9/13/2012

First sacred cow slaughtered



The abolishing of the banding of schools is a major policy change in education. With this change, it could impact many areas of educating the children as it would in a way release some pressure on competing for good schools, good grades and a very demanding not doing well is not an option system. The annual panic of school selection when going to a school in the lower band brought immediate stigmatization could be less felt by parents and children with the change. It is a big step to make education less pressurizing and maybe more enjoyable for all, parents, teachers and children. Just don’t go over board and do away with examinations and grades as well.

Heng Swee Kiat is new in politics but his approach is like a veteran. Make the necessary changes that are needed, not the piece meal approach like the other veterans in the game. This is exactly what is happening in housing. It is all piece meal and the major policies are still hanging over the head. Would Boon Wan do the necessary and dismantle the wicked policies of his predecessor and make housing, choosing a flat, buying a flat, less stressful to the citizens? The babies may come faster too.

Would there also be more major changes coming the ways of health and manpower, the latter more with respect to the population size of this little rock, and not blindly looking at economic growth as the sole determinant of how many people it can take.

The mistakes of the govt have been so gross in so many areas, that without acknowledging it, are hardly unrecognizable. Despite all the great numbers and data that this is a miracle island, the flaws are so painful that they erased whatever goodness and goodwill that should be duly acknowledged. Funny, with so much wealth, talent and resources, the problems are found so difficult to solve. Just throwing more money at the problems will and can work, if the govt is willing, like throwing money into the pay of the elite to attract the best of the crème la crème into politics.

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

[Helping parents help their kids learn]
by Heng Swee Keat

http://www.todayonline.com/CommentaryandAnalysis/Commentary/EDC120913-0000024/Helping-parents-help-their-kids-learn

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Chua

Please take note that every new minister for Education brought in something new to increase the work load of the students and the teaching staffs over the last since the introduction of SAP schools in 1979... even the teaching less learn more of the last minister brought more work, .... WTF!!!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Let's see if Heng Swee Kiat could make a difference. The negative part of this constant change in education policy is indirectly saying that the predecessors had made a mess of education and thus change is needed.

Compare this with housing when no big changes except incremental change is taking place. This could mean that the past housing policies are good, so no need to change.

Anonymous said...

Is there money in "non banding"? Is there "banding" in pay structure? Is there "banding" in organization?

Would kids coming into the work force face cultural shock with these changes?

Anonymous said...

百年树人 is a saying which the MOE fails to undertake, and the revolving door for the minister will ensure constant change, and if change is the only constant, then with every change there will be an increase workload for everyone in the system, just look at the number of staff in each school, what is the increase over the years, and everyone has more work to work more, the teacher to student ratio has reduced, but the class size are still the same as 40 years ago; implies there is no increase in productivity and quality, just more work; even with Information Technology, there is no increase in productivity, just more time in front of the computer, no productivity gain; are we producing better people???? perhaps still NO, that's why there are so many FT(Talent/Trash)...

We may be turning into imperial China, with each generation, the people only chase to be the top scholar, eventually, the country will go into decline and take over by barbarians, its already happening in some segments of society, like the whores in Geylang, how many locals??? WTF!!!

Anonymous said...

Is a dog eat top world and top dogs survive the best. Can we change that?

Anonymous said...

...dog world...

The said...

I don't think this is even a cow, let alone sacred. More like shifting the deck chairs while the Titanic is sinking.

Anonymous said...

Good teachers make good schools.

Ah Heng too busy with National CONversation to bother with improving our education system.

If one-eyed dragon really cared about our kids' education, he would have gotten one of the many Millionaires-In-the-Prime Ministers' Office to do the National talk cock-sing song session.

If you are rich, you won't care anyway.
Your kids would be educated by the best tutors from the best elite schools.
School is just an opportunity for networking for your kids.

Anonymous said...

Who are the guinea pigs?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Are the products of our education system and world class universities better than those of third world countries? Yes? No?

Look whose running this country and the top dogs in the biz world. Where are they from?

That is the truth.

Anonymous said...

ST Forum Online
"NTUC and the PAP Community Foundation receive official funds and can therefore attract good teachers. Private centres pay their teachers less because they do not have the luxury of official funding.

We urge the statutory board overseeing pre-school education to consider a stipend for pre-school teachers who work in the non-funded group, to narrow the salary differences between the two groups.

FORUM NOTE: The writer also represents nine other childcare centres"


http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/have-clear-pay-scale-all-pre-school-teachers-20120912

Veritas said...

The rot of MOE is more than school banding. There are appalling politicking, grave injustice, paedophilia all over the mad house. Most paedophile, especially those on the higher level walk free. I heard my former colleague gossip me about a Malay principal of a secondary school keeping a former Chinese girl student as mistress.

MOE need a big overhaul, not only in school ranking, but in streaming, in staff appraising and recruitment policy.

MOE has seen the most cases of staff going nuts among civil service. I have seen my colleague popping 5-6 funny color pills in schools. In NIE, I witness one attempted suicide. Nevertheless, MOE is very good at putting blame onto "victim".

I believe the major problem in MOE lies in PAP cronies and relatives occupying high position. They create all sorts of problem due to their stupidity. To make sure talented and competent people shut up, these parasite make the organization top-down "emperor new cloth"

Veritas said...

I was formerly from Tanjong Katong Sec. Seah Jak Choo former bif boss of MOE, was my former principal, when she sojourn and wayang herself there. She is so useless as everyone loath her. Nevertheless, she great promoted to big shot in MOE. Someone with cock brain high there in MOE, must be thinking that she is good.

My former teacher told me when the principal inauguration ceremony of Seah in Tanjong Katong Sec was an eye-opener. All big shot in MOE attended and she has not seen anything like that.

Today, Ho Peng, sister in law of LHL is the No3 person in MOE. These people are the creator of rotten system. Unless we get rid of them, MOE will not change.

Anonymous said...

The Pro Alien Party is the mother of all the other sacred cows.

Do we dare to get rid of the Pro Alien Party in GE 2016?
And slaughter all the sacred cows in one motion?

Got balls?
I doubt it.

Anonymous said...

"... South Korea is being flooded with more college graduates than it needs.
The government's response is a U-turn from decades of increasingly competitive and expensive education that made South Korea No.1 in the world for academic qualifications.
President Lee Myung Bak's new message to many high-school students is: Skip college and go to work.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-11/skip-college-is-top-advice-for-world-beating-south-koreans-jobs.html

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Nice way of putting it Matilah. Mother of all sacred cows. Can continue to produce more sacred cows while slaughtering one at a time.

Anonymous said...

The picture is changing when no papers are going to earn more than with papers. Then they will laugh at the paper holders when they all ended as drivers or sales representatives.

Anonymous said...

School and the real world seem to have two different value systems.

The former is where you practice religion and the latter is where you practice prostitution.

So what is the kid suppose to do?

Minister Heng, you understand?

Anonymous said...

What do you think?

patriot said...

I do not believe meritocracy is practice in spirit or in reality.

Everywhere, I have been told and heard that 'it is who You know and not what You know that matters in Sin'. Yes, 'guanxi'(connection/relationship) really matters. Otherwise, how do we explained top executives having sex with top Civil Servants? Relationship, right?

patriot

Anonymous said...

In a school, you surrender your brain and soul to the school system.

In the working world, you surrender your cock/twat to the highest bidder?

Anonymous said...

Many people can be bought legitimately. There is enough of these kind in the decision making body to set the course for everyone. Either you join in the fun or you are relegated to priesthood in your little cave.

Does your kid have a choice?

Teach them to fuck early better

Anonymous said...

how is this a sacred cow? pple throw you a bone, and you think it's a steak! tsk tsk.

it's all cosmetic lar. in fact, banding is useful for parents leh. otherwise how do they know which school to apply with their level of results?

what's more important is whether resources are channelled to the weaker schools to help the weaker children. then got inclusive society what.

banding or no banding, parents can always sniff out the elite schools for their kids.

Anonymous said...

Banding mimics the real world. The change should be out there. Are you fooled?

Anonymous said...

Banding separates the dogs from the pigs from the rats.

The rest can go play church....a different kind of animal - snakes.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

That's why I said, removing the banding but don't go overboard and remove gradings and exam. The removal of branding is just to please some parents who cannot accept reality.

Having appease them, the next danger is to make things so easy for everyone, levelling down, then we will be in real shit.

Najib now understands the pitfalls they have fallen into by levelling down their education level and removing English as a main subject in Malaysia. Now the scholars they are sending overseas will find in increasingly more difficult to catch up. And when the leaders go overseas, the younger ones may not even be able to conduct a decent conversation in English.

They have lost 40 years of education and trying to start all over again. Sinkieland must not fall into the same trap by lowering the standard of education. Banding, grading, examination, good schools, bad schools, are necessary.

Another caveat. Please vet the FTs' credential carefully. While we set our standards so high for our people, it is crazy and idiotic to have them working for fakes who could not even pass O level.

Taking them away is self deception, for temporary happiness. Yes the real test is out there in society. They either face it earlier or later. Many parents are simply screwed up in their heads and refuse to face reality and life, which can be very tough and harsh.

Anonymous said...

" The removal of branding is just to please some parents who cannot accept reality"

Just like putting on condom during sex and say you are not having sex?

Meanwhile, to appeas them, we lie to parents or take hypocrisy to another level?

patriot said...

Wow! It seems that Teaching and the Use of the English Language will upgrade the Quality of Education.

Just wondering if promoters of such a belief will also want all other nation to embrace the English Language?

China, India, Russia, France, Africa and all?

patriot

Anonymous said...

Another half measure or should I say "much ado about nothing". The school banding is actually useless and I am glad it is being taken away. However the parents will still band the school according the PSLE T score needed to enter the school. I hate to say this but it's the ranking based on T-score that automatically ranks the school, not the banding my dear people. It ain't no scared cow but a donkey in disgusie

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Patriot, if one is self sufficient in the technology sense, able to translate the latest knowledge and move on from there, then it should not be an issue.

If can't and still need to send to American and England, then with the language handicap, it is going to be an added hurdle.

Agree with you that the Japs, Koreans, the Chinese, need not do this as they are able to translate and teach the science and technology. Is Malaysia or even Indonesia comfortable on this ground?

And it is damn tiring in an international conference and you need an interpretator to speak to the other guy during chit chat session. How is Hsien Loong going to talk to Ying Luck or to Putin?

Anonymous said...

In school, they carry books. In the working world, they carry daggers.

Anonymous said...

As if you can rid elitism by twitching the system. Please.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

While the system/govt contributed to this paper chase, the bigger fault is still the halfbaked parents who just want to join the mad rush.

Many kids are so talented in anything except academic. Many are making millions and employing all the paper warriors. Parents should go to school, to be educated on the possibilities other than just paper grades.

Anonymous said...

RI will always be RI. Anything less is to suggest MIW should be paid like dish washer.

Anonymous said...

We still need the papers to wipe backside.

patriot said...

Chin Leng:

learning anything extra is always an advantage. It is DEFINITELY A VALUE ADD.

However, to subscribe to a belief that an alien language will make one superior in quality, is to me a myth.
Merkel speaks in German and the French Leaders especially, almost always speak in their OWN LANGUAGES. The Japanese, even today, have their manuals mainly in Japanese. All these people and nations depended not on the English Language to be proud of themselves.

Do understand You, however, like You to know that my mother and some other Singaporeans feel 'sikit' atas about the English Educated. If the Chinese, Indian and others in their own NATIONS feel the same like my mother, I will go one step further to tell them to bleach themselves WHITE.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Hypocrisy is in our education system. You are a product of that.

Anonymous said...

The minister leads the way in hypocrisy.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

That is why I made my qualifications in my above comment. And in particular, English is useful to Sinkieland and even India for pragmatic reasons. We would be in a very difficult position without English.

You got to look at the context of the ground situation. If every chicken and duck or turkey insists that the other party speaks his lingo, communication can be very painful. At the moment, the facility of English makes things so much more convenient. But when the rest of the world find it useful to speak more Chinese, then they will learn Chinese to talk to the Chinese. It is starting. This is not a national issue but an issue of communication.

40 years ago, the Europeans already practised bilingualism, to learn one other language, for the purpose of communication. If every one learns one other language, it will make talking to one another must easier then talking to an interpretor.

Anonymous said...

You high jacked your own thread? lol

Anonymous said...

We should band together and kick the idiot out of his ministry

Veritas said...

I hate English lesson from day 1, even though I benefited from it. My mother tongue is Hokkien that PAP has killed. Mandarin is a language that is 99% unintelligible with my mother tongue.

I hate PAP's language policy. Up till now, Hokkien and Cantonese TV is banned. Meanwhile PAP has no problem in airing Japanese and French program. This is cultural genocide conducted by banana against us.

PAP is trying to water down Chinese in schools. I am speaking this as a former mother tongue teacher.

Our language policy could be well calibrated like Switzerland or Luxembourg. They are multi-lingual. Nevertheless, they have not lost a single bit of their culture. The Germanic Switzerland, even elevate their dialect Swizer Deutsche to the same prestige as standard German, Hoch Deutsche.

patriot said...

There are more yellow and dark skin Ku Klux Klans(White Supremacists) in Sin than anywhere else.

Btw, me does not subscribe to the belief that Science is superior or always beneficial to the World. It does caused many evils as well, not always positive in nature. It is debatable. Will not discuss on this aspect.

patriot

Veritas said...

I do not disagree that using language of former colonial master avoid racial conflict. Look at India, Anglo Africa and French Africa. What I loath is the deliberate culture genocide by our elite.

Using a different official language from mother tongue does not mean a lost in culture or linguistic capability of mother tongue. HK, Macau, Quebec, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germanic Belgium, are all good example.

Veritas said...

There are more yellow and dark skin Ku Klux Klans(White Supremacists) in Sin than anywhere else.


This is definitely a big lie. I think India has way more racist than us, under cover of caste-ism.

Anonymous said...

Language is kind of elitist too. Should we ban or un- band the language?

Veritas said...

If you have heartless elites that hates its own mother tongue, you will be sure it will disappear. The weakening of SG students' mother tongue ability is by design rather than natural development.

Outside Arabic Africa, the local languages are now replaced with French and English at alarming rate. Many language could be lost in decades, despite that most population still do not speak French or English. Generally, people follow their leaders.

HK is a particular good example of how Chinese culture and language are preserved even way better than PRC. (PRC lost much during cultural Revolution).

After 1949, many cultural elites from China fled to HK. They carried themselves the pride of their culture. They are able to neuter any attempts of London to turn HK into a land of bananas.

In SG, tragic events happen. London found traitor Kuan Yew and his bunch of banana friends like Keng Swee and Kim San. They are 5th columns of Chinese culture. They are able to kill Chinese culture more effective than anyone else on the earth. The pro-consul of HK will admire traitor Kuan Yew with awe, as he is able to do what London is not able to in HK.

Anonymous said...

Moral of the story......if you follower bangali....you become bangali....if you follow mudhuddi...you become matilah....if you follower chimpanzees...you become yellow banana...

Follow RB and become ang dao jwee better

patriot said...

I liken one Old Man in Sin to my 97 year old mother. My mother used to exhort all the villagers to send their children to 'English School'. There used to be about 6 'Chinese' Primary Schools within 3 kilometre where we stayed.

My Mother, by the way oni understands 2 English Words and that is mother, which my 76 year old Sister addresses her. And good, invariably with her showing a thumb up.

The oni 'English' Primary School was/is Bedok Boys and Bedok Girls Primary School located about 2 and a half kilometres away from my village abode then.

The Old Man was/is very similar to my Mum in that wherever he went, he strongly advocated those countries including China, India, Japan, Korea etc, learn and embrace the English Language. He did that to every country he visited except England and the US.

I had said it many times in my comments at various blogs that a Chinese Saying of over 2600 years is still valid today. The Saying states that advice and suggestion can all be accepted except when they are from ('wei ni ren yu xiao ren') woman and dis-respectable man.

Whenever there is discussion of Language; the Saying naturally comes to mind.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Matilah should nail this with his big fat nose(not cock 哈哈)

patriot said...

"This is definitely a big lie. I think India has way more racist than us, under cover of caste-ism.", courtesy of Veritas.

The Chinese in China is fast catching up with the India Indians. There is very strong indication that the China Chinese are 'zhong yang'. President Hu had expressed his consternation of the trend.

Anyway the India Indians and the China Chinese are no fight in comparison to the average Singaporeans of all Races. This tiny dot has the most bastardized Races in the World.

patriot

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Patriot, you should not disregard your mother's wisdom in encouraging people to learn English. She went through the experience of seeing an ancient civilisation went bankrupt because it refused to learn anything new and adapt what was good. The Japanese went ahead after many years of soul searching, to learn from the West. But learning from the West did not make them forget who they were. They learn and adapt and still remain Japanese.

Sun Yat Sen was English educated, learnt the good things from the West and still a patriot.

What I used to say is don't become duckweeds. Your mother is not wrong. But I believe she wasn't literate and could not articulate the virtues of learning without losing oneself.

There are many good things to learn from others, and bad things as well. China was at least 250 years slower than the Japanese in learning from the West, and was a decadent people lost in its past, and humiliated for 300 years. It has started to learn and to modernise and is catching up with the West in providing a better life for its people. If it did not learn from the West, it would still be a laughing stock, a shameful and unprogressive people stuck in an ancient way of life, in poverty, in the stomach and in the head.

But it is falling back again to its decadent past. I actually wrote a piece called the Return of Warlordism in China. There are many bad values and characteristics of the Chinese that are reappearing that will bring the country down to its knees again if it is not careful.

Learning English allows you the advantage of looking at two world views and to pick from the best, not the worst.

patriot said...

Btw, it is no consolation to me that there is/are other Races more racist than my Race.
I am all for the Culture distinct to each and every Race. It is offensive oni when there is Racial Imposition and Ordination on others.
It is fine with me if there are no Chinese School in any country. But, it is definitely wrong for any regime to stop a Chinese from learning Chinese or practice his/her tradition.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Banding separates the dogs from the pigs from the rats.

The rest can go play church....a different kind of animal - snakes.

September 13, 2012 1:23 PM

A So....we need to separate them with distinction

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

What is education for? Other than the idealistic education for education, it is a means to a better life, through getting a better job. As such, no matter what magic is being spun, the bell curve in scoring and in earning capacity is the real issue. How do distribute the grades and the good paying jobs through a flatter bell?

The foolish thing is to threaten or undermine the well being of the people, the education system, by making them compete with people from a different system that could be designed to actually cheat against our system to make their products look better and ours look daft.

Now we have internal competition and external competition messing up our own people.

What do you think?

Veritas said...

The most important thing of education is character building. Next come knowledge which dispel ignorance. The rise and fall of nation has always got to do with moral decay. (Gays are denial of this issue)

While educations is a key for better jobs, I would advise against opening up the wage gap into crazy level like SG. I believe in socialism. I believe that we must not bereave uneducated people a good life, even if he is honest and hardworking. (Fucking PAP cant get that)

I do not believe high wage gap between a janitor and doctor. Nordic society shows that this is completely workable. Nordic society has better technological advancement than unequal society like HK.

I am a believer in foreign talent. We must not have siege mentality of rejecting the top talents. The SG FT policy is phoney talent policies bring in all sorts of scumbags. I oppose that.

patriot said...

Chin Leng:

My Mother has the Wisdom of a 'ni ren' that coincides with that of a 'xiao ren'.
And
to me; the unfortunate thing about it, is that it also coincides with many Singaporeans of different Races.

I rest my case.

patriot

patriot said...

Education is for knowledge
and
knowledge is for enlightenment.

To attach a monetary/financial
value to education is too superficial an interpretation.

A Religious Prince in Sin preaches and uses religion to pray for wealth and material affluence. This, me believes leads to greed.
On the other hand, an Ancient Prince, a son of a Ruler, advocated asceticism and temperance despite born with all things opulent. This creates values of peace and tranquility of the mind. Here lies the value of education.

patriot

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Veritas, Education has many noble and bigger objectives than just to make a living. But to many, it is just about getting a better job. When this part is over, the importance of education at a higher level will become more relevant.

And patriot, I can understand your sentiment about your mother. There is another point you need to take note, it was a time of illiteracy, poverty and ignorance. What she saw and though would not be what you can see and think.

For 300 years, many of the Chinese born were in a way wasted, or lost generations. Living in poverty, illiterates, in a country that was a mess, living through a dying dynasty, in shame, with no opportunities and lost, with no direction in life. This is best reflected in the serial The King of Silk currently showing at 1am every Sat on Channel 8. I missed the normal screening and would try to catch up to feel the life and pulse of that time.

Another movie, Bodyguards and Assassins, to be shown this Sat at 10pm on Channel 8, is also a moving story of the struggle of a downtrodden and lost people trying to make a come back, to rebuild their lost country and pride as a people. Good diet for the soul, to refresh the events of the past.

There was a documentary title, I love Mommy, shown on CNA a second time, about an American Jewish family, the Jadowsky, adopting an orphan from Kwantung. Very touching, about how poverty can be very cruel and about human kindness and love. My tears flowed endlessly watching this documentary and the Bodyguards and Assassins. It was about despair and the human spirit to live a better life.

Watch them if you can.

patriot said...

Many a nation collapsed not because they were poor, but because there was greed everywhere in it. Greed leads to corruptions of the minds of the people that leads to the corruption of their society.

Dare I say that Sin will not sink because of neighbouring nations or natural disaster except unpredictable fatal contagious disease. However, many Sinkies will face challenges in living DESPITE living in one of the Recognized Richest Land.

The Money are hoarded by some people that form oni a small percentage of the Population.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Will the world be a better place if we can train(educate) people to think and behave right?

If so, we should emulate and duplicate Vatican City

They have no banding there however, they may introduce bending for your children.

Veritas said...

Vatican is one of the most corrupt place on the whole world. I can easily cite one out of numerous examples. The Vatican bank is a cesspool of murder, money laundering, hoarding some of the most filtiest $$$ in the whole world.

Anonymous said...

The most important thing of education is character building. Next come knowledge which dispel ignorance. The rise and fall of nation has always got to do with moral decay. (Gays are denial of this issue)

The Pariah said...

Just as HDB have stopped publishing COV, MOE will stop publishing school banding.

COVs are still skyrocketing.

School banding will persist unofficially amongst parents.

With 4G PAP, you get MUCH LESS TRANSPARENCY under a VENEER of Policy Adjustments.

4G PAP Minister Tan Chuan Jin is another classic example. He discloses percentages without giving absolute numbers. In Apr 2012, Mr Tan CJ did it for CPF Min Sum stats and just a few days ago, he did it again but this time for PR/SC/S-E Pass stats.

Anonymous said...

Anything involve in $ e.g. housing, healthcare and COE, etc. will not change much especially if the change resulted less income for the PAP because PAP's policy is that every year they must earn more than previous year.

Anonymous said...

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

With information free flowing and everyone allowed to say what it is, calling a spade a spade, many hidden truth, tabooed truth, suppressed truth, uncomfortable truths, forbidden truth, etc etc are all out in the net. And people can judge for themselves by googling for more information and facts to have a more informed view of things.

The Vatican is corrupt, the US is the worst murderer in history of mankind, things that were not spoken, no one dares to say, or people being deceived to think otherwise, are out in the open. But many would still persist to believe what they choose to believe, not wanting to know the truth.

Anonymous said...

President Hu Jintao got to be wary and vigilant with the many oversea Chinese masquerading as social entrepreneurial angels in outlying areas of China. Most are on the pretext of doing charities and teaching english to better the people. But they are actually there to spread the gospel of christ. Unwitting or otherwise, they are there to subvert the indigenous and traditional culture of the mainlanders. The mainland chinese must beware.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Pariah, welcome to the blog.

The property prices, foreign talents/population growth, and their long term consequences are like the American QE, or spending future earnings. They have reached such a proportion that it cannot be stopped and has taken a life on their own.
They will keep spiralling upwards till it could not go on anymore and will come crashing down, burying everyone underneath.