08-20-2013, 10:24 AM
Why just conversation? Why not unspoken faith
Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) is a year long initiative by government to sound out all the ground sentiments and views. To many it seems like a leap in opening up ears to listen and to some it is nothing more than another public initiative to let people air their unhappiness.
Funny thing is, I have always wondered why such feedback or OSR is always about negativity and complaints. Sometimes I rather we have a
synergy kind of ongoing initiative why? because we are already marching to a different beat all the time and changing drum major does not solve
Rather we should ask the strong to help the weak and bring them up to speed.
I will only talk about changes to Education
Four changes were announced that night in education:
(1) Reserving 40 places for primary one admission for those with no connections
(2) Removing PSLE Score, with results being reported in bands
(3) Secondary 1 students will be allowed to take a subject at a higher level if they have done well in that subject at PSLE
(4) Broadening of Direct School Admission categories for selection of secondary schools.
On P1 admission, I have nothing to say, I think it is a good move and I hope more places will be catered for well deserving students and give others outside the circle a chance. Life is also a chance, not a choice many of times. I have always said everyone is capabable in his or her own right and it is just the right opportunity and time that allows someone to step up than someone else. This is beyond our control most of the time in school life, career, social, community etc
PSLE remains sacred cow. With the aggregate system removed,will pressure decreases and be less stressful also for parents and grandparents? I doubt so but again I am happy banding is now implemented in the next few years, this will cut out those who compare grades to the single digit. It becomes like a stock market looking at numbers. This is wrong, education is an art in itself which nurtures a person, gives people the necessary skills to contribute to society and in our previous generation has lifted many from poverty. It must evolve and should continue to evolve for the betterment of society and people.
I also dread why the class size is still so large in Primary schools, at least 30 to 40 to a teacher. This is absolutely ridiculous, we have the resources and the material means to bring this to a better level of 20 or less. The teacher will be swamped and cannot focus on a big class, it is literally impossible. We are no longer in the 70s or 80s, we can build billion dollar transport line made of state of the art rails and machinery but we cannot halve the class size? I am sure MOE can do it by simply tweaking some processes and protocols. if simply hiring and adding teachers alone does not solve, revise the cirriculum and work with professional education centres to bring focus to students who require attention in specific subjects or those who excel. Like i said, we have the means to build world class parks and transportation system, these are non living things which gets outdated over time. Students and education brings more long term benefits to the country and people in the future.
That brings me to the point I simply don't understand why attending normal class is not sufficient and we parents have to engage and send our kids to tuition classes. I did try not to do so but it was becoming very difficult, I myself had to read up on the mathematical modelling book just to communicate and look at the workings. I agree pushing and driving is good but I also disagree it comes to a breaking point where we lose focus of education and subject matter but simply chasing the grades. It makes no sense to me. Why? Because the motivation is simply wrong. Think about it, every kid is there to simply outdo every other kid just to be smarter and have better grades? Why? Simply to land a good job when they graduate and be on the way to the pinnacle. Remember that without the base and foundation there will never be pinnacle.
I know nothing about DSA, direct school admission but it seems very vague on the details. Maybe they have not even put it down on the drawing board but just another indication for public to hear. This to me is not concrete, I think if our PM wants to discuss, he should already put in some concrete plans and carve it in stone. Like he already said, Education is a dedication machinery and subjected to fine tuning, he should put DSA topic such as character building as priority. Why because you dont simply want a chap to sit at the pinnacle and have no empathy for those at the mid and base. Such acts over time will corrode society and bring many back to dark times. I think history has enough examples.
I don't know how the civil service or ministries work but it seems they can better coordinate and harmonise their policies to bring better and faster public policies to the ground especially the 8percent. Just like the 8 percent who fall off the medishield plan. PM has again plugged this important gap. One real life example is my barber who i still visit, he is around 60, he is suffering from Kidney failure and his skin pigmentation has turn his skin tone to dark color and he goes for long term dialysis, he has no more savings in his medisafe to be utilised and has made many trips to cpf board, sometimes he complains that the hospital reminds him to foot his treatment bills when he runs into arrears for his medisave claims but he just continue to seek treatment. Though it is wrong to be owing and late interest charged, he has a belief that our government despite the many policies will continue to allow him treatment. Minus his complaints about the trips to CPF and the hospital billing dept, he has faith that he will get treatment though he is drained of his medisave. I see this is simply another unspoken faith he has of our system despite the many policies. I hope this is the same unspoken faith we continue to have to let our country prosper for those with roots here.
Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) is a year long initiative by government to sound out all the ground sentiments and views. To many it seems like a leap in opening up ears to listen and to some it is nothing more than another public initiative to let people air their unhappiness.
Funny thing is, I have always wondered why such feedback or OSR is always about negativity and complaints. Sometimes I rather we have a
synergy kind of ongoing initiative why? because we are already marching to a different beat all the time and changing drum major does not solve
Rather we should ask the strong to help the weak and bring them up to speed.
I will only talk about changes to Education
Four changes were announced that night in education:
(1) Reserving 40 places for primary one admission for those with no connections
(2) Removing PSLE Score, with results being reported in bands
(3) Secondary 1 students will be allowed to take a subject at a higher level if they have done well in that subject at PSLE
(4) Broadening of Direct School Admission categories for selection of secondary schools.
On P1 admission, I have nothing to say, I think it is a good move and I hope more places will be catered for well deserving students and give others outside the circle a chance. Life is also a chance, not a choice many of times. I have always said everyone is capabable in his or her own right and it is just the right opportunity and time that allows someone to step up than someone else. This is beyond our control most of the time in school life, career, social, community etc
PSLE remains sacred cow. With the aggregate system removed,will pressure decreases and be less stressful also for parents and grandparents? I doubt so but again I am happy banding is now implemented in the next few years, this will cut out those who compare grades to the single digit. It becomes like a stock market looking at numbers. This is wrong, education is an art in itself which nurtures a person, gives people the necessary skills to contribute to society and in our previous generation has lifted many from poverty. It must evolve and should continue to evolve for the betterment of society and people.
I also dread why the class size is still so large in Primary schools, at least 30 to 40 to a teacher. This is absolutely ridiculous, we have the resources and the material means to bring this to a better level of 20 or less. The teacher will be swamped and cannot focus on a big class, it is literally impossible. We are no longer in the 70s or 80s, we can build billion dollar transport line made of state of the art rails and machinery but we cannot halve the class size? I am sure MOE can do it by simply tweaking some processes and protocols. if simply hiring and adding teachers alone does not solve, revise the cirriculum and work with professional education centres to bring focus to students who require attention in specific subjects or those who excel. Like i said, we have the means to build world class parks and transportation system, these are non living things which gets outdated over time. Students and education brings more long term benefits to the country and people in the future.
That brings me to the point I simply don't understand why attending normal class is not sufficient and we parents have to engage and send our kids to tuition classes. I did try not to do so but it was becoming very difficult, I myself had to read up on the mathematical modelling book just to communicate and look at the workings. I agree pushing and driving is good but I also disagree it comes to a breaking point where we lose focus of education and subject matter but simply chasing the grades. It makes no sense to me. Why? Because the motivation is simply wrong. Think about it, every kid is there to simply outdo every other kid just to be smarter and have better grades? Why? Simply to land a good job when they graduate and be on the way to the pinnacle. Remember that without the base and foundation there will never be pinnacle.
I know nothing about DSA, direct school admission but it seems very vague on the details. Maybe they have not even put it down on the drawing board but just another indication for public to hear. This to me is not concrete, I think if our PM wants to discuss, he should already put in some concrete plans and carve it in stone. Like he already said, Education is a dedication machinery and subjected to fine tuning, he should put DSA topic such as character building as priority. Why because you dont simply want a chap to sit at the pinnacle and have no empathy for those at the mid and base. Such acts over time will corrode society and bring many back to dark times. I think history has enough examples.
I don't know how the civil service or ministries work but it seems they can better coordinate and harmonise their policies to bring better and faster public policies to the ground especially the 8percent. Just like the 8 percent who fall off the medishield plan. PM has again plugged this important gap. One real life example is my barber who i still visit, he is around 60, he is suffering from Kidney failure and his skin pigmentation has turn his skin tone to dark color and he goes for long term dialysis, he has no more savings in his medisafe to be utilised and has made many trips to cpf board, sometimes he complains that the hospital reminds him to foot his treatment bills when he runs into arrears for his medisave claims but he just continue to seek treatment. Though it is wrong to be owing and late interest charged, he has a belief that our government despite the many policies will continue to allow him treatment. Minus his complaints about the trips to CPF and the hospital billing dept, he has faith that he will get treatment though he is drained of his medisave. I see this is simply another unspoken faith he has of our system despite the many policies. I hope this is the same unspoken faith we continue to have to let our country prosper for those with roots here.