Primary School admission

[Kungfu]

So it goes to say that "If your parents are rich/famous/influential/whatever...............you gets to go to a top Primary School,but you are poor, or youe parents is...............forget about it.............you'll never set foot into Raffles.................

 

 

 

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/13/primary-school-admission-is-not-fair-mm-lee/

 

This is s..........pore

[questionedfish]

nothing is fair in the first place eh?

[Jman888]

haha.... expected!

 

papers reported last week that in one local uni if you dun carry branded bag or phone or wear branded, you can never find a group accept you as member!

[Sosaria]

I respect his very forthright and straightforward statement. It's so obvious that factors other than pure meritocracy counts when it comes to primary school entry - so why try to hide this under some kind of political correctness?

 

But even secondary school and JC entry is not 100% meritocratic, if you put the issue under a microscope. There are extra advantages of being in affiliated school, for example - and if you drill down, it still starts at primary school (whereby the entry is now acknowledged as not meritocratic!)

 

Furthermore, even for a 100% meritocratic system, the playing field is not level. Lower income students have less opportunities or free time for enrichment classes, additional study resources, etc. They take 3 hr by public transport to and from school while their richer schoolmates ride in airconditioned comfort in the backseat of a BMW 7-series. What meritocracy?? Joke!

[Darryn]

The article made me lauff.

 

MM got the face to say that even if got advantage to enter primary school, the PSLE evens this out and no advantage for secondary school.

 

Really MM?

 

So schools no longer practise preferential admission for affiliated schools? ACS Primary no longer got advantage for ACS?

 

Well that's a surprise.

 

What's even worse, is the media never call him on it, just report uncritically as though we are all morans.

[Ahwhye]

if you need to be reminded............we are DAFT, in the eyes of you-know-who.

 

BTW all sane people should know that there ain't really any true level-playing field in real life, all these level- playing thingies talks are just crap...........

 

 

What's even worse, is the media never call him on it, just report uncritically as though we are all morans.

Edited November 13, 2010 by Ahwhye

[Sosaria]

...

What's even worse, is the media never call him on it, just report uncritically as though we are all morans.

 

Don't blame the media. Who dares write letter to ST Forum to "call him on it"? You could argue that the ST won't publish your letter, but...

 

[Wind30]

So it goes to say that "If your parents are rich/famous/influential/whatever...............you gets to go to a top Primary School,but you are poor, or youe parents is...............forget about it.............you'll never set foot into Raffles.................

 

there is always the GEP.

[Aiky76]

MM hardly ever says anything without thought. Why the sudden visit to primary schools and his message, followed by visits to carefully selected secondary schools next?

 

He's shaping the discourse over the future direction of our education system, which goes to the roots of our meritocratic society. The post-LKY Singapore. Granted the world is not fair and there are no perfect systems, what can we do to give our children the best starting point in life?

 

The real competition for our children is not here in Sg - its against the world out there. But the preparation starts in our schools. I look forward to a radical rethink.

 

 

 

[Chrispie]

psle does in a way even out the playing field. but no one can dismiss the fact that those who went to a good pri sch have a better head start and over 6 years, the advantage will be compounded for sure.

 

In a so call 'top sch', the expectations is different, the teachers' attitude is also different. So in the end, the result will be too.

 

A double blind experiment was carried out before where the better scoring students were sent to 'B' class and the poorer scoring students to 'A' class. The perception was that A is the better class.

 

So what happens in the end? Those in A class eventually outscored B drastically. Why? Just perceptions alone is enough to make the less bright feel that they are smarter, and thus performs better. They are more motivated to learn, and the teachers more motivated to teach. As much as the potential of the student is important, the environment is too. So if you put a child of mediocre intelligence in RGS or RJC, im not surprised he will get straight A's due to the pressure and expectations from peers and institution.

[Blueblack]

So if you put a child of mediocre intelligence in RGS or RJC, im not surprised he will get straight A's due to the pressure and expectations from peers and institution.

 

at the same time, some child morale will be put to to stress if he always at the bottom of the class