Parents, relax!

If you followed the 2021 PSLE thread, by now, particularly about the maths paper, you will either be goggly-eyed, or screaming for the blood of the examiners.

How dare they set such incomprehensible questions for our dearest, innocent kids who are only out for a walk in the park?

This year’s latest controversy is about the coins debacle, which I will not repeat here as it has been beaten to death and aptly answered by proficient tuition center professionals.  You may look at the thread to see it for yourself 🙂

The only thing I want to note here is how this always replays itself after the math paper.  There is always some outrage that parents have over what seems to them impossible to solve based on their own experiences.

The fact is, things have changed since we last did our PSLE.  We have even demanded and expected some of these changes ourselves.  Some parents argue that the kids have been exposed to the new changes in their schools, and they have been taught to handle the new problems.  If they have not, does it mean the school is bad?  Perhaps there is a rouge teacher somewhere.  It’s possible, but it is also possible that the teacher didn’t do it because they already tried, but their students just couldn’t learn it in time.  It’s hard to absorb!

Whatever it is, the point is, with the PSLE, there is a need to distinguish the can from the cannot.  Those who do well in the PSLE goes off to schools which focuses on their strengths, while those who can’t will have to go to schools which can highlight their other, perhaps, non academic strengths.  If we see things this way, I think we will find that Singapore has provided us with lots of opportunities to excel; and not just in a math problem.