One thing about the Singapore education system is that it is too rigid. Perhaps "rigid" is not the exact word, but what I am trying to say is that they have many pathways catered to the bright, the not so bright and the really not so bright.
The bright ones will go to the gifted or special stream, the not so bright ones go to the Express stream and the really not so bright ones will go to the Normal streams. Then there are the junior colleges, polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education catered for students of the various categories.
Schools play a part in this. Students from certain schools will be the ones who go on to top schools and later carve a great future for themselves. There will always be some schools where the PSLE and ‘O’ Level results will forever be so much better than those of other schools.
Due to this, most parents will want their kids to start off well, so enrol them into a more prestigious school. But it is not easy getting into those premier primary schools, so a lot of parents resort to moving house so as to be near the school as distance is a factor in schools considering whether to take the student in.
Some parents resort to donations, some volunteer to be school bus helpers, some help to preen the garden, some help to give tuition or conduct school activities, all in the bid to ensure a place in the good school for their children.
So once their eldest child manages to get a place in the premier school, the parents can then breathe a sigh of relief as all their subsequent children will have ensured a place in the school in the future.
I come from a family where everyone attended premier schools. I got into my school on the basis that one of my relative was then an educator in there. But my parents shifted to our old place which happens to be near a top primary school so as to ensure my brothers could get in. I have relatives who made big donations to some of the better schools just so their children could get in there.
Like what was said in “I Not Stupid 2”, when the guy’s father was looking around for a school for him after he was expelled, the father’s friend told him that his son was nothing, so no school would be willing to take him in.
If he was a Minister’s son, or if they were rich enough to make a big donation or they have any form of talent that could contribute to the school, the school would even come begging to take him in. Such is the fate of those lower-income families whose children can only afford to attend average schools.
But why this obsession over good schools anyway? Probably because those top schools have already established a reputation for themselves in grooming the cream of the crop. How often have you seen students from the average primary schools entering top secondary schools, then the top junior colleges, and later go on to win prestigious scholarships?
Most often than not, students in the top secondary schools normally come from the top primary schools, where they were groomed to be the top students of the country. Only a very few percentage of students in the top secondary schools came from just normal average primary schools, just like only a few percentage of students in the top junior colleges come from average secondary schools. Most would be from the more established schools.
It is a commendable effort on the parents’ part to ensure a good future for their children, and the part of the school to further stream students according to their learning abilities, but the bigger picture is that the bright ones will forever be the best, and grow up thinking they are the best thus everything must go their ways.
It is always the case where once someone is good in his / her studies, he / she can get away with everything, and once someone is not good in the studies, everything he / she does is wrong.
Students started to be streamed in primary schools. There was the Gifted Education for the super smart kids, EM1 for the best of the school, EM2 for the more average students, and EM3 for those “doomed” to go to the Normal Technical stream and Institute of Technical Education route so to speak as they failed all their subjects.
Some schools even started streaming students from Primary One so those who already know their work would be put into the best class for accelerated learning, and those who did not even know their ABCs would be put together to learn at their own pace.
While streaming is not that bad an idea as pupils of different learning abilities can be put together, but it brings down the morale of the kids in the tail-end classes, as they think they are doomed to a bleak future.
After all, those kids from Gifted or EM1 normally end up in the gifted education or special stream in secondary schools, and will always attend the best schools. Secondary schools are so ranked because of this.
EM2 kids may end up in the special stream (for those with a little more smarts), or else most will go to the Express stream, and some to the Normal Academic stream. The difference is that for Gifted, Special and Express streams, it takes four years to complete the ‘O’ levels, whereas for the Normal Academic and Technical streams, it takes five years, with the ‘N’ levels at the fourth year and ‘O’ levels at the fifth year.
EM3 kids often than not end up in the Normal Technical stream, where the subjects are more technical-based than academic-based. Those top EM3 kids may end up in the Normal Academic stream, but they will never have a chance to go to the Express stream after their PSLE, unless they top their Normal Academic stream in Secondary One. Such is their fate.
Normal stream pupils can choose to exit after ‘N’ levels or continue on to do their ‘O’ levels. Once they exit after their ‘N’ levels, it is the Institute of Technical Education for them, or else they have to seek apprenticeship somewhere and learn a skill. They will never have a chance to go to a polytechnic, unless they become the top students of the Institute of Technical Education.
‘O’ levels still open the gateway to almost everything else. Pupils can go to junior colleges (for brighter or more hardworking kids), or else a polytechnic for those who did not do as well and prefer a more technical and industrial education, or also the Institute of Technical Education for those who scored badly.
Thus the pathway has been set for students. If you are good in your studies, you go to a good secondary school, a good junior college, and a good university. If you are just average, you go to an average secondary school, an average junior college or polytechnic, then university if your ‘A’ level results make the grade or if you are the top few percent in the polytechnic.
If you are not academically-inclined, your path is that of a technical education, to which you can still go to a polytechnic and later on university if you make the top few percent of scorers.
That is why I say the education system is rigid in the sense that once you are not academically-inclined, you seem doomed for a different path. Which should not be the case as some people may just be late-bloomers.
To stream them according to results even in primary school may be too harsh. Some kids may just mature intellectually later. There have been cases where kids never did well in primary schools but later became the top students of their secondary schools.
Due to the streaming, the kids themselves may understand that they are of a certain caliber, thus there is a risk of killing off any potential top scorers around, since they have the impression that they are a failure in life and will always have that mentality.
Kids during their formative teen years are very sensitive, so once they think that the school and society rank them as such, they will behave as such. If society deems them as scum, they will behave like scum. Which is why the EM3 and Normal Technical classes always have the most number of disciplinary cases.
Perhaps kids can be made to understand that the streaming is not to condemn them to a certain fate, but rather to let them learn and study according to their own pace and ability. And as I have mentioned, give praises for whatever little achievements instead of putting them down just because they did not score well. I believe the kids will appreciate that better and give less trouble as a result.
The bright ones will go to the gifted or special stream, the not so bright ones go to the Express stream and the really not so bright ones will go to the Normal streams. Then there are the junior colleges, polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education catered for students of the various categories.
Schools play a part in this. Students from certain schools will be the ones who go on to top schools and later carve a great future for themselves. There will always be some schools where the PSLE and ‘O’ Level results will forever be so much better than those of other schools.
Due to this, most parents will want their kids to start off well, so enrol them into a more prestigious school. But it is not easy getting into those premier primary schools, so a lot of parents resort to moving house so as to be near the school as distance is a factor in schools considering whether to take the student in.
Some parents resort to donations, some volunteer to be school bus helpers, some help to preen the garden, some help to give tuition or conduct school activities, all in the bid to ensure a place in the good school for their children.
So once their eldest child manages to get a place in the premier school, the parents can then breathe a sigh of relief as all their subsequent children will have ensured a place in the school in the future.
I come from a family where everyone attended premier schools. I got into my school on the basis that one of my relative was then an educator in there. But my parents shifted to our old place which happens to be near a top primary school so as to ensure my brothers could get in. I have relatives who made big donations to some of the better schools just so their children could get in there.
Like what was said in “I Not Stupid 2”, when the guy’s father was looking around for a school for him after he was expelled, the father’s friend told him that his son was nothing, so no school would be willing to take him in.
If he was a Minister’s son, or if they were rich enough to make a big donation or they have any form of talent that could contribute to the school, the school would even come begging to take him in. Such is the fate of those lower-income families whose children can only afford to attend average schools.
But why this obsession over good schools anyway? Probably because those top schools have already established a reputation for themselves in grooming the cream of the crop. How often have you seen students from the average primary schools entering top secondary schools, then the top junior colleges, and later go on to win prestigious scholarships?
Most often than not, students in the top secondary schools normally come from the top primary schools, where they were groomed to be the top students of the country. Only a very few percentage of students in the top secondary schools came from just normal average primary schools, just like only a few percentage of students in the top junior colleges come from average secondary schools. Most would be from the more established schools.
It is a commendable effort on the parents’ part to ensure a good future for their children, and the part of the school to further stream students according to their learning abilities, but the bigger picture is that the bright ones will forever be the best, and grow up thinking they are the best thus everything must go their ways.
It is always the case where once someone is good in his / her studies, he / she can get away with everything, and once someone is not good in the studies, everything he / she does is wrong.
Students started to be streamed in primary schools. There was the Gifted Education for the super smart kids, EM1 for the best of the school, EM2 for the more average students, and EM3 for those “doomed” to go to the Normal Technical stream and Institute of Technical Education route so to speak as they failed all their subjects.
Some schools even started streaming students from Primary One so those who already know their work would be put into the best class for accelerated learning, and those who did not even know their ABCs would be put together to learn at their own pace.
While streaming is not that bad an idea as pupils of different learning abilities can be put together, but it brings down the morale of the kids in the tail-end classes, as they think they are doomed to a bleak future.
After all, those kids from Gifted or EM1 normally end up in the gifted education or special stream in secondary schools, and will always attend the best schools. Secondary schools are so ranked because of this.
EM2 kids may end up in the special stream (for those with a little more smarts), or else most will go to the Express stream, and some to the Normal Academic stream. The difference is that for Gifted, Special and Express streams, it takes four years to complete the ‘O’ levels, whereas for the Normal Academic and Technical streams, it takes five years, with the ‘N’ levels at the fourth year and ‘O’ levels at the fifth year.
EM3 kids often than not end up in the Normal Technical stream, where the subjects are more technical-based than academic-based. Those top EM3 kids may end up in the Normal Academic stream, but they will never have a chance to go to the Express stream after their PSLE, unless they top their Normal Academic stream in Secondary One. Such is their fate.
Normal stream pupils can choose to exit after ‘N’ levels or continue on to do their ‘O’ levels. Once they exit after their ‘N’ levels, it is the Institute of Technical Education for them, or else they have to seek apprenticeship somewhere and learn a skill. They will never have a chance to go to a polytechnic, unless they become the top students of the Institute of Technical Education.
‘O’ levels still open the gateway to almost everything else. Pupils can go to junior colleges (for brighter or more hardworking kids), or else a polytechnic for those who did not do as well and prefer a more technical and industrial education, or also the Institute of Technical Education for those who scored badly.
Thus the pathway has been set for students. If you are good in your studies, you go to a good secondary school, a good junior college, and a good university. If you are just average, you go to an average secondary school, an average junior college or polytechnic, then university if your ‘A’ level results make the grade or if you are the top few percent in the polytechnic.
If you are not academically-inclined, your path is that of a technical education, to which you can still go to a polytechnic and later on university if you make the top few percent of scorers.
That is why I say the education system is rigid in the sense that once you are not academically-inclined, you seem doomed for a different path. Which should not be the case as some people may just be late-bloomers.
To stream them according to results even in primary school may be too harsh. Some kids may just mature intellectually later. There have been cases where kids never did well in primary schools but later became the top students of their secondary schools.
Due to the streaming, the kids themselves may understand that they are of a certain caliber, thus there is a risk of killing off any potential top scorers around, since they have the impression that they are a failure in life and will always have that mentality.
Kids during their formative teen years are very sensitive, so once they think that the school and society rank them as such, they will behave as such. If society deems them as scum, they will behave like scum. Which is why the EM3 and Normal Technical classes always have the most number of disciplinary cases.
Perhaps kids can be made to understand that the streaming is not to condemn them to a certain fate, but rather to let them learn and study according to their own pace and ability. And as I have mentioned, give praises for whatever little achievements instead of putting them down just because they did not score well. I believe the kids will appreciate that better and give less trouble as a result.
4 comments:
I completely agree with your logic here and as a teacher in a NYC public school in Bushwick, I see the difference. Many of my students fall below the poverty level and will most likely never make it to the "right" high school or college because of that fact. I think it is terrible that our students are subjected to this type of discriminatiom at such a young age
Yes! Totally agree! Education should not be based on how rich or poor someone is; rather everyone should be educated in the same way irregardless of family background.
The society needs educating.
I was also only from Express Stream of a neighbourhood school :P
Yup, need to educate the society in general. I was only from Express stream too.
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