Where would you prefer to be in?
The PSLE results was out last Thursday and many parents are now racking their brains on the best choices for their children.
A friend asked for my opinion if a certain branded school is still as good as it was during our schooling times. Her niece's aggregate just met the cut-off point for the school.
Her take is that her niece should go for it, as it is an elite school with better facilities and programs and it would be a good exposure for her, and that she should be able to rise to the challenge. The child also indicated that she is ready to take up the challenge.
My suggestion is for her to be in a school where her aggregate is somewhere in the upper middle range, instead of the bottom. Even if the child is keen in taking challenges, she might not know what she would be in for. Of course my friend didn't agree with me and in some ways thought that I was belittling her niece... We had to stop the exchange as it was getting nowhere.
I see truth in her rationale, most parents and aunties would go for the best schools the child could get. My parents thought of it the same way too some time back. I was their guniea pig. Long long time ago, my PSLE score was also in the range of my friend's niece, at the bottom of the top 10% of the cohort. I was then enrolled in an elite school. Being at the bottom, or close to the bottom, it was indirectly and subconsciously drummed into me that I was not good enough for literally anything for the next 4 years. It was indeed a humbling experience that taught me much humility but also at the same time rubbed away much of my self-confidence during my teenage years. On retrospect as I went on to JC and uni and working and I met other people from other schools, I realised that I could have done more in my secondary school days.
Chances, opportunities and recognition that will be given to students of lower aggregate scores in other schools are not given to the rock bottoms in elite schools, who may have similar if not more potential.
There is a proven experiment that if students are reminded time and again that they are stupid or a failure, they will start acting like that, and vice versa. It may not be the teachers' fault entirely but the overall school tone is there. If the student is at the bottom class of the top school, it may be lost to the student that s/he is still among the top 10% of the entire national cohort. The competition is localised, and s/he feels worthless.
In fact at a point of time I was bitter about this fact, that I was a nobody in an elite school, but I could have been given more attention and opportunities if I were in other schools where competition was not that intense.
Of course one can then again argue that my fighting spirit wasn't there in the first place, chances do not just fall into one's laps and that I have just giving myself excuses for being a loser... Also with more emphasis on other forms of intelligences and less on academic studies, the situation may not be as bad as what I experienced and perceived when I was schooling.
Big hypothetical ifs that again, one can argue till the cows come home and not have anything conclusive as it also depended on the personality and character of individuals. But personally if I would have a child, I would put him or her in a school where her aggregate is somewhere in the upper middle range rather than the bottom or the top. (Unless s/he's t score is already at the top or bottom, then I don't have a choice.) With that the child will not be that badly battered into having low self-esteem, neither would s/he think that s/he is the best around and become arrogant. S/he would be in a position to be sufficiently challenged to improve and get him/her recoginsed and feel good about achieveing something in his/her secondary school life.
So where would you prefer to be in (or prefer your child/ward) if your score is at the boundary? Be it the bottom of the top 10%, or the boundary between express and normal?
A friend asked for my opinion if a certain branded school is still as good as it was during our schooling times. Her niece's aggregate just met the cut-off point for the school.
Her take is that her niece should go for it, as it is an elite school with better facilities and programs and it would be a good exposure for her, and that she should be able to rise to the challenge. The child also indicated that she is ready to take up the challenge.
My suggestion is for her to be in a school where her aggregate is somewhere in the upper middle range, instead of the bottom. Even if the child is keen in taking challenges, she might not know what she would be in for. Of course my friend didn't agree with me and in some ways thought that I was belittling her niece... We had to stop the exchange as it was getting nowhere.
I see truth in her rationale, most parents and aunties would go for the best schools the child could get. My parents thought of it the same way too some time back. I was their guniea pig. Long long time ago, my PSLE score was also in the range of my friend's niece, at the bottom of the top 10% of the cohort. I was then enrolled in an elite school. Being at the bottom, or close to the bottom, it was indirectly and subconsciously drummed into me that I was not good enough for literally anything for the next 4 years. It was indeed a humbling experience that taught me much humility but also at the same time rubbed away much of my self-confidence during my teenage years. On retrospect as I went on to JC and uni and working and I met other people from other schools, I realised that I could have done more in my secondary school days.
Chances, opportunities and recognition that will be given to students of lower aggregate scores in other schools are not given to the rock bottoms in elite schools, who may have similar if not more potential.
There is a proven experiment that if students are reminded time and again that they are stupid or a failure, they will start acting like that, and vice versa. It may not be the teachers' fault entirely but the overall school tone is there. If the student is at the bottom class of the top school, it may be lost to the student that s/he is still among the top 10% of the entire national cohort. The competition is localised, and s/he feels worthless.
In fact at a point of time I was bitter about this fact, that I was a nobody in an elite school, but I could have been given more attention and opportunities if I were in other schools where competition was not that intense.
Of course one can then again argue that my fighting spirit wasn't there in the first place, chances do not just fall into one's laps and that I have just giving myself excuses for being a loser... Also with more emphasis on other forms of intelligences and less on academic studies, the situation may not be as bad as what I experienced and perceived when I was schooling.
Big hypothetical ifs that again, one can argue till the cows come home and not have anything conclusive as it also depended on the personality and character of individuals. But personally if I would have a child, I would put him or her in a school where her aggregate is somewhere in the upper middle range rather than the bottom or the top. (Unless s/he's t score is already at the top or bottom, then I don't have a choice.) With that the child will not be that badly battered into having low self-esteem, neither would s/he think that s/he is the best around and become arrogant. S/he would be in a position to be sufficiently challenged to improve and get him/her recoginsed and feel good about achieveing something in his/her secondary school life.
So where would you prefer to be in (or prefer your child/ward) if your score is at the boundary? Be it the bottom of the top 10%, or the boundary between express and normal?
Yun struck at 1:07 AM
0 comments
Rainbow @ Loola
Lessons @ a mangrove clump
Much better ^^
New hobby, new pet.
Boom-net Boat
What a catch! Fresh sailors for sail, I mean, sale, I mean...
"Look mum! I can fly!"
Very cool guide. ^^ The local guides are amazing, highly adapted to jungle paths, mangrove swamps and the choppy seas.
