"But through unexplainable metamorphosis i managed to be really good in my English and prove to my teacher and friends that i'm not stupid." Streaming does push you to work hard but it's motivating you negatively. I bet even without streaming, you will still strive hard knowing that the other kids are doing better and knowing that you can't go on to secondary school if you fail your English, but the difference is that there is no resentment towards the Education System.

"I also don't like the fact that they made us have good results in order to take Biology even though i am interested in Biology!" I think what the policy makers are saying that, if you cannot deal with your other subjects, you cannot touch what is deemed a more difficult subject and in this case it's biology. You know how messed up that is? They don't even let you try! But what they have miscalculated is that, the student tend to excel in subjects they are interested in.

"We're even doing sourcing to find some experts to help us complete the project." HAha.. I am no stranger to this. I was hired to produce a Secondary School boy's project once. The Dad paid me good money. And the boy can showed off his "work" to his teachers. So teachers, not all works are done by the students, sometimes parents hire professionals to get the job done.

"I have an aunt's friend whose son is so smart that he was in Special then headed to JC and now to Uni but he can't work for nuts." I think the guy is a rare case because most of my friends who are grads are working right now. However, the thing I notice is these scholars heavy reliance on the government for jobs.

maybe i felt as such cause i am from those schools myself.. but truthfully, u sound as if u have a great dislike or vengence for people who managed to work their butts off and qualify into these schools.

to add on, seriously i think u are making generalisation on the conditions of the students in singapore at present.. i had been a relief teacher myself too and i think that the behaviour of the students actually depend on the school itself.. in some schools, even the normal tech or em3 students are well behaved whereas in others, the express and em1 n 2 can be considered as devils! i think it all depends on the principal and administration of the school..

another point i would like to make is that i agree with u on the situation of our students from the local universities.. i am currently an undergraduate from ntu and i agree with u on the fact that our students are not innovative.. in fact, from my own observations in school, i noticed that our NTU students are in fact book smart and not innovative.. not to worry though, the university is working towards entrepreneurship and innovations.. currently, there are new minor subjects in this field.. so i guess, insyaAllah in the near years to come, there are chances that singapore may have their own inventors..

Thats all for now..

in a manner that is beneficial. Because none can produce international companies like MYSpace or You tube and these founders were in their 20s when the started. (Actually brand names are not important, just create a company that produce jobs.) I have great hopes for our fellow Singaporeans and I do believe that we are capable of ANYTHING the Americans can do but the Education System is working against us, that is the point.

"seriously i think u are making generalisation on the conditions of the students in singapore at present.." This one hits like no other. I don't like shrugging a topic off by just using one word and in this case it's Generalisation. Governments make policies that affects the majority and not a small group of people. We HAVE to generalise- its not a bad word. Another word I can use is, I am "Profiling." Profiling is a word detectives use to catch serial killers. They use general assumptions like "The serial killer is high likely to be White Male in his 20s" because all other past crimes done indicated that. When I make the Enjet Semut Cartoon, I said "Soccer and guitar, it is in our blood." I'm malay and I don't know how to play soccer or the guitar but I just put that in because I know for a fact it's true. If you conduct a survey among the races, I bet the Malays will be the ones busy with the soccer and guitar playing. Chinese boys would be playing basketball. To deny that and shrugging it off as "generalisation" is simply denying the truth.

The school you taught is just an exception. My profiling gut feeling says, the Norm Techs are the hardest to teach, followed by the Normal stream and the easiest is Express stream. That would explain one teacher in my school taking 1 month MC because of stress teaching 3T1.

"not to worry though, the university is working towards entrepreneurship and innovations.." It does not work that way. As I mentioned in the articles, you gotta start young eg. Primary School kids selling Lemonade etc. You cannot drown the kids with text books for 12 years in a row and suddenly at University level, they became innovative. That plan is bound to failure. I remember an ad in the newspaper, advising parents to take their kids out to the park, to play instead of studying at home to combat myopia. To me that is a waste of ad space because you are giving out 2 signals. On one hand you say go out and play on the second hand you pressure the kids in school, jamming them with books. What the heck?

And I must add that the Government have the knack to work on things super late. The year is 2007, Globalisation has not even stretch its legs yet. Once it does, together with a stronger China, and nothing is done with our Education System or it's taking too bloody slow to make changes, be prepared for lower wages and working round the clock to compete.

teacher but trust me my judgement wont be colored by who i am and the nature of my work. I am also like you an observer of the system, was a participant in the system and now earning a living in the system. (well at least u had some experience in it)

Esp when you reminicised (or recall in horror) on your sec sch days..thinking about how much of the things you've learnt meant so little in the end. If u think that i'm gonna rebuke that.. i'm not coz I ALWAYS thought what i've learnt meant nothing and unluckily this went on up until i was in uni (ya NUS) ..I can sit there stoning in lectures thinking how the hell does theory of justice gonna help me..am I actually going out of my way to help those pple who were mistreated. We were juz a bunch of whiners and complain-ers (own word la). I did political science la so we have to bury ourselves in lotsa theories.

I like your idea bout making DnT, Homec into a CCA. So at least it will allow those who are interested to join and actually enjoy the whole process of learning. ( a very very important thing for any child, teenager even adults la). So when I am teaching, I am always worried if the kids are really understanding and enjoying my lesson..or are they just absorbing like sponges just because they had to in order to pass their examination.

Exams. A bulwark of our system? Ya it can does wonder if only when it comes to quantifying, quantifying, quantifying. and in this sense, quantifying intelligence. Singapore is madly in love with numbers.. gotta be no.1 at all times..wont settle for less. In a way, it helped but it has slowly but surely reared its ugly head. In my class, i will nvr fail to be asked this qn - 'cher, is this graded?' even when im just giving them mini reflection exercises. How do I grade reflections, i ask you? is it dat important for everything to be numbered? In my sch, i even have to rate a student based on their level of compassion, respect and integrity..some of these I just find totally puzzling. these are mini - irritants but sadly its actually a microcasm of our very practical system. Yes it produces very efficient workers but definitely we need more than that..ever more so in this time.

I mean its frustrating la..coz u can see big potential in some students but they are somewhat stifled. I mean its not that MOE is not doing anything about it.. they are.. but they are making very small steps to rectify (the system, yes. the mindset, is a pain) ..they have this TLLM thingy going on ( Sg just digs acronyms) - teach less, learn more. well the idea is for student to do more groupwork and to think critically while the teacher basically teach less.. but this TLLM is only pertinent to some aspects..the rest is still the same.

They are also refreshing the curriculum every 5 years ( which i think can be a waste of money and the poor with many sch-
going children will be the hardest hit coz they cannot re-use any textbooks ) History is more critical thinking rather than pure memorisation of facts but its still very structured.. most students hate it. I always try to make my lessons 'useful' as in i will always ask the class to ponder on real-life issues.. seriously I just want them to become nice and humble individuals - this one always useful..no matter where,when or what.

When u proposed the idea of having general knowledge as a subject.they are already having it in the form of social studies. Its compulsory and they do get to learn about current affairs but i guess its still the same..students just take it because they had to.

Now, I've always preferred teaching the NA n NT kids coz they have more heart. I mean some of them are seriously loop de loop but majority are really, really nice. Once u got them on ur side, its a breeze. But one thing that is very sad...is that they have low self-esteem.. its not shown on the outside but rather unconsciously..and this I take every care not to belittle them in any way. (its hard for a teacher coz when ur angry..anything can come out of the mouth)

But there's the line already being created.. stupid vs not stupid..or more precisicely .. less academically-inclined vs the more academically-inclined. I mean seriously there's nothing wrong in mixing them all in class. the americans are doing it well..why cant we? (i am in no way endorsing anything american but we gotta learn frm each other rite).

designing at the age of 12. At my school, we aren't taught how to use Flash, or Dreamweaver, or Photoshop, though we are expected to pick up the skills on our own. I go to school each day faced with a new problem, and I was given the freedom to choose how I want to solve the problems.

In my first year, we had to do General Core Modules, including subjects such as Science and Maths. Being an arts student, I never welcomed the idea, but having gone through the entire experience, I was glad I was exposed to the subjects. General Knowledge should be more than just random trivia about things that don't matter, Science and Maths is General Knowledge. I used to work part time as a graphics designer, and those formulas I learnt in maths class did helped me out one way or another.

I'm interested in Art, and instead of being spoon-fed, I went a step further by learning design on my own. At least now, I'm one step ahead of everyone else because I already know how to use my softwares instead of expecting the school to teach us how to use it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the idea of being spoon-fed information still doesn't produce innovative people. At the end of the day, it boils down to one thing only. What do you want to do in your life? Do you want to work 9 - 5 or do you want to make a difference in the world? I can't help having the mindset that I have to work 9 - 5. It's nice to earn a whole lot of money, but the risks are too high anyways. Bah.

"I used to work part time as a graphics designer, and those formulas I learnt in maths class did helped me out one way or another." Now, I have been a graphic designer, visualiser, illustrator, web designer for 5 years and I never once use ANY Math formulas to help me design. I find this very intriging. From creating perfect cirles to squares, CorelDraw the graphic program I use, can do it for me. I never have to touch Pie R Square. The only time I used Math is to count my money when I get my pay check. So I am very curious to what Mathematical formulas you used to help you design a brochure? Or a logo? Most of my designer friends excel in what they do but they fail Math miserably...

"I'm interested in Art, and instead of being spoon-fed, I went a step further by learning design on my own." My God, I have my sights on learning 3D and the course itself can cost me like $30,000 plus lodging (I don't have that kind of money and but I'm still aiming for it though) and if the lecturer told me to learn 3D on my own after I pay that kind of money, I will KILL him! I don't understand how you equate a teacher's responsibilities to being spoon fed?

Bottomline: The Education system today do not have a system where they push the student to their capabilities and talents. Instead they SLOW YOU DOWN, with subjects not related with your interests and abilities.