This is in response to Mr Tan Kin Lian's post on 7 March 2014: INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN SG MIGHT ACTUALLY PROVIDE A BETTER EDUCATION FOR YOUR KIDS.
I was an ex-teacher who have taught in at least three different schools. In all the three schools I taught at, students are required to stay back for "remedial" lessons on a regular basis. The aim is not to provide additional support for weaker students, but for the teachers to finish syllabus. Other than the Normal Technical stream, I have yet to meet any teacher who does not need to conduct regular "remedial" classes to complete the syllabus. This shows that the MOE HQ is really out of touch with ground reality, when planning the school curriculum and time allocation for each subject.
My child is currently studying in a mission school in the North area. In her school, there is remedial classes conducted nearly every school day, which means the official school dismissal time is just a paper formality. For example, the timetable may say school is supposed to end by 215pm, but what is not printed is that the student only leaves the school earliest by 4pm, once 'remedial classes' are over. If MOE claims that there is sufficient time for schools to complete syllabus during curriculum time, then why are schools constantly falling back on weekly "remedial classes" to complete syllabus?
My child is a prefect and also a member in a performing arts CCA. Training hours are long, and by the time remedial lessons and CCA are over, the child leaves school at almost 7pm. My child is in school from 7am till about 7pm. After 7pm, she still has homework to do and tests to revise. If she doesn't do her homework or study well for her tests, her teachers will tell her that she is lazy or has poor time management. So, my daughter has multiple CCA commitments, spends up to 12 hours a day in school twice or thrice a week, and she is still considered lazy and a poor manager of time? How many working adults spend 12 hours a day at work, and still have to bring work home on a daily basis?
The pressure on my child had increased a lot because her CCA is staging a performance about one week before her mid-year exams. My daughter had given feedback to her CCA teachers and school leaders about her inability to cope with the intensive rehearsals, her prefect duties and school work. It has reached a point where my daughter hates going to school, with so many different commitments to juggle. Her CCA teachers give her the standard answer of perseverance, discipline and time management. The school leaders also don't seem concerned that the concert date is so close to the school exams.
Before I left the service, an HOD told me that many teachers and school leaders stage such public performances not so much as to showcase students' artistic talents, but rather to showcase their own portfolios for career promotions and performance bonuses.
Is that the our Singapore education system? That we put our children through so much stress in the name of perseverance , but whose real intentions is to be stepping stones to secure the teachers' and school leaders' career promotions and bonuses?
So, if our students are too stressed and exhausted, and our teachers too tired and too preoccupied with their performance rehearsals, then who will take real charge of my daughter's learning? Her private tutor?
FYI, I enrolled my daughter for group tuition for Maths and Upper Secondary Science with a tutor who was also an ex-teacher. My daughter enjoys going for tuition because she gets to learn things properly that are hastily covered in school and remedial, and she also has far less pressure. It would be good if my daughter could enjoy her school as much as she enjoys her tuition. But it seems that in school, my daughter is so overloaded with responsibilities and commitments that school is a burden and no longer a joy.
I talked with her tutor several times, and her tutor, speaking as an ex-teacher also, says that she teaches better than most teachers not because she is more qualified, but because as a tutor, she is allowed to focus on her core duty, whereas a school teacher is too preoccupied with too many duties and office politics to safeguard her own promotion and bonuses.
With the amount of money parents spend on tuition because the teachers and school leaders are more concerned with climbing their promotion ladder, we could have better used that money and put our kids in an international school, where there is far less pressure and the students actually enjoy school.
Concerned parent
TRS Contributor