Disappointed with School System today

[Darryn]

My sprog is in Primary 5, for the first time so far - last night I was truly disappointed in the school system.

 

By and large, I find the schools are doing a pretty decent job - so far the education has been going pretty well, I haven't always agreed with what they teach. But hey, I don't need to - they have been doing it rather well.

 

Last night, chatting with the kid - it is the first time I have been seriously upset at what they are doing.

 

Just had the "Chinese Composition" exam for first semester, and we were chit chatting about what she wrote.

 

Apparently they were given picture prompts - about a boy bullying his grandma, running into the road and almost getting run over.

 

Well ok, putting aside the rather ham fisted and heavy handed moralising - we talked about what she said next...

 

I suggested a story line of...

Seeing the boy in danger, Superman came flying out of the sky, and stopped the car just in time, lifting it up to protect the boy. But then, when he found out what had happened, he said "Nah - you don't deserve to be rescued" where upon he dropped the car onto the boy, turning him into ketchup.

 

Crotch spawn informed me that if she wrote that, she would be marked down for "going out of context" - WTF?????

 

Out of context?

 

No wonder the kids are so boring - they have to tell a predictable and "moral" story -

In my day, we were encouraged to try and shock / surprise the teacher.

Not write stories to some freaking boring formula!!!

 

Blardy hell - how to move forward like that?

 

 

 

[Jman888]

seriously??

 

i think fairy tale is dead long ago

 

just to add, we do need these 'moral' story as kids nowadays play GTA a lot and start shooting people in school.

[Vid]

Superman? Seriously?

[Nolicense]

this is very serious stuff people.. need to report to police... or is it the moral police?

 

this is where creativity dies and conformity begins... LOL

[Darryn]

seriously??

 

i think fairy tale is dead long ago

Nah...

Fairy tale is fun ---

 

What works better to get a chick's pants off..

 

"Hey, I'm horny - wanna fark?"

 

or

 

"You are beautiful, and by joining our souls in this special, transcendental experience, we will bring our spirits closer together, strengthening our relationship and uniting or futures for a long, happy and prosperous future"

 

or of course there's always the old standby...

 

"You are so beautiful that you've engaged my sexuality - you have moved and motivated my libido no other woman in the world has been able to, the problem is that if the build up of pressure is not regulated, according to a study by Johns Hopkins, the stress can move towards the brain stem, corrupting cognitive function and blocking the ability to think with clarity. In fact - the study found that if the stress is not released 58% of suffers engage in dangerous actities"

 

or you could try

 

"A study by the University of Michigan found that people we engaged in sex on the eve of an exam performed 11.29% better. They are putting the result down to a combination of the release of endorphins, and also the better blood flow to the brain that sex enables"

 

If you are always writing the literal truth - how to engage your imagination to come up with later alternates like this?

this is very serious stuff people.. need to report to police... or is it the moral police?

 

this is where creativity dies and conformity begins... LOL

eh -

No joke, "creativity" is just like any muscle - it must be used to be improved, it gets better with exercise

Superman? Seriously?

If you prefer, we could say...

 

Wonder woman - who fell for his ravishing good looks, carried him back to her lair, whereupon he found out that Wonderwoman was actually Madonna who set about ravishing him while singing - "I touched a virgin, for the very first time"

[Nolicense]

 

eh -

No joke, "creativity" is just like any muscle - it must be used to be improved, it gets better with exercise

seriously.. last time I went out of context I got a slap on the head and a pinch on the ear that smarted like it was on fire..

 

and by the way that only happens in mandarin class.

 

and if the English teacher is a PRC, you can expect the same thing.

 

it seems its a cultural thing.

[Jman888]

but then why are you doing her homework? suggesting idea/story that is not in even within her imagination?

 

unless she has been reading stories and come out with wild and funny idea, then you can call it creative and let her submit to her teacher. My boy read different type of story books and he put them in his compo which i will just laugh it off but i never stop him for the nonsense and not realistic.

[Maxus-MIFA9]

Chill brother ..

 

It is to test the child imaginery power and also about safety to oneself & respect. What should be done with regard to safety and how a child to respect adults be it old or young....

 

[Sosaria]

Yes, the story cannot be something totally out of context. I guess the student is not allowed to spin new story directions by introducing new main characters, etc.

 

What I worry more is that sometimes these picture storylines involve things which are not common in singapore and thus unknown to primary level kids.

 

I've seen one where it shows a tied-up sack floating in a big drain, and people pointing at it, then two guys jump into the water to retrieve the sack, etc.

 

Dead body/murder victim in the sack? How to expect our local primary level kids to write about this stuff?

[Civic6228]

I think you are in the wrong country .... with the wrong education system.

 

It will get worse .....

 

 

Perhaps you should start looking for alternatives

[Darryn]

seriously.. last time I went out of context I got a slap on the head and a pinch on the ear that smarted like it was on fire..

 

and by the way that only happens in mandarin class.

 

and if the English teacher is a PRC, you can expect the same thing.

 

it seems its a cultural thing.

I dunno - I was rather disappointed to hear it...

 

WHY they do it is rather understandable (to stop people memorising good stories and just regurgitating during exam)

But it makes me profoundly sad -

 

All I remember during such classes 30 years ago, is that we were encouraged to be as creative as possible - not to stick to some sort of stupid moralisitic formula

but then why are you doing her homework? suggesting idea/story that is not in even within her imagination?

 

unless she has been reading stories and come out with wild and funny idea, then you can call it creative and let her submit to her teacher. My boy read different type of story books and he put them in his compo which i will just laugh it off but i never stop him for the nonsense and not realistic.

 

Not homework - walking home after tuition she was telling me about the story she wrote for the exam...

for here - the car stopped just in time and he learnt his lesson...

 

I said how boring why not do something unexpected like......

Yes, the story cannot be something totally out of context. I guess the student is not allowed to spin new story directions by introducing new main characters, etc.

 

What I worry more is that sometimes these picture storylines involve things which are not common in singapore and thus unknown to primary level kids.

 

I've seen one where it shows a tied-up sack floating in a big drain, and people pointing at it, then two guys jump into the water to retrieve the sack, etc.

 

Dead body/murder victim in the sack? How to expect our local primary level kids to write about this stuff?

Kittens drowning in the sack is the common one ...

 

But that you could also have fun...

 

Make them superpower kittens from the planet Mordor that went on a rampage and ate all the carrots

Chill brother ..

 

It is to test the child imaginery power and also about safety to oneself & respect. What should be done with regard to safety and how a child to respect adults be it old or young....

 

Said like a grandfather .....

[Ingenius]

but then why are you doing her homework? suggesting idea/story that is not in even within her imagination?

 

unless she has been reading stories and come out with wild and funny idea, then you can call it creative and let her submit to her teacher. My boy read different type of story books and he put them in his compo which i will just laugh it off but i never stop him for the nonsense and not realistic.

My children's homework are my home working also... in the sense weI do together. hee.

 

Ok, I think in this case, TS's kid ,as a child will not want to write a story out of the context for fear that teacher will mark it as wrong. This is just natural for a kid, they rather conform. As for the teacher, maybe she just want to keep it simple to drive home the moral of the story.

[Joseph22]

My sprog is in Primary 5, for the first time so far - last night I was truly disappointed in the school system.

 

By and large, I find the schools are doing a pretty decent job - so far the education has been going pretty well, I haven't always agreed with what they teach. But hey, I don't need to - they have been doing it rather well.

 

Last night, chatting with the kid - it is the first time I have been seriously upset at what they are doing.

 

Just had the "Chinese Composition" exam for first semester, and we were chit chatting about what she wrote.

 

Apparently they were given picture prompts - about a boy bullying his grandma, running into the road and almost getting run over.

 

Well ok, putting aside the rather ham fisted and heavy handed moralising - we talked about what she said next...

 

I suggested a story line of...

Seeing the boy in danger, Superman came flying out of the sky, and stopped the car just in time, lifting it up to protect the boy. But then, when he found out what had happened, he said "Nah - you don't deserve to be rescued" where upon he dropped the car onto the boy, turning him into ketchup.

 

Crotch spawn informed me that if she wrote that, she would be marked down for "going out of context" - WTF?????

 

Out of context?

 

No wonder the kids are so boring - they have to tell a predictable and "moral" story -

In my day, we were encouraged to try and shock / surprise the teacher.

Not write stories to some freaking boring formula!!!

 

Blardy hell - how to move forward like that?

 

 

 

Huh?? Now then u know?? I was been mark down because I wrote simon Belmont into my composition.

[Ingenius]

Side track a bit, I a bit disappointed with school system also. Some things they teach and kid don't understand, and we have to teach ourselves again. And other things they don't teach, and expect the kid to know\learn from us. Homework often we have to do together. Tiring man.

[Jman888]

My children's homework are my home working also... in the sense weI do together. hee.

 

Ok, I think in this case, TS's kid ,as a child will not want to write a story out of the context for fear that teacher will mark it as wrong. This is just natural for a kid, they rather conform. As for the teacher, maybe she just want to keep it simple to drive home the moral of the story.

 

 

i just wonder if the father is not conforming, why the daughter is so?

 

parents can encourage their kids to read more and so-call proof read if they dun want the kid to be out of line (not context). In TS case, the violent part is out of line if my opinion.

[Joseph22]

Side track a bit, I a bit disappointed with school system also. Some things they teach and kid don't understand, and we have to teach ourselves again. And other things they don't teach, and expect the kid to know\learn from us. Homework often we have to do together. Tiring man.

 

Which school??

 

 

i just wonder if the father is not conforming, why the daughter is so?

 

parents can encourage to read more and so-call proof read if they dun want the kid to be out of line (not context). In TS case, the violent part is out of line if my opinion.

Actually if u read ts. He want his daughter to write something that is supernatural.

 

But I don't think if u write supernatural stuff on gce"o" level the marker in UK going to give u good points too.

[Darryn]

 

 

i just wonder if the father is not conforming, why the daughter is so?

 

parents can encourage their kids to read more and so-call proof read if they dun want the kid to be out of line (not context). In TS case, the violent part is out of line if my opinion.

Dotter worried about marks...

I not so scared

 

As to violence -

You don't know any 11 year old boys?

When I was that way the story wasn't finished until 13,492 people had been killed in various different gruesome ways...

[Ender]

Don't think any school in world would encourage sick plot with a car slamming into the boy and he turned ketchup. This type of dark creativity maybe in later part of her life, but not when they are young..