Topic: What is school for ?

[Gaolow]

my next door, who his son in K1 have weekly chinese and english spelling..and it not those simple word or characters..but those found in P1..I was shock when I saw the works..

[ysl]

Psychiatrists and psychologists advise parents to avoid stressing out their Primary 6 children as they prepare for the Primary School Leaving Examination.
 
One boy who was under pressure for a year eventually broke down and became hysterical.
 
A parent said she realised she had pushed her son too far when he refused to go to school.
 
Experts said children under stress may complain of unexplained insomnia, stomachaches and headaches.

In more extreme cases, it could drive children to cutting and scratching themselves.
 
Read the full report in The New Paper on Saturday (Aug 18).

[qrm]

Saw a great quote, " dont teach your children to work hard to be rich, but to just be happy. That way when they are older they can appreciate the value of people and objects rather than just the price"

[ysl]

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The National Day Rally struck me on what PM Lee mentioned he'd like to see: Hope, Heart and Home.

For all the grievances we may have, there is one thing he's right about. Singapore has achieved a great deal in such a short history that we are recognised worldwide. Sometimes not really for the best of things but at least we've achieved a lot for a tiny dot.

I'm not sure what more I can say about our education system though. As much as I want to bring out its many pitfalls, there are so many good things about it too. It's just not one suited for a child who lacks academic excellence. I am a firm believer that our children need a happy childhood filled with good memories. Not one filled with tuition and tonnes of homework.

When PM talked about Hope, I recognise how our society is a meritocratic one where many who start off with humble beginnings have a shot to do well. For that, I'm grateful.

Heart and Home are synonymous to me. You can't have one without the other as I believe that everything starts at Home. What I see lacking in Singapore, sadly, is our lack of gratitude and graciousness. The issue of foreigners has never seen more irrational behaviour than in the last year.

While mostly everything starts at Home, there is also a need to educate our people, starting from schools when they're young. We are so caught up in excellence for good grades, being the No. 1  in everything that our competitive streak sometimes makes us forget to be grateful for what we do have and to help the less fortunate.

Our materialistic needs sometimes overcomes the heart in us. When I see ladies grabbing designer bags at sales as if they are being offered for free, I wonder what is it that makes one need SO MANY bags when the cost of one could feed a needy child for a year or more or pay for his education.

I wish to see Singaporeans place less concerns on their place in society, their rank, their profession. Respect for each other, whether you are a bus driver or a garbage collector or a doctor, regardless of one's race, language or religion. That is what Heart is. No looking down at another human being who may not be at your level in society. Respect for the person who holds a humble job because he gets the job done when no one else may want it. Heart is about treating others as equals.

The one 'H' PM forgot to mention was Happiness. I think above all, with all the wonderful slew of offerings there may be, what is really needed is a society filled with Happy People. I think we overlook that too often in our hectic chase for certificates and medals and being at the top. When we are grateful, we are contented.

When we are contented, then only can we be Happy.

Jo-Anne Lee (Fei Ming), 41
Health Administrator

 ..

[jimi]

Agree.

Contentment comes from yourself and is a outlook on life, not something that can be obtained or earned or achieved when you have had sufficient quantity of something.

Must count your blessings, give thanks for what you have. Don't be unhappy with how empty your glass is, just be contented that there's something in it. It's ok to want more but not to covet it


It's also the key to reigning in upgraditis and GAS

[DizzyD]

I have a pretty lax childhood and never attended tuition until later primary school which I think was too late My folks never pressured me and those days my dad was trying hard to provide for the family. So I never had enrichment classes but I did have a great childhood doing simple things like going to the park, swimming at NCO Club, going chinese gardens.

Currently my kids 4 and 6 only attend one enrichment class per week for chinese lessons and they are enjoying it. I am not one that will cramps multiple lessons for them as i want them to enjoy childhood and weekends as a family and not to transport them from classes to classes.

[ysl]

Whether in office or out of it, Lee Kuan Yew has this knack for capturing the headlines.
 

On Aug 12, Singaporeans woke up to the founding prime minister's familiar black-or-white argument: get married and have children, or "this place will fold up because there will be no original citizens left to form the majority".
 
You can't be more stark and scary than this. The statistics are there for all to see:
 
Fertility rate way below the replacement level and at an eye-popping level of 1.2 with the dangerous prospect of the population starting to go down from 2025; declining old-age support ratio that will see one senior citizen being taken care of by just two young people in 18 years' time; and ballooning numbers of foreigners (including permanent residents) now making up about 38 per cent of the total population.
 
In a different Singapore, the solutions would have been obvious and straightforward. Force those who don't marry and have children early to pay higher taxes. Force children to pay for their older parents' upkeep. Keep bringing in more foreigners.
 
But today's Singapore is a different proposition. The population is more engaged; they have started to use the ballot box to make the government less paternalistic and less heavy-handed.
 
And throwing money at the problem is not going to work as previous generous payouts to women to have children have not delivered more babies.
 
Lee talked about the need for a change in the mindsets of Singaporeans. The government's mindset needs to change, too.
It has to start with accepting the reality that Singapore is slowly becoming a normal country.
 
High-profile corruption and sex scandals, floods, transport crush and breakdowns, slower economic growth and political activism have all made many, especially foreign investors, wonder if Singapore is losing its mojo.
 
No real need to fret, I say. This is the next phase in the country's journey.
 
It started as a marshland, then became a metropolis and will, hopefully, move on to being a gracious, accepting and stress-free society.
 
Ambassador-at-large Prof Tommy Koh is one of the growing number of Singaporeans who are putting forward persuasive arguments for a society that is less focused on making the next million dollars.
 
An important starting point is the office. Singapore has the dubious reputation of making its people work very long hours, mostly doing unproductive work.
 
I have met enough young people who are scared to leave for home when there is really no work to do because of the fear that they will be marked down by their bosses.
 
Tired and stressed-out couples are just not going to have babies in this kind of an environment.
 
"Our workforce has logged the longest hours' work, yet our productivity figures are among the lowest in the world.
 
"We have a situation where we are living in the office and yet doing very little -- something is wrong," said sociologist Paulin Straughan at a conference recently.
 
Other areas to look at: allowing teachers to make classrooms less stressful, incentivising grandparents to look after their children's children, relaxing rules on older singles to adopt and even opening up with surrogacy opportunities. All these would go a long way to signal to Singaporeans that the government is seizing the initiative in the mindset game.
 
Obvious questions will be asked: will Singapore lose its status as a crown jewel of the East? Will it continue to be a haven for investors? Will it be a welcoming place for talented foreigners?
 
Yes, if fundamentals like good governance, stability and predictability continue to underpin the new Singapore narrative.
 
That narrative, which is going to be more difficult to write, will decide if Singapore will fold up or not.
 
P N Balji has more than 35 years experience as a journalist. He is now a media consultant.
 .

[Austrich]

Ex-teacher accused of abusing 5-year-old

A FORMER pre-school centre teacher was charged yesterday with ill-treating and physically abusing a then five-year-old girl in her class.

The PAP Community Foundation teacher is said to have, on Aug 15 last year, ordered the girl to remove her clothes and stand naked in front of the class. The girl cannot be named due to a court-ordered gag order. The teacher is not being named as it may lead to the girl's identity.

The woman, now 25, is also accused of using criminal force on the child in three other incidents - twice in July last year and once the following month.  In the August incident, the girl hit her head against a whiteboard after the teacher allegedly swung her against it. On the other two occasions, the accused is said to have pushed the girl, causing her to fall on a basket of toys.

She also allegedly turned the girl around and pushed her on the shoulders in a separate incident, causing her to fall and hit her forehead on a wooden shelf.

Yesterday, the woman said in court she wished to plead guilty and engage a lawyer. The Straits Times understands she lost her job last year.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw extended her police bail and told her not to approach the victim.

If convicted of ill-treating the child under the Children and Young Persons Act, she could be fined up to $4,000, or jailed for up to four years, or jailed and fined. The maximum penalty for using criminal force is three months' jail and a $1,500 fine on each charge.

[qrm]

Ex-teacher accused of abusing 5-year-old

A FORMER pre-school centre teacher was charged yesterday with ill-treating and physically abusing a then five-year-old girl in her class.

The PAP Community Foundation teacher is said to have, on Aug 15 last year, ordered the girl to remove her clothes and stand naked in front of the class. The girl cannot be named due to a court-ordered gag order. The teacher is not being named as it may lead to the girl's identity.

The woman, now 25, is also accused of using criminal force on the child in three other incidents - twice in July last year and once the following month.  In the August incident, the girl hit her head against a whiteboard after the teacher allegedly swung her against it. On the other two occasions, the accused is said to have pushed the girl, causing her to fall on a basket of toys.

She also allegedly turned the girl around and pushed her on the shoulders in a separate incident, causing her to fall and hit her forehead on a wooden shelf.

Yesterday, the woman said in court she wished to plead guilty and engage a lawyer. The Straits Times understands she lost her job last year.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw extended her police bail and told her not to approach the victim.

If convicted of ill-treating the child under the Children and Young Persons Act, she could be fined up to $4,000, or jailed for up to four years, or jailed and fined. The maximum penalty for using criminal force is three months' jail and a $1,500 fine on each charge.

I thought shouting and hitting children in school is an accepted practice here?

[Austrich]

Much ado over a bad haircut

About a week ago, sales manager Serene Ong got all upset and went to the police after a teacher gave her 12-year-old son a bad haircut.

The story was unusual in various ways. But first, the facts, gleaned from newspaper accounts, because apart from going to the police, the mother went to the media too.

Her son Ryan Ang is dyslexic and has been getting $60 haircuts for several years. His school, Unity Primary in Chua Chu Kang, has school rules about hair length, and he was caught flouting them.

On Aug 14, he was given a letter to take home, telling his parents he needed a haircut by Aug 16, the day of his PSLE oral exam.   He did not show his parents the letter. He did not get a haircut. On Aug 16, just before the oral exam, form teacher Belinda Cheng hauled him up along with two other boys for long hair. She then gave them a haircut herself.

Ryan's mother was furious. Nobody had told her beforehand, she said. The boy could not leave home for two days because of the way he looked and she spent another $60 to fix the bad crop.

According to The New Paper, she found out about the school's letter only when the reporter asked Ryan about it. That's when he produced it from his bag. His mother's response: The boy is dyslexic, and dyslexics are forgetful.  The story of the boy, his $60 haircut and the police report gives us all food for thought. It provides what educators like to call "teachable moments".

In September last year, newly minted Education Minister Heng Swee Keat pledged to focus on values and character development. He gave some examples: respect, responsibility, care and appreciation towards others.  This episode highlighted some of those values, or the lack of.

First, what happened in school. Ryan is neither the first boy picked out for having long hair, nor the first to be threatened with a haircut.  For years, schools have been known to bring in barbers to fix their students' hairstyles when reminders and warnings fail. These days, it's not only the length of hair, but colours too.  What was unusual at Unity Primary was that the teacher turned hairdresser herself.

Schools may be fighting a losing battle in trying to maintain their rules on attire, looking smart and discipline, if 12-year-olds are sporting $60 haircuts and parents react with horror when their children are dealt with.

For me, it does not really matter how much the boy's haircut cost and I would not criticise the mother for that. What she is prepared to spend on her son's hair is irrelevant, even though my teenage son and I are perfectly content with our $10 10-minute express cuts every three weeks. To each his own.

What does matter, I think, is whether schoolchildren meet the standards set by their schools and parents are prepared to support the schools in their efforts.  Singapore schools have rules - on everything from haircuts to behaviour in and out of the classroom - and these are a key part of what they set out to impart. If schools yield, discipline will go.

On that score, I think Ms Cheng deserves a cheer for trying to enforce the hair rule and teach her pupils the importance of looking their best on an important occasion - the day of their oral exam. But the school is not entirely off the hook either. It could have given parents more than two days' notice that their sons needed a haircut.  Ryan's forgetting to hand the school's letter to his parents is probably typical of many youngsters. I have lost count of the number of times my son has left me exasperated by similar forgetfulness. And he's not dyslexic.

Maybe schools can be more creative, and contact parents directly via SMS or e-mail. And surely a crackdown on long hair ought not happen right before an exam, given how parents can be as anxious as their children at such times.  I am glad that the school and teacher have taken responsibility and apologised, so let us be magnanimous. This is a value worth pondering too.

What about Ryan's furious mother? I am troubled that she was angry for more than a week after the haircut, and remained livid about the teacher's actions when she spoke to reporters.  As a parent, I understand her instinct to protect her child, especially one who is dyslexic.  But what I cannot fathom is her going to the police, as well as the way she apparently swept aside her son's forgetfulness on discovering he had not shown her that letter from the school.  Had she been aware of it, this entire episode might have turned out differently.

As teachable moments go, children do pick up signals from watching the way adults respond to various situations and crises.  I wonder what Ryan's takeaways will be from this blaze of publicity over his haircuts, and whether he might have learnt something different if his mother and the school had managed to sort things out sooner, more amicably and privately.

It surely is something we parents ought to think about, in our interactions with our children's teachers and principals, especially when we disagree with what happens in school.

In my view, the teacher had good intentions, but lost her teachable moment by acting the way she did. And had the parent chosen a different response after getting over her initial fury, much unpleasantness might have been avoided too.

Instead, there has been such a storm over a bad haircut.

[ysl]

I thought shouting and hitting children in school is an accepted practice here?

dont know about shouting, but hitting is a not allow. Yet I know for a fact that teachers do it.

I think I am not far out to say that our kids can do with a little appropriate punishment.  I was hit, shouted at so often, I learnt to take it, same thing in the army.

But teachers here know how else to take it out on students, that is where I have a problem with . They dish out punishment they deem appropriate and there is no one there to decide if it is too much, or unfair.

[AndrewC]

The eminent Mr. Ngiam Tong Dow (former Permanent Secretary, Administrative Vice-Minister, of the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office of the Government of Singapore)

The real leadership in Singapore is not just defined by your education, it's defined by your grassroots hands-on approach. However bright, however high and mighty you think you are, pride you are [sic], the common man has the best wisdom, if you only talk to him, listen to him, and be humble enough to accept his hand of friendship, I think you could get over a number of crisis.

Watch the video. Highly recommended. The PAP can learn a thing or two.

http://vimeo.com/46790045

[domho8]

[ysl]

her bro can have a word with the previous minister(s) in charge, something has been wrong.

[qrm]

Is it just me or is the writer Lee Wei Ling a serious name dropper? Almost every time she writes I can hear big names thumping on the floors all around me.  Shame it seems to have the opposite effect by giving her less creditability to what she says?  Most folks from well known families try to hide that fact so they can make their own paths through life.