Parents -- Are you willing to change your mentality?

I have sent in this article to The Straits Times Forum. AND GUESS WHAT? My article is posted on ST Forum online!!!!! This is the link: http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_555407.html

Here it is, with the comments:

Post:

Why Primary 1 exams are necessary

I AGREE with Mr Wee Hien Seng's letter last Saturday ("PSLE - the unfactored

elephant in the room...").

When I was a Primary 1 pupil, we had year-end exams and I was probably not

alone in experiencing the stress of having to go for tuition for a variety of

subjects such as maths, English and Chinese.

Although the Government plans to incorporate new forms of assessments like

"show and tell" and drama, these will not change parents' tuition mindset.

The Primary School Leaving Examination will still ensure that parents remain

exam-minded.

Exams are necessary to gauge a pupil's ability and grasp of knowledge for

that year. Primary 1 is an important foundation year, and it is necessary to

get a gauge of pupils' understanding of the basics before they progress to

Primary 2.

Parents, are you willing to change your exam mentality?

Ong Sean

Latest comments

For parents to be less kiasu, the government must rename all secondary schools to "Raffles Institution" and "Raffles Girls School". Posted by: munny123 at Tue Jul 20 15:39:04 SGT 2010 Yep let primary schools be play schools, Let the children learn thru play and interaction and bulid up more EQ skills. Posted by: orangemonster at Tue Jul 20 09:43:20 SGT 2010 Sean yes remove the exams and mindsets will change. Posted by: ganeshsharmak at Tue Jul 20 08:29:07 SGT 2010 In California, students in public school sit for the California standardized testing in spring every year. I am always amused when I hear many kiasu Asian parents have their kids prepare and study for these tests. Doesn't that defeats the purpose of testing? Posted by: carol_y_wong at Tue Jul 20 06:41:53 SGT 2010 My apology...it should be what was "taught", not "thought" for the school year. Posted by: carol_y_wong at Tue Jul 20 06:41:06 SGT 2010

____________________________________________________________________

This is the original email that I intended to send.

I refer to “PSLE – the unfactored elephant in the room…” on The Straits Times forum on the 17th of July, 2010.

While I welcome the Government’s decision to remove the Primary 1 exams entirely, and in place, “show and tell”, I strongly believe that this would not be effective.

Even though it would be welcomed by most of the parents and students, that it would be refreshing start to a student in Primary 1, I believe that it would not be helpful in the long run.

As a Secondary 2 student studying in a premier school in the Bukit Timah area, I have gone through and experienced fully what life in primary 1 is. At that time, it was just the start of nightmares. Many parents would also agree.

We had end of the year exams, and I believe that many like me had tuition all day round. Be it Mathematics, English, or Chinese, we all had the same amount of stress.

However, now the government would like to replace the exams with “show and tell”. In Primary 1, many of us just knew how to write the word “me” in Chinese, and easy vocabulary in English. I believe that most Primary 2 students would not even know how to present their ideas in primary 2 effectively, let alone a primary 1 student.

Secondly, although the government would like to incorporate into them a skill for presentation, I believe that their parents still would not be able to change their mindset of being stressed out and having tuitions. Although eye contact, confidence and oration skills are important, PSLE deters the parents from not being too exam-minded.

Being a “kiasu” society is the entire core of the issue.

Even if exams were removed, the students would still need to take the PSLE exams. As quoted from “PSLE – the unfactored elephant in the room…”, it is said that “They can learn about the measurements by baking a cake, but it will not help them in the PSLE”.

Now, teachers, parents and students are already born with the mentality of being afraid to lose out, and being competitive, would it be effective to just remove the Primary 1 exams? Why not remove the entire system of exams, all the way from Primary 1 to Junior College 2, removing the end of year exams and major exams like PSLE, O-Level and A-Level? Why is the government not doing so? That is because it is not feasible and because exams are needed to be able to gauge the students’ ability for that year. Therefore, why even remove the Primary 1 exams, and still include the Primary 2 exams?

In Primary 1, that is an important year for all students. It is their first year of officially being a student. They need to understand the basics that will be taught in Primary 1 to progress and improve, in order to be able to enter Primary 2. However, by removing the Primary 1 exams, wouldn’t that be equivalent to killing the students’ understanding to the basics?

In Primary 1, the basics are important. If exams are removed, their ability as to understanding the Primary 1 basics would not be essential. They would just think that “Oh, there is no exams, therefore, I need not understand the basics” and continuously, if this goes on, they would not even be able to understand Primary 2 work, let alone Primary 3 and onwards.

Although I totally agree with what Mrs Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, that "These proposed changes seek to develop our children to be confident persons, self-directed learners and caring citizens, while equipping them with enduring knowledge and values and the necessary 21st century skills and dispositions”, I do not think that it should be implemented in Primary 1.

Parents’ mentality would not be easily changed, just like how stress can’t be easily removed. Stress can only be temporarily put away, and it will constantly come back. If the government would implement this idea of a heavier emphasis on “show and tell” and on other “bite-sized assessments’, it should have been implemented as soon as possible and it should start earlier, probably even K1 or K2.

I believe that although this idea is well thought-out and that it is a constructive idea that can be implemented, Primary 1 would be too late a time.

Parents, are you willing to change your mentality for your children’s future?