First Week of School
Saturday, June 28, 2008
So, it's back to school for us students in Singapore, which equates to more stress, especially for those who are in the graduating batch.
Never disliked going to school so much, because other than lessons of 2 subjects, the rest is just a waste of time. Hopefully things will get better.
Got back my results, it's not that bad, but i'm still feeling neutral to it.
As for SAT it's a total screw up, guess it's because of my lack of preparation and lack of vocab.
This entire week had been quite a blur for me. Thoughts of various kinds come rushing and leaving my brain like nobody's business. It's difficult to just be calm and steady...
Also because I'm starting to find that it is getting impossible to understand how or what some people are thinking. Exam stress? Probably.
Which brings me to my point, the case of having tuition in Singapore. To my dismay, MOE hasn't given a reply to this...It's like this has nothing to do with them. To them, the Singapore system is one of the best in the world, with hardly any flaws.
That may be the case, but are schools really up to standard?
My answer will be a straight NO.
In order to provide students a holistic education, schools cram the entire year with programmes and activities, leaving little time with to clear the syllabus. The teachers are so busy with these programmes that they have little time to prepare their lessons.
And so, syllabus is always taught so quickly, you are given a few questions per topic, and there you go, it's examinations before you know it.
And they somehow love to set killer papers for examinations, making even primary school students fail. These students become demoralised, and parents realise that this won't work, and so send their children for tuition.
I really question the rationale of such a system.
What's the point of rushing the syllabus, when hardly anyone understands the topic, so as to leave more time for revision? I'm not saying that revision isn't important, but revision in most instances has become re-teaching of the entire topic. Or at least, re-learning the entire topic.
And then setting difficult papers so as to spur students to study harder. It used to work, but not anymore. Those teachers probably didn't hear of this mindset: 'Study fail, don't study also fail, study for WHAT???'
The result is that students all flock to tuition, making them even busier than before. Maybe even an additional source of stress.
Have you ever wondered, if what you learn is from tuition centres and not from school, what is the point of going to school?
MOE will then say....schooling gives you social skills, learn about NE, yada yada...
Not that some of these aren't useful...But that they should make it in such a way that schooling is more than sufficient to prepare you for exams.
Well, they always have their reasons, don't they?
Never disliked going to school so much, because other than lessons of 2 subjects, the rest is just a waste of time. Hopefully things will get better.
Got back my results, it's not that bad, but i'm still feeling neutral to it.
As for SAT it's a total screw up, guess it's because of my lack of preparation and lack of vocab.
This entire week had been quite a blur for me. Thoughts of various kinds come rushing and leaving my brain like nobody's business. It's difficult to just be calm and steady...
Also because I'm starting to find that it is getting impossible to understand how or what some people are thinking. Exam stress? Probably.
Which brings me to my point, the case of having tuition in Singapore. To my dismay, MOE hasn't given a reply to this...It's like this has nothing to do with them. To them, the Singapore system is one of the best in the world, with hardly any flaws.
That may be the case, but are schools really up to standard?
My answer will be a straight NO.
In order to provide students a holistic education, schools cram the entire year with programmes and activities, leaving little time with to clear the syllabus. The teachers are so busy with these programmes that they have little time to prepare their lessons.
And so, syllabus is always taught so quickly, you are given a few questions per topic, and there you go, it's examinations before you know it.
And they somehow love to set killer papers for examinations, making even primary school students fail. These students become demoralised, and parents realise that this won't work, and so send their children for tuition.
I really question the rationale of such a system.
What's the point of rushing the syllabus, when hardly anyone understands the topic, so as to leave more time for revision? I'm not saying that revision isn't important, but revision in most instances has become re-teaching of the entire topic. Or at least, re-learning the entire topic.
And then setting difficult papers so as to spur students to study harder. It used to work, but not anymore. Those teachers probably didn't hear of this mindset: 'Study fail, don't study also fail, study for WHAT???'
The result is that students all flock to tuition, making them even busier than before. Maybe even an additional source of stress.
Have you ever wondered, if what you learn is from tuition centres and not from school, what is the point of going to school?
MOE will then say....schooling gives you social skills, learn about NE, yada yada...
Not that some of these aren't useful...But that they should make it in such a way that schooling is more than sufficient to prepare you for exams.
Well, they always have their reasons, don't they?