Any expats with kids in Local Govt funded Primary Schools

[road.not.taken]

Would it be super tough (if near impossible) for high school students from overseas to join the local schools? I have been told don't even think about it as the curriculum is far more intense.

Ermmm....
Well. I left high school not too long. Maybe 2-3 years ago.
Life in high school here is isn't that bad. But one thing about peers I faced was being influence. Maybe I was easily influence. - I don't know.

For academic, it was not too bad. I choose Science cause I am not good at art at all. And my parents told me so.. But it's stressful in a way that my teachers expect me to get A's straight - which I did get it after much pushing and drilling. At first, I thought they did it so that they will get a promotion or something like that. But after much thinking and knowing them. I understand that they did this, is because they know I can do it.

But from my point of view is that different people has different ways in handling "intense". I handle it with a form of respect.
As a youth, I would rather have my own pick between international or local. Cause' I know what's best for me. Hope this helps...

Queenie-me,

It's nice to hear from someone who recently graduated. Is it safe to assume that perhaps writing skills were not emphasized at your high school either?*



*Asked with the understanding that this forum is not exactly a gold standard of spelling and grammar

[durain]

Queenie-me,

It's nice to hear from someone who recently graduated. Is it safe to assume that perhaps writing skills were not emphasized at your high school either?*



*Asked with the understanding that this forum is not exactly a gold standard of spelling and grammar

got

[sundaymorningstaple]

Ouch, my writing is so bad one would think I've never set foot in a school especially my using 'you' for 'your' in almost every post. So for a Science Stream Graduate, I can forgive her easily. It's damned sure easier to read than sms'ese!

[queenie-me]

Ouch, my writing is so bad one would think I've never set foot in a school especially my using 'you' for 'your' in almost every post. So for a Science Stream Graduate, I can forgive her easily. It's damned sure easier to read than sms'ese!

Sorry for the bad English.
It was 4.05am in the morning that I had it posted.

[sprite]

Ouch, my writing is so bad one would think I've never set foot in a school especially my using 'you' for 'your' in almost every post. So for a Science Stream Graduate, I can forgive her easily. It's damned sure easier to read than sms'ese!

Sorry for the bad English.
It was 4.05am in the morning that I had it posted.

Understandable I guess, but with all this talk about the academic rigor of local schools, one has to wonder.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I have the same problem. When I'm typing my mind is racing ahead of my typing speed. I think at the same rate but I only type around half the speed that I could when I was in my 20's. I still can do around 45 wpm but lose it all going back to clean up my transposed or dropped letters.

[katebaby]

I think spirit was refering to the gramatical errors, which is common if your base language isnt english.
Eg "Sorry for the bad English. It was 4.05am in the morning that I had it posted."
probabbly would read better if it went like this
"Sorry for the bad English. It was 4.05am in the morning that I had posted it.
But this is caused by the influence of Singlish, and the diverse cultures and languages that exist, the common denominator a simplified english/singlish.
I went back to NZ for a year after 4 yrs in Singapore and i was always being corrected because i put words back to frount, but up here you have to for people to understand you, its either spend all day correcting people or get on with it to get the job done.
Anyway when my collegues come up here to do business they are like fish out of water.
And the old saying is still true "When in Rome, do like the Romans do"

[sprite]

I think spirit was refering to the gramatical errors, which is common if your base language isnt english.
Eg "Sorry for the bad English. It was 4.05am in the morning that I had it posted."
probabbly would read better if it went like this
"Sorry for the bad English. It was 4.05am in the morning that I had posted it.
But this is caused by the influence of Singlish, and the diverse cultures and languages that exist, the common denominator a simplified english/singlish.
I went back to NZ for a year after 4 yrs in Singapore and i was always being corrected because i put words back to frount, but up here you have to for people to understand you, its either spend all day correcting people or get on with it to get the job done.
Anyway when my collegues come up here to do business they are like fish out of water.
And the old saying is still true "When in Rome, do like the Romans do"

Kate, you may be trying to help but all evidence is to the contrary. If this is what local schools are producing, I hope you all think about this decision and how it will play out in the long run.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I would put my daughter's English up against virtually anybody currently on this forum With the exception of WIMH maybe who like my daughter can effortlessly switch back and forth depending on whom they are talking to. It has nothing to do with what the school is teaching. It has everything to do with the peers that your child hangs around during those years in school and after school. It also has to do with what the child hears at home where they spend 2/3s of their time (only 1/3d in school). A child's education begins and ends at home. If they spend their lives hearing & using Singlish and sms'ese when writing without hearing proper English spoken daily, the bad habits will alway creep into the speech. As katebaby wrote, even the best of us unknowingly pick up some of the bad habits and when we go home - wham! Reality strikes. Outside of the school classroom is where the bad Ingrish is learned. And when your family uses the same bad Ingrish ....... when you lay down with dogs you are bound to get fleas.

[sprite]

I'm sure your daughter's English is fine SMS, and she has the added bonus of being fluent in another language. I think you keep making this a personal issue though. Just because local schools worked out well for your family, doesn't mean it would work out for all or even the majority of expatriates. In my experience, she is very much the exception -- not based on general success or life skills, but something measurable like proficiency in English. How many expatriate parents have you spoken with who have pulled their children out of Singapore schools and put them in an International School? Trust me, there are a lot out there.

It would be fine to graduate from a local school fluent in Singlish if one wanted to stay here, but Singlish has no pace in the big, wide world. Also, for a truly international experience, you can't compare a local school with the diverse student and faculty profiles of an international school. I believe it gives them a broader base as world citizens.

If you set the issue of cost aside for a moment and not consider it as a deciding factor, would that change your perspective? It's a shame the expat package is shrinking or disappearing to the point where people moving in have to make these hard decisions. I suppose temporarily we can balance out the positives in favor of some (temporary) negatives. But I think it's wrong, and it's only my opinion, to say local schools are better, full stop. I believe this more adequately describes the situation: the International Schools are too expensive and they are full and we don't like them anyway, so our children will be fine in this local school.

I agree that education begins and ends in the home, but school should not contradict what is being engendered in the home -- there should be a symbiosis there, a dove-tailing. I wouldn't want to spend my time unraveling what was being taught in school, formal education should make my job as a parent easier not harder.

In the end, it's a personal choice: forged by opportunity, belief systems, geography, money -- a whole host of factors. What is appropriate for one child may not be for another -- what works for one family may not work for another. There is no one 'right' answer. The good news is that there are options and an open discussion in a forum such as this can only bring about more informed decisions.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'm sure your daughter's English is fine SMS, and she has the added bonus of being fluent in another language. I think you keep making this a personal issue though. Just because local schools worked out well for your family, doesn't mean it would work out for all or even the majority of expatriates. In my experience, she is very much the exception -- not based on general success or life skills, but something measurable like proficiency in English. Then we should use measurable proficiency in Maths & Science then as well and use the three core subjects as an aggregrate score. Correct? How many expatriate parents have you spoken with who have pulled their children out of Singapore schools and put them in an International School? Trust me, there are a lot out there.

Why were they pulled out? Probably because the kids could not assimilate, were ignored by the locals due to superiority complexes, or perhaps couldn't stand the competition......

It would be fine to graduate from a local school fluent in Singlish if one wanted to stay here, but Singlish has no pace in the big, wide world. Also, for a truly international experience, you can't compare a local school with the diverse student and faculty profiles of an international school. I believe it gives them a broader base as world citizens.

They don't graduate fluent in Singlish from the school. The "O", "A" levels here are graded by the UK until just recently and may well still be. Just think, if the kids don't speak singlish here because of not mixing with the asian population, then they will probably speak American Rap or British Rhyming slang which today is just about as bad isn't it.

sprite, I'm not fighting you, I'm just trying to get you to see that there is other very viable alternatives than just an international school. In the old days most just sent their kids to boarding school in their home country which didn't do much good either. An international school is not the be-all and end-all and the sooner one realizes that the better off they will be. If a parent doesn't stay involved in a kids growing up years, who knows, they might end up like the most famous students from the Singapore located International Schools. One was from Hong Kong and the other from the US. You remember them right? Shiu Chi Ho alias Andy Shiu and Michael Fay. Had absolutely nothing to do with local schooling at all. Aberration? Sure it is. But should we diss the entire international school system because of it? Of course not. Do all local school graduates speak Singlish? Of course not. Can they? Yep, just like most international school students can & do speak Black Rap from MTV.

If you set the issue of cost aside for a moment and not consider it as a deciding factor, would that change your perspective? It's a shame the expat package is shrinking or disappearing to the point where people moving in have to make these hard decisions. I suppose temporarily we can balance out the positives in favor of some (temporary) negatives. But I think it's wrong, and it's only my opinion, to say local schools are better, full stop. I believe this more adequately describes the situation: the international schools are too expensive and they are full and we don't like them anyway, so our children will be fine in this local school.

Why should I change my perspective? On what? I've never said the International Schools aren't any good. I am saying that the local system is a viable alternative, as long as a parent stay involved with their kids. And contrary to your statement, more and more are putting their's into the local system, these I know about. To say it's only because of expat packages shrinking does a disservice to the parents of those children as well doesn't it. You are somehow inferring that these people don't care about their children and also assume (like you accuse me) that your way is the only correct way.

I agree that education begins and ends in the home, but school should not contradict what is being engendered in the home -- there should be a symbiosis there, a dove-tailing. I wouldn't want to spend my time unraveling what was being taught in school, formal education should make my job as a parent easier not harder.

The schools don't contradict, and this is where you whole attack falls apart. What is being taught is correct. It's who the children spend their free time with that is the problem - their peers. I am not quite sure why you always go back to trying to blame the schools when it has absolutely nothing at all to do with the school curriculum. Did the international schools teach your kids how to speak rap or rhyming slang? Or do you speak rhyming slang at home? See what I mean?

In the end, it's a personal choice: forged by opportunity, belief systems, geography, money -- a whole host of factors. What is appropriate for one child may not be for another -- what works for one family may not work for another. There is no one 'right' answer. The good news is that there are options and an open discussion in a forum such as this can only bring about more informed decisions.

In the end, your last paragraph is the only paragraph that makes valid sense to me and I find myself in 100% perfect agreement.

[sprite]

SMS, why do you describe my post as an 'attack'? I'm not attacking anyone. You keep assigning a level of antagonism to my posts which is simply not there. When you write things like this:

Why were they pulled out? Probably because the kids could not assimilate, were ignored by the locals due to superiority complexes, or perhaps couldn't stand the competition......

...it is clear to me this a topic of discussion too personal for you to check your animosity at the door. Your blind spot is so big, or maybe it's just a huge chip on your shoulder, but you don't seem to notice that I never said local schools aren't viable alternative -- just that there are those of us who may feel otherwise. That doesn't mean we 'refuse to assimilate' or that we have 'superiority complexes' -- just that we have different expectations of our child's education. Your snarky remarks aren't helpful. When newcomers ask a question, they deserve a range of opinions, do they not?

[jaw]

hi, I am just itching to say something. I do agree with some points SMS made regarding this :
It has nothing to do with what the school is teaching. It has everything to do with the peers that your child hangs around during those years in school and after school. It also has to do with what the child hears at home where they spend 2/3s of their time (only 1/3d in school). A child's education begins and ends at home. If they spend their lives hearing & using Singlish and sms'ese when writing without hearing proper English spoken daily, the bad habits will alway creep into the speech

Many locals do not speak good english not because of the school curriculum, it's because of the people they hang around during and after school. You will notice the big difference between most neighbourhood schools (not all) and the more established ones. Why? Because most families who sent their kids to neighbourhood schools don't speak English at home, they usually speak their Mother Tongue (dialect, malay, Tamil). Needless to say, the people they mixed with are likewise. If you compare the elite schools (whatever the definition), their parents are usually more educated and rich and thus the people they mixed with are very different. More established schools are somewhat in between.

[road.not.taken]

I think it might have something to do with the school's teaching, the schools are there to educate, are they not? Mostly what I'm itching to say is -- SMS stop making everyone who sends their kids to an International School (myself included!) sound like an elitist snob and sprite -- understand that the more you argue, the less people are likely to listen!

[katebaby]

So after all of this has been said and done, I'm not on a full expat package so schooling will come from my pocket, my 15mth girl will need some form of education, is the East coast one OK?...I mean i heard its teaching methods are based more on a International Schools style of teaching and curiculum, is this true?
If so whats the name of the school and location...for me it maybe the most viable option. Unfortunately i have to many local friends with kids the same age as my two (Living in NZ (9 and 10)) they appear smart but really have no life skills when i compare them and for me this is more important long term. So i'm interested in another option if available.