From P1 to P3, among all the academic skills, the #1 skill I worked on most was renzi. Clearly more strategic than English, Science or …
Now in P6 I think my son’s renzi capabiilities is stronger than most of his classmates.
Category: 学
not strictly school testable content
if +! the math bmark crisis of 2019
I wouldn’t say he is so lazy. Perhaps he is more motivated than many kids of another country.
I wouldn’t see his poor clarity of thinking and pattern recognition in math.
I wouldn’t feel so negative about his tech career
I wouldn’t see his basic arithmetic weakness created by years of neglect.
Am I more focused@ marks^concept@@ #math++
SG^U.S.math++ heavy practice4 exam!!concept
Q: am I more focused on grades or concept?
A: At P2, I used to focus on concepts. Now I feel focusing on concepts probably means he won’t get the marks. To get the marks, he has to endure uncomfortable amount of practice. See my chat with Sakamoto teacher…
I guess that many math fun learning websites (U.S., Australia…) probably focus on pupils’ interests (intrinsic motivation), not exams. I think exams in SG require much heavier tedious practice. To score in exams, you need speed, pattern-recognition, and avoiding mistakes at every step. You need lots of practice. 又快又准。
JackZ: Given your son’s lack of interest in wordy problems, U.S. culture would probably emphasize encouragement rather than forced practice.
Heavy homework, tough practice is actually common across U.S. schools such as my UChicago master’s program, but probably not common before high school.
In Singapore, it is quite heavy starting at Grade 4.
At the higher leve, proficiency is a requirement at the U.S. exams, similar to Singapore exams at the same level.
bell-curve bmark: I can’t influence other pupils #GraceDong
I feel I need to focus more on motivation than benchmark. The fixation on academic ranking is frustrating because it’s ALWAYS relative to fellow students.
I have zero control over fellow students’ performance, abilities, effort….
Grace Dong seemed to suggest that poor grade is always due to limited effort. I feel that point of view ignores the relative ranking. If you double your effort but other people also double their effort, then you would still score low in the bell curve !
##critical questions@%%coaching effort #math
Q: in my recent wordy problem face times, is boy making an effort?
%%A: I would say yes.
Q: Is he learning a reusable method?
%%A: Am 51% confident
Q: Is he paying attention?
%%A: Am 60% confident
Q: am I more focused on his grades, or him grasping the concepts? See separate blogpost
compar`math benchmarks SG^U.S.^Chn
jolt: his math skills overall, if benchmarked in U.S., might be an A-.
His wordy problem performance might be B+.
His SG classmates’ math standard, if benchmarked in China, might be a B, because I know from experience that China’s math standard is higher.
China students would look down on these SG counterparts because “their tough problems are so easy for us. They are just hopeless.”
contrived wordy problem PattRecog=exam-tak`technique
https://btv-open.dreamhosters.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=18160&action=edit
wordy problems: as academic as作文exam
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,
myth: U.S.parent`culture=weaker #lower@bmark
My view of U.S. vs Chinese parenting culture/practices is biased.
I tend to feel U.S. one is weaker, ineffective and failing, but look at the output of these two parenting cultures. Out of 10,000 comparable (mostly white-collar or middle-class) families, the number of “successful” (beyond grades) adult children is not higher among the Chinese. In fact, as soon as we look beyond standardized benchmarks, the comparative picture would be very very different between the two cultures.