Regardless Of Grades: Why Are Singaporeans So Obsessed With PSLE?
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- Опубликовано: 13 май 2024
- The move towards reducing Singapore’s emphasis on grades started over 25 years ago but in recent years, Singapore’s Education Ministry introduced a slew of aggressive changes in efforts to relieve student stress and to ‘spark joy’ in learning.
But to what extent have these measures shifted the needle in our pursuit of what’s considered ‘good grades’? Even as schools reduce their emphasis on exams and promote the joy of learning, the country’s booming tuition and enrichment industry continues to fuel an academic ‘arms race’ outside of school grounds.
This documentary investigates how our pursuit of grades is affecting our children, and we view it through the lens of families preparing for what’s considered the all-important Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). Why is this the make-or-break exam for 12-year-olds? For the first time, we lift the lid on this national exam, with never-before-seen footage of how questions are set, and exam papers marked.
00:00 PSLE results day
02:17 Social experiment: The biggest source of stress for PSLE kids
09:00 Why do parents place so much importance on PSLE?
20:27 Booming tuition and academic enrichment industry
26:19 How is a PSLE paper set?
28:23 How to get better marks for PSLE?
35:44 Impact of Achievement Levels system on secondary school choices
36:10 Countdown to PSLE
43:54 How can parents make PSLE less stressful for kids?
WATCH MORE Regardless Of Grades: • Regardless Of Grades
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About the show: This documentary investigates how our pursuit for grades is affecting our children, and we view it through the lens of families preparing for what’s considered the all-important PSLE.
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#psle #education #exam #students #result #grades
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I really have to compliment CNA. It is the only local channel that still remained relevant over the years. The CNA insider series is really well done indeed.
CNA is one the best U$ sponsored propaganda channel based out of Singapore.
2nd only to 60 Minutes Australia and the BBC
@@monipenny408
Why do you think that? I am genuinely interested. I know all western medias are propaganda but CNA seems to be wholly owned by Tamasek Holdings.
@@monipenny408and you prefer propaganda from?
@@abovemediocrity245 Propaganda is not based on any reality, therefore doesn't matter what you or I believe dear.
Whatever floats your boat!
@@monipenny408 how do you know CNA is a “US sponsored propaganda channel”? And why did you watch it if you don’t believe in it?
there needs to be a follow up documentary (with 80s and 90s kids) on whether a fixation on external validation early in life creates happy and fulfilled adults… do they eventually become soulless automaton zombies ✨✨~alienated from the self~ ✨✨… or are they too busy projecting intergenerational academic trauma on their own kids to have a sense of self
Well said
the most surprising part of the video is that some primary schools actually give their students chairs to sit on in the hall
NOTYING JUMPSCARE
🤔🤨
@@Aidanhatessquan NO BUT WHY ARE THE CUBERS ALL HERE LMAO
@@akcub3 i was so confused when i saw my notification
@@akcub3 i have hw that i dont want to do
14:49 the kid put a smile icon next to his ‘play’ time on his tight study schedule 😢 crazy to think that for some children, ‘playing / free time’ is a privilege.
yeah, and note this is the holidays, the 2nd longest holiday in the year
It technically is a privilege
@@Brozone628 It should never be a privilege that your child isn't so stress for School that they have time to just be a child I can't imagine what it's like just when you want a child to focus on just studying and never actually going outside to play It's never really fun seeing all your friends go home after school and hang out with their family and play well you're still stuck at a tutoring center doing more work on top of the homework you already get at school and the fact you're at school for 8 hours kid should not have to go to school for 8 hours and then Go immediately to a tutoring center and would take it more work until the 8 hours of work they did at school seems a little insane especially for primary school kids
We went through PSLE ourselves too, so more or less we know how the stress can be on the next generation. I am not a parent myself but I wouldn't go crazy for my child's primary sch education. It definitely sets a foundation for our future but it does not mean the future will be set by your performance in just this exam. Rather than overemphasizing on academics I would want my child to build on his or her passion, studies will come next but a balance of play and work must be there. As adults we don't work everyday or all the time, so why should we expect kids to only study and sleep 🤣.
Good grades are good if your child can achieve them. But character building and resilience are even more important, in my opinion.
“good grades” are useless, if they are good there’s no need to bring in foreign talents for top jobs
@@paulinlim5465 workplace see certificate 1st... after employment then see character.. so no matter how good your character are without certificate no employer will see 😂😂😂
Diana Ser is the best person to host this as her child is also having PSLE.
I think it is a good wake up call for MOE & Parents to relook into the way they handle the PSLE stress. It is a good documentary for parents to see themselves from another POV.
The kids’ post PSLE feedback is very important.
In the span of their lifetime, PSLE is really just a minute part….. it’s sad that these children have to be put through this. I hope that emphasis should be put on what you can still achieve in spite of your PSLE results. (Personally I did not do well in my PSLE) My partner and I decided not to live in singapore anymore because we did not want our kids to have to go through this…
A level will be like a few hours part instead, only 2 years and deciding on what faculty to choose from, or what are being possible. University faculty more or less determines one's lifetime career. Each phrase means being around even stronger classmates.
Its true. Less criticism, more encouragement. It will really make a long way. When we look back, we want the children to feel that they have gone through the tough times together WITH the parents and not feeling alone.
I was actually shocked to learn how little the parents actually know abut the school life of their children.
I'd rather kids have self-imposed stress, but because kids are unable to see the importance of education, parents end up causing stress for their children, yet I do not believe direct rewards are sustainable and ruins character,
I think self-imposed stress takes you the long way in education marathon
it came later for my case like my mum always commented I'm a late developer. Well life is a box of chocolates anyway. Just too bad my mum is a tiger mum with endless comparisons with others.
Mine came on right after my parents stopped stressing me out. The change in their behaviour was what scared me and gave me the wakeup call
@@renderz8435UNO reverse 😂
This is absolutely insane to see kids so young feel the pressure of standardized tests and to prep so much. But you really can't argue with Singapore's results.
I prefer the Finland education instead. It's similar to Vietnamese education before communist. We were taught to think critically instead of memorizing a bunch of factoids. Each school day was only six hours with a one-hour lunch break where students can even leave school.
25:56 the way the mother ignores her child
SPG turned tiger mum
that child didnt get interviewed after getting the results o_O
Ignore? She literally rejects him! This scene is horrible.
@@macse_pinguhe’s P5
just sad....
The most beautiful parent is the one who never sends her children to tuition. She is not stress at all and her kids looks happier! Facts.
Agreed. My kids have no tuitions too n doing psle this year . All the $$ saved from tuitions are well spent traveling to far countries like Europe instead for them
but flood them with tonnes of assessment bks?.😂
You mean like U$ kids, they have total freedom, they play games, target sh00ting with real bullets, tiktoking all day, and becomes YT celebs, they can do whatever they want, even gender trans and I have no doubt they are totally happy too!
It's all about choices. Fact is Singaporean children are high achievers, not everybody wanna be RUclips influencers and if yours wanna be happy, U$A should be your #1 destination.
north american kids can also be high achievers, lol that's quite the stereotype you have of north american kids. Not everyone is shooting real bullets and becoming tiktokers@@monipenny408
@@user-wt9gc5ds9bagreed! Memories from traveling are far more important than just spending $$$ on grades
While I don't hold a position to comment on Singapore's education system and culture, I appreciate their perspective. My child's educational journey in the West, characterized by a relaxed system and minimal tutoring, led to remarkable outcomes. Despite playing throughout primary and secondary school years, my child secured admission to one of our country's top universities, ranked within the global top 60. In a highly sought-after, technical course underscores his achievement.
However, it raises an essential question: Is the rigor of Singapore's education system, driven by limited resources and a high student-to-resource ratio, worth the potential trade-off of a lost childhood? Western education prioritizes holistic development, critical thinking, and creativity-qualities increasingly vital in an AI-driven world with abundant information access. Educators emphasize understanding concepts over mere rote memorization, recognizing that talent and creativity cannot be manufactured.
Education transcends mere numbers and accolades; it shapes hearts and minds. As parents, let's celebrate our children's growth and guide them wisely. Education isn't merely a destination; it's a constellation of moments that shape their futures.
From a Macro perspective, the system works. Without this pressure cooker, a small island like ours would not produce so many world-class professionals that achieve so much in the world. The system mirrors the Singapore situation where our size and limited resources means that we as a nation are "taking PSLE" in the global market everyday.
I would argue that the Singapore system is not any more stressful and high pressure than any top school in any global city. In fact, I would even go as far to say we have already done our best to be more well-rounded.
So the high pressure system is not the problem, the problem is the way we parents are measuring success by comparing with others. Parents should spend more time to asses the child and set stretch yet realistic expectations according to the child's ability and potential. A healthier way is to apply the pressure on the kid to maximize their potential in the type of intelligence they have and not compare them with others.
@@jayshen84
The whole problem lies in parents pressuring their kids without considering their actual abilities. They all believe their children are gifted or can be trained to be gifted. They think that mere training will transform their kids into geniuses.
Similar systems can also be found in the west. For example, I completed the "Grundschulabitur" in Bavaria at the age of 10 - a series of 22 tests in German, Mathematics and Science for 4th graders which determine the type of secondary school you will be placed. My parents did not put a lot a lot of pressure on me, but others certainly did. There has been a lot of criticism, but studies have shown that these tests do indeed lead to children reading books more often, but also doing sports/music, even several years later. It is a strict system, but there definitely are some merits to it.
@@nichtpeter9589 How long ago was that?
@@rayngmelb That was back in 2009. As far as I know, the system is still in place right now.
I'm so captivated by Diana Ser's mannerism. Also, another great video by CNA Insider!
At least in my experience, a lot of Singaporean society is about everyone trying to quantify and measure others, trying to fit everyone into a box and determine another person's worth so they can decide how that person should be treated and what they might or might not deserve.
Singaporeans love to compare. Scores, Money, Watches, Handbags. Practically anything. Aren't Singaporeans in general sad and pathetic?
wow true
Hello Sir. Isn't that what employers do in the interview and year-end appraisal process - evaluate and choose the best candidate/employee with the highest worth?
So why shouldn't society and the parents react in the same manner if that's how the working world works?
@@Nigel3005 Your worth as a person and your character shouldn't be determined in that way. A person is more than their academic performance or their productivity at work. I wouldn't want my personality to be judged based on my usefulness to a company. If you have the same relationship that you have with your parents as you have with your employer, as your comment is suggesting, I think that's unfortunate - but I guess a lot of Singaporean parents do treat their children like their employees. A society where those are the only things that matter is fundamentally unhealthy.
@@Nigel3005 Precisely it is because the current system is broken and has lost touch with humanity. Imagine if one day you are unable to conform to society because of illness, disability, or other unforeseen circumstances that are not because of lack of effort. Does that mean you are less worthy and do not deserve to be treated with decency?
12 year old me has:
- fired 1 chinese tutor by calling her out on her bs IN FRONT OF MY MUM (cannot even manage her anger and treat me like her punching bag, definitely not gonna let her get away with her horrible attitude)
- called out a pri school teacher for pronouncing my name wrongly and accusing me for being too TALKATIVE when i was clearly helping a friend
- did countless assessment books wondering wtf am i doing with my life
16year old me has:
- skipped prelim 1 because of stomach flu
- forced my mum to withdraw me from an english tuition because it was wasting my time (who in the correct mindset would send me for 2 ENGLISH TUITION when i'm scoring B3 for that subject?? absurd)
- overly relied on my chinese TUTOR to help me pass chinese (hated the ones from school)
- failed many tests and exams
AND I GRADUATED WITH A DEGREE IN FOOD SCIENCE!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
i love how the children shared their honest opinion, i can feel the stress they going through. anyway congratulations to all, you did yourself proud and complete those examinations.
8:11 - The 7th kid who balanced three upside-down green cones has a bright future in politics. 🙃
A very insightful episode. Full of wake up calls and parenting reflections. Well done CNA!
in my opinion, i like to think of moe "changing the game while the ending remains the same" when it comes to PSLE. i think that's why students and parents alike are still stressed despite the changes made to the scoring and streaming system over the years. cuz ultimately, PSLE is PSLE lah, it still defines the school you go to regardless of whatver weird system you implement
honestly, it feels like its a mentality thing. Even minister vivan balakrishan had to apologize for his remarks to Leon Mun Wai. There is this obsession about what school you can enter and how threre are so called good schools and bad schools. That puts pressure on parents and then the pressure goes to their kids. Obviously the intention might come from a good place of the parent wanting the child to do well, but sometimes it comes off as way too much stress and pressure is being placed on the child.
There are also parents who love to 'flex'/boast about their child which maybe indirectly puts pressure on parents they will pressure their kids more to not lose face or to look good. This is just an andecdote of mine.
Not rly abt ur comment.
I see u mentioned tt ppl say good sch n bad schs.
I rmb tt was a essay qn giving during my a lvl yrs. Bcos I went to a supoosedly underperforming jc, i nvr cared abt good or bad sch. But its cool that they brought up the subject.
Lol, it's funny you said that. I always tot that Indian kid looks and talks like Vivian. 🤣
After seeing me say it, tell me you don't think otherwise 🤭
The Indian boy looks and talks like Vivian right? You can't unsee this 🤣🤣🤣
Vivian is a disgrace. Childish to begin with. tan CJ is another clown. Both from AC.
No wonder gen Z is the most unhappy cohort and stressed out too. I recall studying for my PSLE a month prior and it was stressful but nothing like the prep these kids go through. You'd think after all these years and access to global cultures that Asian parents would have a better understanding of what it really takes to succeed in life is not book smarts.
These parents are so dedicated. Yet, they are putting an immense amount of pressure on their children. I think more parents should be like Gwen, Ashley’s mother. Put more trust in your children, they are already 12. If they need help, they will ask for it. If you want to put them for tuition, you don’t have to put them in for all subjects. Now, with the Subject Based Banding (SBB) in many Secondary School, it’s so much less stressful. Unfortunately, my batch in my secondary school is the last batch without SBB so many students who have a lower understanding of a particular subject are struggling. Being out in a lower group (I.e. G2) is not the end of the world. It’s helping you/your child learn at a more appropriate pace and the teachers are trained to teach G2 or G1 students so that they can help them learn better. In fact, my parents do not know how to do much of P6 questions so they couldn’t help me. Of course, I had math and Chinese tuition but most of the time, I study by myself. I didn’t do assessment books or practice papers and I got quite a decent mark of AL11 in total for PSLE. Of course I wanted to get an AL9 but PSLE is a small milestone. People aren’t going to look at it when recruiting people for jobs, sometimes they don’t even look at your O-level results.
Don’t sweat it P6s! You can do it! 💪💪❤❤
Parents, have more faith in your children.
way to go, book worm belle!😀
@@bd1982 thank youu!! ❤️❤️
And this is the happiest nation in Asia.
lol yeah it definitely isn't xD, i'm singaporean who escaped after Secondary 3
dont believe everything you read. lolx
Probably for boomers, not younger people
Bulls*it...living in singapore is stressful..
@@Jim_Colbert I don't think anyone think singapore isn't stressful but other Asian countries are just as bad if not worse...
I took my PSLE in the 90s. I can honestly say, no blue cones for me at all. I grew up in a single-parent home and my mom had to work everyday. She did put me in tuition lessons here and there, but i was pulled out after a month or two. I never had tuition from p4 to p6 after that. I had scored full marks for my tests and exams here and there, but more vividly, I remember playing catching with my neighbours and washing the school pond during "ECA" after school (was in the gardening club and loving it). Those were the fun and carefree days. Hahaha
The fact that teachers segregate children based on their intelligence in a classroom and that the teachers also read out the scores in front of the entire class is really depressing. No child should be placed under so much pressure and humiliation; it's inhumane.
I like the documentary and Diana Ser but just a random thought: why was she allowed into the exam setting meeting if her daughter took PSLE last year?
Well done CNA team & Diana! In this era, we've robbed children off their joy and enrolled them to the rat race of chasing non-stop. Since when did we take learning for granted and turn it into a dread? We need to find the joy & appreciation of learning!!
caleb's mum looks like she's the quintessential singaporean karen.
No joy at all with that one. Sad life.
i somehow feel the inner calling of caleb... oh well, his mum did play a role in his big PSLE success.
Bookstores in Singapore are closing down. The only one surviving is the one with focus on assessment books.
If bookstores show off our culture, it really shows that we are an exam nation. 🤔
Really love Diana Ser❤ She is the most effectively bilingual switching from English to Mandarin effectively⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I have been a tutor for over 15 years. Kids already face stress and rigidity in schools and from parents, so I try to make my classes light-hearted but still productive.
I saved this video, 1 as a reference for how my partner and I on how to treat our kid(s) in the future, and 2, because it is very well made. The pacing, multiple camera angles, B-rolls, and all the small details that go into this video are great.
Well done CNA Insider!
competition is good. stress is good. these are the elements required to advance in anything. however it becomes bad if these become unhealthy to an individual or unbalanced or lopsided to one thing only.
it is unfortunate that as a country, success is defined very narrowly as opportunities to succeed is equally narrow. any level of success translates into an ability to live a life that can afford one of a roof and all the normal life expenses.
I am a Sec 1 kiddo this year, and after seeing this little documentary, I feel happy for these people who did better than me. (I got AL20 BTW) For the P5s and P6s this year, do work hard and try your best. Good luck.
PSLE doesn't matter and neither does o levels. You have access to resources that allow you to learn other topics like photography or mixing audio tracks. So learn what you are interested in and you will find that it will be more useful to you later in life than finding the gradient of a point on a curve, for example. If you don't do well, don't worry. This education system isn't suitable for everyone.
you better buckle up, Singapore is not a place where you can kick back and rest on your laurels.
@@abramsweewho are you to tell anon that? I didn't study much in secondary school and still end up working as a food ingredient researcher. If the kid has talent in other aspects such as music, scholarships to NAFA or even julliard are possible too
I’m also sec 1 this year :)
i''m happy for you, as you made it through as well!
some parents are too kiasu and obsessive about grades... crazy to some extent.
some kids looks stressed
not all kids are good in English, 2nd Lang., Maths and Science and being good in these subjects do not mean success at all
kids who do not do well in PSLE can do well in subsequent exams and careers too.
PSLE does not determine our lives
chill....
Cause that is how Asian thinks, they will compare even in poly is also comparing
western parent and even their education minister understands fully that a person cannot be good in everything. you look at the teacher, they're mostly teaching 1-2 subject and not all the subject
but asian parents expects their child to masters of every subjects which doesn't make any sense at all
Lessgooo Ayra! 🎉
OK, nag less, encourage more. I'll remember this and practise what is preached.
nahh thats crazyy
My daughter struggled with primary school math model. Just made it into Express stream in secondary school. Scored all distinctions for her O levels this year including Math and A Math through her persistence and diligence. Parents, the PSLE does not define your child. They will blossom in their own ways academically or non-academically.
Not every child end up like yr girl
"Grades do not matter. But I'm still going to brag about them." The truth is the only thing that matters is your degree/diploma that's being used to land your first job, after that you can chuck it in the trash. I've never even read past the resumes of candidates beyond their last employment, let alone grades they got eons ago. Anyone above fresh hire listing their university grades is immediately filtered into the garbage bin.
we need a radical re-think of our education system. Doing well academically doesn't guarantee that you will do well in your career and vice versa; so publishing grades is not necessary. We need to get to a place where learning in school is enough and then ban all tuition centres/teachers. Whilst parents is a source of stress, equally so is the school. My daughter studied in
Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School as it was walking distance and the school was super competitive and a source of stress because of the school ranking by MOE (they even qualify your eligibility for ECA). Ironically, we didn't choose MGS (closer to us) because they are just as bad for expelling my relative whose grade would lower their school's overall results & ranking.
PSLE > 127
NT LEVEL EMB1 > 6
Goes to NITEC > GPA 2.5
Goes to Higher NITEC > GPA 3.7
Goes to Temasek Poly > GPA 3.15
Never really had a Tuition in my life 🤷🏻♂️ was dyslexic somemore. Did pretty decent in life. Dont really see a need for the stress given in PSLE.
I'm from the Philippines and I think stress, the way it is mentioned in the experiment is limited in view. Not all stress is bad. I don't know how the producers framed stress to these children. The host, as I see it, sounds patronizing in some parts when she was talking to the parents. These kids actually have good living conditions compared to many of their Asian counterparts. I'm wondering how much the producers took into account the highly competitive job market in Singapore and in the other urban centers in Asia. These kids are getting good guidance from their parents, in my opinion, because they are being realistically prepared for the future. A happy life, whether you're a child or an adult, is not the absence of stress. It's in your ability to thrive despite stress. I live in a city where it's hard to get a good paying job even for those who finished college. Not having the skills to land a high salary is going to create long term stress when you're an adult. It will also discourage you from having children because you won't be able to afford taking care of them.
mental health can destroy anyone even if they are fed with good food and high living condition. My late cousin committed suicide over her sec school results 20+ years ago.
These kids are throwing their childhood away all for a future which might not even be there for them because your countrymen are coming here and stealing jobs away from us locals. You don't have the right to tell us how to raise our kids when the rich and elites here are doing everything in their power to leech off our country's stability while they continue to find ways to cheap out at the cost of Singaporeans!
I agree with you that certain stress level is good. The problem lies with the parents. Some signed up their kids with tuitions even for subjects their kids are doing well; this is overdoing. I know of a mother who signed up only tuition for the subject her child is weakest in. Her child enjoyed his school, enjoyed even going for his tuition class. That's the way to go. It is never one size fits all. 😊
So glad Singapore is rethinking the stress on the young as new research shows stress, lack of sleep & endless homework affect the brains.
les go!!! someone finally understands us
Excellent video!
School is but the beginning. Education should be a life-long process (and pleasure).
@CNA Thank you for investigating important issues re children’s education; significantly impacting students, society & economy globally. In the United States, the lack of space for academically advanced students in GT, AP, Honors & assoc’d courses often causes classroom overflow with students spilling-out into the hallway. Students are willing to sit on classroom & hallway floors; working independently & collaboratively with cohorts in order to succeed, graduate with honors, and attend their university of choice. 🇺🇸
lots of kids have told me the same sources of stress :(
Waiting for the n level and o level version of this documentary
Stress can be eradicated by removing tuition and kiasu parents, it’s as easy as that. I am a sec 4 student this year (in Singapore) and never had a single tuition in my life, nor do I have kiasu parents. Removing all these unnecessary stress imposed on children may at first seem like we are setting these children up for failure. However,
I do believe that this will encourage children to find self motivation to work hard in school to achieve good grades (personal experience). Self inflicted stress is much more effective than externally imposed stress. That’s my take on this.
The kids featured here are relatively well-spoken and their parents can afford tuition, assessment books etc. I wish they could also do a side feature on kids who who struggle in school - how PSLE was like for children like those in the "Don't Call Us Beaten" series (which was a favorite of mine). Their perspectives and experiences would likely be very different.
I've never been in tuition from primary school all the way through sec school. But maybe this is due to my stream or group of friends, so i don't really have a say. Just lucky my parents don't stress me out. Through my experience of no tuition, i really agree with the parent who said this really helps the child to cultivate independence since you got no extra help. Sometimes i do go onto SLS (Students Learning Space) to use their resources to help myself due to the independence i gained from this practice of no tuition, but other than that if you really can't do the question or just don't understand, maybe asking your teacher to have a small 1-1 session after school will help you understand better as it helped me. However, through all this, i still felt that tuition maybe could have helped, i just couldn't bare seeing other parents spending so much just for their children to attend tuition, and i didn't want to add that additional burden to my parents. 😊
If you actually realise, its not just the P5s&6s. When You move to secondary school, especially when it comes to Sec1 eoy-Sec4 , the amt of stress really stacks alot from primary school.
this system sucks, it's crazy bad when you compare it to pretty much any other country, and psle marking schemes make it such that you don't need talent you parents just need to dump a ton of money on tuition, talent and psle score at this point has almost no correlation
I feel that cna should have featured more families who did not stress their children about PSLE, to gain more perspectives especially the last section on how children think about PSLE. The opinions feel skewed.
They could find only one parent
At my time my school was already having tuition classes every Saturday do everyone, thus no time for tuitions at home. Took the PSLE at the 90s, students from the EM1 class were trying their best to get into Chinese High, Raffles, etc.
Wait a minute... The presenter's child took PSLE last year and she attended the discussions of questions setting meeting for Maths also? Hmmm...
she attended the review of the paper which was after the PSLE.
I'm a parent of school-going children, and I don't relate to what most of these parents are saying. The measurement of success differs in different families. The linear thinking of 'good grades = good schools = good grades = good degree = good employment' seems very constricting and limiting, not responding well to the world we live in. I love how the non-tuition parent featured here nurtures her children. I wish them continued resilience in life. To the other featured children, I worry for their well-being, and I wish them congruence.
This video is so interesting with a lot of surprising information. I never ever known about any primary exams that are so stressful like this. In my country, parents usually have paid leave due to their child sick. No one leaves for their child primary exams.
I think you should do one on a level as the source of stress is quite different though the weight of stress is much larger. Like now, my parents don’t even care about my grades. The main source of stress would be coming from myself, comparing myself to other students/ seniors. In primary school, my parents are the ones that sent me to tuition but now I’m begging them to send me to tuitions. And as I know tuitions are expensive, it’s posing even more stress on myself.
- coming from a 18 year old student, with poor grades, in the midst of preparing for mid years, prelims and a levels, unsure about my future, disappointed and frustrated at myself.
P.s. I’m even thinking of taking a gap year to retake my a levels as a private candidate. And also anyone who has any tips please please please share them. I really need it. Idw to be a failure to myself.
ugh i just wanna go up to all these kids and give them a big ass hug and assurance that they are doing fking great.
😮🤯 Complex topic and at the risk of over simplifying...My opinions:
1. Definition of success is too narrow in Singapore. ..Success in Singapore is a "high" paying managerial job, in air conditioned comfort, living in a private condo, driving a BMW and working in banking, medical, engineering, fintech or government. What about the the arts? construction? hospitality? Entrepreneur? Social activism?
2. These kids are missing out on being kids. What about playing soccer? Going to the movies? Going on organised hikes? Playing computer games (of course)? Dare I say it...just "chilling out"...doing what they love or just doing nothing?
3. For heaven's sake, stop comparing and being "helpful" in offering advice on "good" tuition centres. One parent hit the nail on the head...the school instruction SHOULD be enough and is SUFFICIENT.
4. Understand NOT regurgitate. If you don't understand the concept, no amount of tuition will help.
5. We encourage not "Nag" or "scold". Failing is part of life. it's a chance to learn what you don't know. It builds character.
Before anyone sneers. My kids used to swim (competitively - school holidays = swimming competitions), plays guitar (took part in school play), piano, in addition to study. No tuition at all (no time lah!). And before anyone sneers some more, one is now an MnA consultant in London and the other is a software engineer in Australia.
Not perfect by any means - not living in condos, not in medicine or finance or fintech, no scholarships, definitely no BMWs or Mercs. But I'm happy and proud. They're well rounded, deservedly happy and in their own way a success.
If they can do it, anybody can.
To the kiddos, well done for finishing PSLE. Remember, life is more than just school! Enjoy life!
GO AYRA!🤩
From a personal perspective, the stress came from aiming to go to the Express stream and not Normal stream (especially when all my siblings went to Express). I had to study Primary 7 and 8, which caused another different set of stress and proving my existence.
All in all that was 1990 when I took my PSLE.
The 25 marks (visualisation questions) that differentiate students into A1 - A4 demands the most effort that is not worth putting into because pattern recognition can be an innate ability. The time spent on tuition and other exercises can be used for outdoor activities or building social skills. The govt should highlight that PSLE is indeed a sieve to differentiate but companies are still using it for their hiring.
Because of their hardwork and dedication. We tourist get to enjoy the wonderful land of changi airport
you have to like the subject in order to do well in my opinion.i went from al 6 to 3 from prelims to psle bc i kept on doing other schools revision papers during that time. the only reason i did them was bc it was fun and i personally liked the subject and my teachers(including tuition teacher)
It's interesting but sad to see how much preassure these young kids get just to get into a good secondary school coming from someone living in Australia. I also found it crazy how the teachers announce the ranking of students. I think that would have really lowered my self-esteem.
I somehow managed 52 assessment books before my PSLE in the 80s + an active ECA schedule. It wasnt forced & there was no tuition back in the day. The childhood memory of knuckling down when it mattered has become a useful life lesson which i dont look back with regrets...
one has DSA-ed into the school, one has affiliation - so why do they still stress the kids so much?
29:55
Its very cool that the mom can talk well!
That being said.... I was gonna be nitpicky but... I shall not
Abit of modern reference. Streaming of PSLE is kinda like the kdrama pyramid game.
Not that extreme but preferential treatment do exist. Lets not discredit merit but the academic structure had no correlation with success in life. It just gives your child a false impression of how life works.
Which is why many graduates fail to comprehend and get demoralised when the working world operates differently.
We should focus more on sustainable growth habits that can be used beyond every milestone.
even though i was born in singapore. my parents moved to south africa when i was young and then came back but was always put in international school because they think psle is too difficult and i would have struggled. i have been doing well.
You were lucky to have gone to an international school.
@@windydragon6522 thanks. so did you do psle then? i thin you must have seen china. their system is worse than psle.
International sch kids are more communicative minus the bullying part.
@@arsenal_84 i mean yeah local schools in singapore are quite bad. i mean i dont mean to offend those who are local schools but they do illegal things like vaping and bully people. i had a friend who used to be in the local school curriculum in Singapore and he was indian and was being racially bullied by chinese student boys. i was kind heart broken by his story and at the same time he was forced to join a gang.
@@ZARUSI as a local Chinese, I was bullied in my younger secondary school years which was a neighborhood school. The indians in my school are quite well behaved, they seldom get into gangs or create trouble whereas the Malays and Chinese will get into gangsterism more frequently. Back then at 16, teens in my school were starting to smoke hence I view vaping as a lesser evil. So not all schools are the same in SG that's why tiger parents would want their kids to go to a branded school instead.
This is wild for me to understand the pressure that children are put under. If I was in there shoes I would be stuffed. I struggled through school and it wasn’t until I turned 15 that I started to excel. Not all children at age 12 are good at school but who isn’t to say that will mean they will not improve during their teenage years. So limiting to base someone’s options for future education based a single exam at age 12. I can see why the parents are stressed you only want the best for your child so going to chuck all your resources into it.
"Your future is dependent on your grades." Has to be the biggest myth.
Years after PSLE, now I’ve just finished polytechnic. It’s crazy to think that PSLE is such a big deal when it had such little weight to my life. I never had to use it or remember it for anything other than applying to secondary schools.
I can understand the stress of ‘N’/‘O’-levels, because it will determine whether you will get into your course of choice for Poly/JC/other, which can impact your future career. (Still, if you did your best, don’t beat yourself up about your score.)
For any primary school students or parents reading this; PSLE is not that important. The secondary school you go to is not that important. A lower ranking secondary school does not automatically mean that your school life won’t be as enjoyable, or that you won’t get good education for your ‘N’/‘O’-levels. And even if you can’t go straight to poly/JC/other with your score, you’ll just be taking a longer education route, which should not be a seen as such a horrible thing.
In fact, I have so much respect for some students in my poly applied science course that went through ITE, for example. Because 1. they had extra practice of being in the lab so they knew more than poly students who applied directly from sec school. And 2. they still had really good work ethic and determination to study despite having to do extra years in ITE (Seriously, your will to study can easily deplete as the years go by… they are troopers for this.).
In conclusion, there’s no point stressing. Years into your life, you will realise how unnecessary that stress was. Students, just study hard and do your best. Jia you!
And for parents, please don’t put so much pressure on your kids. It doesn’t matter in the long-run. All it does is worsen their mental health, confidence, and burn them out. Let them enjoy being kids.
ya sia most parents think good secondary school = good future like ???? when in most cases its more of the child’s mindset and willingness that makes them succeed. no matter which school you go to, if you are hardworking and determined, you will have a bright future because those are the qualities needed in the real working world
i think you made a point, can administrator bump up your post :) I''m loving it!
Hope they maintain a good stress level and metal health.
I used to ace pure chem and I would get A1/ A2 even for prelims, but I ended up getting B3 for o level pure chem. I know i could have done better but I will never forget what my pure chem teacher said to me when I shared my result with him. ‘who ask you never study harder’ when pure sciences and emath took up like 70% of my revision schedule. the expectation teachers set on you the moment you achieve a certain grade is very true.
As a person who went through the education system, I feel that it is never ending because after PSLE there is O/N levels, then A levels etc. My opinion is that kids shouldn't be too stressed out for their PSLE as even going to an average secondary school doesn't mean you can't do well for O/N Levels. Especially at the age of 12, parents really shouldn't be pushing them so hard.
i managed to get away from tution however my sister is not as lucky with 3 tuition classes per week .im quite sure the reason i got away is cuz i was having meltdowns and suicidal thoughts due to the pressure and scoldings of my parents back then. Since then,my parents have learnt that putting pressure on me is a bad move especially with my ADHD so they just put the expectation of me at least passing the psle.
YAY i met my parents expectations(i had my psle at 2019)
growing up i never had tution cause my family couldn't afford it. At the end of the day tuition or not, most important is self, being focused in class and doing your homework and proactively learning beats all kinds of tuition you can have or are being forced to attend, it wont be productive.
Secondary schools is just a phase, doesn't determine anything no one cares which secondary school your from once your in poly, jc or uni.
I still make my way to local uni no problem at all even if I came from a neighbourhood secondary school. it doesn't matter, everything is self imposed stress, at the end of the day PSLE or O-levels its nation wide, doesn't matter which school your from, you take the same paper.
People say oh better schools prep you better for the exams, well maybe yes, but if your stressed and being forced to do things , however much available resources or additional resources you may have is useless. Likewise, neighbourhood schools are very well equipped to prepare students for the national exams - PSLE or O-levels, and are often not very different from "prestigious schools'. At the end of the day, what's important is if you are attentive in class, understand the content, whether you practice what you learnt or not and if you are putting in effort to complete all your homework and if you proactively doing revisions for your exams.
Instead of being forced to attend classes and all, and not listen to what is being taught, didn't put in effort in doing homework or assignments, but rather just doing for the sake of doing then whatever time, effort and money spend ain't well utilised since it ain't productive anyway just wasting time and money.
In short, learning should be enjoyable and something you proactively do, doesn't matter which school you go, you will perform well still as long as you work hard in the right way.
*PS my older siblings had tuitions from primary to secondary, but I was the youngest, so by the time I'm out, my parents can't afford for mine so they only invested in the two older child. yet their grades are still bad - one didn't graduate from sec, and the other went to ITE (both was from express stream, yet both didn't do well cause they don't feel like it and heck care everything so everything went downhill). Also no, I did not get any help from my older siblings (they didn't coach me anything with regards to my studies, they couldn't care less).
Ur siblings suck. 😂 Musta be depressing when one is dumb. Safe yourself 😊
Wow, watching this stressed me out 😢.
I understand the parents but don’t push them too much. They need to rest too
This is why our government is addressing mental health issue which announced back in Feb 2024 with top priority. 65% parents send their kids to 3-4 classes, 6% 5 classes and above. These parents are stressing their kids mentally to the limit and it not healthy. Even our president Tharman told the media, he spend most of his school time in sports rather than studies/exam and yet he still can do well. Parents should not force/pressure their kids to meet their expectation, every kids are different and stop comparing.
So many yearssssss passed still used the wrong direction for the children to drive them to competition in the high pressure system. Even they achieved first or second grade to get to the popular secondary schools. However they all got mental health issues
How were the children selected? ie, From what kind of family backgrounds / economic levels, etc? Without knowing these details, the ‘social experiment’ is just an interesting display.
Brought back memories of my own experience dealing with PSLE 31 years ago. I come from a blue-collar family. And PSLE back then allowed for upward social mobility. From the video, it looks like an arms race today. I'm not sure if I would be able to do as well if I sit for the PSLE now. My parents won't be able to afford to send me to such expensive after-school enrichment activities and classes. Back then, I got into one of the top secondary schools. The teachers kept harping that we were the top 3% of the PSLE cohort. Parents in the video are correct when they say the secondary school you go to can influence how your educational journey would turn out since practically everyone in my school did well for their O and subsequently A-levels. I've been away from Singapore for 13 years now, and I'm glad that my daughter does not have to go through such a stressful environment at a very young age. Wonder if they still ask questions on coins and rate of filling tanks now for math 😓.
Where are you now and what do you do
@@manikyum I'm in China now, working for a Chinese company.
@@petergunawan24 do you think china should invade Taiwan?
18:52 WOAH, I DID NOT EXPECT HER TO CALL HIM OUT?!?!?!
I want to know the result of the mum who didn’t send her kids to tuition. Any updates about her result @cna? If it shows that she still get good marks, then all the stress is for nothing!
Both my boys have no tuitions in school since p1. My elder kid is doing psle this year. So far they survived n doing ok. Both have single digits ALD
Give the kids a break parents. There are more stressful road ahead no one need to start stressing them so earlier. Results are important but the right attitudes towards life is equally important.
I did alright for my PSLE except for the fact that the math exam paper 2021 FEELS LIKE ITS TESTING MY IQ INSTEAD OF AN ACTUAL EXAM!!
I’m doing better in secondary school but there’s still high school drama going on ;-;
Competition, comparison among peers, overly focusing on grades from young will teach kids to be small minded and be focused only on pursuing material fulfilment above everything else. What kind of adults will they grow up to become?
The kind that makes Singapore competitive and thrive for success
@@khokl9288 yet our graduates are passed up for cheaper foreign graduates, not sure if the quality is worth it in the eyes of private businesses
Yup, it develops the sinkie pawn sinkie culture. And ppl wonder what sinkies cannot be united cause it starts from young age.
@@khokl9288maybe. But are they happy and emotionally healthy?
@@khokl9288 Success and competitiveness but for who? Only the rich and elite get to enjoy the fruits of our labor, meanwhile every year Singaporeans getting retrenched because companies want to have record profits every fiscal year. We teach kids so hard at so much cost and even then no guarantee of success in life. Singaporeans like you should kindly fark off faster!
And what are the PSLE scores of the parents. And was it that important for them?
Can totally relate to parents Amy Dean and even Dylan mom(fell into rat race of sending tuition but for simple reason of reducing online time)
That mother is right, though. It was a different era. Moreover, not every family have the means to send their child for tuition. I took my PSLE the same year at the host, Diana Ser, yet I've never had tuition at all in my whole life. Not because I'm a genius, but because my parents didn't even had any expectations of me nor placed any pressure on me. And also because they didn't know if I needed help or not, plus we couldn't afford it in any case. But I also knew that my role then was just to study, do my best, have a balance of play and study. Now, I have two diplomas, and if I apply myself to it, I'm sure I'll probably be able to get a degree.
I do agree with the students😊
How not to be stressed? The last scoring system allows cross subsidisation across subjects (less need to score well in every subject). The new AL system requires every subject to score well to get overall good total aggregate. Unless and until the PSLE exam/score does not determine whether one goes to a school /stream of choice, no matter how MOE “changes the score formula”, the stress remains. As Singapore becomes more and more global, our kids need to do better remain highly competitive to face the talent war that is becoming more and more necessary in this global market. The parents know that…
I think as compared to past years.....the P6 nowadays, even without tuition is actually quite packed already.
Education is to give life to individual ego, not to kill or mould it in order to produce mass army of industrial warriors. That is what distinguish modern society from early modern era, say 1945. What you believe family value is not family value but post facist value which is the same all over the asian countries especially South Korea where it is very hard to find human dignity. No ego = no dignity = no freedom = more slavery = definite HELL
The childhood and schools are to give them freedom and encourage personality.
And the society is to accept diverse individuality and to be the place where diverse people to communicate without barriers.
Haha I was also thinking about why she used such a serious analogy
@@Ponta-The-Panda Thanks for you sincere discussion and I really appreciate it. But still I stick to my opinion by following argument from your perspective.
“fostering critical thinking, promoting social cohesion, and preparing individuals for participation in society.”
This idea is to develop on healthy development of individuality
“the collective responsibilities and values that contribute to a harmonious and equitable society.”
Also same as healthy individuality is critical to develop the “healthy collectivism”. Without it, it will easily be twisted into collective dictatorship or fascism.
“overly simplistic”
Simplicity is the way of modern science which has better to see it that way than to see them too complicated to lose what it is.
“oversimplifies the complexities of human identity and societal structures”
Does this mean that you are giving up this challenge by saying it is too complex?
"Social norms" is to come after the base of healthy individuality.
The absence of equality for “political systems, economic opportunities” as you mentioned is due to the lack of healthy individuality that overkilled individual egos of young children and the lack of recognition of these “complexities” by adults in those society who are over indulged in capitalistic competition.
Again thanks your comment.
Dun expect ur kids to do it when u parents cant do. if u can expect them to score full marks, they can expect u to become CEO of ur company in e same duration; any failed to is a failure and no excuses.
Curious to know what happen to the kid who didn’t take any tuition, did she pass psle
for the best part of psle is that yay u can achieve a better result in studying . Nowadays doesn't matter even when u r lucky . MAYBE a way to provide a better quality to the video is to provide efficancy of studying so hard during exam and identifying a few talented ones and actually acheiving result for exam .