Why Tuition?

eagle SG

Eagle, do update us here in 2 years time, to see if your predictions came true.

I could say yes, but I probably would hve forgotten about it :)

At least it came true in terms of online shops proliferation as well as my previous company moving operations to China and retrenching people here :)

FireIce SG

how not to have tuition?

Seowlah SG

If the ministry puts all the best learning resources from the schools and JCs on the online portal, the demand for tuition will decrease significantly.

For example, if a H2 Maths student has access to the learning resources in the popular website ggmaths.net, he or she will be less likely to take tuition.

In the website, there are lecture notes and worked out full tutorial solutions for each topic, tests with full solutions, detailed worked out full solutions for all the JCs prelim papers from 2007 to 2012, revision notes, very useful summary notes and formulae.

A H2 maths student can study on his or her own with these learning resources and do relatively well. In addition, many JC H2 Maths lecturers arrange these prelim questions into topics and give them as exercises, assignments and tests to their students.

SBS2601D SG

Nah....I doubt it in my opinion.

Students these days are always looking for "model answers" in whatever they "learn".

As long as they do not take it on themselves to look for answers on their own, they will always look to others to go that "extra mile".

Seowlah SG

Nah....I doubt it in my opinion.

Students these days are always looking for "model answers" in whatever they "learn".

As long as they do not take it on themselves to look for answers on their own, they will always look to others to go that "extra mile".

If the "extra mile" is on the MOE online portal, there will be less need for the students to get tuition :)

SBS2601D SG

That's what I always point out to my JC tuition class!

I teach Economics and there is so much material floating around the WWW that they can use.

I can't say much for the hard sciences and math.

Nope.

Its the students themselves who refuse to see this!

eagle SG

If the ministry puts all the best learning resources from the schools and JCs on the online portal, the demand for tuition will decrease significantly.

For example, if a H2 Maths student has access to the learning resources in the popular website ggmaths.net, he or she will be less likely to take tuition.

Tried and tested on my students.

There are still a number of questions which they don't understand the solutions and needed help.

On rare occasions, the suggested solutions could actually be wrong or done in an extremely ineffective manner.

eagle SG

That's what I always point out to my JC tuition class!

I teach Economics and there is so much material floating around the WWW that they can use.

I can't say much for the hard sciences and math.

Nope.

Its the students themselves who refuse to see this!

The question lies in whether the resources online are correct or wrong, whether the solutions are accepted by cambridge or not, or whether the explanations are in syllabus a not.

For example, an O level student searching for definitions of Newton's 2nd Law would have encountered both the O Level definition and the A Level definition, both of which are correct at their respective levels.

There are many more such possibilities that it is extra work for the students to distinguish the "correct" and the "wrong", and the extra time and energy for all these is already sufficient for the student to delve deeper into the subject matter.

eagle SG

If the "extra mile" is on the MOE online portal, there will be less need for the students to get tuition :)

Many resources are also available in Popular bookstore.

Still........

Seowlah SG

Indeed, there are some solutions that the students do not understand and there are some wrong solutions. However, when the best learning materials of schools and JCs are put in the MOE online portal, the very experienced and best teachers and lecturers will be in charge. They will ensure that solutions will be easy to understand and no incorrect solution.

The issue of whether something is within the syllabus will also become a non-issue with these very experienced and best teachers and lecturers.

Very few resources in the popular bookstore is really useful. For example, the learning resources on H2 economics in popular bookstore is not really useful if a student compares the model essays sold in the popular bookstore with the model essays (PEEL) provided by the JC H2 economics lecturers.. The more useful resources in popular book are for H2 Maths.

SBS2601D SG

Reposted from the other thread:

Same shoes.

Right down to the resignation part. Not gonna teach anymore soon.

I have also encountered those who really wish to learn....and total CMIs who have no idea why they exist in the system and refuse to heed my words.

All the arguments for tuition are largely rubbish IMO.

The resources are at the disposal for the kids if they really want to improve their grades.

If you need tuition for self-supervision purposes, or because you feel the teacher cant reach out to you in class, then tuition still doesnt solve the fundamental problem why you cant access these resources!

After all, for those who will make it to uni (which will be half the cohort in due time), do you still expect MODEL ANSWERS, and hand-holding still all the way?

Sure, you might say: Not everyone is like you, so lucky no need tuition.

RUBBISH

I was made to be this way because I had to. Even more so now.

Recently my prof supervisor, concerned that I couldnt get help from the other teaching staff, decided to connect me with MIT peeps, in an attempt to try and help me. Clearly I am not a know-all.

I can imagine a lot of the kids would turn down the offer because "scary", "sekali I look stupid" etc etc (reasons for tuition). I was a bit intimidated with the prospect, but I said: Why not? And proceeded to rattle off a list of queries for the MIT peeps to answer.

It boils down to attitude and self-belief.

Has our system been unable to cultivate that??

SBS2601D SG

The issue of whether something is within the syllabus will also become a non-issue with these very experienced and best teachers and lecturers.

I am of a low opinion for "tactics" when it comes to answering essay questions.

These tactics are hugely useless for free-thinking and thought-exploration which is crucial for A essays (and verbal arguments for the matter). Its only "good" for exams, and utterly useless for job interviews, which should be the focus rather.

I usually encourage my students to give me answers that are close to their initial thoughts within 5 seconds. And then proceed to slowly think through and refine their arguments within the next 3 minutes.

The students in the system are spending too much effort thinking within PEEL and other establishing frameworks, and cant even answer my simple 3-word question: Why study inflation?

What sort of students are we producing? Soul-less ones who know nuts about why they are learning?

Seowlah SG

I am of a low opinion for "tactics" when it comes to answering essay questions.

The students in the system are spending too much effort thinking within PEEL and other establishing frameworks, and cant even answer my simple 3-word question: Why study inflation?

What sort of students are we producing? Soul-less ones who know nuts about why they are learning?

The problem is that JC H2 Econs students who do not answer in PEEL format tend to get lower marks :) Furthermore, many students tend to lose focus when they answer the questions in their own preferred way and get low marks. :)

I have always told my students that learning is fun but taking examinations are not so fun as we have to answer the questions according to the specific requirements of the examiners. :)

Seowlah SG

Reposted from the other thread:

Same shoes.

Right down to the resignation part. Not gonna teach anymore soon.

I have also encountered those who really wish to learn....and total CMIs who have no idea why they exist in the system and refuse to heed my words.

All the arguments for tuition are largely rubbish IMO.

The resources are at the disposal for the kids if they really want to improve their grades.

After all, for those who will make it to uni (which will be half the cohort in due time), do you still expect MODEL ANSWERS, and hand-holding still all the way?

Sure, you might say: Not everyone is like you, so lucky no need tuition.

RUBBISH

I was made to be this way because I had to. Even more so now.

Recently my prof supervisor, concerned that I couldnt get help from the other teaching staff, decided to connect me with MIT peeps, in an attempt to try and help me. Clearly I am not a know-all.

It boils down to attitude and self-belief.

Has our system been unable to cultivate that??

Basically the economics education in Singapore does not require own thinking until they have reached the honour degree, master and PHD levels to which they have to write the academic exercise, master and doctoral thesis. The content will have to be different from what have been published ie something new and different from the economic theories :)

SBS2601D SG

Actually I think the exam questions seem to be getting harder and harder.

They are more creative now, and it is usually not enough to just know the theory.

My greatest wish is that my tuition students will find economics fun....

And I actively discourage them from using PEEL in my class, because I want them to see that there is a broad broad world out there of possibilities.

I wish to say I can afford to do that, because my current students have been with me since J1. So I can focus less on purely exam technics.

Unfortunately the reality is that no matter how I try to make it interesting, it just seems that they are disinterested. And that causes the situation to reboot back to square one.

And econs in uni doesnt require thinking....but only up till lvl 3 modules. The lvl 4 modules require in-depth knowledge and good understanding.

The vast majority of the economics majors do not do theses.

And those who do base their studies on the established theories. At the honours and masters level, most know insufficient amounts to do "something new and different from the economic theories".

Those who do theoretical theses, will tweak existing models.

Those who do empirical ones, will set out to apply data to see if the theory is applicable.