13 March 2015

Singaporean students are among the most hardworking in the world, according to a survey conducted on a sample of the country’s 15-year-olds by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Our kids clock 9.4 hours of homework a week, as compared to students in Shanghai, who spend 13.8 hours a week on homework, and those in Russia, who spend 9.7 hours. The global average was about five hours’ worth of homework each week.

Are our students spending too much time on homework? To be sure, a certain amount of time is needed for students to gain enough practice in order to reinforce their understanding of concepts and train them at applying the concepts to exam-style questions and novel problems.

But at what point does homework become excessive, possibly with diminishing returns? At what point do students feel so stressed and bogged down by homework that it becomes self-defeating, and hinders rather than helps learning? These are questions that must be asked.

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There are too many studies, new study finds

The Independent
11 March 2015

Science is drowning in studies, and it took a study to expose it.

In a paper entitled ‘Attention decay in science’, professors from universities in Finland and California conclude that “the exponential growth in the number of scientific papers makes it increasingly difficult for researchers to keep track of all the publications relevant to their work.

“Consequently,” they say, “the attention that can be devoted to individual papers, measured by their citation counts, is bound to decay rapidly.”

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06 March 2015

On the 6th of March, the issue of private tuition was raised by several Members of Parliament (MPs), as the Committee of Supply debate for the Ministry of Education (MOE) began. MPs once again voiced concerns that Singaporean kids were relying too much on private tuition.

Mounbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan raised concerns of tuition becoming a “crutch” for students, making them “lose the skill of self-directed learning”.

Ms Denise Phua (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) noted the pervasiveness of the tuition industry, where even polytechnic students go for such extra classes. She said: “Many Singaporeans hold dear the mental model that for a good life, you will need good academic results to get into good schools so that you can get into a good university which is the passport to a good job, good salary, good spouse, hopefully good children and the cycle repeats.”

I would like to respond here to both these points. Firstly, I strongly believe in private tuition where the student has genuine difficulty understanding the concepts taught in school. Sometimes, it is hard for a student to understand the subject matter completely in a classroom environment, especially in schools that have large class sizes. A private tutor, or a one-to-one home tutor, may necessary in such cases to guide the student through the more difficult concepts and reinforce his or her understanding of the material.

In such cases, students are not using tuition as a “crutch” as MP Lim Biow Chuan has suggested. They are using tuition as a means of enhancing their own understanding and keeping up with the rest of the class. Far from “losing the skill of self-directed learning”, it is in fact the job of the private tutor to motivate the student and provide encouragement so that the student can eventually become an independent learner.

I understand that many people are becoming concerned that parents are exhibiting “kiasuism” and are urging their children to go for tuition to avoid “losing out” to others. In some cases, that is indeed true. Tuition should not be merely for its own sake. There should be a genuine need and a desire to improve oneself. Tuition should not cause extra stress and burden to the student. Instead, a good tutor should be able to ease a student’s burden by clarifying doubts and de-mystifying concepts so that the student has better confidence tackling his or her school work.

I believe many parents and students are able to differentiate between what constitutes genuine needs and what constitutes mere “kiasuism”.

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(Material obtained from CNA, 07 March 2015)

In his response to concerns raised by Members of Parliament (MPs) that parents were too obsessed with tuition, Education Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat said that Singapore needs to make the transformation from a “scarcity mentality” that focuses on a single pathway to success to an “abundance mentality” with multiple pathways.

“If we think there is one pathway to success, whether it’s school or at work … (we’ll) do everything we can to get on that pathway,” Mr Heng said. “For as long as there is only one path to success, the pressure will manifest itself as some point.”

On the other hand, having an “abundance mentality” will allow for an inventive, resourceful mindset to think about new ways of doing things and creating new pathways to success, said Mr Heng.

While changes in the economy have created jobs requiring specific skills and multiplied pathways, our thinking about education and pathways have not kept up with these changes, he added.

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02 March 2015

Posting on Facebook as well, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat praised students for their “tenacity” in balancing their school work and extra-curricular activities. This was what he wrote:

My best wishes to all students who received your GCE A-Level exam results today. Juggling schoolwork with other interests in and outside of school is not easy, but many of you displayed tenacity and did your best. Whether the results are better or worse than what you have been expecting, do remember that this is one stage of your lifelong learning – keep learning!

I am pleased to read how our students are helping one another – like Tuan Ding Wei from Innova Junior College who volunteered to help his friends in Mathematics, or Muhammad Azfar B Thaha from Pioneer Junior College who shared his understanding of the more difficult concepts with his friends.

This spirit of helping one another to do well is commendable. Take a moment to thank those who have helped you come this far, be they your friends, teachers or parents. All the best for your next stage of learning!

06 Feb 2015

I applaud the latest move by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to release full past-year PSLE papers. This means that P6 students will be able review the actual questions set in the PSLE exams in the context a complete examination paper. This will definitely help them better prepare for their PSLE as it will assist students in examination time management.

Currently, past year PSLE questions are published but categorised according to topics for maths and science, and item types for English and mother tongue languages.

Publishing exam papers in full “will allow parents to have a clearer picture of the overall expectation of the PSLE”, Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) chief executive Tan Lay Choo said on Friday.

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Taken from The Online Citizen, dated 03 January 2015

Not all households in the bottom 20% income group are eligible for MOE’s financial assistance plan for needy Singaporeans.

The Ministry of Education recently shared a financial assistance plan which needy Singaporean students could apply for if they are studying in government and government-aided schools. The eligibility criteria for the financial assistance plan is:

• Gross household income of not more than $2,500; or
• Household per capita income of $625

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September 2014

Maris Stella High School released a very nice teachers’ day video this year. It is a fun and hilarious video featuring cheesy Hong Kong movie opening credits as well as Stephen Chow Kung Fu fighting.

But what I really like about this video is that it ends with a very meaningful and thought-provoking message.

The teacher (played by Ms Tao Yi Jun) provides a famous quote by legendary martial arts actor Bruce Lee: “A teacher is never a giver of truth, but pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself.”

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