THE new school year started on Monday, but my son, who was in his first year of junior college (JC) last year, will not be attending school this year.
My son qualified for his JC having scored an O-Levels aggregate of 10 points. Except for Chinese, which he failed, he scored either A1s or A2s for his subjects.
However, my son was not a consistent worker. He has the habit of slacking during non-crucial years, only to outperform and surprise peers, teachers and parents alike and make the cut when it matters. At PSLE he topped his school's EM2 stream, with A* in three subjects and an A in Chinese.
Last year, he did badly in his "promo" exams, only getting passing grades in two subjects. Prior to the exam, the school vice-principals (VPs) and his civic tutor (CT) had flagged his "attitude problem" and warned that he would not make it to JC2 if he did not meet the promotion criteria.
Having fared badly in his exams, my playful son was given his report card with a blank under "status", meaning it had not yet been decided whether he would be retained or promoted. The VPs warned that my son was under review and that his performance in the ongoing Project Work (PW) would determine the outcome of that status.
We wanted my son to be given a fair chance and pleaded that his status not be determined and revealed to him until after the PW final presentation was over. However, his CT told him in no uncertain terms that he would be "expelled" and would not even be retained for JC1.
That pulled the carpet from under his feet. For him, all motivation was lost.
A few days after the PW presentation, we were told by the CT to meet the VPs. My son was very happy that day, as the CT had changed tack and told him that he would be retained. As parents we were elated when we were told the news and we went to the meeting with a happy heart.
My wife and I stepped into the room to meet the VPs and were given a report card with the status "retained". As a concerned parent, I voiced out the difficulties we had motivating our son for the PW and we wanted to make sure that in his repeat year he would not face such a setback again. I pointed out that at his young age motivation was a key factor in performance.
To our disbelief, one of the VPs at that point pulled back the report card, said they had made a terrible mistake and asked for our forgiveness. My son was not to be retained, they said - he was being asked to leave.
While my son fared badly at the promos, was it not overly punitive to deprive him of a chance to at least repeat JC1? My son's entire future was at stake.
My son is determined to do JC in Singapore, but when we contacted the other JCs, we were told that they, too, are also weeding out weak students. We have not received so much as a call from any of them.
Back in my school days, some of my more playful classmates used to do badly in non-crucial years only to ace their school-leaving exams when it mattered. Many are eminent members of society now.
Are JCs now too competitive? In their hurry to raise their "value add" quotient, are they pressuring weak students to drop subjects and prematurely weeding out students they deem unsuitable? I hope the Ministry of Education will look into the school ranking system, which may have seen sacrificial lambs such as my son paying the painful price.
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I refer to "My son deserves a second chance" (Jan 6) by Mr Vincent Tan.
Mr Tan's stinging criticisms of our education system, based on his son's experiences, do a grave injustice to the solid work that our teachers put in. Putting it simply, he is being a poor workman who blames his tools.
Mr Tan blames competitiveness in junior colleges (JCs), an undesirable trait in his view, for many "sacrificial lambs" including his son.
Being a JC student myself, I can understand the intense competition among students. However, it is ludicrous to blame his son's expulsion on his JC's "over-competitiveness".
Competition exists everywhere, at work and definitely in JCs, where academic results are emphasised greatly.
As Mr Tan should know, it is unavoidable, especially in a meritocratic society such as ours. The lack of competitiveness, rather than competitiveness itself, should be to blame for his son's predicament.
I believe that there is no question of Mr Tan's son's academic potential, given his stellar PSLE and O-levels results.
His son's dismal promotional exam results, as strongly asserted by Mr Tan, do not represent his true potential as a student.
Then why did he do so badly? The answer is his lack of competitiveness and motivation. To quote Mr Tan, his son has "the habit of slacking during non crucial years".
Evidently, his son does not carry the correct attitude towards his studies; his "slacking" completely contradicts the concept of consistency and the building of strong foundational knowledge espoused by many teachers in JC.
The fact that he had to be motivated for his Project Work presentation - an A-level graded subject no less - shows the extent of his self motivation and responsibility towards his group.
What also troubles me is Mr Tan's impression that JC1 is a "non-crucial year", which supposedly justifies his son's dismal results.
JC1 is as important as JC2 - it builds up the knowledge base needed for the A levels, providing a solid foundation for JC2.
The promotional exams is thus a litmus test of the level of understanding of a student, and whether he has the crucial knowledge needed to progress to JC2.
Mr Tan's son's failure to take JC1 and this important exam seriously only goes to show that his attitude and methodology towards study is seriously wrong.
In defending his son's studying methods by espousing his academic achievements, Mr Tan is only adds insult to injury; despite his son's academic potential, he still did disastrously badly.
Instead of attacking the education system, Mr Tan should reflect on the main reasons for this predicament: His son's attitude and the lack of motivation and competitiveness.
Perhaps his son's expulsion will give him a second chance to think things through.
The writer is a 17-year-old JC student
Copyright 2009 MediaCorp Pte Ltd | All Rights Reserved
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