Let me quote a few paragraphs posted in an article in the statestimesreview.
Speaking in Parliament today (Feb 6)
representing the Ministry of Education, PAP MP Low Yen Ling defended a primary
school that deemed students scoring 97/100 for Chinese language not qualified
enough for Higher Chinese.
“We acknowledge St. Hilda’s good
intentions in making sure students who want to take Higher Chinese are
well-suited and also ready to take on the subject because it also entails extra
curricular time and a heavier study load for the child.”
...Some of the students scored a
near-perfect score of 97 out of 100 marks for the Chinese language but were
still rejected nonetheless.
However, the primary school succumbed to public
criticisms and opened an additional class to accommodate students who wish to
take up Higher Chinese. PAP MP Low Yen Ling confirmed the knee-jerk reaction in
Parliament:”
Why 97 marks not good enough? Then what is good enough?
100 marks? If 97 marks are not good enough, I think anyone getting 97 marks
will get a A*, what are the implications
on the marking system? Are they saying that A* are not really good enough when
everyone has the impression that A* is like distinction? How are the teachers
going to tell parents that their children with 97 marks are NOT GOOD enough? How
are the children going to face their parents and how are parents going to
receive this ‘bad’ news, that their children scoring 97 marks, good enough for
a celebration to most parents but really not good enough?
If all the students scoring 97 marks in their subjects
are not good enough, what about those scoring 70 marks, 50 marks? Is this a way
to tell the parents and children that the 97 marks are a farce, that the
grading system is a farce? How on earth could anyone tell a child that 97 marks
are not good enough?
What is going on? Is this an indication of something
not very right in our education system or in the grading system? Is this the
reason why our Singaporean graduates with their straight As are not wanted, not
really good, not good enough because.....?
Is there something seriously wrong being revealed
unintentionally by this case? What is the truth? Is this the reason why third
world students and their funny grades are preferred to be better than the
grades obtained in our supposedly world class schools and education system? Is
this the reason why third world degrees are better than our degrees? The implications are very serious.