Diana Gets Real With Education Minister Chan Chun Sing About The PSLE | Regardless Of Grades

Singapore Education Minister Chan Chun Sing brings host Diana Ser back to his childhood flat and primary school campus, where they have a heart-to-heart conversation about how he actually did for PSLE, and why he thinks the recent reforms to the education system still need more time.

00:00 Revisiting his primary school
04:41 His PSLE results and choice of secondary school
07:21 Do good grades provide more options for the student?
07:51 New Achievement Levels (AL) system reduce stress for PSLE students?
10:36 What if PSLE is taken later, at an older age?

Catch Regardless of Grades, premiering Mar 29, 9pm SG/HK, where we get to the bottom of Singapore’s obsession with grades and find out if it’s time to stop chasing the grades.

ALSO WATCH:

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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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[pointer]

diana really good, not messing around, asking tough questions

[dbwkdidwbsof]

her frustration at ccs not replying her questions directly was palpable

[godsamazinggrace]

She asked tough questions
He evaded them

[nicholasgoh]

I’m sure this Army General is an expert in war and defense strategies but what does he know about education? Why don’t CNA go interview the teachers and let them tell you how these scholars ministers have screwed up the system and then move on to other posts? Why don’t CNA go find out why the teachers attrition rate is so high and their positions so difficult to fill? Why don’t CNA also interview the students and investigate why more and more are having mental health issues? Singaporeans really have to wake up especially in this election year. There is such a thing as collective karma. This is not some religious thingy but a universal law. Eventually it will come back to haunt you or your kids for what you have or have not done.

[zacharytan]

2:48
Completely disagree with Mr Chan's answer. If someome really repeated what he did in today's environment, there is no way one from a humble background can become a Minister, or hold any other leadership post.

In the past, one can really succeed in life based on pure merit, as most students had equal footing and there was no culture of tuition.

Today, the vast majority of students attend tuition and place massive emphasis on their academics. Even scoring well is not anything to clap about anymore. Rather, what sets someone apart today is their portfolio, and that further causes inequity. Students from good schools will naturally have more opportunities to boost their portfolio and have the necessary resources to gain admission into prestigious universities. A student from a neighbourhood school who does well in their exams cannot gain admission into better schools based on merit anymore as they lack the portfolio neccessary to beat the competition.

If truly MOE wants to reduce the inequity faced in today's environment, it must move towards merit based admission for schools/scholarships, while keeping in mind that only quality portfolio should be taken into account, and keeping track of a students' background and schooling life to understand his/her access to portfolio opportunities.

[zyzy]

sadly some people who didn't have to grow up in HDB flats (i.e. those in MGS ACS etc) do not have to work as hard for PSLE because they can get in with much lousier grades that would only put them in neighbourhood secondary schools.

[mamemo]

As an ex teacher, I do agree that banding the kids benefits both the kids and the teacher. And I do see students who struggled in psle being much happier after being posted to a stream that is more suitable for them!

I think most parents have a very narrow view of what psle means. It means nothing more than putting a student in a stream suitable for them. With subject banding now, students poor in the English language, for eg, but who are strong in math and science, are still able to take math and science at their appropriate level, which is great!

However, it's also true that primary school children now are more stressed as compared to children in the past because their educated parents lived through a different time where getting into the EM3 or NT stream means that your future would be 'doomed' (not true too but it was tougher for sure).

Now, there are so many pathways. It doesn't really matter when psle is. Even if they push the exams to when they are 14, the stress will still be there if your perspective and knowledge of psle remain in the 90s.

[mysticery]

Aint no way 12 years old are now considered babies. Back then maybe but now? I feel like the mental age of the kids these days are beyond their age because of this easily accessible information.

[jbrkjferkjbekjb]

I feel like we would be selling our young people a lie by telling them not to focus on grades, when the civil service literally pegs your salary / gives scholarships according to grades and virtually nothing else.

[unwaveringwaverider]

diana asked great questions, but CCS seems to be avoiding them...

[hummit]

Agree with Minister Chan - Need to get the kid into the appropriate class. And for that you need an exam like the PSLE.

[toisenwon]

Stay tune, tomorrow CNA and Minister Ccs gonna take us to RI.

[zyzy]

I think CCS should walk the talk and make access to secondary schools fairer. Currently lower income students face much more pressure and a higher threshold to get into the same school as other kids from richer families. Let's say MGS is the best fit for a kid who is from a poorer family because of certain values and CCAs that the school has. Why should a girl living in bukit timah/have parents who went to MGS be able to enter the school with less points than her poorer peers who do not have any affiliation to the primary school? 8 Points for non-affiliated vs 17 points for affiliated schools is a significant difference. So stressful. Until the MOE does something about this unfair advantage, the system will always be in favour of the rich.

It's sad that having come from a poor background himself the minister has not brought up this painfully obvious point. Is it because he got lucky and now is one of the elites and well-heeled?

[koon]

Huh, why cannot reveal his PSLE score?

[ysngngys]

9:34 the +/- 1 based on a 4 point band is just add undue stress on top of existing stress to students who had been scoring consistently in that range. This new category seems to tell "Whether dumber or less dumb is still considered dumb. The smart and smarter must be well differentiated. Beyond a certain bar, welcome to Club Elite!". PSLE stays as the first key differentiator.

[stargazeronesixseven]

😊🙏 Thank You So Much Minister of Education Chan Chun Sing & CNA Diana Ser for having this illuminating discourse & the nostalgic walking down the Memory Lane of our Primary School episode >>> OMG! Brought back so many bitter sweet memories of our childhood in Primary Schools ... 🙏 Many of our Principles & Teachers & even School Mates have passed on to their next lives over the decades ... The segments of our life journey have Self-Life ... We wish to have the Life Experiences & Insights we accumulated now while we are still in our Primary-6! 🙏🕯🌷🌿🌏✌💜🕊🇸🇬🇲🇾

[gotmyonu]

How I wished my primary school teacher didn't said.... "I am good for nothing"!

That feeling hurts my till today....

[ongernie]

A minister that can't differenciate in between cotton and sheep. To be a Minister of education is really hillarious. Imagine a minister going around shouting "Kee Chiu" like a spoil rowdy small boy in an election to be a minister. Running out of words....

[maureenng]

If companies look beyond grades and schools are meant to prepare children for working environment, wouldn’t it be contrary to have PSLE?

[krollpeter]

- PSLE is redundant in the current form.
- Generally there are too many exams with time lost that could be better used for actual learning
- Quality of teachers not always good, in particular for English, PE and science subjects
- Some teachers rely heavily on the students being tutored
- Too long school hours, and on top of it other things to do where efficiency could be debated, example: Values In Action
- Learning is seasonal, sometimes they do not much for weeks, and then everything comes in the shortest time
- Some teachers use homework for learning, not for deepening/intensifying what had been done in class
- Too many pages of papers to fill, a repetitive and boring work, I think writing and creating yourself is more efficient
- School activities can be a waste of time with no outcome, no follow up, not learning much
- The AL-System is not an improvement
- It should not be possible to "buy" you child into a better school.