Grade 5 Boy Falls to Death after Failing Exams for the First Time

[Lisafuller]

My daughter has gone to local schools all her life, and has never been bullied. That may have something to do with her personality, or the fact that the schools were pretty prestigious so the children were better behaved and more well socialized. She doesn’t pass as Singaporean in terms of looks or accent, but having been here for so long, she has picked up local slang and phrases, and gets along with her peers wonderfully. She was lucky, it’s a pity many others were not so lucky.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Your daughter sounds like my daughter who went to CHIJ Toa Payoh from Primary 1 thru A's. She definitely doesn't look Singaporean but does look Mediterranean or Spanish and has brown hair and a kopi susu+ complexion. She speaks perfect English, perfect singlish and reasonably good Mandarin and understands most Tamil but doesn't speak it. She never had a problem with bullying either. She turned 37 today.

[Sensei Michael]

I used to teach in a local government school (and still occasionally do, as an adjunct teacher) and I am not going to say there are no bullying happening in government schools. After all, I have personally been in involved in handling some of these cases, as the Head of Pastoral Care in the school.

That said, however, I have been comparing notes to my American and Australian teacher friends, and it would appear that cases of bullying (and the school administration's inability or unwillingness to deal with them) are more rampant than that in Singapore schools.

[Lisafuller]

Your daughter sounds like my daughter who went to CHIJ Toa Payoh from Primary 1 thru A's. She definitely doesn't look Singaporean but does look Mediterranean or Spanish and has brown hair and a kopi susu+ complexion. She speaks perfect English, perfect singlish and reasonably good Mandarin and understands most Tamil but doesn't speak it. She never had a problem with bullying either. She turned 37 today.

My daughters went to RGPS, RGS, and is now in her last year at RI. Other than the color of her eyes (jet black), she looks completely caucasian- light brown hair and very light skin. Like your daughter, she speaks perfect english, pretty good singlish (although she doesn’t speak it much since the kids in her school tend to speak proper english), and near perfect Mandarin. I think it helped that she stayed in local schools for her entire education, there was not much of a “culture shock” in that sense and being so young helped her to assimilate quite quickly.

[malcontent]

My daughter is in Sec 4 at a SAP school, IP program. She is one of maybe 2 students who are not pure Chinese. She has almost no life outside of school and homework... even on weekends. The fortunate thing is she takes to it well and even wants more. I keep telling her, whatever grades she gets it won’t make a big difference, as she is bound for the US after JC.

[Sensei Michael]

The fortunate thing is she takes to it well and even wants more. I keep telling her, whatever grades she gets it won’t make a big difference, as she is bound for the US after JC.

The Singapore educational system is very suited to very competitive and very focused children. The rest tend to suffer somewhat, but I'd like to say that the system also prepares the children very well to do their part as good worker bees for the buzzing economy.

[Lisafuller]

My daughter is in Sec 4 at a SAP school, IP program. She is one of maybe 2 students who are not pure Chinese. She has almost no life outside of school and homework... even on weekends. The fortunate thing is she takes to it well and even wants more. I keep telling her, whatever grades she gets it won’t make a big difference, as she is bound for the US after JC.

I’m guessing NYGH? Good for her, the system is truly cutthroat but I’m glad she is able to handle it.