We should not assume that all kids want to excel in their studies.

Kids who are smart are not necessarily hard working. Although intelligence is important, hard work is even more so. One who is not-so-smart, but very diligent may end up scoring much better than one who is smart, but not willing to put in extra effort. Not every one 'by default', aims to be a TOP. There are many who are very intelligent, but think that by virtue of their intelligence, they can afford to relax and still 'scrap through' with minimum effort.

Many GEP kids I know of, particularly the boys, are more concerned with having an enjoyable time in their learning journeys than scoring high marks. Route-learning and mugging bore them even though that seems to be the way to score in our current examination framework.

Do you agree children nowadays live in a pressure-cooker-like environment? At my child's CCA talk for parents, the head of CCA actually told us candidly that CCAs in that school are NOT FOR RECREATION! Indirectly, the school is sending out the message that we, as parents, should ensure that our kids are 'competition material'. Stressed....Stressed.....

A CCA in Sports, UG or PA is compulsory. However, the student has to go through selection tests to get into any of them.

I am very sad to learn that one of the Sec1 students in a top school had collapsed and passed away over the weekend while undergoing his private sports training. Who knows, he may be pushing himself to train hard for his CCA trial.

Just one or two months ago, it was reported in the Papers that a sec school boy also jumped to his death over disagreement with his parents/teacher regarding his CCA choice!