[Singapore] - Parents upset with ridiculously tough P6 Maths
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http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120502-0000026/Standards-are-unrealistic
Apart from the main article itself, check out the hundreds of unhappy parents' posts (bottom of article), angrily demanding that MOE change the curriculum syllabus. The main complaint is that kids in Singapore have no time to enjoy their childhood as kids (like they do in other countries such as Europe and America), but (here in Singapore) all children are instead endlessly and unhappily stressed by ridiculous amounts of schoolwork and the ridiculously tough primary 6 mathematics.
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the MOE is frantically looking for the next Euler or Gauss...
so the parents should just forget about the idiots running the MOE... if cannot, then cannot.. their child is probably not a genius, and they have to come to terms with that
screw trying to get 100% or 95%.. a pass is good enough..
then LET YOUR CHILD GO PLAY!!!
in the end, who is pressuring the child?
sheesh
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gotta separate the As and the A*s
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In the end, soft skills are not tested. I wonder if kids these days have a life that we did in the past when psle wasn't so stressful.
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I used to think that exams do not train the soft skills.
But after more than 2 decades in the education system, I changed my mind.
It isn't about getting As only. It also involves knowing your opponents, knowing your strong and weak points, and above all, knowing your eventual target.
I don't see the point of moaning about tough questions.
Nor do I moan about having made careless mistakes in my exam.
What's the point?
I enrolled in the education system knowing full well what's to be expected of me, and what I can expect to get from the system.
If I'm good enough, I'll do well.
Spend less time complaining and these parents will see what I mean.
It reminds me of the NUS students complaining about "school screwing up with not enough exam papers".
My peers all see it the same way. That since it does not confer undue advantage under ordinary circumstances to individuals, there's really little reason to believe that they have been dealt a bad card.
Last of all. Exams are fun. Seriously. Even when they get super hard, I have always chosen to enjoy applying what knowledge I have.
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my era tt time PSLE oso bery stressful de neh.
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On one hand, I found that PSLE, streaming and whatever gave plenty of stress.
On the other hand, I found from tutoring IP students that they can be pretty unmotivated and very much lacking in those soft skills I mentioned.
In the end, ideally, learning should be undertaken with genuine interest.
But with the basics of our economy being run thus, there really is little choice but to take all of those highly technical maths and everything seriously.
The price to pay is less obvious.
All the same, I couldn't understand why my friend who teaches at primary school, is teaching linguistic technicalities with the children.
Sure. Structuring the rules of the English language is a great way to learn. But it quite probably is less relevant than practice and honing the ability to switch between languages and styles of speech, which can in fact be improved, by using the time to discuss about various issues around us.
I teach H2 Economics tuition. But I have H1 students begging to be taught, in an attempt to "learn more", and then dropping out of my class shortly after.
Is this how we should do our exams?
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hahahahahahaha... last time when i was young, parents/teachers say must study hard, if not later grow up collect rubbish... last time i hated school because education is so boring... but fortunately growing up, i dun need to collect rubbish despite my poor grades, in fact by any terms my life is successful... what is ironic is only AFTER i graduated from the schools, I actually enjoy learning now! Education is suddenly FUN!!! And I learnt at a pace I could never explain, in subjects I never thought possible.
Education is actually fun, but Singapore schools killed the passion in learning. Ever wonder why many entreprenuers came from the west like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Draw Something???
I am all for education, but not to the point it erodes your life. Education should be fun and exciting! It should energize learners. Myself, I am so fascinated by learning that everyday I keep going learning new things like how breakthrough science are using bacteria and virus to deliver vaccines such as HIV by altering their DNA structure. When you kill the passion for learning, then education stops when the student leaves school, what's the point?
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Originally posted by FunGuyWorkaholic:
hahahahahahaha... last time when i was young, parents/teachers say must study hard, if not later grow up collect rubbish... last time i hated school because education is so boring... but fortunately growing up, i dun need to collect rubbish despite my poor grades, in fact by any terms my life is successful... what is ironic is only AFTER i graduated from the schools, I actually enjoy learning now! Education is suddenly FUN!!! And I learnt at a pace I could never explain, in subjects I never thought possible.
Education is actually fun, but Singapore schools killed the passion in learning. Ever wonder why many entreprenuers came from the west like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Draw Something???
I am all for education, but not to the point it erodes your life. Education should be fun and exciting! It should energize learners. Myself, I am so fascinated by learning that everyday I keep going learning new things like how breakthrough science are using bacteria and virus to deliver vaccines such as HIV by altering their DNA structure. When you kill the passion for learning, then education stops when the student leaves school, what's the point?
Thumbs up for you man! I love education now, except not with the SG system. There is a thirst for knowledge and I miss school sooooo much. Too bad our local system is nothing but the end results, as most of the students end up memorising and learned nothing except the politicking of our system!
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It's a chain effect. Its been going on so long it's hard to tell whose fault it is. Both the ministry and the parents are crazy over grades and school rankings. Singaporeans are mostly paper chasers nowadays.
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On a related note :
Are children being stifled by ‘model answers’?“I will not give up the pear".
Shin Min Daily News
A netizen recently posed a question on whether schools are stifling the creativity of children with expected answers to open-ended questions.
The man had uploaded an image of a marked worksheet that his son had attempted in school.
On the worksheet was the story of a boy named Kong Rong.
Kong Rong had picked up a smaller fruit from a basket of pears so that his elder brother could have the larger one.
The pupils were asked what they thought the moral of this story was. “If you were Kong Rong, what would you do?”, the students were asked.
The boy who attempted the question answered: “I will not give up the pear.”
This was marked by the teacher as a wrong answer.
Wondering if there is really a ‘correct answer’ to the question, the boy’s father posted the worksheet onto the Internet.
“Did Kong Rong really have to give up the pear?” he asked.
“Are kids wrong if they don’t do the same?” he added.
These are just some of the questions raised in the wave of discussion sparked by the post.
Despite the apparent outrage, local primary school teachers all agree that they will similarly cross out the pupil’s answer as the wrong one.
Speaking to reporters, a primary school Chinese teacher, known only as Ms Zhuang, 27, said, “If the pupil had also explained and justified why he would not give up the pear, it could be seen as an expression of creativity. But if it’s not justified, the answer will be wrong.”
“We are looking for an answer that fits the moral conduct taught to pupils in the lesson. In the story, Kong Rong’s action exemplified the spirit of courtesy and consideration. The answer would only portray a selfish mindset in the pupil,” she added.
A primary school English teacher, known only as Mr Yang, 37, felt that whether the answer is accepted will depend on the model answers provided by the examiner.
The answer given by the boy here is, however, against traditional Chinese values and morals.
“If my student gave such an answer, I may feedback to his or her parents about their child’s mindset,” he said.
Shin Min Daily News also spoke to 15 primary school students to find out what they would do if they were Kong Rong.
Five of the kids did not know who Kong Rong was, while the other ten all said they would give up the pear.
But at least one student offered a different solution.
“I would cut the pear in half and share it with my brother instead,” said the pupil.
Source: Shin Min Daily News, 30 April 2012. Click here for the Chinese report.-------------------------------------------------------
UltimaOnline's version :
KongRong : "Ya know what guys? Screw the silly pears. I'll buy you guys lunch at Macdonalds!"
KongRong's brothers : "Yeah, that's our bro!"
KongRong's father (nodding to himself) : "I've raised KongRong well..."
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UltimaOnline's version :
KongRong : "Ya know what guys? Screw the silly pears. I'll buy you guys lunch at Macdonalds!"
KongRong's brothers : "Yeah, that's our bro!"
KongRong's father (nodding to himself) : "I've raised KongRong well..." 安有巢毀而å�µä¸�ç ´è€…ä¹Ž.
KongRong no money so everyone will have to wash plates at MacD...
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no kids say, i know kong long (dino) but dunno kong rong. ?
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I consider that to be nit-picking by the father.
He could have easily taught his child the pluralistic nature of many questions....but instead he chose to criticise the system.
There's no pleasing these people.
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a student here.
the p6 maths is ridiculously tough, this year, i realised they CAN be solved by elimination/subsitution method.
which makes me think "what am i doing that year?"
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sure maths is tough, but with proper guidance and teaching from the teachers, this should not be a problem.
problem is the teaching and presentation from the maths teachers. some teachers just go thru the motions, some downright lazy and poor in communication skills, that the students have no idea what they are teaching.
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i want to go back to p6 and slap my form teacher.
seriously he made my p6 life very discouraging. he once told the class "in a carton of apples, there will always be rotten apples. it's inevitable" like saying i rotten apple. i am still angry over his comment, i don't care who it is directed to, it made me cry. even after 2 years.
he hates me. because i have done quite badly and i don't even think his commenys pushed me to be a better person. i was once rejected a chance to meet the press and the rest of my classmates get to go, why did he isolate met, i always filled myself "why?!" did such a cruel teacher existed, why must he stand in my way, why is he picking on me. WHY?!
i hate him til this day. i am not gonna to be grateful to him for where am i now. this kind of teacher ruin my last year in primary school.
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u give me some apples. then I give him some apples. he give u some apples. father give me some more apples. then I ate 1/3 of the apples and give 30% of the remainder to you. 2 of your apples rotten liao. you bought 3 boxes of apples. each box contains 9 apples. you give him 1/2 of your total apples. how many apples you have more than me now? round off your answer to the nearest 10.
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Originally posted by FireIce:
u give me some apples. then I give him some apples. he give u some apples. father give me some more apples. then I ate 1/3 of the apples and give 30% of the remainder to you.
2 of your apples rotten liao. you bought 3 boxes of apples. each box contains 9 apples. you give him 1/2 of your total apples. how many apples you have more than me now? round off your answer to the nearest 10.this question makes no sense
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That's what you'd get for imitating other countries educational system.
If this were to go continue I don't think the kids are going to take it - Seriously this is just too much.
I hated maths as a kid, I'm more towards to a liguistic side, Now I don't hate maths that much when I was a kid. Sometimes when I really look back, I should've tried harder.
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i really hope it can change
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you can score As in all your exams but still be stupid.
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Are we really learning when we score As? Is The act of regurgitating facts on exam papers considered learning? So children are taught the skills to score straight As, the tricks to ace a question..but what are they truly learning? Isn't education suppose to instill a sense of curiosity ?
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Originally posted by Summer hill:
i want to go back to p6 and slap my form teacher.
seriously he made my p6 life very discouraging. he once told the class "in a carton of apples, there will always be rotten apples. it's inevitable" like saying i rotten apple. i am still angry over his comment, i don't care who it is directed to, it made me cry. even after 2 years.
he hates me. because i have done quite badly and i don't even think his commenys pushed me to be a better person. i was once rejected a chance to meet the press and the rest of my classmates get to go, why did he isolate met, i always filled myself "why?!" did such a cruel teacher existed, why must he stand in my way, why is he picking on me. WHY?!
i hate him til this day. i am not gonna to be grateful to him for where am i now. this kind of teacher ruin my last year in primary school.
Teachers have priorities: what impressions my actions will give ( my bosses > my students' parents > my students).
You should get into a good school and go back to your primary school to visit in uniform. Let him see you.
Teachers always remember those they consider the worst students.