2/10/2010
Consequences of grade inflation
More letters are pouring in and more grouses will be heard when 6A1s and 4A2s are not good enough for admission to Hua Chong JC. And the same thing will apply to admission to Raffles Institution. Parents are right to be fuming mad that their children with such great results could not find places in the two top JCs.
Why? Grade inflation or Integrated Programme(IP) programme? Like it or not, the top students are in the IP programme and have already been admitted. The second best, now filling the places in the normal distribution of straight As are not the same as the best in the IP programme. It is damn good feeling to get straight As even in the Normal stream. But the reality is that straight As in Division Two are not the same as straight As in Division One.
What shall the MOE do to please parents and students? Continue with grade inflation or grade the Division Two students as the Division One students which means that many may not get their straight As? Alternatively it can open up more places in the top JCs for these students and appease their parents.
Tough situation requiring tough fixes.
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8 comments:
The more important thing is to make sure that there are sufficient places in sufficiently good institutions of learning that will allow the students to develop to their full potential, as far as possible.
The same issue will be encountered elsewhere. Not everyone who perform well will be able to get into Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Cambridge, Oxford etc. Maybe, sometimes, it's not necessary to be in the "top" schools because some other schools may not be too bad after all or may sometimes even be a better choice(not being sour grapes here..), on hindsight..
End result - more local talents loss, and more influx of 'foreign talents'. I know of two straight A students ended up studying medicine overseas for a simple reason - their applications to study at NUH were rejected. On the other hand, we are importing doctors from India, Sri Landa, Phillippines, Thailand...etc.
Why??? Is it COOL?
Cheating a bright future out of our children to remain at home(brain drain) only to be unwilling(skilled trademan), unhappy, low paid over educated snob digid.
ballon will burst when inflate too much.
Our talents are in high demand outside the island. Let them go. In their place we shall bring in more foreign talents. This will create more vibrancy and varieties and buzz.
We should aim to give most if not all of our local talents opportunities to maximize their potential locally.
For those who are fortunate enough to get even better offers/opportunities overseas, they can and should go overseas if and when a suitable opportunity arises. An overseas experience is good as it widens one's perspectives.
We should also cherish and value our own talents and always be ready to welcome them back because they are still part of the Singapore "family."
Most of all, we should treat our local talents fairly and well and hopefully, where ever they may be, they will still view Singapore as home.
Am I being to sentimental? But it's true. I really believe in this. Tsk! Tsk!
I want to go one up on that. We need to look after our own children first and adopted children later. Unfortunately we are turning the whole thing upside down, look after other people's children and neglect our own on the assumption that our own are not good enough.
Well, they can take a leaf out of hospitalisation insurance.
First they had basic medishield administered by CPF.
Then, comes enhanced medishield trotted out by the insurance companies, for better protection for better-off people.
Then when every insurance company comes out with the same idea, they introduced a higher kind of shield, supremeshield or something like that, for still better off people.
Now I understand they have totalshield.
I wonder what other kind of shield they will trot out. Beats me.
No need to beat yourself Sir/Madam.
We Singaporeans get bitten everyday.
Oh, jus kidding, not that bad as everyday, however, very often lah.
Btw, wat's so great about good grades ? i prefer good people. There are too many educated rascals that became leaders.
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