Singapore Teachers Overworked

• UltimaOnline

  22 May 10, 15:07

  22 May 2010

  http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_529819.html

  Duties eased but MOE will keep an eye on teachers' workload

   

  WE REFER to yesterday's letters by Ms Tan Lee Hwang, Mr James Suresh and Mr Wee Hien Seng ('A teaching life or a teacher's lot?') as well as several in Forum Online yesterday which responded to Ms Aishah Quek's letter last Saturday ('Work-life balance? Here's one day in the life of a teacher') on the challenges faced by teachers in maintaining a work-life balance.

  The Ministry of Education (MOE) values the hard work and contributions of our teachers. Many teachers are highly committed to their profession and go beyond their call of duty every day for their students. We thank them for their dedication and the critical role they play in helping every child reach his potential.

  Teachers should have manageable workloads. Over the years, we have taken steps to ease their administrative duties and support them in various functions.

  Teachers are encouraged to discuss their workload with their supervisors. MOE will continue to closely monitor and review the workload of teachers.

  To better address their needs, we encourage our teachers to make use of the different platforms that are available to the teaching fraternity to provide feedback to MOE.

  We will continue to find ways to better support our teachers and ensure a fulfilling career for the teaching fraternity.

  Wong Siew Hoong
  Director, Schools
  Ministry of Education

  Lu Cheng Yang
  Director, Personnel
  Ministry of Education

• Rock^Star

  22 May 10, 21:12

  the typical civil service reply. An answer that has no answer. Vague letter at best.

• TTFU

  22 May 10, 21:13

  Is that a bot reply ?

• UltimaOnline

  23 May 10, 11:16

  It is the 5th day for the thread over there and 2788+ posts over 56 pages have been made on this topic. Amongst today's posts (page 56), two posts in particular bear hearing out.

   

   

   

  C K on May 23, 2010 at 10:35 am

  Two are two ways to look at this problem. One is that teachers’ work load actually could have been improved ever since MOE has instructed the heads of school to follow certain guidelines. In an ideal school where such policies have been followed, everybody seems to be busy but as educators, everybody knows that there is just so much to be done for the sake of the students.When come to holiday time it is a well-earned, well-deserved holidays. Everbody is tired but not unhappy.
  On the other hand, why are so many teachers (in most schools) still getting unreasonably heavy load? My observation is that a lot of them especially the younger ones are actually taking over many duties supposedly carried out by their HODs, who in the name of training and grooming such young officers with “potential”, dump the load to the inexperienced and yet ambitious young officers. There are schools where one can observe HODs going for lunch which lasted nearly an hour whereas their subordinates are slogging in the school even after school hours, taking instant noodles for their lunch after 3pm. They leave school after 6pm or even 8pm whereas the earlier group of HODs are nowhere seen to stay back in school for another hour after their long
  lunch and head for home as all their duties have been assigned to their subordinates.
  Of course the older group of dedicated teachers have struggling too due to the ‘demanding ‘ and yet necessary IT innovative teaching methods expected of them in classroom teaching.
  MOE has actually been trying to help but most ‘help’ or ‘aids’are selfishly snapped up by certain groups of unscrupulous HODs. If every educator works with conscience, teaching is still one of the careers worth to be considered.

   

  @@ on May 23, 2010 at 10:40 am

  I am going to spend my lovely Sunday morning sharing my opinions here, so please read especially for skeptic non-teaching public.
  :
  For those who still cannot understand why teachers are complaining, please walk a day… no, a term… in our shoes.
  :
  Many teachers still have the passion to teach. That is the very reason why they are complaining instead of quitting. What they really want is a reasonable workload so that they can better concentrate at teaching and not other non-academic related matters. Such as getting gold awards for this and that, making sure everything is in place and perfect when VIPs visit, etc.
  :
  Please, you don’t know what teachers went through, unless you’ve been in their shoes.
  :
  I was an engineer for many many years in few different companies. I have been through the toughest moments in the field, on call 24/7, fly as and when a machine breaks down in some ulu industrial estate in some other country, work shifts, work 20 hours on ends without leaving the workplace, stabbed here and there by coworkers, endured meetings (but none as long as the ones in school), and there was a few periods of time when I return home crying because I broke down from the unreasonable workload. So I can tell you that I am definitely in the position to compare teaching and other “tough” industry.
  :
  I regret not teaching earlier. Because I have passion. Which is why now, I am happier as a teacher. I work longer hours, but each day I woke up looking forward to going to school. But having said that, I am glad I had worked for years before teaching, because it helped me see that I love teaching more than other jobs. I would not see other jobs as greener pastures. Although I’m a trained and experienced engineer, I dread engineering jobs now.
  :
  I love the sense of achievement when I stand in front of a class of rebellious students and convince them to pay attention for their own good. I love the satisfaction when my students come to me and say they have fallen in love with the subjects I teach because they love my interesting lessons. These are waves of satisfaction and gratitude that I never felt before in my previous jobs, even after working long hours, travelling to nasty clients, etc. The machines won’t say thank you to me for “healing” them. The bosses? Forget it. Just like the school leaders, forget it… it’s the students that matter. But wait, the students don’t appraise me. The ‘bosses’ do.
  :
  Still, I want to complain! Because although I love to teach, I am laden with jobs out of my scope. I stay back late in school for remedials, staff meetings, committee meetings, CCA, rehearsals, etc. I bring all my other work back to do – marking and lesson planning. It is something I have never done in my previous jobs. But yes, I used to stay in office until well over midnight. I can’t do that in school because it’ll be locked up in the late evening, so I need to bring them home. And I mark and plan lesson… until well over midnight. The difference? In my previous jobs, I don’t stay late in office EVERYDAY. Now I bring work home EVERYDAY.
  :
  After all the meetings etc in the afternoon until late evening, and then the markings which are necessary to be completed so that I can return them to the students, the lesson planning is compromised. I would love to give more interesting lessons, but I do not have time to prepare. It’s a vicious cycle all teachers face. We have the passion. We want to teach. Of course we were supportive once and we want to turn all those initiatives into reality. But do we have the time and freedom to do so? Unless we work 24 hours each day without stopping, it is near impossible! And elixirs from the ministry to help us achieve that?
  :
  It is my passion for my students’ learning that keeps me going in this field. Definitely not the long hours of meetings or the unreasonable parents or “upstairs” people. My love to see the students coming in empty and blank and leaving school taking something along with them. That spurs me on and makes me want to do more for them each day. If I have the time to do more for them… And I hope this passion will continue to burn and not be burnt out before long.
  :
  MOE, you have succeeded in employing teachers who are passionate. I won’t say all, but many are. I am. Now it’s your say to helping them stay passionate and making them stay. It is not us that we want you to benefit upon, it is the students. If I can walk a day in MOE’s shoes, I will want to believe that it is the students and their learning that is most important. The students’ learning is the core business of MOE. Not the leaders’ prides or the schools’ awards. And who has the most direct impact on the students’ learning? Do I have to spell that out for you now?

  ---- (in reply to someone who said teachers have it easier than IT professionals, engineers, etc) ---

  Can your IT professional or engineer handle 100+ students, help them learn according to their individual learning ability, aid them with problems they may face in school and outside school, and deal with their parents?

  I was an engineer, and I have been working on both software (programming) and hardware (wiring). I can tell you that it is very different and only when you are in the shoes of a teacher can you understand the kind of emotional turmoil that may arise from being one. It is not just the fatigue from being overworked or the lack of time from too much work. It is a lot a lot more.
  :
  And I am whining now, because I want people like you to know what teachers are going through, and appreciate them for what they have to go through, for the sake of your future leaders, employers, employees, engineers and other professionals. Teaching is not as easy as you think.
  :
  We will not stop whining because we love teaching and we want something to be done so that we can continue to do what we love – to teach.

• Rock^Star

  24 May 10, 11:44

  This culture of shooting arrows down and letting the juniors work their balls off for them, seems unique only to civil service. It's much more competitive in the corporate world and no manager can ever rest on their laurels.

  I know of a lecturer, she has been in service for 20 odd years, everyday talk crap to students, do simple data work and planning and she gets $7000 plus a month. In the corporate world, that person's head would have been on the chopping block.

• Medicated Oil

  24 May 10, 12:06

  It is the same every where and not just the teachers.

  It is just the work culture now as every one are doubling up two and three jobs for one pay due to the economic situation.

  Your boss will tell you if you are not happy, you can leave as he can employed some one to do your job.

• eagle

  24 May 10, 12:13

  Originally posted by Rock^Star:

  This culture of shooting arrows down and letting the juniors work their balls off for them, seems unique only to civil service. It's much more competitive in the corporate world and no manager can ever rest on their laurels.

  I know of a lecturer, she has been in service for 20 odd years, everyday talk crap to students, do simple data work and planning and she gets $7000 plus a month. In the corporate world, that person's head would have been on the chopping block.

  I compare between myself in the corporate world and my gf in teaching.

  I can tell you teaching is much much much worse.

• Rock^Star

  24 May 10, 12:27

  Well put it this way, the room for error in schools is more than the corporate world. And at management levels, people dun sit on their laurels like what many of the HODs or directors in education do.

• eagle

  24 May 10, 13:24

  Originally posted by Rock^Star:

  Well put it this way, the room for error in schools is more than the corporate world. And at management levels, people dun sit on their laurels like what many of the HODs or directors in education do.

  We are not talking about the HODs yet, but the common fresh teachers from the ground.

  And regarding the room for error in schools being more? You are wrong. The future of many children are at stake.

  So I presume you have been in teaching or been very close to people in teaching such that you know their daily lifestyles and job scope well enough to comment as you did?

• UltimaOnline

  24 May 10, 13:40

  Today is day#6, an interesting post made on page 58 by Buddhanised Me on May 24, 2010 at 12:23 pm

   

  If teachers are highly paid, have supposedly long free holidays, a stable job, etc. then why is MOE recruiting 1000 teachers every six months? Why is MOE recruiting teachers who have left the service to be adjunct teachers? Why are there many relief teachers? Why are many teachers in MOE taking MCs? Why are there part-time teaching schemes? For your information, more than 40% of the teaching workforce have less than 4 years of teaching experience. I’m teaching in a school in West Zone, cluster 7 and I get my figures right from the cluster superintendant slides at a workshop we had las year at Assumption English Schools. More than 60% of the teaching force has 8 or less years of experience. Would you as a parent want your child taught in an MOE school where the odds of you getting an inexperienced teacher is almost 50%? Practically, 1 in 2 teachers in MOE has less than 4 years of teaching experience. What does that tell you?
  .
  .
  Moreover, MOE has started Teacher Renewals Workshops? But for the 3 year MOE bond, you’ll see an exodus within the first 2 years of teaching. We have lousy leaders in schools. The methodolgy of selectiong and leadership in MOE schools run on favouritism, hegemony and in some cases sexual in nature. Last year, all the young ladies in their 20s in my school were promoted to SHs positions. The principal is male. What has happened is that all the male teachers in the school have now become pussy-whipped. Please don’t get me started on feminism. It’s about favouritism. Apparently, the male principal has no daughters and loves the company of young ladies at the SMC meetings. As a result, no new male teachers were promoted into any leadership roles. The P enjoys submissive and inexperienced female teachers to work with.

  MOE has only itself to blame when teachers start going public. Justso you know, I will not vote for PAP till MOE’s leadership fixed this issue. Dear MOE, make no mistake about it. Many more are doing so.

• UltimaOnline

  24 May 10, 14:01

  Hey, check out this OLIVE (“Staff Well Being at MOE”) “Oh Yeah! LIVE Life!” MOE initiative webpage :
  http://www.moeolive.org/teacher_renewal

  It reads like some kind of exotic health spa treatment (or compulsory course?) commissioned by MOE for teachers. Some kind of “spiritual retreat for the soul".

  Teacher Renewal

  The accelerated pace of living today and the rapid changes in our society exert great demands on us to be effective in our work and personal lives. This could leave many of us feeling torn, tired, stressed or overwhelmed. In order to live well, we need to stay centred in our core purpose and mission in life.

  Teacher Renewal (TR) helps to sustain teachers’ passion and commitment to the teaching profession. It provides teachers with time and space to explore their inner purpose and rediscover their passion and calling for teaching.

  ONE-YEAR TEACHER RENEWAL JOURNEY (TRJ)

  The on-going TRJ, a one-year journey, comprises a two-day residential opening, four half-day boosters and a two-day residential closing. During the journey, participants are provided with the time and space, the tools and skills to reflect, reconnect with themselves and to their core purpose of teaching, TRJ is invitational and school-based. The Head of the school is expected to participate with the staff in TRJ.

  Link to more details

   

  ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO TEACHER RENEWAL (TRA)

  Three alternative approaches to renewal, will be offered by Greenleaf Centre for Servant-Leadership (Asia) Pte. Ltd. (GLA), Raffles Counselling Centre (RCC) and Ithaca.

  RENEWAL THROUGH GROWING INTO WHOLENESS [TRA1]

  Growing into Wholeness aims to create the necessary experience for participants to discover what it means to grow as whole persons: in the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual (P.I.E.S.) dimensions. Through the three-day sessions, participants will not only re-connect to what truly matters to them as a person, but also as an educator. Moreover, their experience will help them become more aware of the choices they make and the consequences of these choices. If they choose to grow as whole persons, it is more likely for them to take better care of themselves and deepen their connection to what they truly care about in their work; they are then more likely to be nourished as they give of themselves to what matters to them.

  Participants will be placed in an environment where they take part in various self-discovery processes and activities including but not limited to music, reflection, drawing, movement and conversation. The three full-day sessions will be offered one day a month over three months.

  Link to more details

   

  RENEWAL THROUGH RETREAT 2 REFRESH [TRA2]

  The Retreat 2 Refresh Programme is a three-day programme for teachers to reflect and renew their interest and passion in the teaching profession. The first two days are run consecutively and after a week or two, participants meet again for a full day to share and review their learning experiences through group discussions and individual presentation. Participants will also learn some strategies for self care.RENEWAL THROUGH SELF-DISCOVERY PROGRAMME [TRA3]

  The programme will cover issues on motivation and inter- intra personal work relationships and attitudes as well as self care measures for better mental health.  It will provide opportunities for participants to rejuvenate their interest and passion as educators with skills to meet the challenging demands of CHANGE. Throughout the programme, participants will actively engage themselves in self reflection and group discussions to integrate some theoretical aspects of work life with personal experiences.

  Link to more details

   

  Self-Discovery Programme is a two-day (non-residential) experiential programme that focuses on self-awareness and personal motivation. The small group size of 15 participants to 1 facilitator ensures deep and meaningful reflection as well as sharing in an environment that is mutually supportive and trusting. Through deep personal reflection, sharing and dialogue, teachers have the opportunity explore ways of interpreting their professional experiences as an educator and developing a sustainable, meaningful and joyful professional work-life balance. The two day session has very minimal `lecture’ style content delivery – using the power, insight and wisdom of the individual and the group in the `journey of reflection, exploration and interpretation’. There will also be opportunities to dialogue with inspiring, experienced teachers and students to offer different perspectives and experiences for reflection.

  Link to more details 
• UltimaOnline

  24 May 10, 19:42

  On page 58, http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-58/#comments

   

  capri on May 24, 2010 at 6:20 pm

  i came into the teaching service 4 years ago, with a burning desire to help the weaker students, to build rapport with them and make their learning a meaningful one. As time goes by, i realised im spending >50% of my time settling admin stuff and fulfilling my CCA duties. I maintain a positive outlook that it’s about holistic learning for myself and yet it has come to a point where there are so many different tasks running concurrently. It’s as though i spend every min of the day planning and reviewing the admin stuff i have done and have to do. In the midst of all these, we still have to handle the misbehaviour of the students which is of course part of the job. But when a handful of parents come in to defend their kids as though teachers are the root of their kids’ misdemeanours and slam us as though we are below-mediocre human beings, it really gets you thinking if it’s all worth it. Teachers are expected to groom their princes/princesses in a class of 40 and when things don’t go right, they are to take e rap and to follow up and answer to them. As teachers start to defend themselves, they are hit with the standard "I'll complain about you to Principal or MOE" threats. The irony is i have never seen MOE supporting teachers in times of conflict and they are most willing to listen to the parents and to soothe their egos. Perhaps teachers should accept the cheap lives we have signed on and live to be convenient stress relievers for some others.

   

  NotimetoDate on May 24, 2010 at 6:31 pm

  For the last 4 years, I have return on Saturday mornings to mark for the entire day and plan the following weeks lesson as I don’t have time to mark on week day afternoons. Week day afternoons are meant for departmental meetings, CCAs, remedial, answering emails, chasing students for their edusave forms, collecting money, preparing CA tests and class tests, attending workshops, attending school meetings, learning journeys, calling parents, disciplining pupils, etc. I am so overworked that I can’t find time for myself to settle down. Sometimes, I feel so bad, I end up hating my HOD very bitterly. It has been 5 years on and I’m more busy than I started teaching. It sickens me that MOE took the best years of my life in this way. The words of my HOD who said: “It’s not going to get any easier. You’ll get busier.”

  After all these resentment, I only took solace at the fact that I could vote against the PAP for creating this system. Now, I’m planning to get out of MOE and reclaim my life again. No more of this daily trance.

• ~PEPPER~

  24 May 10, 22:20

  Lets give flowers on teachers day to thank them.

• UltimaOnline

  25 May 10, 00:57

  On page 59 :

  http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-59/#comments

   

   

  Shocked on May 24, 2010 at 11:38 pm

  Hi, do you all know that currently there is this teachers’ work-life balance interview survey being conducted in some schools. Before the survey is being conducted, school principal held a staff meeting with the teachers, to “warn” the teachers to be careful what to say and what not to say.

   

   

  LJ-IFD-PSLE-RHD-EPMS-RANKING-RO-SL-CIP-NE....... on May 25, 2010 at 12:01 am

  I am a current school teacher and have been teaching for more than 10 years. I have sat through a few dialogue sessions with regards to teahcers’ workload (just today, I spent 4 pointless hours in another such session with cluster sup because of this blog and all the comments) and let me tell you this…..NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE!!!!!

  They come down and tell you what you suppose to think and do and leaves the school thinking they have “INSPIRED” you to be a dedicated teacher with those “WORDS OF WISDOM” of theirs…Seriously!!! Full of SXXT
  I AM QUITING! SOON! Because action speaks louder than words!

• Medicated Oil

  25 May 10, 02:01

  The people in charge cannot improve the situation as he or she have no idea what is going on.

  They will send some one to perform a stupid survey to prove the world that it is actually not true and get boot licker teachers to come in front of the camera to say some crap that the principal are helping to lighten their workload.

  Or else they will increase their pay to shut them up.

  Then, they will ask the press to tone down on the reporting.

  That is what they will normally do.

  Knowing the timidness and submissiveness of all the teachers in singapore, the above methods will definitely work as they have to suffer cos they have debts to pay.

  It is not only happening to teachers as it is also the same for other profession like engineers and accountants.

• Rock^Star

  25 May 10, 09:10

  Originally posted by eagle:

  We are not talking about the HODs yet, but the common fresh teachers from the ground.

  And regarding the room for error in schools being more? You are wrong. The future of many children are at stake.

  So I presume you have been in teaching or been very close to people in teaching such that you know their daily lifestyles and job scope well enough to comment as you did?

  well, if you're talking only about ground teachers, then we are on a different frequency lol. A lot of the stress these people face comes from management....go ask your gf. And btw, my office does not belong to the ground haha.

• Rock^Star

  25 May 10, 09:18

  A lot of experienced teachers in their 40s, 50s and 60s do not want to teach anymore because they cannot adjust to the way MOE has changed within these 10 years. Projects were non-existent when they first entered the service; now these things make or break rice bowls. In a way, what someone said above is right....the education sector is made of too many young teachers.

  One of my buddies just quit after 5 years of sheer hell. It affects him so much that he stresses his wife up too. It's a daily thing.

  Now I wonder why has our edu system become like this? Isn't learning supposed to be fun? And teachers bear this shit, so how can the classroom be conducive? When i was in school, my teachers were relaxed and they could go home at 2pm. Holidays were long trips overseas.

• eagle

  25 May 10, 09:18

  Originally posted by Rock^Star:

  well, if you're talking only about ground teachers, then we are on a different frequency lol. A lot of the stress these people face comes from management....go ask your gf. And btw, my office does not belong to the ground haha.

  No, as a teacher, your stress comes not only from the management. You face stress from students and parents as well.

  Basically, it's like sergeants in NS, face stress from officers, and face attitudes from their men. Stuck in between.

• Rock^Star

  25 May 10, 13:15

  You are half right  - it's a vicious cycle. Everything still goes back to management, that's why teachers suffer. Think about it.

• UltimaOnline

  25 May 10, 15:28

  On page 59

  http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-59/#comments

   

  Jeffrey on May 25, 2010 at 2:18 pm

  I have actually emailed Ashraf, the host of Singapore Talking, to have a public and live discussion with the upper level administrative policy makers of MOE and really see what they have to say about the current situation of the teachers in Singapore.

  Singapore Talking aims to discuss everyday topics of interest to the people in Singapore and this is definitely of interest of many people here is Singapore having gathered more than 2900 comments in a mere number of days.

  If you share my views that teachers here are overworked by their principals, by MOE and by the system, please support my request to Ashraf to have an open and honest discussion with MOE on Channel 5 by emailing him at [email protected].

  On behalf of all the overworked educators out there, I thank you for your support and time taken to send him that email.

  Every voice counts.

• UltimaOnline

  26 May 10, 11:08

  On page 60

  http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-60/#comments

  WhyMOEhasinplaceabadworkingconditioninSIngaporeSchools on May 26, 2010 at 10:31 am

  You need time to reflect and improve. Where do you get that time? With 40% of the teaching force having less than 4 years experience and at the same time are overtaxed with CCAs, meetings, departmental duties, events planning, CIP, sports day, competitions, committee meetings, collection of edusaves, administrative work, answering emails, disciplining pupils, other ad-hoc assignments and many more, where in the 24 hours slot do we have the energy to reflect and improve? We need to rest first. Energy is a given each day. This is exactly what we want to do: to have time to plan for lessons and reflect. This is not the case in MOE. MOE assigns HODs to do the supposed thinking on our part. Die die must do 5 essays and 5 comprehension per semester. It’s stupid. But if I tell to my HODs and P that they’re stupid, they will get offended and retaliate.

  Here’s the trouble with PAP’s MOE. They think they’re moving ahead with all these wannabe policies that eventually the soldier teachers have to struggle with. It is precisely this thinking of “of course there will be “noises” with all this new initiatives’ the teachers do not want to change…they’ll adapt soon…”

  The crux of the matter is EPMS dilutes teacher’s passion by misaligning intentions. MOE has a poor working conditions in schools. All that best practics from overseas fell on frigging deaf ears. I have to teach during lunch to boot.

  P and HODs are abusing the EPMS by setting up initiatives where they eventually target teachers to carry out this initiatives. P suggest. HOD nods and searches for target. Teacher does the work. What kind of unthinking system is this?

  All MOE knows is bonding these teachers. World-class, my ass! Now, MOE has gotten teachers to be bonded for doing the PDCM Masters programme. It’s four-year bond but they’ll tell you it’s one year. Wait! To do the masters means that you have to be in MOE for 3 years. That one year bond after MOE is actually a 4 year bond IN ACTION. How conniving this ministry is. No medical benefits for teachers. No pension. And then they entice newcomers with lies of touching and moulding the future. Is this a ministry or a corporate company?

  It seems to many teachers that MOE trains teacher only to overwork them. All these people are blind to the ground. I have mentioned some time back that MOE needs to conduct anonymous surveys where teachers post the surveys back for free. MOE should attach envelope with “this postage is paid if posted in Singapore.”

  Of course, anonymity is important. This is Singapore. No one trusts the PAP.

• UltimaOnline

  26 May 10, 12:25

  On page 60 :

  http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-60/#comments

  my 2 cents on May 26, 2010 at 11:03 am

   

  ( Read the rest of the OnlineCitizen article, the following is just an excerpt - http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/11/why-i-prefer-canadas-education-system-world-ranking-or-not/ )
  -
  The Canadian and the Singapore education systems are built on different premises. Singapore trains its students to be 100 meters sprinters for fast results to show the world whilst the Canadian system train its students to be marathon runners for the long haul in life. Canadian public education is free for all its citizens and permanent residents – from kindergartens to high schools. Tuition fees for most universities cost an average of C$6,000 per year.
  -
  The unscientific assumption by Singapore’s leaders that if you are not good at passing examinations with good grades, you are unlikely to make good for the rest of your lives, is laughable. History has shown us that there are scores of high achievers without degrees, i.e Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc.
  -
  History teaches us that we cannot get something for nothing. If we push our children hard to be super human beings, we may push most of them over the edge. There is always a trade-off and compromise.
  -
  These children would grow up to be blinded by materialism and money, potentially resulting in a lack of compassion, failed marriages, poor social interaction skills, aggressive behaviors, and so on. No one has managed to social engineer a super society. There are already signs Singaporeans are stressed out before retirement. If the people are pushed at an early age, they will wear out at an early age. Few people can last being stressed for their entire working lives.
  -
  Singapore may have a better education system (according to certain rankings and studies) and the citizens may be contented and proud of it. However, I still prefer the traditional Canadian education system where we are taught to be human beings rather than human machines. We may not be high in world rankings but we are happy. That is what life is all about. All the millions of dollars a year would not necessarily bring you genuine joy and happiness.
  -
  We were born with nothing and we will leave with nothing.

• Rock^Star

  26 May 10, 12:40

  Some day, some MOE scholar decided to come up with the ranking system. And there you have it, schools gunning to be in the top 50 best and value added dunno what crap. They thought that this is the way to raise standards but guess what?  hahaha. This very initiative brings so much stress to principals, management and teachers. And then who gets all the shit? Students and parents get involved too.

  Tension, tension....it never ends. I believe MOE is mired in their own arrogance so much that they can never admit to this failure and change from there.

• UltimaOnline

  26 May 10, 21:18

  On page 61

  http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-61/#comments

   

  ZoBoLan on May 26, 2010 at 5:59 pm

  The root of the problem, like the root of many other problems in Singapore, is that the resources have been squandered on the fat cats on top, leaving little for people who are actually doing the work, i.e. the teachers.

  Why can’t MOE hire more $2k teachers and teacher assistants? Because MOE prefers to spend the money on $20k+ superscale salaries for zo bo lan assistant directors and deputy directors. The role of these fat cats is to think of stupid time and money wasting programs with fancy names which give more useless work to the teachers, just to pave their own career paths and promotions.

  It’s just like the SAF, an army with more generals than corporals.

  How did it end up like that? I say it’s all thanks to the scholarship system. Surely you don’t expect PSC scholars with their 20 distinctions and first class honours from twa kee universities to be lowly teachers or corporals. So you have to create all these useless superscale zo bo lan positions to promote them into. And as a result, you drained the limited resources and the teachers and corporals have to suffer.

• UltimaOnline

  27 May 10, 18:27

  On page 61

  http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-61/#comments

   

  Chilli-In-Ketchup on May 27, 2010 at 3:06 pm

  I have something ridiculous to share here.
  My sch P or VP emailed the KPs today, urging them to log into MyForum to post positive comments about teaching, as there are far too many negative ones. They said they need at least 50 teachers to do so! =S
  Even one HOD, who is always quiet, said it was rubbish, and how the sch could resort to such means to manipulate the comments in MyForum.
  Does that mean whatever positive comments that we are going to see here and MyForum are bogus? Possibly.