Education getting softer in Singapore and the GEP

[Wind30]

I just saw my daughter sec 2 report card and I find our education system getting quite ridiculous.

When I was in sec 2, my report card comes with the average, highest and even lowest score so you know where you stand. 

As you can see, different subjects has very different mean score. A score of 62 in literature is average but pretty bad for geography as exams are all different. I am surprised they even give the lowest score, just to rub it in on the poor kid I guess.

When my daughter was in sec 1 last year, the school only gave out the median score which is ok I guess. Although it is nice to have the highest for something to aim, I am ok with just the median so I know how my daughter is doing.

This year, they even removed the median score. how am I supposed to  know how my daughter is doing in her exams? 

I really think this "grades are useless" thing has gone waaaay too far. My son just completed Pri1 and 2 and I totally have no idea how he is doing in school because there is no exams.My daughter just finished sec2 and she have a bunch of grades but no median score so I have totally no idea how good/bad she is doing....

Are all schools like that? removing the median score so nobody has any benchmark?

 

[Ody_2004]

I thought they doing away the "competitiveness" for the better of our future generation?

Now they keep promoting kids/child/whoever got a future even without a good/proper paper. I personally believe so.. just need to find one value and worth..

whatever result my kids show me i always said "Good"..

Edited January 7, 2023 by Ody_2004

[Mkl22]

Why so hard up on grades. In the end uptron “university” can be paid higher than Harvard. 🤣

[Wind30]

1 minute ago, Ody_2004 said:

I thought they doing away the "competitiveness" for the better of our future generation?

Now they keep promoting kids/child/whoever got a future even without a good/proper paper. I personally believe so.. just need to find one value and worth..

 

... in the real word, unless you are in civil service or Ministry of Education, competition is REAL. When I design a chip, my boss ask me to benchmark not against the average, not even against the best in the industry but I have to beat the best in the industry by some margin.... because when the chip comes out, the best is no longer competitive.

I am all for changing the forms of grading and keeping up with the times. In fact my daughter grades are only dependent on exams in a small percentage. there is a lot of weightage on project, daily work, etc, etc. 

At the end of the day, there is still a ranking, best, average, worst. by hiding the ranking, I think you will just make everyone mediocre....

[Mkl22]

3 minutes ago, Wind30 said:

... in the real word, unless you are in civil service or Ministry of Education, competition is REAL. When I design a chip, my boss ask me to benchmark not against the average, not even against the best in the industry but I have to beat the best in the industry by some margin.... because when the chip comes out, the best is no longer competitive.

I am all for changing the forms of grading and keeping up with the times. In fact my daughter grades are only dependent on exams in a small percentage. there is a lot of weightage on project, daily work, etc, etc. 

At the end of the day, there is still a ranking, best, average, worst. by hiding the ranking, I think you will just make everyone mediocre....

But even if you design what you deem is the best chip there is. Can sell and make lots of money or not? In the end, that’s the goal of the company. 
you are just using one yardstick of grades to measure. Whereas others are using various. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Mkl22

[Wind30]

7 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

But even if you design what you deem is the best chip there is. Can sell and make lots of money or not? In the end, that’s the goal of the company. 
you are just using one yardstick of grades to measure. Whereas others are using various. 

My point is I don't care what yardstick you use, use 10 different yardsticks then. At the end of the day, I want to know how my daughter is performing relative to her peers on those yardsticks.

The state in her school now is, there are yardsticks but nobody tells you how well you are doing.... 

PS: if you beat the competition, of course will make money lah. you think company invest millions of dollars to design chip for charity?

Edited January 7, 2023 by Wind30

[inlinesix]

30 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

But even if you design what you deem is the best chip there is. Can sell and make lots of money or not? In the end, that’s the goal of the company. 
you are just using one yardstick of grades to measure. Whereas others are using various. 

Best chip in the world is from Apple.

They sell loads of it with high profit margins.

[macrosszero]

It takes one genius student and one dunce to skew the highest and the lowest score. Students don’t get nicely spread out on these two ends of the scale and median also only tells you so much. Then you are comparing to her class, her year, to the schools in the zone and all the schools in Singapore? 

 

[mersaylee]

9 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

Best chip in the world is from Apple.

They sell loads of it with high profit margins.

I thot it was Lay's...up by a dollah from 3+ to almost 5...when ah wong said 7 going 8...😁

[inlinesix]

2 minutes ago, mersaylee said:

I thot it was Lay's...up by a dollah from 3+ to almost 5...when ah wong said 7 going 8...😁

1 iPhone more than $1k with 50% GP margins.

 

[Ender]

Glad I don't discuss children education anymore. 

[Soya]

1 hour ago, Ody_2004 said:

whatever result my kids show me i always said "Good"..

Coz under the east coast plan for east coast, together, singapore, east coast plan every skool is a goot skool mah....

 

[Throttle2]

1 hour ago, Wind30 said:

I just saw my daughter sec 2 report card and I find our education system getting quite ridiculous.

When I was in sec 2, my report card comes with the average, highest and even lowest score so you know where you stand. 

As you can see, different subjects has very different mean score. A score of 62 in literature is average but pretty bad for geography as exams are all different. I am surprised they even give the lowest score, just to rub it in on the poor kid I guess.

When my daughter was in sec 1 last year, the school only gave out the median score which is ok I guess. Although it is nice to have the highest for something to aim, I am ok with just the median so I know how my daughter is doing.

This year, they even removed the median score. how am I supposed to  know how my daughter is doing in her exams? 

I really think this "grades are useless" thing has gone waaaay too far. My son just completed Pri1 and 2 and I totally have no idea how he is doing in school because there is no exams.My daughter just finished sec2 and she have a bunch of grades but no median score so I have totally no idea how good/bad she is doing....

Are all schools like that? removing the median score so nobody has any benchmark?

 

 

i know you are scholar, but dont always compare grades lah.   Not as if your kids are failing or doing that badly. 
everything also must compete meh?  Wah kao!

[Volvobrick]

I heard cases very good students also could not take it when their scores not top or below their own expectations and did the ultimate stupid thing. 

So better not stress our kids too much. Except for the ministars, top management not always were top students. It's a long marathon ahead for them. 

[Wind30]

14 minutes ago, Throttle2 said:

 

i know you are scholar, but dont always compare grades lah.   Not as if your kids are failing or doing that badly. 
everything also must compete meh?  Wah kao!

I am actually not scholar. I work private sector all my life. 
Not everything must compete but I actually think we have skewed too far in the other direction. 
What is wrong with just giving a median grade? Just to know which subjects she is doing ok and which subjects she need to improve. I thought that is literally the most basic form of feedback.

kind of curious, then how u tell if the kid is doing ok in school? Every grade is a good grade? Grade not important? Then why even have grades if they are meaningless? Like primary 1 and 2, no exams Lor … every student is a good student. No need exams until jc2.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Wind30

[Lala81]

For pri school, there is just no final exam. But you should still have your regular term WA after p2. 

And at least for my girl last year, the teacher will announce the top few results in the class for the test/exam. 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Lala81

[macrosszero]

I know a guy who needs to know how much other people are earning, how many months bonus they got, where they’re living, how many properties they have, what cars they’re driving, just to compare how well they are doing……it’s truly tiring to be around him. 

[Wind30]

3 minutes ago, Lala81 said:

For pri school, there is just no final exam. But you should still have your regular term WA after p2. 

And at least for my girl last year, the teacher will announce the top few results in the class for the test/exam. 

 

 

P3 then have exams right. My boy just finished p2. Never had any exams.