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Community
Issues - Five-day
week for schools
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Five-day week for schools
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Give
our young less stress at school |
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"...Grades have become all too
important in Singapore and schools may have become pressure-cooker centres
unwittingly.
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| "Some children may bask in such situations. Others may not know
how to handle the stress. In their minds, they are still young and being young
meant being free to play around. Hitting the books is the last thing in their
minds.
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| "Then, there are those who do not have the grey matter to keep up with
the rigorous learning programme..."
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More |
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Excerpt
of letter by Kesavan Sam Prasad to Straits
Times Forum page on 27 Aug 2004 |
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"On
education, I would suggest that we further
challenge the Ministry of Education to ban
weekend homework and Saturday CCAs
altogether. |
| "What's
the point of having a five-day week for
civil servants and many in the private
sector when their children will have to
spend weekends doing homework or CCAs and
parents have to set aside weekend time to
assist them with their work?..." |
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Excerpt
of letter by Liu Yichen to Straits
Times Forum page on 3 Sep 2004 |
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"...Many
students will probably rejoice at the idea
of having more time to play during the
weekend. As a student myself, the
suggestion does seem tempting. |
| "However,
I don't think the banning of weekend
homework would be a good idea. Over the
long term, how would this work out? |
| "Secondary
students have to study at least six
academic subjects. The average number of
hours of homework per week is about 15
hours. Even with a reduction of
curriculum, the homework would still
amount to about 10 hours. |
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"Spread
that over five days, and you get two hours
of work each day. During exam periods,
teachers would probably give more revision
exercises. This would mean an even larger
amount of work per day... |
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"A
student, already tired out from a day of
school and CCAs, would long to be able to
sit down, relax, and watch some TV, but
nope, it's time for homework. |
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"The
student would likely finish his homework
at about 10pm, leaving no time to revise
what he learnt that day if he wished to
sleep at a decent time... |
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"If
there is a ban on weekend homework,
teachers will set tighter and tighter
deadlines and students would have a harder
and harder time catching up with
weekday work. Stress would build up to an
unbearable level. |
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"Leave
the weekend as it is, and you will be
saving students from a lot of breakdowns
later on!" |
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Excerpt
of letter by Michael Warren Lim to Straits
Times Forum page on 3 Sep 2004 |
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"...I
am a secondary student studying in an
independent school, and I feel that this
plan (five-day week) should not be
extended to schools. |
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"Right
now, most of the students in my school
have heavy co-curricular activities (CCA)
commitments, alongside other
responsibilities, such as school work and
projects.
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"Most,
if not all, of our weekdays are already
taken up by numerous lessons and classes,
leaving only weekends for CCA...
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"Imposing
a five-day week and prohibiting school
activities on weekends will mean that
those CCA training sessions or lessons
originally scheduled on weekends will have
to be crammed into the weekdays for us to
achieve the same level of competency,
usually at the expense of other
commitments. |
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"While
it is uncertain that we will be able to
manage with such a denser schedule, it is
certain that standards will decline across
the board..." |
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Excerpt
of letter by K Malathy (Mdm) to Straits
Times Forum page on 13 Sep 2004 |
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"...Life
does seem to be one steady, sorry grind of
organised activity and homework for these
young people. The sad thing is they don't
want it to be changed. |
| "In
my family, all of us get to sleep in late
over the weekend. We have a leisurely
breakfast and do other lazy family things. |
| "All
of us, that is, except my elder boy who
gets up at 6am even on Saturday, because
of CCAs. With the recent implementation of
the five-day week, we hope he will get to
enjoy weekends with the rest of the
family. |
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"Students
need time to be thinking, reflective
learners, and also to sometimes just 'hang
loose'. I really hope schools will heed
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's call and
adopt a five-day work week. |
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"Please
do reduce homework, and cut school demands
and commitments to reasonable levels. |
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"Please
incorporate CCAs into curriculum time -
the quality of CCAs will not be
compromised..." |
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Excerpt
of letter by Peter Ho Shau Hui to Straits
Times Forum page on 13 Sep 2004 |
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"...We
have really indoctrinated them with a
sense that the current school curriculum
must be fulfilled, despite the changes
proposed by PM Lee. |
| "Finally,
the Government has realised that in the
world of today and that of the future,
what counts will be how creative one is
and not how 'learned' (facts stuffed into
our children's heads). |
| "The
proposals were sweeping and I really fear
our population has yet to catch on with
the changes in the world. Several years
ago, an effort was made to reduce the
school curriculum, but nothing much
happened. |
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"So
long as the way we measure our schools -
key performance indicators (KPIs) -
remains the same, not much will change. We
need to change school KPIs in order to
change... |
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"Our
school system has been one of the main
bugbears of so-called 'quitters' who
emigrate. |
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"Recently,
two friends decided to emigrate to
Australia for more wholesome education of
their children and better family life. |
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"What
is the use of the Government giving
incentives to the population to procreate,
when they simply uproot and leave when
their children reach schooling age? It is
one step forward and one step back! |
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"Parents
have children so they can enjoy the
heavenly feeling of having children. So
please give us time to enjoy our children
and give them time to be real children,
not just examination-centric kids. They
grow up too quickly anyway." |
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Excerpt
of letter by Jiang Ke-Yue to Straits
Times Forum page on 13 Sep 2004 |
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"...In
its circular, the MOE allows schools to
run 'student-initiated activities' on
Saturdays without approval from the
Schools Division. This measure is
motivated by concern to develop a diverse
education system. |
| "In
contrast, and consistent with the move
towards a five-day week, the MOE says
schools should avoid organising
'school-initiated activities' on
Saturdays. They should not simply shift
Saturday activities to weekdays but review
their programmes and 'concentrate on
activities related to their niche
areas'... |
| "While
schools should not simply shift Saturday
activities to weekdays in order to
implement a five-day week, culling
'non-niche' co-curricular activities (CCAs)
from the school curriculum is not the
better solution. |
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"In
a diverse education system, learning does
not end when the school bell rings.
Learning is not restricted by the
classroom environment or the school
syllabus. In the pursuit of learning,
sacrifice of time - even family time - may
be necessary. |
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"This
may mean odd hours in the laboratory on a
Saturday, or entire weekends spent
building confidence, instilling ruggedness
and developing leadership through
programmes offered by uniformed
groups..." |
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