Education 02 (Sep 09 - Jul 10)

[millionairemind]

It's ok lah. Maybe she's weak in that subject.

Wished I had that option :p

haha W. I guess my point is that they should have friends who can help out. That's what friends are for, isn't it??

I remember back in my undergrad days I would also help out my friends who are weaker in certain subjects. I tot this helps to cement a friendship.

[winston]

Dear All,

I've split out the various discussions on FT, PR etc. into the Singapore Economic Data & News thread.

Take care,
Winston

[millionairemind]

We recently started playing BlackJack with the 6 yr old boy using real money. $0.10 per bet with a max. loss of $1 per session. His money has to come from his piggy bank.

The objective of this game was to sensitize and expose him to addition and probability. In addition, we wanted him to experience minor "pain" to losing (the reason with real money)... so that he can start understanding "trading pains/losses" in a simple way.

I found that it's quite a good game to play with 6yr olds to encourage them to be quick on their feet and definitely more useful than sending him to all the "maths whiz enrichment" programs out there.

If you have any other ideas to teach Math and Probability to young children, I would be more than happy to hear from you.

[winston]

Very good idea. I should start playing Blackjack, Poker and Mahjong with my two boys.

Unfortunately, they are spending too much time on the computer nowadays.

Sometimes, they are playing Monopoly on the computer so that is still ok.

The younger one has been playing my Blackjack handheld machine so he knows the odds a bit. Maybe I should start to teach him how to count cards now

[iam802]

I have my kid learn Mahjong.

It teaches sets and sequences...... and probability and counting.

And should one take some money now...or should one hold on to the tiles and go for the multi-bagger.

[b0rderc0llie]

Haha, that is cool. I've seen kids playing mahjong with the family while on star cruise.

When teach them how to trade the market?

[winston]

When teach them how to trade the market?

I think they need some business experience before they can buy shares.

[millionairemind]

This thing really gets my goat.

Every new education minister will proclaim massive changes.. first it was Teo Chee Hean, then Tharman and now Ng. I guess their children all come back complaining about "how hard it is to learn Chinese".

I find it very amusing that just because there are now more English speaking families that we must cater to them and make our Chinese language easier. If you have seen their curent textbooks, the standard has really deteriorated.

30yrs back when I was in Primary school, who was there to stand up and tell the education minister please spare a thought for the poor kids from a Hokkien Speaking family whose parents were illiterate???

Stop whining! Suck it up and put in more hardwork la kids!


Dec 29, 2009
Refine bilingual policy
By Amelia Tan

EDUCATION Minister Ng Eng Hen on Tuesday spent much time re-affirming Singapore's bilingual policy, especially the teaching of the Chinese language, the subject of much discussion in recent months.

The policy remains relevant for economic and cultural reasons, as bilingual skills will benefit the children given the rise of Asia, he said.

But it has to be re-calibrated to cope with what he called an 'inexorable change' in the language environment in homes, with six in 10 Primary 1 Chinese students speaking English at home now, he noted. Six in 10 Indian pupils and 3.5 Malay pupils are also using English predominantly with family members.

He made it clear that those who can excel in the Chinese language will have the pportunity to do so. If more students want this, he would even add a new Special Assistance Plan school to the present 25 which teach language at a higher level.

But accepting change also means that for the rest of the students, expectations, teaching methods and even tests have to re-calibrated to keep the language alive and useful.

Mr Ng said: 'Our aim is to emphasise and teach Chinese language for students as a live language they can use, in the modes which they are likely to use.' He added that language teaching will be more engaging and fun, 'but students will still have to make the effort to learn'' the language.

[millionairemind]

The boy came back today and told me the school instituted a Math assessment test this morning for 1.5hrs. The Mrs. told me its for banding purposes.

The neighborhood school that the boy goes to has a very enlightened Principal, IMHO.

The standard class has about 30 kids for Math. However, with this banding exercise, additional teachers are deployed to help the weaker students in Math, with a teacher to student ratio of 1:10.

The school has to use its own funds to employ these additional trained teachers (under contract). Many schools I know of will not use the funds for such purposes as they want to "maximize the usage" their existing teachers to show "better performance metrics" (less money used).

The Mrs. was involved in such a class last year. She had only 8 very weak students under her care. After the final exam, her students passing ratio was 6 out of 8, when previously only 1 out of 8 passed the mid-year exam.

I am happy that the Principle is taking such good care of his students.

[winston]

What is the difference between Education and Educare?

You must understand the distinction between Education and Educare.

Education is information-oriented. Educare is transformation-oriented. Education is limited to physical and mental Levels. Just as the rivers like Krishna and Godavari have their sources in the ocean, Education has its roots in Educare.

Educare is related to our inner feelings and purity of heart. Our speech, song and way of life should originate from the heart. That is the essence of Educare. Only those endowed with the practical knowledge and wisdom will be able to understand and appreciate the concept of Educare.

Even if you acquire a number of degrees, if you lack purity in your heart, you cannot be called truly educated.

Divine Discourse, Jan 14, 2006.


Source: radiosai.org