In terms of practical values:

• 2-star: if he doesn’t like Chinese compo and puts in no effort, I am not so worried.
  • As a pupil, I too found certain subjects completely boring and useless — politics, Chinese, biology. Most of my classmates felt the same about English, history, and trigo. So we were not motivated to memorize or practice.
• 3-star: But wordy problems are somewhat impractical, kinda contrived. Why the hell do I worry so much?
• 4-star: if he doesn’t develop the “vision” in geometry, I worry about his …
• 5-star: If he doesn’t like arithmetic and puts in no effort, I worry about his foundation skills.

However, I feel his biggest limitation is immaturity — no inner drive to overcome the basic laziness that’s inherent in every person.

jolt: Since P2 I have realized that the Chinese composition requirement is unrealistic for many kids. Too much pressure. Now I feel the math wordy problems are highly contrived. Equation is the right method but not taught. Fuck the system!

Similarly, the PSLE science scoring system (keyword-based) is contrived and stupid.

The SG quantity of practice is possibly too much at Junior College level, even for a China high school student in 1991. (Will the U.S. quantity be more effective more appropriate for my son? ) Over 2 years, I gradually realized that my Singapore classmates mostly showed speed but shallow understanding in math and physics.

I feel IF my son shows enough understanding, but insufficient speed, I should avoid applying the SG exam standard.

If in another country the quantity/speed is 50% lower, he may be doing just fine. Perhaps at P3 he was at that position. So is he too slow at arithmetic? My assessment is, tragically, influenced by the Singapore exam system. I want to say fuck the Singapore exam system. Fuck the contrived wordy problems. If I spend some time analyzing quantity/speed (Not complexity) in U.S. P5 math exams (common standard?), I will get some idea what’s “normal” in another system.

Now I may need the inner strength to withstand the pressure from the Singapore school system. The streaming, the “caste”, the PSLE 3-digit scores,

Bill Chen pointed out that at least at middle (+elementary) school level, U.S. system is more holistic than China system. Many of his friends benefited. I said my son is not academic and would fare better in the U.S. system. He agreed.

I said even at high school level, U.S. system is still more holistic than China system, since college admission is only 50% based on academics, mostly GPA and sometims SAT.  Bill agreed. The academic benchmark used is not always a national standard benchmark such as SAT. I guess U.S. colleges knows that SAT is poor predictor of success in college.

Junli told me some colleges said SAT score is optional and will be considered iFF submitted. I feel good to hear this for my son. I think for this reason, YLZ’s two kids both scored very high in SAT but still not very impressive to the U.S. colleges. The Singapore system is mostly focused on academics but U.S. system is more holistic.

When I asked about “50%” quoted earlier, Liu Yong pointed out school projects, leadership roles .. are important admission criteria.

Overall, I feel U.S. system is likely better for my son. More non-academic programs. Singapore system expects high motivation at too early an age, when my son is not ready.

— as I told Josh

I told Josh … The “breakthrough” I will wait for – when my son starts showing any serious, sustained dedication to anything meaningful, I will feel relieved that I made the right decision to bring him to the U.S.

However, serious motivation about something meaningful may not be such an important breakthrough. Academic benchmark is a dangerous trap including coding competitions.