Re: What type of education system is this ?

On Mar 23, 8:14 am, baldeagle <botakea...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Incidental observations are not the rule.

I know....I don't assume things.
I know...there are hundreds of "play-school classes"
in every HDB towns and HDB neighbourhood.
I know... there are thousands of private tuitors in HDB
who earn their living giving tuition to young kids (in
kindergarten and primary schools).

Just take a trip down to an HDB town, say in Toa Payoh
or Bedok, you will see numerous "school" for 2 years
old on the located on the ground floors  of HDB flats.

Sure. And there are groups of Singaporeans who cannot avail
themselves of this. The person I described is one. There are
others- enough that they form an underclass in Singapore society. I
don't want to talk about demographics too much, because its a
sensitive subject in Singapore. But as an example, look at the
demographics in Singaporean universities. If they were a reflection
of Singaporean demographics, about 1 in every 5 or 1 in every 6 (you
have to count the foreigners) students should belong to a particular
demographic group. I've maybe had 10 of these students after 5 years
of teaching- several hundred students have been in my classroom. Of
this tiny demographic, about half have been foreign scholars, not
locals.

To forestall the bigots- most of the ones I have had have been very
bright, capable, and hardworking. One of them successfully led a
project I ran with a difficult client (my students build software for
companies for free- I get no payment). Some of them have been holding
down exhausting night jobs while going to school. I believe they're
being denied places, because they don't have the opportunity, and the
problem begins in primary school. Tuition requires money. People who
are poor, with a parent too ill to work (e.g., neuromuscular disease),
etc. can't afford to send their kids to tuition classes. Tuition is a
necessity to compete- as you point out, there are a gazillion tuition
centers out there. Obviously, there's a demand. But, there are
people who can't afford tuition, no matter how much they may want it.

So, what should the government do about it? A knee-jerk policy would
be to provide these kids with free or low-cost tuition. But, hold on,
there already is low-cost tuition- it's called public school. All
these kids are already going through public school, but they're not
making it through to tertiary education. My conclusion is the public
education system is systematically disenfranchising these kids.
Again, blame the parents of the kids who have tuition all you want.
That won't save the kids who don't have tuition.

Cecil Chua
.

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  • Re: What type of education system is this ?
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    (soc.culture.singapore)
  • Re: Best School Systems
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  • Re: What type of education system is this ?
    ...  Not all families in Singapore send their children to ... tuition. ... in every HDB towns and HDB neighbourhood. ... you will see numerous "school" for 2 years ...
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