Daily Lessons from Life 03 January 2012 - 'Sorry, your child is not bright enough'

Decided that I should be cooking dinner instead of letting my wife does her 30-min meals rush since I am at home!! Reach a consensus that the kids will let me know what one dish they want when I cook so all will have something they like. :-)

"'Sorry, your child is not bright enough' - TODAY 03 January 2012

SINGAPORE: As the tuition landscape here evolves - with a burgeoning market for helping children who are strong academically to become even better - the practice of some enrichment centres of holding entry tests for children as young as six has raised hackles among some parents.

But centres which hold such tests defend it as a way to screen prospective students and understand their abilities better.

Even so, observers TODAY spoke to said that these tests could add more pressure on parents and affect a child's confidence at an early stage.

An investment consultant, who is her mid-30s, questioned the motivation of enrichment centres that are solely focused on helping students who are already strong academically to do better.

When contacted, several enrichment centres, which hold entry tests, reiterated the need for the entry tests and pointed to the results they have achieved in helping children who have the aptitude for accelerated learning.

The Learning Lab, for instance, said that each year, 70 per cent of its students see their grades improve by 10 percentage points. It added that 297 of its students scored 260 and above in last year's Primary School Leaving Examination.

Apart from entry tests, the centre also conducts pre-enrolment interviews "to appraise the student's drive and desire to improve, and fit with our school's learning ethos".

Its spokesperson Ling Cheah told TODAY: "We want to ensure that when we admit a student, we can indeed add value, we can indeed help him improve on his personal best."

Mountbatten Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, dismissed the practice of having entry tests as '"marketing gimmicks".

Said Mr Lim: "Some centres obviously just want bragging rights. If top students come in, they obviously would be good to begin with. Such practices drive up the pressure unnecessarily."

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Intan Mokhtar, who also lectures at the National Institute of Education (NIE), added that these enrichment centres play on parents' fears that their children would lose out if they are not stretched from a young age.

She said: "I guess with the current state where there's a lot of competition to enter university, parents take extra precaution - if the child is good, he can be even better."

Noting the psychological impact on children who fail the entry tests, she added: "It would instil in the child a sense of belief that everything boils down to (getting) the 'A's, when learning really isn't just about that.""

A sickening development. And disappointing responses from the 2 MPs quoted!

Lessons for me are:

1. the 2 MPs should also be, if they did not, offering RADICAL suggestions like:
1.1 NO tuition center is ALLOWED legally IF Singapore claimed to have a World Class Educational System!;

1.2 enrichment programs, if any, SHOULD be run by the Ministry of Education for those WHO fall through the World Class Education System gap!!;

2. the 2 MPs, especially both seemed qualified to comment AUTHORITATIVELY, should be saying:
2.1 these are not 'marketing gimmicks' but unhealthy development that should be STOPPED at all cost!!;

2.2 the 'fear of NOT being stretched at the young age' is a ridiculous and irrational excuse to be offered by the parents. The parents MUST be educated and made to NEVER use this excuse again!! Ok. I am overreacting here. So be it!!;

3. this thriving S$ billion dollar industry REALLY need to be looked at with all SERIOUSNESS by the government and the Ministry of Education. All these will add, willingly or otherwise, to the parents who have to or 'frithened into' or 'peer pressured into' sending their kids to such MONEY MAKING enrichment tuition centers and adding to ONE more COST of 'raising kids' in Singapore. One of the MAJOR ROOT CAUSES of WHY Singapore government is decrying the 'lack of babies in Singapore'!!

So, to all those in position of power and authority in the Educational arena. RAISE your standard of teaching in the World Class Educational System in schools. STOP the money making enrichment tuition industry and help Singapore parents to have more babies and NOT worry about one more heavy cost - and emotional trauma for kids and parents!!