Daily Lessons from Life 20 March 2012 - Some register once they get child's birth cert

"Some register once they get child's birth cert - The New Paper Mar 20 2012

For some parents, success starts in the womb.

Speaking about her advanced planning, she explains that she believes children's formative years are crucial.

"At this age, they absorb beyond what you think they can. My son Werner came back one day and told me the sun is a star," she says with a note of surprise in her voice.

Housewife Daphne Chia, in her 30s, thought she was "well-prepared" when she tried to register her 11/2-year-old son, Aaron, at St. James' Church Kindergarten (Leedon campus) in 2009.

What she didn't expect was that the 11/2-year lead time was not enough to secure a spot in the popular kindergarten.

"They told me there were more than 100 people on the waiting list, and I realised that people go to the school once they have the child's birth certificate to register,"she says with a wry laugh."

Well, it got to happen doesn't it? Soon they will be institutionalizing teaching while the kids are still in the womb!

Lessons for me are:

1. what are really the 'advantages' the parents are trying to gain for their kids by registering them into so-called elite pre-schools?;

2. if the elite pre-schools are so good and really effective, perhaps they should be absorbed by the Ministry of Education and make a national standard since we are going to be competiting against the world as our government keeps telling us instead of just one Singaporean vs. another Singaporean?;

3. will the less well off be able to afford to send their kids to such elite pre-schools so that their offsprings will forge a better future then their owns - a dream that all well meaning parents wish for their kids? Probably not. So, these folks will simply just have to bear with a lower quality of life! Well, probably not as there are always mutational exceptions in nature. Those without these hothousing or presitigious pre-schooling will find a way to break out from the cycle of poverty.

Is it healthy? Probably not. What is the measurement of success of all these? Good grade or a better human being?