Text | Mi Li’s Mom Some time ago, on Stefanie Sun’s birthday, she posted a video to share her current situation with her fans. Talking about the reason why she will not hold concerts for the time being, she confessed that her son has to take the exam for primary school to ju

| Mi Li’s mother

Some time ago, on Stefanie Sun’s birthday, she posted a video to share her current situation with her fans.

Talking about the reason why she will not hold concerts for the time being, she confessed that her son has to take the primary school entrance examination.

Stefanie Sun also issued a soul torture: What should I do if my son takes the exam? It feels like my mother is taking an exam.

It turns out that celebrities also have such troubles, so I feel relieved.

I guess that apart from Haidian mother, the one who can take Xiao Sheng so seriously at first is a Singaporean mother.

Singapore has a population of less than 6 million and an area of ​​735.2 square kilometers (less than 1/22 of the area of ​​Beijing). However, even in such a small place, there are National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University two universities with equivalent international rankings. Top universities.

In the 2022 pisa (a research project on the assessment of reading, mathematics and science abilities of 15-year-old students conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) test, Singapore took the first place in reading, mathematics and science.

So many people are curious , how did Singapore do it? !

Everyone only talks about Singapore’s children's spelling, mother's test, sixth grade shunting, and primary school "one test determines life"... A few days ago, Mi Li's mother watched the freshly released documentary "Childhood in a Foreign Country 2" , the first episode is Specializing in education in Singapore. After reading it, you will find that Singapore’s examination is far from that simple...

"Crazy" parents

In fact, Singapore's examination is by no means a national examination, but a "carnival" for middle-class and above families. ". In fact, just like Haidian, not all Haidian mothers focus on their children's Chinese language, Mathematical Olympiad, KPF, and sports every day. If you want to lie down, you can also read and study, but you want to fight for that higher level. The track.

How crazy are Chinese parents in Singapore? Compared with the parents of Jiwa in Haidian, it is even worse.

In China, we regard the college entrance examination as "one test determines life", but in Singapore, this age is advanced to the sixth grade of primary school. If you take the sixth grade exam, you can imagine that the competition will be much earlier than this time. It depends on what kind of primary school you enter, what kind of kindergarten, and even the area where your child is born.

There is a Nanyang Primary School in Singapore, which is one of the elite schools recognized by parents. Many famous alumni have come from here (including Lee Hsien Loong) .

Although the Singapore government believes that every school is a good school, parents have their own ranking in their minds. How is this ranking measured? Just look at the results.

Mi Li’s mother has a best friend who took her two children to study in Singapore before (due to the filter of education in Singapore). But after her children actually went to school there, she found out that it was more complicated than in China, so she took two more children with her. The child has returned home.

My best friend said that in the selection for gifted classes, only two children in the ordinary elementary school where her eldest son attended successfully passed the first round of exams (her child was one of them).When I took the second round of exams, my best friend was dumbfounded. Renowned schools chartered buses to send their children to take the exams because too many children passed the first round.

Guan Qiao in the documentary was in sixth grade at Nanyang Primary School. His After his parents moved to Singapore, became a senior executive in the technology and financial industries, and his mother also received a doctorate. But my mother still devoted a lot of time and effort to Guanqiao’s education.

For example, buy a house in a school district. In Singapore, if you want to study in a very good elite primary school, you have to fight for a room in the school district.

Guanqiao’s mother said that when she bought the house here, she was interested in it being within one kilometer of Nanyang Primary School and belonging to the school district. She had the opportunity to be drawn one round earlier than others. There were 20 places for Guanqiao in the year when Guanqiao went to elementary school, but he participated in the lottery. There are 38 children. At that time, my mother felt more nervous than her own college entrance examination. She screamed involuntarily when she was selected, while the parents who were not selected cried on the spot.

Houses cost several million Singapore dollars (equivalent to tens of millions of RMB), But this is just a chance to win a lottery ticket. Even so, there are many families who spend tens of millions to buy houses in school districts for this opportunity. yes.

Of course, rich people can choose in wealthy areas, and areas where middle-income people live also have their own "Nanyang Primary School". Everyone wants to fight for a future for their children within their ability.

"Passive" children

Everyone wants to go to the best school, but do the results of famous schools all come from the school's education and training?

is obviously not, it is the same as in China. Good educational concepts + good teachers must be matched with good students. Behind the good source of students is the step-by-step and full-scale planning of Jiba parents.

In Singapore’s primary schools, school ends at around 2 p.m. The government’s intention is to teach students in accordance with their aptitude and allow more time to develop personal interests, but in fact, most children attend cram schools.

In shopping malls in Singapore, in addition to shops, there must be tutoring centers. They will prominently post their results outside as their own sign.

This kind of care class is somewhat similar to ours. From 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the evening, children can make up lessons, do exercises, eat here... There are also other interest classes in the mall.

In the documentary, a 5-year-old boy was doing addition and subtraction within ten. The child kept poking his face and head with a pencil, looking very impatient.

The tutor said that no child likes to study, it is all arranged by the parents. The tutor said that everyone around her also tutors. If you have money, you can make up for it. If you don’t have money, you can find money to make up for it. From the age of 5 to 18, you can make up for it.

There are still some children who do not go to this kind of cram school. Instead, they invite their tutors home for one-on-one tutoring.

For example, the aforementioned Guan Qiao, who is in sixth grade at Nanyang Primary School, gets home at 2 o'clock every afternoon, takes a shower and eats before 3 o'clock, and starts making up classes on time at 3 o'clock.

Guanqiao is a typical "other people's kid". He plays the piano well, has learned golf and fencing, and is also very obedient and patient.

When he was in Primary 4, he followed the children from Primary 5 and 6 to compete in various world-class Mathematical Olympiad competitions and won many medals.

Even so, his mother would still lament: Every parent thinks that their child is in the top few percent of geniuses at the beginning, But look at his (Guan Qiao) medals, they are not all gold medals.

Chinese tutors, in order to help their children get high marks in their essays, start teaching in a test-oriented way very early. The teachers will structure the essays and use whatever descriptions they encounter. Anyway, both teachers and parents I feel that performance comes first.

So generally in the fourth grade of secondary school, if you pass the Chinese exam, you will no longer learn Chinese in the future. Children in Singapore will feel that everything is fine.

According to Mi Li’s mother, it is precisely because parents devote everything to their children, including school districts, prestigious schools, one-on-one tutoring, and careful training from birth... The more you pay, the more you naturally want higher returns.

But children are not our weight, they will grow naturally if they eat more. Every child has different talents, not to mention, when you feel that you have given everything, other families are not bad either. In the world of involution, there is never the best.

As the camera flashed by in primary schools in Singapore, I noticed that many children were wearing small glasses, an indescribable sense of familiarity. I don’t know, where are the Singaporeans? "Anxious" about what? In "volume" what?

Parents, tutors, and education departments all emphasize that Singaporeans are "afraid of losing."

This starts from the founding of their country. When Singapore was first founded, everyone from the leaders to the people were at a loss about the future. They didn't know whether they could survive if they became independent (from Malaysia).

Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew kept reminding everyone in his speech: Singapore is small in area and has a small population, but in terms of the quality of its population, its administration, organization and management, and the courage and character of its people, no one should try to challenge us. !

At that time, Singapore was filled with energy.

They will teach children this history repeatedly in textbooks, telling everyone that today is hard-won. Including everything Singapore has now, it is also extremely fragile.

Because there is little land, few people, and few natural resources, Singapore can only strengthen the role of people and talents. This is why Singapore advocates elite education, because it must select elites layer by layer to serve the country.

A professor at the National University of Singapore studied the mobility patterns of the middle class. He called Singaporean education "a game of social class mobility."

The middle class hopes that their children can develop upward and become professionals in various fields, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. These jobs have high wages and high status in Singapore, so in fact, middle-class children, from birth, Play the "social class mobility game."

Even in a top school like Nanyang Primary School, with more than 30 children in a class, in the Primary 6 examination where "one test determines life", at most only three or five from each class can get into the best middle school. But this does not prevent almost every middle-class family from participating in this "gamble".

Constantly reforming education

The establishment of Singapore’s education system is to allow all children to be diverted to channels suitable for their abilities.

Mi Li’s mother’s best friend told me after she returned from Singapore that in Singapore, if you want to go to a prestigious school, you have to fight for connections, school districts, and luck.

After entering elementary school, children have to face constant classification.

First of all, when the first grade of primary school is promoted to the second grade, they will be divided into classes according to their mother tongue level (Chinese, Malay, Tamil).

Chinese children will be divided into advanced Chinese classes and ordinary Chinese classes based on their Chinese scores. Chinese scores will directly affect the sixth grade college entrance examination.

When the second grade reaches the third grade, they will be divided into fast and slow classes.

There is also a national unified gifted class selection (gep programme) in the second semester of the third grade. After two rounds of examinations, 1% of the children were finally selected to enter the gifted class.

There is also a national unified examination in the fourth grade. students are divided into em1, em2 and em3 based on their scores.

In 2008, the fifth grade diversion system was finally abolished.

can the sixth grade examination (psle) is still a tight curse on children and parents.

Those who get the best scores go to through-train schools and go directly to college six years later. Those who get the worst scores go to regular classes, and the rest go to express classes.

A simple summary is: After the primary school entrance examination, some children have already entered college; some children are still struggling to get into junior colleges (equivalent to domestic high schools); and some children are waiting to enter. The technical school came out early to work.

So from the perspective of the Singapore government, diversion is to allow each child to enter a suitable track, but parents do not think so. In the eyes of parents, this education system has set up many barriers. Children must take every step well in order to win tickets for the ascending channel.

In order to reduce the general anxiety, the Singapore government is actually constantly making adjustments.

Beginning in 2023, Singapore announced education reforms and canceled all mid-term exams in primary and secondary schools. The PSLE ​​exam also underwent scoring reforms to weaken the decisive role of this exam in entering higher schools.

Officials from the Singapore Ministry of Education said: Everyone’s development speed and path are different. Some people are late bloomers. So if you only start to ferment in middle school, the system will also allow you to be cultivated in middle school and strengthen your interests. place.

In fact, Singapore’s vocational education is very mature and gives different children multiple choices. For example, if you learn to be a chef, there will also be a very professional master to take you. You will study for one year and do an internship for half a year. Later, you can work in a restaurant. You can open your own restaurant.

Sometimes, it is hard to say which one is more satisfying, , learning a skill or pursuing a higher academic degree.

And in Singapore, in fact, those children who did not get good results in the Primary Sixth Examination may not necessarily have a bright future.

The documentary interviewed some artificial intelligence developers, and many of them, , did not achieve high scores in the Primary Sixth Examination back then. For example, a full score of 300 points and a score of 250 or above could get into a prestigious school, but among them, 215 There are some with 200 points and some with 150 points.

For them, although they have not been admitted to college, they have a spirit of exploration, are interested in artificial intelligence, and have strong hands-on skills. They do not like to do scientific research or desk work. They can still use their expertise in product research and development.

There are so many stories about Singapore, I believe many people are more or less familiar with it.

"Involution" is not unilaterally promoted by parents or children, nor is it caused by a certain policy. It is actually a complex social problem wrapped up in layers.

Policies are constantly being loosened to reduce the burden on children. If other training paths and promotion channels are opened besides studying in prestigious schools, the class nature of work attributes in the entire society will be weakened. In other words, all walks of life will have With enough security to support the family, as well as due professional respect and professional status, children can actually return to a more natural state to find their own interests and career development.

No one likes to follow the herd all the time, or to be pushed forward to study. Others study Mathematical Olympiad, and I also study Mathematical Olympiad. Others study computers, and I study computers.

Isn’t the reason why the world works is because everyone is different? This uniqueness can create a spark that promotes social and human progress.

"Volume" cannot absolutely say that it is "good" or "bad". What is more important is to "volume what you love" instead of being a meaningless "volume king".