3/26/2007

looking for soft options

Lawrence Low wrote a letter discussing about the weak students and the strong students sitting for the same national exam in the Today paper. He lamented that these weaker students would only do less well than the good students. So? Should we have a set of lower standard exam papers for weaker students and one for stronger students? That is what his letter is implying. Actually we already have that, the N level. The weaker students are already doing N level. Are we saying that this is not enough, that we should have a NO level for the weaker students doing the O level so that they will appear to do better, like N level students scoring 6 As which are of lower standard than O level? This kind of averageing down to make the weaker students happier but having fictitious grades is definitely a shift towards a soft solution. What is needed is to raise the standard of weaker students, or spot their talents in other fields instead of trying to compete academically when they are not so gifted. They are meant to do well in other fields. Everyone is gifted in their own ways. Lets not force square pegs into round holes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I have said consistently: the problem is the State-controlled education system. This system makes young people STUPID.

If the "weaker" students were allowed to find themselves in their passion and allowed the FREEDOM to explore—in an environment which SUPPORTS and NUTURES them—many of these "weaker" would be millionaires before the "smarter" students graduated from their govt-controlled prison schools.

No, the state can't decide for you who or what you are to be. S'pore's govt education thugs (including the most of the principals and teachers) are all part of the social engineering dogma of the state.

But they still don't get it. S'pore students suffer all sorts of stress related emotional and mental problems. Some of them even suicide.

...and the "educators" still don't get it. And they never will—as long as they think that they can "design" someone else's future.

Solution: Dismantle the MOE, and fire everyone. Allow the private sector to take over, and for FAMILIES to get involved.

Public education, like all things collectivist SUCKS ASS!

Anonymous said...

EVeryone is gifted in their own ways ? Has that ever been proven by hard evidence. A big, fat no. Just another useless politically correct cliche.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

heard of bill gates, warren buffett, li ka shing, stanley ho, wee cho yaw, tiger woods, beckham, mike tyson, beethoven, fandi ahmad, the hair dresser gan, the makeup artiste, jack neo, the cooks, the gamblers, the loan sharks, the sportmen and women etc etc etc.

other than a couple of them, the rest are no bright students with good grades. many were dropouts.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

"Talent" is vastly over-rated. No one seems to believe in bloody hard work anymore as a key to "success".

Everyone is born tabula rasa—a "clean slate", and no one can really say for certain how vast a human's potential is.

The point is that State education dumbs down children in their formative years. State education has at its core a socialist Prussian design (designed by Otto von Bismarck) with the sole objective of churning out obedient and compliant workers for nationalised industries.

The model was flawed when it was designed, and is still used today in an age where independent and critical thinking is FUNDAMENTAL, as is TOTAL personal responsibility on the individual level.

State education systems foster a "dependency mentality"—because the child is either punished or ostracised if he strays too far from the "status quo". He is however, rewarded for obeying authority.

The psychological effect is this:
He will trade his loyalty and blind obedience (i.e. surrenders his individuality) to the state for the belief that the state will look after him.

Most people don't get out of this. That is why so many people in adult life feel "trapped", and can't figure out why. And if they can't figure out why, they will not be able to find solutions.

Millions of people have cheated themselves out of their lives because they never recovered the "lost self" they had taken from them as children.

Now you know why I am so anti state-controlled education. And I can tell you, I'm not alone.