General Advice

[poodlek]

Right .... I should have used the word 'superior'

So then .... why adopt Singapore education system if US' 'confirmed to be inferior'?

Again, you've answered your own question.

American educated, izzit?

[sundaymorningstaple]

I rest my case.

[sweetgazebo]

No-lah! the heat got the better of me when I typed that out yesterday

Right .... I should have used the word 'superior'

American educated, izzit?

[ecureilx]

ecureilx, I believe your example belong to the category: "people take many things as an obvious part of their life without giving them any deeper thought" while my category is "Even if you are a great architect you are still expected to know that some buildings are built from bricks". I am afraid you are also very wrong about the education but I will rest my case here.

ah, the brick .. is that what is called as "need to know" or "no need to know" ??

One of the things I learnt in Singapore is, when a product specialist presents, don't ask too many questions, or they may feel offended .. and follow the standard "do email the questions" ..

While, for me, when I present I don't want to present without knowing what I am talking of ..

Maybe that it the 'working' style here ??

[mummy mantras]

It's getting much better. The reason was a pragmatic one, initially. And it was found to have some long term flaws which are being corrected. When the country was young (as an independent nation) they needed to change the population from a bunch of coolies & night soil collectors to ones capable of working in factories, working in research, working as technicians, chemists, biologists, etc., etc, etc. This let to the "streaming" that fast tracked those who showed a strength in one field or another. Unfortunately, in the early days, there wasn't much need, for social sciences or history or geography or any of the non-hard disciplines. Therefore these were bypassed. This led to people who were knowledgeable about their field (within certain parameters - they still weren't told how to think outside the box) but who couldn't carry on a conversation outside of their field. e.g., they didn't get a "well-rounded" education. Same thing with the universities here. There was no such thing as a "Liberal Arts" degree. If it wasn't useful to the physical building of the country it was dispensed with as they didn't have the resources to cater for "learning for learnings sake". They have had to build the educational system from scratch and frankly, yeah, they made some grave mistakes early on but their international scholastic Olympiad results are something to be proud of considering the system is less than 50 years old. One much give credit where credit is due.....

I agree. I used to be a schoolteacher in Singapore (before I embraced the joys of motherhood! ) and in the six-and-a-half years that I taught at a very ordinary 'neighbourhood school', I never ceased to be amazed by my students or the education system here.

It's true that the education system in Singapore had (and still has) its flaws, but contrary to popular perception, I found the Ministry of Education officials whom I met to be willing to acknowledge their flaws (especially with a fellow educator) and eager to try to improve things.

Over the years, I saw the curriculum load lessen, and more time given to project work and individual exploration. I saw a wide variety of new education tracks opening up (including the Integrated Programme system), and a number of new specialised schools making their appearance (like SOTA). I saw fellow teachers, who were teaching at the Primary level going for re-training as MOE phased out examinations for all Primary One and Two pupils to give them the time and space to 'learn how to learn' and enjoy learning.

It wasn't always an easy shift. But I knew why they were doing what they were doing: the education system in Singapore had been created with an eye towards nation-building and growth, but MOE knew that technical knowledge could only get a nation so far and it was time for the next phase of development.

Admittedly, it will probably be another 10 to 20 years before we start to see any significant difference. But when I was teacher, I'm proud to say that I saw my students become more thoughtful, questioning individuals (far more than their parents were anyway!) with more room to grow. And I am very happy for them.

[mummy mantras]

Years ago, when I was temporarily putting up with a local family, the owner of the house used to put all vegetables immediately in to the fridge even to the extent of stuffing the fridge till it was jam packed..

When I asked her to keep the fruits I bought outside, she was like it is WRONG .. TOTALLY WRONG ..

I asked her why not and she went "well, veg and fruits comes in fridge / cool boxes, and must be kept there .. " and when I asked her back what difference will a few hours outside the fridge will have to carrots and fruits, considering they grow 'under the sun' .. she was in a 'thinking' mode .. and she went like "oh, I never thought so .. " and then "so you think it is not really necessary to put fruits in the fridge ?"

Well, she, as a single mother, then was heading a private company, and .. graduated with top scores from them UM (Universiti Malaysia) .. but never thought to figure out simple things.

This sounds like my (Singaporean) mother-in-law. She's totally convinced that rice can only be cooked in a rice cooker, and used to berate me for cooking rice in 'alternative' ways (e.g. paella-style in a pan). One day, I simply got sick of all her nagging and said, "Well, if rice can only be cooked in a rice cooker, then how did ancient Chinese cook rice, before the electric rice cooker was invented?" This quite promptly shut her up!

I've met lots of people in Singapore who simply don't think before they do things. Their reasoning is 'since that's the way it has always been done, then that's the way it must be done'. Sigh...

But that being said, I have also met many Singaporeans who are intelligent and thoughtful and well-read. My husband is among them.

[nutnut]

If your degree opens up opportunities for you in Singapore then great, you haven't mentioned the relevant experience you have with this degree, what kind of job would it get you? Then look at contacting those types of companies in Singapore, if they offer then great, try and aim for a $5K a month+ salary to live with relative comfort.

The cost of living with a bath and a pool in any area is pretty high, $3.5K a month will probably get you a 2 br condo out of the main city, but I'd suggest that you try and get your son into a school first before you rely on this. Just to mention, it's not just that you will have a school a long way from you, there may not be places for a year or 2 for your son, this is fairly typical, we applied for a local school for my kids when we got here a while back and it took 1.5 years until we got told they had a place. I assume you don't want your son out of school for 1.5 years?

[therat]

MOE is moving towards smaller class size and single session.
You will find the yearly school intake will reduce.

My child school during 2007 is 270 student intake, 2008 reduce to 240, 2009 reduce further to 210, 2010 reduce to 180 students.

Singapore primary school intake has few phases.
As for you, your son will be Phase 2C Supp.
This phase depend on whether the school has any balance lot.
Not up to you whether you want that school or not.

Basically is.. take it or leave it.

Oh! Since you think Singapore education is inferior. I don't think you will be consider Singapore school.
May be you should look into those International School that you feel they are superior. Just prepare for the long waiting list and BIG ticket.