⇦ FOLLOW? ⇨

There's been a big hoo-ha over the possibility of terminating PSLE ever since news of it broke today. This post might sound biased but I'll try to make it as objective as I can because I feel there's something lacking in our future generation and what kind of parents we'll be like.

Every student has to at least take PSLE, O, A Levels, etc. to set a benchmark, to be recognised as a person with some form of qualification. We keep accumulating and 'upgrading' these qualifications as we get older and I see it as a growth process that keeps students going and stretching beyond our limits. The through-train system has abolished one safety-net of O Level qualifications, abolishing the PSLE system would be catastrophic. Its equivalent to sending a girl to nanyang girls primary and she's set for her student life to nanyang girls high then to hwachong. Life sounds too good to be true, but such lives do not have challenges. How can we grow as a person when we do not face challenges and push ourselves to work harder? Character-building skills and resilience will tragically all be lost.

Another thing that puzzles me is the reason why parents are eager for PSLE to be abolished. Parents all want their children to get into a good school and they're putting a lot of pressure on their children to do well at such a young age. I don't disagree that some stress is good to give students a sense of urgency and the awareness that education is very important, but most of the time this additional pressure exceeds beyond a 11, 12 year old's threshold and usually backfires. The main reason for their choice is that their children are too 'stressed' by the exams. I believe every student will feel some form of anxiety when it comes to exams. But when it's partially the parents' fault that such high expectations are set, how can anyone completely blame the education system for putting pressure on a child? Being obsessed over the PSLE T-score doesn't mean the child has no childhood, its the method of nurturing and preparation the child has undergone that determines whether his or her childhood exists.

If this new system had been established I wouldn't be where I am now. This new system calls for students to be judged on their intelligence based on their entry into the primary school (so there'll be another test to determine this? Then what's the point?). I feel this is unfair for those students who are late-bloomers, those who get the wake-up call only at a more mature age. Its the same as judging a JC student's capabilities based on his/her PSLE score.

Times have changed and the difference is years is too far to compare score with intelligence. It doesn't work that way. People change, and it's up to parents to see that they are able to mould that change to suit the child for the better.