Your kid must have tuition... OR ELSE...

[jedamum]

That really sound scary. I grew up wth tution since P3 but seems things have gotten much worst.

Wonder if this kind of system kills the child's joy for learning?

3
most kids in the past grew up without tuition...guess cos there is not much competition last time and the syllabus doesn't not involve as much 'out-of-the-box' questions as now. plus, most household in the past are single income where there is the mum at home with the cane to ensure that the kid does his work.

but seems that nowadays, tuition takes on a different meaning...it is no longer for those who struggle to pass, but rather for those who wanna improve from band2 to band1.

[tianzhu]

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/ ... 47475.html
June 14, 2008

A tutor's take on Tuition Syndrome

I AM a full-time tutor with both private students and students at education centres. I have more than 2,600 hours of teaching more than 100 students from both neighbourhood schools and elite institutions like Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Junior College, and almost 3,000 hours of training school students in my previous vocation. I am currently teaching the full range of English language syllabus such as PSLE, N, O and A levels.
Although I was never a Ministry of Education (MOE) teacher, I have numerous MOE-teacher friends, and I am currently a postgraduate student at the National Institute of Education (NIE) with MOE-teacher classmates who always share their views. I even relief-taught in an MOE school before.
These combined experiences, I believe, qualify me to make the remarks below.
Tuition Syndrome exists because of the fault of both school (and teachers) and students. Teachers typically spend about 10 hours a day in school, of which only an average of three are spent teaching in the classroom. We all know what happens to the other seven hours. Question: How much teaching can actually go on in that three hours, after deducting time taken for students to settle down, take attendance and so on?
My tuition students always complain they do not understand what their teachers are talking about in class. Many also complain that hardly anything is taught in class. I am no longer surprised to teach my students certain important skills they should have learnt in school, but which they have not heard of before. I do know these skills are taught to teachers in NIE's Postgraduate Diploma in Education which all MOE teachers have to take (since I'm in NIE myself right now) so it's anyone's guess why these skills are not transferred to students in school.
For example, skills needed in General Paper can be taught in less than 10 hours, but my JC2 students are total strangers to them, even after more than a year in JC1.
It makes no sense for students to spend so much time in school without learning much, and then after school have to spend so many hours and much money in tuition learning what they should have learnt in school.
On the other hand, students bear some responsibility too.
Without fail, whether at PSLE or A level, neighbourhood school or elite school, students tend to sit on their rears and wait for the teacher to spoon-feed them. Despite repeated reminders, they do not do their homework, do not do their own research, do not ask questions, basically, do not take responsibility for their own learning.
Is it any surprise that, at the end of term, they have not learnt anything? And these are not stupid children. They can easily tear apart the latest gizmo, while I'm still trying to figure out where the 'on' button is.
The other day, an article came out on the differences between foreign and local students. I can attest, sadly, that foreign students do indeed have a much better learning attitude than local ones.
Further, policies like Teach Less, Learn More are a farce. My MOE-teacher friends complain openly they have no idea what it is supposed to mean and what they are supposed to do. Left to their own devices, students end up not doing anything, waiting for the teacher to spoon-feed them. There is only one teacher I have come across who claims he taught nothing, yet his students learnt everything on their own. He is from Raffles Institution. And the success stories we read in the papers are the minority, not the majority, if my teacher friends are to be believed.
Tuition Syndrome exists because we have a system where teachers are not teaching as much as they should, burdened as they are by non-teaching responsibilities, as well as students who have not been taught how to learn and who have this attitude of waiting for the teacher to do everything for them. We need to deal with these two issues if we want to solve this 'disease' that is unique to our society. However, why should I complain? After all, this is precisely why I can make my living.
Yeo Eng Buan

[tianzhu]

A forum reader asked,
Is our educational curriculum so cumbersome that the lessons cannot be adequately taught within the six to eight hours of each school day?
Or are our teachers so incompetent that, at the end of each day, half the children leave their schools totally clueless about the lessons taught earlier in classes?

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/ ... 48249.html
June 16, 2008
Private tuition: Is this the face of primary education?
WHAT does it say about the state of our education system when private tuition services blossom into a multimillion-dollar industry?
Is our educational curriculum so cumbersome that the lessons cannot be adequately taught within the six to eight hours of each school day?
Or are our teachers so incompetent that, at the end of each day, half the children leave their schools totally clueless about the lessons taught earlier in classes?
A friend was flabbergasted recently to discover a group of K2 students struggling over mathematical concepts that used to be taught in Primary 4.
Why should we rob our children of their childhood and burden them with a curriculum which is ridiculously beyond their age-appropriate mental capabilities? Are we unfairly setting them up for failure?
How then can we reasonably expect our children to develop a love for the subjects they learn?
I remember my own primary school days when I had time to play 'hide-and-seek' after school and spend hours doodling cartoons. Not a minute was spent on tuition. It did not stop me from topping my PSLE cohort, getting into a top secondary school, scoring straight As and winning a scholarship to study overseas.
The curriculum could be easily understood and thus adequately mastered within the allotted time. Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case, particularly at the level of primary education.
Two years ago, I was a volunteer manning a crisis hotline when I answered a distress call at 9.30pm. The caller was a nine-year-old girl. She was calling on behalf of her classmate who was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, having had to complete one worksheet after another. It was a classic case of kiasu parents who had unwittingly become victims of an overzealous education system. The number of workbooks they bought for their nine-year-old? Forty-two.
Is this then the face of Singapore's primary education? Is it any wonder that some families have migrated elsewhere while some others have resorted to home schooling?
How creative and resilient will be our workforce when they are bred on a diet of worksheets?
Children should be able to spend more time outside the classroom where life - itself a great teacher - can provide an even more enriching education.
If this calls for an overhaul of our primary education curriculum, so be it. After all, sticking our heads in the sand and pretending everything is fine has never been the Singaporean way.
Yusri Ithnin

[tianzhu]

A reader lamented that S'pore education system works - with tuition

[http://www.straitstimes.com/print/ST+Fo ... 81887.html
Nov 30, 2007
S'pore education system works - with tuition
THE Minister of State for Defence, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, praised the Singapore education system in his article, 'Singapore's education system works' (ST, Nov 24). There are two issues which need clarification.
Prof Koo commented that 'without the GEP, many outstanding students from working-class families in neighbourhood schools would not have been able to move to the good schools'. Is he implying that neighbourhood schools which do not offer the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) are not good schools? That all GEP schools are good schools?
The annual Primary 1 registration is already stressful for both parents and schools. Some parents, eager to put their children in 'good' schools, clocked up numerous hours in volunteer work, only to find that they did not have the luck of the draw. Then there are parents whose children had already secured places in such schools. Fearing that their little ones might not be able to cope with the demands of the school, or to give their kids a leg up, they enrolled them in enrichment programmes and, thence on, it is tuition all the way till the PSLE.
Implying that neighbourhood schools are inferior to GEP schools is being very unfair to non-GEP schools and their teachers. Moreover, this puts additional pressure on some parents to get their children into GEP schools.
Prof Koo concluded his article by pronouncing that the Singapore education system is one that works. I do not refute this, but there is a missing addendum - with tuition.
It is a well-known fact that a large proportion of our students, from pre-primary all the way to pre-university, have tuition.
Some children are so reliant on tuition that even though they score above-average grades, they would insist on continuing with tuition the following year, for 'security' reasons.
Students in schools with the integrated programme (IP) are supposedly the cream of the crop, yet there are many who have tuition. A few centres have been called 'IP tuition centres' because of their large number of IP students.
When a child says that he does not have tuition, but his parents coach him using assessment books, that is tuition in a sense.
So, Singapore's education system does work - with tuition.
Ng Kim Yong (Mrs)

[nicsmom]

phantom,

actually during meet the parents sessions, my boy's teachers asked on a few occasions if i have engaged tutors for him. personally, i feel that somehow the sch teachers are not really teaching enough at school. my boy often tells me that his tutor taught him more things than the school teachers. I must say, tuition is a must. Getting the right tutor is very impt. I am glad that I have one who works closely with me. My child has met a fair share of good and bad teachers at school. His chinese teacher ever scolded him in class and asked him, 'what is your tutor doing with you, how come u dont even know how to write this word!' after hearing this incident, I was fuming mad.

[lurline]

after reading this, i am stressed, so any good tuition teacher to recommend me....primary level.

[SoWoW]

Hi, by reading and hearing what all the mummies got to say about tuitions and enrichment. Cant help but feel stressed. And will also start to wonder whether to send the kids for tuitions and enrichment. If my kids can afford the time and i can afford the money, i really dont mind to send them to a good tuition or enrichment centre.

[puspa]

Hi,

May I know which level your child is studying and what are the subjects that you are looking for?
I know this tutor who taught my son. I find her good. He improved quite a lot.

You can email me the details at puspagopal@gmail.com

[gajidouma]

I was so stressed out after reading all these. Previously I was pretty much against the idea of sending kids for tuition... but now I am not that sure.

Can't imagine my little one also has to join this kind of rat race so early as P1 which is in 2 years' time.

Can any parent who didn't send their children for tuition but still managed to pull through quite well please share some of your success story here too?

Last year the top PSLE student from St. Hildas didn't go for tuition as I read from newspaper... if it is ture, that shall give me some comfort...

[nicsmom]

PM me for my child's tutor's details
i heard she is starting to take in students for next year to replace those taking psle this year
(for both group tuition or private tuition)