KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

There has been much talk about "All schools are good schools". Like all parents with dragon babies, I have spent much time attending open houses of various schools. I picked 3 sec schools. The branded, the average neighbourhood school and the in between these two.

The Branded
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Almost full force from the school was a there at the Open House, even the PSG was out there, preparing and offering drinks and snacks. Full uniform groups, clubs and societies, sports. There were 2 trial classes going on. Teachers were everywhere. A student was the tour guide to walk around the school with each parent. We were shown to every corner of the school with the main rooms open for viewing. I was staring hard at an art piece and one teacher came and talked to me about it. There was a baby grand at the atrium, I asked my guide about the piano and he told me it was donated by a parent. There were 3 sessions of talk given by a senior staff. Very impressive

The average, neighbourhood school
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It was very quiet. One teacher was at the entrance to give a pamphlet, a souvenir and two sec 2 prefects were our guide. The PSG chairman was the only one present. No ECA groups, not even one (I double confirmed if the Open House was that day, I was given a resounding YES!). We walked around the school with nothing to see only closed and empty rooms. Obviously, there were no efforts put in, to have this event.

The in-between
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No ECA groups as they already have an Open House on a separate date. This was a meet the principal session. There was a talk by the principal. A good team of HODs was present to take all questions. There were just two many parents, instead of 1 session, it became 2 sessions and parents who were present for session 1 were ushered to a separate room for Q & A. I cannot say that it was impressive cos' it wasn't really an Open House but I see a committed team of teachers in that school.

.....with that experience, I questioned myself if indeed all schools are good schools? How do you define good?

Interesting read here on the same topic http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/11/h ... do-it.html

kamom wrote:There has been much talk about "All schools are good schools". Like all parents with dragon babies, I have spent much time attending open houses of various schools. I picked 3 sec schools. The branded, the average neighbourhood school and the in between these two.

The Branded
--------------
Almost full force from the school was a there at the Open House, even the PSG was out there, preparing and offering drinks and snacks. Full uniform groups, clubs and societies, sports. There were 2 trial classes going on. Teachers were everywhere. A student was the tour guide to walk around the school with each parent. We were shown to every corner of the school with the main rooms open for viewing. I was staring hard at an art piece and one teacher came and talked to me about it. There was a baby grand at the atrium, I asked my guide about the piano and he told me it was donated by a parent. There were 3 sessions of talk given by a senior staff. Very impressive

The average, neighbourhood school
----------------------------------------
It was very quiet. One teacher was at the entrance to give a pamphlet, a souvenir and two sec 2 prefects were our guide. The PSG chairman was the only one present. No ECA groups, not even one (I double confirmed if the Open House was that day, I was given a resounding YES!). We walked around the school with nothing to see only closed and empty rooms. Obviously, there were no efforts put in, to have this event.

The in-between
-----------------
No ECA groups as they already have an Open House on a separate date. This was a meet the principal session. There was a talk by the principal. A good team of HODs was present to take all questions. There were just two many parents, instead of 1 session, it became 2 sessions and parents who were present for session 1 were ushered to a separate room for Q & A. I cannot say that it was impressive cos' it wasn't really an Open House but I see a committed team of teachers in that school.

.....with that experience, I questioned myself if indeed all schools are good schools? How do you define good?

Interesting read here on the same topic http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/11/h ... do-it.html

The fastest way of finding out if all schools are good schools is asking the politicians to put their children in schools with low COP, even if they are eligible for top schools. If a sizeable number of them do it, then it is true. But I would not bet on this happening.

I define good school as one that matches my child's ability and is able to help her build confidence, progress steadily and improve. A good school is one that is the best fit for my child.

Top brand schools are good schools too. But if I place my average child into this top school, and my child's confidence begins to dip (for whatever reason, peer pressure, academic, etc.), and suffer a decline in performance, gets demotivated, then sorry to say, this is not a good school for my child.

BlueBells wrote:I define good school as one that matches my child's ability and is able to help her build confidence, progress steadily and improve. A good school is one that is the best fit for my child.

Top brand schools are good schools too. But if I place my average child into this top school, and my child's confidence begins to dip (for whatever reason, peer pressure, academic, etc.), and suffer a decline in performance, gets demotivated, then sorry to say, this is not a good school for my child.

Students attending brand name schools must be disciplined, independent and keen learners.

BlueBells wrote:I define good school as one that matches my child's ability and is able to help her build confidence, progress steadily and improve. A good school is one that is the best fit for my child.

Top brand schools are good schools too. But if I place my average child into this top school, and my child's confidence begins to dip (for whatever reason, peer pressure, academic, etc.), and suffer a decline in performance, gets demotivated, then sorry to say, this is not a good school for my child.

Yes, agree with you. So base on this, all schools must be good schools so that regardless on the ability of the child, he must be able to bloom in whatever school that he is sent to. Be it, branded, average or in-between. But in reality, is this the case

The current "reality" is what parents moulded it to be. It is a struggle for parents to want to put a child in the generally perceived good school, versus a good school that matches the child's learning abilities. I fall in and out of the dilemma pool every now and then.

For example, my DD1 just completed PSLE and scored average. I am a little disappointed, but accepted it because she wasn't really into her revision during the exam period and I see that her results are fair relative to the efforts she put it. Do I appeal to put her into a school which I think is her full potential environment, or one that is suitable to her learning characteristics? After much deliberation, we chose the later because it is her style to take it easy for exams and if I do choose the former, I would probably suffer from hypertension in due time.

Children are like young plants. Nurture them in the correct conditions and they will bloom healthily.

Children are like young plants. Nurture them in the correct conditions and they will bloom healthily.
--Agree--

Oh .. to add on. People do not largely agree on many things, including a good government, good service levels, good bosss / subordinates, even what makes a good scholar deserving of scholarships.

In essense, the definition of "good" is very subjective. If this is the case, then why are most parents receptive of the idea, and somewhat agreeing, that only top brand schools are good schools? This, I really cannot comprehend.

Again, like what one poster above said, it depends on what your definition of "good" is. Good is subjective. I view character development a very important aspect in my teen's life and how much value a school can deliver.

One thing I noticed about more established schools (is more established = branded?) is that their CCAs, uniformed groups have well-planned activies and milestones to achieve (for the next 4-6 years). The same goes for their character development & other self-development/enrichment courses.

As for academics, it's mostly luck - at the lowest rung, it really depends on the teacher who is assigned to your child's class, but (because the teachers change from year to year so) the school's directive and goals are equally important. There are schools that are better run and are able to deliver more value academically and/or holistically than others. This type of information, you will need to ask around (apart from visiting the school).

I attended the Open House of a reasonably good school - COP 23x. Asked a basic question which is likely not part of the script where the students had been prepared for and the child fumbled over it.

In the real life, there are bosses who believe that EQ matters more than IQ and part of education should also involves teaching interpersonal skills and thinking on the feet.