very dumb of gahmen to stremline all good ones to one class, all not so good ones another classOriginally posted by hiphop2009:hahaha. agreed. it is kind of dumb actually.
so when will normal acad and normal tech be merged? -
that's not such a good option, especially for independent schools.Originally posted by t_a_s:normal acad should merge with exp. very dumb of gahmen to stremline all good ones to one class, all not so good ones another class -
So, is this good or bad?
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Education streaming has always been determined based on the absorption and learning curve of varying students. At that time, it simply isn't 'fair' to put inept students next to outstanding ones in the same class; the humiliating factor would be detrimental to the progress of the younger students.
Now, when you segregate students based on language, sensitive people will consider it tantamount to 'driving a wedge' between students of the same level.
The only difference between SAP and express stream students was the language. Initial, the stereotype was that SAP students were a few rungs higher up the education chain. Then RI / RGS broke this perception by going independent, declaring that all students in their schools fall under the express catagory. This was quickly followed by other top schools such as SJI and ACS. Keeping the GEP course still retains some level of 'elitism' among the schools, something that will hopefully change once the gap narrows.
Merging is therefore an indicator of 'growth'. It would interesting to see how MOE juggles the newfound competitive status between the two former streams.