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Jan 23, 2010

THE Integrated Programme (IP) is creating unnecessary pressure on primary school pupils embarking onward to secondary school education. Only recently, National Junior College, among other schools, joined the IP bandwagon so it would not lose out on its share of academically smart primary school pupils entering Secondary 1.

But this widening net of IP schools has also created problems for well-performing O-level students who find it harder to win a place in the top five junior colleges.

Because the IP cohort gets larger and larger, enabling more secondary students to gain automatic A-level places without having to sit for the O-level examinations, vacancies in the top junior colleges shrink to the disadvantage of O-level students.

Perhaps the best way to arrest the problem is to enlarge the IP programme even more - to schools with a history of consistently producing bright students such as Victoria, Cedar Girls', Crescent Girls', Methodist Girls', Singapore Chinese Girls', Catholic High, St Joseph's Institution, Anglo-Chinese Secondary, St Andrews', Bukit Panjang Government High and CHIJ St Nicholas'.

If the IP net is not widened enough, the space crunch in Singapore's top JCs will intensify.

David Goh"

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What. The. Hell.

No no seriously, is this a joke? I really really hope that it is one.

The widening of the IP Cohort is creating problems for well-performing O-level students who find it harder to win a place in the top five junior colleges. And the solution... Is to have more IP Schools.

Is it just me who finds it ironic that the solution to having a problem is to expand the root of the problem?

I will once again, restate the point I first made to IP. It is utterly useless. Utterly. It has become too commonplace in stronger schools to be anything to be proud of. And you do NOT save any time at all in your eduation. Simply, rather than learning O Levels in 4 years then A Levels in 2, you're simply taking the whole 6 years and putting it into A Levels.

Here is my question. Why? Is 2 years not enough? I should remind all the fact that in United Kingdom, the A Levels can be done in a YEAR. Why would we want to deny the chance for IP Students to have a shot at an International Exam? We're not giving them more opportunities, we're taking them away.

Also, not to mention the growth of elitism because of IP Schools. Once you get into the IP course, you stay there despite your results for the next 6 years. (Of course, that is discounting downright hideous results.) It closes the space given to students that try to work hard to join these stronger schools that generally take up IP students to be recognized as one.

It takes the idea of meritocracy and laughs at it. Loudly.

I know that the above paragraphs are written extremely haphazardly. I was not intending to do a post till I saw this post.

I will not lie. First thing that went through my mind after reading the title was "Oh God, Another one who has the ego of an elitist but did not get what he want." Followed by, "What. The. Hell." after reading the whole letter.

Then it follows from the start of the post.