The guys at MOE appear to be out of touch with reality and what is happening on the ground. While policy after policy is made, purportedly to enhance our so called meritocratic system, the reality is that it is not really working out as they should. Two letters from parents sent to the ST Forum bear testimony to that.
The first one was published on Aug 27, 2013.
Ill effects of excessive competition
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech has sparked a lively debate on the Primary School Leaving Examination.
I was relieved when my two children qualified for top secondary schools after the exam. Little did I know what lay in store for them.
My first child’s school required first-year students to own an expensive laptop.
The parents were not consulted about this, and the underlying issues of discipline in computer usage and respect for parents and teachers were not examined.
Now some parents are experiencing highly tense relationships with their children over laptop usage, and teachers are having problems with students using the devices for entertainment and social networking during classroom hours.
My second child’s school started an exchange programme where every student was strongly encouraged to attend lessons in an overseas classroom to enhance learning.
My child went to Britain for 10 days this year – with the trip costing us $4,000. Yet, my child never entered any classroom while there, nor was there a post-mortem on the visit’s usefulness.
In top schools, achievement is often sneered at, and not celebrated, because of intense competition between the students.
Top students in my children’s classes were subjected to sarcasm and accusations of false modesty.
Also, my first child’s school came up with a point system for classroom cleaning. When a class had to swop its clean classroom with a not-so-clean one on a higher floor because of an injured student who could not climb the stairs, there were complaints and no compassion was shown.
In striving for excellence, have we sacrificed our children’s humanity and their ability to genuinely empathise with and respect others?
How about we focus on making every student a good student? Excessive competition produces unkind, mean-spirited and self-centred behaviour. Let’s get back to basics.
See Thor Wai Fung (Madam)
Summary of issues on above letter are:
1. While students were forced to have computers, there was no check on usage discipline in the school.
2. Expensive overseas trips were not followed up with post mortem, rendering those trips valueless.
3. Achievement not celebrated but sneered because of intense competition.
4. Compassion and empathy was non-existent, again due to the wrong values passed on, this time because of the issue of classroom cleaning.
The crux of the issue is where does this so called “healthy competition” lead?
A second forum letter was published on Aug 29, 2013.
How well do teachers really know their pupils?
I READ the letters by Ms Teo Hwee Leng (“Evaluation of character traits problematic”; Monday) and Ms Lim Shu Ning (“No way to assess character objectively”; Aug 21), and can conclude only that teachers have too much on their plates.
It is neither easy nor possible for them to truly know each and every pupil well.
When parents receive their children’s report books, they can tell that the remarks are copied from templates, as they do not reflect the teachers’ understanding of the children.
For example, my daughter’s teacher referred to her as a “he” or “him” throughout the “remarks” section in her report book, even though the teacher has been her form teacher since last year.
Every year, children graduating from secondary schools or junior colleges are made to write their own testimonials and submit them to their form teachers. The teachers then issue their testimonials with minimal changes.
We can conclude either that teachers are just not putting in the effort to know their students, or are obliged to issue favourable testimonials to please demanding parents. How accurate then are the testimonials when our children are not assessed objectively?
Li Choon Keow (Mrs)
How can MOE expect teachers to grade students character if they don’t even know their students? That seems to be the main point in the second letter.
In the end, MOE can say all they want. They say our school system is meritocratic and they expect teachers to grade students’ character. But the above two letters from parents show that is not going to be an easy task. Not when the MOE guys don’t even know the real truth that’s happening at ground level.
Barrie
* The writer blogs at http://wherebearsroamfree.blogspot.com