It’s not true that local students cannot attend international school. Lots of locals study at MOE registered international schools like SJII, ACS Int, HCIS, though lesser in UWC, etc.
@hawkhea7527 my son attended SJI and his fees was $300+ It's still a farcry to what foreigners have to pay.. It is also worth mentioning that many foreigners back in their own country education is free 😏
SJI and ACS are exceptions created by a demand from returning Singaporeans who wish their kids study in a local school culture environment while remaining international in curriculum. However to fill up the spaces, these schools allow locals living here to join if there are vacancies. So the policy is still Singaporeans not allowed to study international schools except for the handful of ones that the government has given permission on.
As a local here, schools are fairly cheap (primary-secondary school), as I remember my secondary school pricing is only about 20+ dollars? The only expensive thing is the materials for the class and the canteen food. But home school food can also be brought to school if wanted, it can save a lot of money.
I recommend interviewing a local for their view on the situation. A single-sided view is generally not very accurate. However, there will be some problems with the locals' views, as us locals are exempted from high school fees and our education is much simpler overall.
he arrived 13 years ago and as he says himself the entire Marina Centre was not build. So he pretty much is a local even more so than most of the other people that live there and moved there recently like most. Unless of course your entire comment is based around that fact that he is white and not asian and you are basically being a racist
@@raghavnamasivayam8706 living thihs part of the country since creation is exactly what local means. he is as local as one can possibly be. but i assume your argument stems purely from you being a racist.
@6:03 - it's also a business understanding. The government does not intend to compete against private/international schools financially USD$7400 annual tuition is relatively cheap compare to New York state's USD$24,000 average per public school student annually.
I followed most of the videos but I thought his comments in this episode that foreigners aren’t encouraged in local system is absolute nonsensical. At primary school leaving examination (aka PSLE) around 25% of the test takers every year for past years are foreigners. The fees for foreigners are much cheaper that also cheaper than private/international schools. In fact this percentage increases all the way to local universities. For capable international students, there are also programs where these foreign students receive full scholarship until they complete their university education. Just China students alone, there are SM1, SM2, SCP, etc. Non-local students are brought into the singapore education system at every single stage to introduce competition, standards, diversity, amongst others with the Singaporean students. Otherwise the system wont progress, inbred knowledge and detrimental to our systems.
Thanks for bringing up the unfair advantage given to Chinese students. 2 points for Chinese as first language and 2 more points for 2 first language, that's double deductions for 1 subject and then they are going to score A1 again for Chinese as 2nd language. Complete BS!
You are right in reference to introducing foreign students in the mix with local kids to increase competition etc. However, these foreign kids are usually scholars and they do give the local kids a run for their money.. Drawing for my son's experience in SJI, he had 6 foreign classmates and they are all scholars and they are really stellar in their academic. Knowing the competitive nature of boys in SJI, they all bucked up to try n get on par with these scholars.. they became great friends in the process and till now even when my son is in NUS, his best friend's are still the ones from SJI..
@@enthufm they took Chinese as 1st language and 2nd language and also English as first language. Naturally, they aren't going to do well for English but Chinese is like helping them get through the doors of best schools here because of all the super unfair calculations in the past. I don't know what is going on now in the education system and I don't give a damn, my sons and I suffered through the shit load of unfairness and our days of hell are over. Glad I am not one of those dragon parents who put so much emphasis on Chinese, we barely scrap through with a pass for their Chinese and we are happy to throw Chinese language out of the window as soon as we could. Who would have thought we were so right now that the country is one where all foreigners and foreign businesses want to run away from? Oops, not forgetting all their rich want to find ways to get their money out of the country too, latest being Lee Kashing. After selling his development in HK at 30% discount of its neighbours' prices, he is now selling his Beijing's development at 10% discount. Looks like, I will be enjoying the last laugh for a long, long time, my children certainly aren't going to look for a job in China for the foreseeable future, so do the children of those dragon parents who spent a fortune to fight the unfairness in the education system back then.
@@crystal2484 this isnt really surprising and wont change. China is making a gigantic effort right now in singapore to paint foreigners as bad and they are widening their influence over singapore day by day. They have basically annexed the whole region like they did with hong kong except this time they did it politically instead of violently. Especially now i know from colleagues and friends that china is ramping up propaganda by a lot
Some of the information presented is not accurate and some is hearsay. Also, he is an entrepreneur in the education business. It is obvious there is some soft-selling here. It is best to do some research because there are many resources on the MOE site. Also, Singaporeans can enrol in international schools with an exemption from MOE. Likewise, foreigners can also enrol in Singapore schools and the fee ranges. BTW not all locals want exams to "show" that their kids are doing better. I want exams to know where my kid's proficiency is and if there is anything we can work on to correct the understanding. I would say a good balance is needed, previously there were too many exams and tests. Also, education is not only about academic vs creativity. It is also a part and parcel of character building and resourcefulness. Based on your title "Things you should know about schools in Singapore" the more you need another viewpoint from locals and foreigners attending different types of schools, and parents' point of view, as well. Otherwise, this sounded merely like a marketing campaign.
Invictus International school in Shenzhen China was shut down by the Chinese authorities for knowingly operating without a licence. I read somewhere it’s now being investigated.
For primary aka elementary school, there could be the case. Permission is not needed for secondary level and above. It depends on the number of places in the local international / international schools or subject to the schools’ criteria.
Why pay more to go to international school when you can get good, quality education in local, government funded schools? Singapore local schools are very good and gives good education.
@maxchernov it's not really true, there are plenty of international kids at my son's school.. of course not all schools are easy to get into, but that's true for Singaporeans as well.. and the priority given to Singaporean kids is justified as well given they don't have the option to go to international schools (at least not easily)
There’s a whole lot more to a successful career than math. Test scores won’t mean squat 5 years after graduation. It doesn’t mean you’re smarter than others, just more practiced in a narrow skill.
Not exactly true that "if you're not academically gifted, they'll ask you to leave". In the 1st place not all are academically gifted. 2ndly, there's a recognition that academia is not the be-all-end-all of the educational process. In Singapore, when a student gets pushed out of a particular school for this reason, there are lots of alternative placements in other forms/types of education, such as institutions that offer a more hands-on approach diploma-grade or other vocational training. Not everyone is suited to be a medical doctor, dentist or nuclear physicist. In terms of Singapore, especially, there is a keen, underlying need for excellence in multivarious disciplines as a matter of the only natural resource the country possesses, that is human resource.
Why are we comparing local public schools with an international school? For a start, the class size and school fees are already so different. We should compare SG with other public schools all over the world. I dont think it is fair to criticise or give lopsided opinions of our public school systems when he has limited understanding of our education policy. Singapore is a young country and we have come a long way to improve our system.
There’s no way Jb and Spore will unite. Collaboration on the economic front , but never politics . As for Singapore education , all are welcomed to study in an MOE school . It’s a matter of choice made by parents and these foreign parents are mostly biased and have not done their own search but relies mainly on heresay or other parents’ opinions .
What???? Public schools in Singapore have better teachers than private schools. In Singapore, students who cannot academically make it goes to private schools. LOL
Can locals go to international school in Singapore? If your child holds a foreign passport, you should have no problem applying directly to an international school. However, Singaporean Citizens (SCs) are not permitted to enrol their children into international schools unless they obtain special approval from the MOE. Oic.
I don't think it's that simple.. besides a license to operate.. owning a land by a foreigner can be challenging... at most they can lease the land.. then buildings cost alot of money and you have to remember its on leased land.. you have to be very careful in how you spend especially if you can't afford to fail..
Unlikely. But a more integrated mechanism is needed. Singapore is too small. The space is limited but the population is growing. Sooner or later there will be a spatial crisis unless the growth of population is checked. Singapore can't forever resort to land reclamation without endangering the whole environment and ecosystem around it. So, an integrated Singapore-JB could become a future approach in resolving Singapore's spatial crisis.
@@nusabudiman true. There are already many Singaporean buying property in JB and living there -properties are also cheaper and bigger-, those who can work remotely I guess.
@@nusabudiman All they have to do to avoid the population growth is to control immigrant inflows as needed. The local population is steady, or even declining in numbers due to having fewer children. So that's not a problem.
Not true (at least anecdotally). When I was studying in one of the local JCs, almost none of my classmates got tuition as the teaching quality was really good. Most of them got 85+/90 RP for A levels.
Max, could you help to clarify something that was said at time 14:20 about difficulties faced by tenants on negotiation with landlords in SG. It sounded like landlords overseas are different. John seems to imply (although it's not so clear) that the SG landlords made things difficult for tenants. I'm keen to understand how landlord-tenant relationship are different in other countries. Maybe he/you can quote some examples of the countries that you've lived in previously.
I'd say landlords in Singapore generally have more market power, due to the limited land the lack of alternatives you have in bigger countries (s.a. moving further out the city). I'd also say S'porean landlords are quicker to monetize opportunities to raise rents and put less value on long and stable landlord-tenant relationships. You will be expected to pay market rent, regardless of how long you have been renting a place, of whether you have been a good tenant or if your business is doing well or not. If you can't pay you need to move, the next tenant is already waiting in line. I wouldn't necessarily call it greed but Singapore is simply a very dynamic, competitive capitalist culture. That's what made the country so successful.
@@ordoabchao4202tks for the clarification. It certainly was useful to hear a foreigner's perspective of what is happening in SG. Many times we just carry on with the known practice without thinking.
I would say any landlord would do the same! They have the same ideas for maximising profits be it in Singapore, New York or Switzerland for that matter.. In my humble opinion, the only way to fix this ridiculous rental balloon is competition... competition always corrects pricing.. That will only happen when Singapore and Johor fix their transit time to less than an hour and that will open a whole new rental market in JB which will compete with Singapore landlords.. It's a good idea by the government to move shipping port to Tuas, more housing there and the rail system into JB from 2nd link 😊
@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 Some countries have caps to rental increases, e.g. in Germany a landlord can only raise the rent by 15% in every 3 year period. That's why some expats might be surprised to see the kind of increases we saw in Singapore. But you are right, the free market will fix it. A lot of building projects are being completed now, supply is coming to the market and rents have already started falling.
@@ordoabchao4202 Thank you for highlighting practises from other countries... I didn't know that 😅 Since you mentioned it, it sounds like a great idea to implement the same for Singapore.. I have expat friends and I feel their pain! These landlords are exploiting during COVID and they are still doing it now.. only solution is either new cooling off measures or plain old competition ..
Invictus has a Big Campus at Horizon Hills,..besides the School at Centrium Plaza, Serangoon Road. Would @max Chernov do a review of the school at both locations ?
He said "JB and SG will ACT more like one" (@2:20). The RTS will be the first step. But the RTS capacity is rather low - 10000 per hour. Whereas the number of Malaysians crossing over every morning is in the hundreds of thousands. 10,000 is just a small fraction of that. Will that change in 10, 20 years? Will the RTS boost its capacity (by about 10 times) to cater to daily commuting Malaysian workers? Maybe. That's what Fearon is speculating.
@@angeluscorpius According to government statistics, 1 million Malaysians are living in Singapore and at least 300,000 of them travel to Singapore to work on a daily basis ...everyday, from 5am to 8am, the causeway is jammed...all the buses are overloaded...
State board(english medium or state language medium eg: telugu, kannada etc), cbse and icse, if you can afford, you can send your kids to one of these in India.
I was shocked when my child was asked leave Spore Polytechnic because he was struggling. My child refused and completed his diploma. After his NS, he got himself into SIM and got a degree with distinction. Looking back, I was disgusted with Singapore educators.
Polytechnic education is a max of 5 years and it's heavily subsidised by the government.. the government will not keep paying for you past the 5 years period and deprive others of the opportunity to get a diploma. That's what happened to my niece.. she was taking more than 5 years after repeated failures to get a diploma and was asked to leave. She was also too distracted with her gaming and skipped school all the time.. she did not meet the minimum attendance required too... and that eventually got her dismissed..
@@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 No wonder they asked my son to leave on his own accord. His attendance was perfect. They can't dismiss him. I was glad he rejected their advice. I will forever remember the educators' attitude.
@blose4793 I applaud your child's perseverance.. it is ironic that sometimes the kids need something like this for them to realise and rise up and soar above the rest! You may not realise this.. but sometimes there is still something to learn from a negative experience..
Your child isn't the only one. A lot of children in the education system are either asked to leave, or drop a subject because they were struggling. The reason for this is that as long as there is a few kids in class struggling and not doing well in exams for the subjects or courses, it actually pulls down the performance evaluation of the schools and teachers. I was also asked to drop subjects when I was a kid struggling with trying to do well in the subjects for the very same reason. It's something that goes on still in the local education system.
No offense but your child was underperforming.... and I personally think you were not doing anything to help him/her. Singapore and Asian education is different from western education. In Asia we want results.... and when we mean results we mean GOOD RESULTS!
Please, I want to study Masters in Educational Leadership and Management in Singapore. I studied Bachelor in Primary Education Studies. Please what are my chances of getting a permanent residence and a good academic leadership position after my masters program?
Hi Max and everyone else, do you have a community for your followers/subs anywhere or interested to spark one up? I think a community of like minded people with or without first hand experiences of being an expat or retiree in SEA would be a good melting pot of knowledge and wisdom.
I don’t really think it is just for « equality » that Singaporeans are not allowed in international school. It is also for political reasons, having a portion of the population educated the western way would create cultural differences, you will end up with more dissidents, that portion of the population would have a complete different mindset, would even speak differently, eat differently and have different political, social views.. The rule does not really enforce equality at the end as he explained in the video, the more money you have the better tuition you get for your children, locals schools are not exactly the same you have ones better than the others and again it is about money, you have more money you can afford to live in areas with the best schools etc etc.
Max, you are still relexed because your 2 kids are not PSLE (primary school leaving examination) yet. Once they turn 12 years old, you wife will be the one 'kan chiong'
In Australia there are schools that want high performing students to lift their NAPLAN scores. Students with special needs are not wanted, especially if they don’t have NDIS funding, and if their disability isn’t visibly recognisable. Higher NAPLAN scores result in more funding and status. The culture of the school is affected. The care factor is zero for those unfunded children with special needs.
I think the schools here does have provisions for special needs students... in fact, a friend who is a teacher in local school told me that the first lessons they took in NIE (teachers' college) is about inclusivity..
@@ramacybernot all lol. This person isn’t exactly correct. Diff sch have diff classrooms. Those sch that have the gifted program are more likely to have more funds hence the school can afford aircon for all classrooms
Well, he's a founder of Invictus, so he has a competitive business interest, and is to some extent biased. The major issues with "International" schools is that they're international, and were originally set up for the children of wealthy expats. As a result, they're out of reach for even middle class foreigners like myself. I'm a PR, my wife is local, and our kids are citizens in local schools. If I could afford it, would I put them into the Canadian International school? OMG a thousand times yes, yes yes, I can't say it enough, yes. As he says, the school system here only supports you if you are academically gifted. Not just bright, or capable, but gifted. It is very obviously a system for filtering out the best and brightest, so that they can be selected for future leadership, and the rest can be pushed to the side so that they don't drag down the best with their mediocrity. In many other countries, there are elite privates, but also mid-tier and much more cost friendly privates that a middle-class family can afford. It's really about curriculum and personal choice. There also isn't school tiering or "elite" public schools being better funded than other public schools, no alumni enrolment privilege and no public schools acting like elite private schools. Here is my honest take on the SG primary school system as a foreign parent: The pace, expectations and outdated one size fits all approach is I suspect, a big part of the horrendous issue with child and teen suicides in this country. My son is doing "Mother Tongue" of course, which is Chinese, despite the fact that his actual, first learned, spoken at home, real Mother Tongue is English. This would be fine, we do want him to learn to speak Chinese, except that the teaching of Chinese seems to presume that most of the speaking and fluency aspect is covered at home, since he's listed as racially Chinese (I despise the concept of race more than life itself but Singapore is obsessed with everyone having a "race" and falling into some narrow behavior-box bcs of it) and so the school focuses on reading and writing, which makes zero sense when you can't speak well. P3 already and he speaks close to zero Chinese, but he can really write those characters he doesn't understand! Science is taught in a rote, memorization oriented way where the correct answer is simply to regurgitate exactly what is written in the text book, and the wrong answer is anything different from that, even if it's correct, more insightful and deep. English is just bizarre (his worksheets provided by MOE contain grammatical errors and archaic phrasing native English speakers haven't used since the Victorian age), Maths is just maths, so at least that's fairly straight forward, PE is a complete joke as they rarely do anything physical and mostly do what amounts to political propaganda with a bit of road safety thrown in. The local system does have some good qualities, in that it's severe, pushes kids hard, and those that can meet or exceed the expectations will be rewarded. But, those that are less academic, more artistic or creative, who might have brilliant careers as internationally famous artists, actors, poets or dancers, who can be every bit as top earning and successful as any lawyer or doctor, can essentially f-off. For anything outside of academics (even CCA's don't actually help very much) students and parents are completely on their own. In the end, the public school system is focused on crafting obedient, unquestioning citizens who will do what they're told. That's why the uniforms, the haircut restrictions, the propaganda, the rules upon rules upon rules. Singaporeans seem mostly ok or at least resigned to this. As a foreigner, it can take a lot of getting used to.
Yes, the vigorous regime of local schools is nothing to laugh at. However, it builds resilience. When most of your childhood and teeangehood is in a pressure cooker, you tend to adopt to pressures well. When I was in university, so many of my foreign friends dropped out of NUS, or got really bad grades. Whilst they were the top scholars in their own countries, they are very middling in NUS. Some of them just couldn't deal with the pressure and competition and folded. Lousy GPA meant that they have to drop out of NUS... While the local students simply deal with having to do well academically in GPA, partake in extra activities, do volunteer work, etc. To us, we had already gotten used to the tough system. Anything less means we would have plenty of time to party and get drunk (which I did for 2 years in uni). I would want my children to experience the system here, and learn to cope with hard knocks in life. But to still enable them to build self confidence. And guess which country's students fared the best? Students from China.
I don't think his intention is to misinform.. John have different experiences as a foreigner... he does not have it easy.. As Singaporeans, we are a privileged lot in our own country... John is running a private enterprise to help others like him and he's doing it out of need.. I do not envy his position.. I have a lot of respect for entrepreneurs... something Singaporeans need to be better at..
@@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 I don't mean whether foreigner / international. More like perception on local schools. I think he needs to mix with more locals to understand the system better.
@@HLLLLLLLLLL-r2p I agree with you totally... John needs to talk to locals who are specifically in the education/teaching fraternity.. he may have a clearer picture and it would help him probably plan/strategise better ...
he has a biased view, he co founded a school, so of course he is going to say his INTERNATION SCHOOL is the Best and local school is crap. standard business practice even Samsung does it all the time when mocking Apple. he is not going to say local schools are good because then he will be advertising that his school is crap and all the parents spending $20-40k per annum are retards because they love being scammed for worse education.
Insinuating that barring local from going to international school is socialism. Singaporeans can attend international school, just need a waiver from MOE. Singapore practises meritocracy not socialism thus the competition on grades and tuition. Which is evident on the ways scholarships are awarded in singapore. Having an education business in Singapore for the interviewee does not provide much insights into the real education system in SG. We constantly evolve our system in SG taking in global thought leaders and best practices making them uniquely Singapore.
What John mentioned is remote.. it may have happened in top schools where they will take the best sporting talents to represent the school for prestigious competition.. then when they can't make the cut near the final national exams, their parents might be asked to let the child take the exams as a private candidate so as not to pull their national ranking.. this is of course a practise that happens a long time ago... I doubt it's allowed now.. Remember, the 'All schools are good schools' speech by the minister?
@@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 unless it really happened to you and you personally experiences it. It’s no good speculating, the scenario you mentioned happened at international schools in SG. I am personally in the education system and I can personally vouch that none of these happened in the public school system
If I understand the Singaporean Sentiment, they don't really want Indians from India, Blacks and Muslims from conflict and extremists regions. Beside that they are chill Asian folks. And knowing the history of the three, they have every right to think that way.
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@9:45 - based on the PISA results ( test understanding and application of knowledge ) , Singapore is ~3 years ahead compare to the US and Europe.
Thanks!
Thanks so much! 🙏
It’s not true that local students cannot attend international school. Lots of locals study at MOE registered international schools like SJII, ACS Int, HCIS, though lesser in UWC, etc.
Unless parent is very rich. Local sch for Singaporean is only $20+ per month.
@hawkhea7527 my son attended SJI and his fees was $300+
It's still a farcry to what foreigners have to pay..
It is also worth mentioning that many foreigners back in their own country education is free 😏
SJI and ACS are exceptions created by a demand from returning Singaporeans who wish their kids study in a local school culture environment while remaining international in curriculum. However to fill up the spaces, these schools allow locals living here to join if there are vacancies.
So the policy is still Singaporeans not allowed to study international schools except for the handful of ones that the government has given permission on.
As a local here, schools are fairly cheap (primary-secondary school), as I remember my secondary school pricing is only about 20+ dollars? The only expensive thing is the materials for the class and the canteen food. But home school food can also be brought to school if wanted, it can save a lot of money.
I recommend interviewing a local for their view on the situation. A single-sided view is generally not very accurate. However, there will be some problems with the locals' views, as us locals are exempted from high school fees and our education is much simpler overall.
he arrived 13 years ago and as he says himself the entire Marina Centre was not build. So he pretty much is a local even more so than most of the other people that live there and moved there recently like most. Unless of course your entire comment is based around that fact that he is white and not asian and you are basically being a racist
@@TheGamebreaker1234not local just cause you live in a country for some years doesn't make it local
@@raghavnamasivayam8706 living thihs part of the country since creation is exactly what local means. he is as local as one can possibly be. but i assume your argument stems purely from you being a racist.
@6:03 - it's also a business understanding. The government does not intend to compete against private/international schools financially USD$7400 annual tuition is relatively cheap compare to New York state's USD$24,000 average per public school student annually.
I followed most of the videos but I thought his comments in this episode that foreigners aren’t encouraged in local system is absolute nonsensical.
At primary school leaving examination (aka PSLE) around 25% of the test takers every year for past years are foreigners. The fees for foreigners are much cheaper that also cheaper than private/international schools. In fact this percentage increases all the way to local universities.
For capable international students, there are also programs where these foreign students receive full scholarship until they complete their university education. Just China students alone, there are SM1, SM2, SCP, etc.
Non-local students are brought into the singapore education system at every single stage to introduce competition, standards, diversity, amongst others with the Singaporean students. Otherwise the system wont progress, inbred knowledge and detrimental to our systems.
Thanks for bringing up the unfair advantage given to Chinese students. 2 points for Chinese as first language and 2 more points for 2 first language, that's double deductions for 1 subject and then they are going to score A1 again for Chinese as 2nd language. Complete BS!
You are right in reference to introducing foreign students in the mix with local kids to increase competition etc.
However, these foreign kids are usually scholars and they do give the local kids a run for their money..
Drawing for my son's experience in SJI, he had 6 foreign classmates and they are all scholars and they are really stellar in their academic. Knowing the competitive nature of boys in SJI, they all bucked up to try n get on par with these scholars.. they became great friends in the process and till now even when my son is in NUS, his best friend's are still the ones from SJI..
@@crystal2484 What do you mean by Chinese as first language and Chinese as 2nd language? I thought English is always a must in MOE schools?
@@enthufm they took Chinese as 1st language and 2nd language and also English as first language. Naturally, they aren't going to do well for English but Chinese is like helping them get through the doors of best schools here because of all the super unfair calculations in the past. I don't know what is going on now in the education system and I don't give a damn, my sons and I suffered through the shit load of unfairness and our days of hell are over. Glad I am not one of those dragon parents who put so much emphasis on Chinese, we barely scrap through with a pass for their Chinese and we are happy to throw Chinese language out of the window as soon as we could. Who would have thought we were so right now that the country is one where all foreigners and foreign businesses want to run away from? Oops, not forgetting all their rich want to find ways to get their money out of the country too, latest being Lee Kashing. After selling his development in HK at 30% discount of its neighbours' prices, he is now selling his Beijing's development at 10% discount. Looks like, I will be enjoying the last laugh for a long, long time, my children certainly aren't going to look for a job in China for the foreseeable future, so do the children of those dragon parents who spent a fortune to fight the unfairness in the education system back then.
@@crystal2484 this isnt really surprising and wont change. China is making a gigantic effort right now in singapore to paint foreigners as bad and they are widening their influence over singapore day by day. They have basically annexed the whole region like they did with hong kong except this time they did it politically instead of violently. Especially now i know from colleagues and friends that china is ramping up propaganda by a lot
Some of the information presented is not accurate and some is hearsay. Also, he is an entrepreneur in the education business. It is obvious there is some soft-selling here. It is best to do some research because there are many resources on the MOE site. Also, Singaporeans can enrol in international schools with an exemption from MOE. Likewise, foreigners can also enrol in Singapore schools and the fee ranges.
BTW not all locals want exams to "show" that their kids are doing better. I want exams to know where my kid's proficiency is and if there is anything we can work on to correct the understanding. I would say a good balance is needed, previously there were too many exams and tests. Also, education is not only about academic vs creativity. It is also a part and parcel of character building and resourcefulness.
Based on your title "Things you should know about schools in Singapore" the more you need another viewpoint from locals and foreigners attending different types of schools, and parents' point of view, as well. Otherwise, this sounded merely like a marketing campaign.
Not only is the Singapore government disciplinary corruption free and zero tolerance for abuse of power but is also good governance oriented.
IMHO, for a country to excel.. you need a top notch civil service that is committed to service excellence with integrity and forward thinking...
Max, you really advertise anything!
Nothing wrong with that wat... otherwise, u want to pay him a salary isit? 😂
Invictus International school in Shenzhen China was shut down by the Chinese authorities for knowingly operating without a licence. I read somewhere it’s now being investigated.
Which international/private school in China isn't? They literally shut down all school that do not facilitate brainwashing there.
And all Private Tuition is now ban in China I think.
@@AniMaTheEarth Private tuition are banned, especially teaching in full time in other school especially the public school.
Johor and Singapore as one, haha, you still don't understand the Malaysia.
I agree, it’s for not for Singapore to say ok let’s be united . it’s the Malay government who in charge of JB, and even bigger of Malaysia 😂
@motobak100
They who kicked us out will not want us back
I think SGreans can go to foreign schools if the parents choose to (but needs to obtain approval from MOE) and vice versa.
Yeah Singaporeans generally don't do it because it's just too expensive
Oh you’d be surprised.. I was tutoring the Singaporean big name families kids as they all attend SAS 😂
For primary aka elementary school, there could be the case.
Permission is not needed for secondary level and above. It depends on the number of places in the local international / international schools or subject to the schools’ criteria.
Why pay more to go to international school when you can get good, quality education in local, government funded schools? Singapore local schools are very good and gives good education.
Yes, but it’s super difficult for foreigners to get into local schools
It's super difficult. It's balloting, it's pure luck to get into.
@@MaxChernov I am speaking in response to why locals do not go to international schools , unlike other countries.
@maxchernov it's not really true, there are plenty of international kids at my son's school.. of course not all schools are easy to get into, but that's true for Singaporeans as well.. and the priority given to Singaporean kids is justified as well given they don't have the option to go to international schools (at least not easily)
😂😂😂😂😂
There’s a whole lot more to a successful career than math. Test scores won’t mean squat 5 years after graduation. It doesn’t mean you’re smarter than others, just more practiced in a narrow skill.
Not exactly true that "if you're not academically gifted, they'll ask you to leave". In the 1st place not all are academically gifted. 2ndly, there's a recognition that academia is not the be-all-end-all of the educational process. In Singapore, when a student gets pushed out of a particular school for this reason, there are lots of alternative placements in other forms/types of education, such as institutions that offer a more hands-on approach diploma-grade or other vocational training. Not everyone is suited to be a medical doctor, dentist or nuclear physicist. In terms of Singapore, especially, there is a keen, underlying need for excellence in multivarious disciplines as a matter of the only natural resource the country possesses, that is human resource.
Interesting video. Always something to learn when watching Max's videos.
Why are we comparing local public schools with an international school? For a start, the class size and school fees are already so different. We should compare SG with other public schools all over the world.
I dont think it is fair to criticise or give lopsided opinions of our public school systems when he has limited understanding of our education policy. Singapore is a young country and we have come a long way to improve our system.
There’s no way Jb and Spore will unite. Collaboration on the economic front , but never politics . As for Singapore education , all are welcomed to study in an MOE school . It’s a matter of choice made by parents and these foreign parents are mostly biased and have not done their own search but relies mainly on heresay or other parents’ opinions .
What???? Public schools in Singapore have better teachers than private schools. In Singapore, students who cannot academically make it goes to private schools. LOL
That’s a very good and informative video, I’m not sure why you used the somewhat overdramatic and not totally relevant byline!
Can locals go to international school in Singapore?
If your child holds a foreign passport, you should have no problem applying directly to an international school. However, Singaporean Citizens (SCs) are not permitted to enrol their children into international schools unless they obtain special approval from the MOE.
Oic.
Johor n Singapore unite as one? Either you are joking or you are dreaming ...
He should have his own building. That would solve his tenancy problem.
I don't think it's that simple.. besides a license to operate.. owning a land by a foreigner can be challenging... at most they can lease the land.. then buildings cost alot of money and you have to remember its on leased land.. you have to be very careful in how you spend especially if you can't afford to fail..
Nice video, vey informative.
Not the usual foreigners complaining sg is expensive and me wondering why they are still living there 😅
thanks! but c'mon! :) not all my guests are complaining! I'd even say its a minority
Exactly...they should know themselves much better....never the priviliged..The laws here are better, necessarily stricter...
Alamak! Dun be unfair to Max lah.. 😅
All humans complaint, why so petty lah.
Singapore and JB unite??? You're walking on thin ice.
It’s a joke
JB will claim independence from Malaysia?. Indeed, will be funny to see that happening.
Unlikely. But a more integrated mechanism is needed. Singapore is too small. The space is limited but the population is growing. Sooner or later there will be a spatial crisis unless the growth of population is checked. Singapore can't forever resort to land reclamation without endangering the whole environment and ecosystem around it. So, an integrated Singapore-JB could become a future approach in resolving Singapore's spatial crisis.
@@nusabudiman true.
There are already many Singaporean buying property in JB and living there -properties are also cheaper and bigger-, those who can work remotely I guess.
@@nusabudiman All they have to do to avoid the population growth is to control immigrant inflows as needed. The local population is steady, or even declining in numbers due to having fewer children. So that's not a problem.
Not true (at least anecdotally). When I was studying in one of the local JCs, almost none of my classmates got tuition as the teaching quality was really good. Most of them got 85+/90 RP for A levels.
Max, could you help to clarify something that was said at time 14:20 about difficulties faced by tenants on negotiation with landlords in SG. It sounded like landlords overseas are different. John seems to imply (although it's not so clear) that the SG landlords made things difficult for tenants. I'm keen to understand how landlord-tenant relationship are different in other countries. Maybe he/you can quote some examples of the countries that you've lived in previously.
I'd say landlords in Singapore generally have more market power, due to the limited land the lack of alternatives you have in bigger countries (s.a. moving further out the city).
I'd also say S'porean landlords are quicker to monetize opportunities to raise rents and put less value on long and stable landlord-tenant relationships. You will be expected to pay market rent, regardless of how long you have been renting a place, of whether you have been a good tenant or if your business is doing well or not. If you can't pay you need to move, the next tenant is already waiting in line.
I wouldn't necessarily call it greed but Singapore is simply a very dynamic, competitive capitalist culture. That's what made the country so successful.
@@ordoabchao4202tks for the clarification. It certainly was useful to hear a foreigner's perspective of what is happening in SG. Many times we just carry on with the known practice without thinking.
I would say any landlord would do the same! They have the same ideas for maximising profits be it in Singapore, New York or Switzerland for that matter..
In my humble opinion, the only way to fix this ridiculous rental balloon is competition... competition always corrects pricing..
That will only happen when Singapore and Johor fix their transit time to less than an hour and that will open a whole new rental market in JB which will compete with Singapore landlords..
It's a good idea by the government to move shipping port to Tuas, more housing there and the rail system into JB from 2nd link 😊
@arjunadiabdulrahman6485
Some countries have caps to rental increases, e.g. in Germany a landlord can only raise the rent by 15% in every 3 year period. That's why some expats might be surprised to see the kind of increases we saw in Singapore.
But you are right, the free market will fix it. A lot of building projects are being completed now, supply is coming to the market and rents have already started falling.
@@ordoabchao4202 Thank you for highlighting practises from other countries... I didn't know that 😅
Since you mentioned it, it sounds like a great idea to implement the same for Singapore.. I have expat friends and I feel their pain!
These landlords are exploiting during COVID and they are still doing it now.. only solution is either new cooling off measures or plain old competition ..
3:08 Not exactly 😅 you can only walk from ion to wisma to taka then you have to get out to walk to somerset and walk somemore to dohby ghaught 😅
Did Singapore government really says we will enter recession later this year or next year? Which minister?
Invictus has a Big Campus at Horizon Hills,..besides the School at Centrium Plaza, Serangoon Road.
Would @max Chernov do a review of the school at both locations ?
JB and Singapore as one? Please do not simply speculate without any factual content.
I think John meant it more from a business perspective
He said "JB and SG will ACT more like one" (@2:20). The RTS will be the first step. But the RTS capacity is rather low - 10000 per hour. Whereas the number of Malaysians crossing over every morning is in the hundreds of thousands. 10,000 is just a small fraction of that. Will that change in 10, 20 years? Will the RTS boost its capacity (by about 10 times) to cater to daily commuting Malaysian workers? Maybe. That's what Fearon is speculating.
@harry55t Hello, did you not hear about the Singapore, Johor and Riau Islands growth triangle?
@@angeluscorpius
According to government statistics, 1 million Malaysians are living in Singapore and at least 300,000 of them travel to Singapore to work on a daily basis ...everyday, from 5am to 8am, the causeway is jammed...all the buses are overloaded...
@@bell-xk5dd Your point?
There's misinformation from this guy regarding the expulsion of students.
This guy is my head of school😂
State board(english medium or state language medium eg: telugu, kannada etc), cbse and icse, if you can afford, you can send your kids to one of these in India.
I was shocked when my child was asked leave Spore Polytechnic because he was struggling. My child refused and completed his diploma. After his NS, he got himself into SIM and got a degree with distinction. Looking back, I was disgusted with Singapore educators.
Polytechnic education is a max of 5 years and it's heavily subsidised by the government.. the government will not keep paying for you past the 5 years period and deprive others of the opportunity to get a diploma.
That's what happened to my niece.. she was taking more than 5 years after repeated failures to get a diploma and was asked to leave.
She was also too distracted with her gaming and skipped school all the time.. she did not meet the minimum attendance required too... and that eventually got her dismissed..
@@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 No wonder they asked my son to leave on his own accord. His attendance was perfect. They can't dismiss him. I was glad he rejected their advice. I will forever remember the educators' attitude.
@blose4793 I applaud your child's perseverance.. it is ironic that sometimes the kids need something like this for them to realise and rise up and soar above the rest!
You may not realise this.. but sometimes there is still something to learn from a negative experience..
Your child isn't the only one. A lot of children in the education system are either asked to leave, or drop a subject because they were struggling. The reason for this is that as long as there is a few kids in class struggling and not doing well in exams for the subjects or courses, it actually pulls down the performance evaluation of the schools and teachers. I was also asked to drop subjects when I was a kid struggling with trying to do well in the subjects for the very same reason. It's something that goes on still in the local education system.
No offense but your child was underperforming.... and I personally think you were not doing anything to help him/her. Singapore and Asian education is different from western education. In Asia we want results.... and when we mean results we mean GOOD RESULTS!
Y so international sch when Singaporean’s local sch fee is lesss than $50 per
Month.
volume is so low~~
Very low sound volume .(Malaysia)
Tuition Fee is very cheap for Locals (Singaporean), and not for International students.
Please, I want to study Masters in Educational Leadership and Management in Singapore. I studied Bachelor in Primary Education Studies. Please what are my chances of getting a permanent residence and a good academic leadership position after my masters program?
Johor Bahru and Singapore unite??? Why not Singapore joining Malaysia
i'm a singaporean sec 1 student myself but there's some of them which are wrong
Low crime doesn’t mean no crime
-Singaporeans (2023)
Hi Max and everyone else, do you have a community for your followers/subs anywhere or interested to spark one up? I think a community of like minded people with or without first hand experiences of being an expat or retiree in SEA would be a good melting pot of knowledge and wisdom.
It’s a good idea! Not yet
We are the best refurbished online & offline saler of all the branded laptops, servers & desktops with 100% tested & warranty in very lowest price..
I don’t really think it is just for « equality » that Singaporeans are not allowed in international school.
It is also for political reasons, having a portion of the population educated the western way would create cultural differences, you will end up with more dissidents, that portion of the population would have a complete different mindset, would even speak differently, eat differently and have different political, social views..
The rule does not really enforce equality at the end as he explained in the video, the more money you have the better tuition you get for your children, locals schools are not exactly the same you have ones better than the others and again it is about money, you have more money you can afford to live in areas with the best schools etc etc.
Max, you are still relexed because your 2 kids are not PSLE (primary school leaving examination) yet. Once they turn 12 years old, you wife will be the one 'kan chiong'
Lol maybe
In Australia there are schools that want high performing students to lift their NAPLAN scores. Students with special needs are not wanted, especially if they don’t have NDIS funding, and if their disability isn’t visibly recognisable. Higher NAPLAN scores result in more funding and status. The culture of the school is affected. The care factor is zero for those unfunded children with special needs.
In Singapore there are so for people of all tiers of ability, with customised curriculum. Hardly the same as the situation you mentioned
@@Jinkypigs do the schools implement Continence Care plans without humiliating the child?
I think the schools here does have provisions for special needs students... in fact, a friend who is a teacher in local school told me that the first lessons they took in NIE (teachers' college) is about inclusivity..
Hello sir..How are you?
this education system is something not all countries can follow. can you imagine this system takes place in the US? i don't think anyone can graduate😅
@08:31 try to what???
John looks like Guga from Guga Foods!
i am from kbh and i know him!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup. Recently news Singapore and Malaysia are in talks to establish a special economic zone in Johor and the Republic to drive growth and…..
Good interview.Should mention the 'Gifted student ' program.These specific kids have an air-conditioned class room.
Does the regular classroom in singapore not have aircon?
@@ramacybernot all lol. This person isn’t exactly correct. Diff sch have diff classrooms. Those sch that have the gifted program are more likely to have more funds hence the school can afford aircon for all classrooms
LoL... all primary 6 classrooms are air-conditioned..
No leh mine dh @@arjunadiabdulrahman6485
The little Switzerland of Asia? 🤤
Get real. Expats and students in the West don't blow a lot of money on coaching outside of school. Yeah right
Why would Singapore and JB unite? You think we are like HK and China? siow
I quickly clicked i thought Guga migrated to Singapore lol!
He definitely looks like Guga!
Well, he's a founder of Invictus, so he has a competitive business interest, and is to some extent biased. The major issues with "International" schools is that they're international, and were originally set up for the children of wealthy expats. As a result, they're out of reach for even middle class foreigners like myself. I'm a PR, my wife is local, and our kids are citizens in local schools. If I could afford it, would I put them into the Canadian International school? OMG a thousand times yes, yes yes, I can't say it enough, yes. As he says, the school system here only supports you if you are academically gifted. Not just bright, or capable, but gifted. It is very obviously a system for filtering out the best and brightest, so that they can be selected for future leadership, and the rest can be pushed to the side so that they don't drag down the best with their mediocrity.
In many other countries, there are elite privates, but also mid-tier and much more cost friendly privates that a middle-class family can afford. It's really about curriculum and personal choice. There also isn't school tiering or "elite" public schools being better funded than other public schools, no alumni enrolment privilege and no public schools acting like elite private schools.
Here is my honest take on the SG primary school system as a foreign parent:
The pace, expectations and outdated one size fits all approach is I suspect, a big part of the horrendous issue with child and teen suicides in this country. My son is doing "Mother Tongue" of course, which is Chinese, despite the fact that his actual, first learned, spoken at home, real Mother Tongue is English. This would be fine, we do want him to learn to speak Chinese, except that the teaching of Chinese seems to presume that most of the speaking and fluency aspect is covered at home, since he's listed as racially Chinese (I despise the concept of race more than life itself but Singapore is obsessed with everyone having a "race" and falling into some narrow behavior-box bcs of it) and so the school focuses on reading and writing, which makes zero sense when you can't speak well. P3 already and he speaks close to zero Chinese, but he can really write those characters he doesn't understand!
Science is taught in a rote, memorization oriented way where the correct answer is simply to regurgitate exactly what is written in the text book, and the wrong answer is anything different from that, even if it's correct, more insightful and deep. English is just bizarre (his worksheets provided by MOE contain grammatical errors and archaic phrasing native English speakers haven't used since the Victorian age), Maths is just maths, so at least that's fairly straight forward, PE is a complete joke as they rarely do anything physical and mostly do what amounts to political propaganda with a bit of road safety thrown in.
The local system does have some good qualities, in that it's severe, pushes kids hard, and those that can meet or exceed the expectations will be rewarded. But, those that are less academic, more artistic or creative, who might have brilliant careers as internationally famous artists, actors, poets or dancers, who can be every bit as top earning and successful as any lawyer or doctor, can essentially f-off. For anything outside of academics (even CCA's don't actually help very much) students and parents are completely on their own. In the end, the public school system is focused on crafting obedient, unquestioning citizens who will do what they're told. That's why the uniforms, the haircut restrictions, the propaganda, the rules upon rules upon rules. Singaporeans seem mostly ok or at least resigned to this. As a foreigner, it can take a lot of getting used to.
Yes, the vigorous regime of local schools is nothing to laugh at. However, it builds resilience. When most of your childhood and teeangehood is in a pressure cooker, you tend to adopt to pressures well. When I was in university, so many of my foreign friends dropped out of NUS, or got really bad grades. Whilst they were the top scholars in their own countries, they are very middling in NUS. Some of them just couldn't deal with the pressure and competition and folded. Lousy GPA meant that they have to drop out of NUS... While the local students simply deal with having to do well academically in GPA, partake in extra activities, do volunteer work, etc. To us, we had already gotten used to the tough system. Anything less means we would have plenty of time to party and get drunk (which I did for 2 years in uni). I would want my children to experience the system here, and learn to cope with hard knocks in life. But to still enable them to build self confidence.
And guess which country's students fared the best? Students from China.
he looks like wilson fisk
In 10 years time…. Autonomous cars will roam the city state… distribute manufacturing is the way to go……
I'm sure it will be the case
Singapore and Johor Bahru won’t unite..
So much misinformation 😅
I don't think his intention is to misinform..
John have different experiences as a foreigner... he does not have it easy..
As Singaporeans, we are a privileged lot in our own country...
John is running a private enterprise to help others like him and he's doing it out of need.. I do not envy his position.. I have a lot of respect for entrepreneurs... something Singaporeans need to be better at..
@@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 I don't mean whether foreigner / international. More like perception on local schools. I think he needs to mix with more locals to understand the system better.
@@HLLLLLLLLLL-r2p I agree with you totally... John needs to talk to locals who are specifically in the education/teaching fraternity.. he may have a clearer picture and it would help him probably plan/strategise better ...
he has a biased view, he co founded a school, so of course he is going to say his INTERNATION SCHOOL is the Best and local school is crap. standard business practice even Samsung does it all the time when mocking Apple. he is not going to say local schools are good because then he will be advertising that his school is crap and all the parents spending $20-40k per annum are retards because they love being scammed for worse education.
LOL what did I just watch 😅. A few offensive nuances from foreigners perspective, wondering is this the new normal
What exactly was offensive?
Insinuating that barring local from going to international school is socialism.
Singaporeans can attend international school, just need a waiver from MOE.
Singapore practises meritocracy not socialism thus the competition on grades and tuition. Which is evident on the ways scholarships are awarded in singapore.
Having an education business in Singapore for the interviewee does not provide much insights into the real education system in SG. We constantly evolve our system in SG taking in global thought leaders and best practices making them uniquely Singapore.
Are you in education industry?
What John mentioned is remote.. it may have happened in top schools where they will take the best sporting talents to represent the school for prestigious competition.. then when they can't make the cut near the final national exams, their parents might be asked to let the child take the exams as a private candidate so as not to pull their national ranking.. this is of course a practise that happens a long time ago... I doubt it's allowed now..
Remember, the 'All schools are good schools' speech by the minister?
@@arjunadiabdulrahman6485 unless it really happened to you and you personally experiences it. It’s no good speculating, the scenario you mentioned happened at international schools in SG. I am personally in the education system and I can personally vouch that none of these happened in the public school system
Parents kiasu !!!
👏👍💪🇸🇬
Singapore schools manufacture robots. Ant economy. Like China. The West holds the creativity infusing a good dose of arts into science & tech..
If I understand the Singaporean Sentiment, they don't really want Indians from India, Blacks and Muslims from conflict and extremists regions. Beside that they are chill Asian folks. And knowing the history of the three, they have every right to think that way.