These are obvious questions that I, like most parents, did not ask.
I asked Grandma to read passages from the Chinese textbook for me, and compared these to Little Boy's latest Chinese Composition, which has been graded 16/20. This is something of a miracle because in November last year, Little Boy's score was 8/20 on the P5 marking scheme. However, the meteoric rise in Little Boy's Chinese Composition grades was largely due to a combination of memorizing Chinese Compositions by students in the People's Republic of China AND the method steps proposed by The Foster Daughter AND an Amy Chua wannabe (me!) who sat by Little Boy implacably encouraging him right through 6 hours of sustained effort at writing ONE compo. Yes... I do mean " implacable". When we embarked on this crazy Compo Memorizing Venture, Grandma remonstrated with me. These Chinese Compositions are far too difficult for him. They're more appropriate for Secondary 2 or even 3. I was too desperate to care. I was a blind man clutching at a straw. Happily, my straw turned out to be a rope.
On hindsight, I learnt something. If you want a child to write at a certain grade level, he must be READING stuff that is at least 2 grade levels above the language level he is expected to produce. No child can produce language on par with his reading level. Hence, it made perfect sense for me to get Little Boy to memorize essays printed in a 15 year old's textbooks, so that he can produce language printed in a 13 year old's textbooks, which is still 2 levels higher than the language printed in Little Boy's textbooks.
The same thing applies to English. In order for Little Boy to comfortably tackle his English homework, I have assessed that he should be reading Time, Newsweek and the National Geographic regularly. In fiction, he should be reading Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.G. Wodehouse and Michael Crichton. All are adult writers. Meanwhile, the text printed in his textbook looks fine for a 10 year old.
This begs 2 questions. Of what use are the textbooks if they are pitched at 2 levels below what the child needs to produce, when they should be pitched at 2 levels higher than what the child needs to produce? And, do the people who WRITE textbooks in the Ministry of Education ever talk to those who DEVISE exams?
Hopefully, parents who read this post will realize that to get an 'A' in schools exams, there is a need to expose the child to reading material at least 4 or 5 years beyond that written in the textbooks. Not all parents know this. I surely did not.
Does this not go against the MOE's stated intention to use education to lift people out of poverty? Lower income parents have little means to pay for the enrichment classes to fill the gap between textbook and exams. Lower income parents also have not the skills to coach and help their children to bridge the gap between textbook and exams. Lower income parents may not know that there is dangdang.com from where one can source Model Chinese Compos, and if they knew, would they have the money to buy? Lower income parents may not even have heard of Isaac Asimov, P.G. Wodehouse and National Geographic.
Click here for Little Boy's opinions on this matter.
7 comments:
ah, u made sense here! no wonder my Mandarin was so good in my Sec school days, 'cos i inhaled all those Qiong Yao subtitled drama serials over TV! they were awfully difficult compared to my textbook stuff.
i had to check up the dictionary for some words to understand them, while for most of the rest, i inferred rather easily. them actors have all the emotions written on their face anyway. =P
This is getting depressing and I genuniely feel very sorry for my unborn Beanie already. All the stress and anguish awaiting for him/her... Haiz. Poor kid.
Fry - whoa! You check dictionary when you watch TV? Got ink!
Wen-Ai: I am trying to say this with as much sarcasm as I can muster towards the system... By the time Beanie gets to PSLE, he may need to do research and publish research to get an A. This system is ridiculous.
too much to leave the words unchecked, u know, the actor's face is so in agony....i gotta know wat the meaning of 龌龊 is. lol
but i pity the kids these days, TV content is very near trash to get any good out.
PetuniaLee...Your son is so fortunate to have a mother who cares about his education!
Theanne - Thank you. You are so encouraging.
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