ONLY 20 per cent of respondents to a StraitsTimes.com poll
indicated that they truly believe enrichment and supplementary
classes help in their children's development - and that they would
continue sending their children to the classes even if no one else
did so.
In contrast, almost half of the 286 respondents indicated that
they had no choice; Preventing their children from falling behind
their peers was the main reason they cited for sending their
children to supplementary or enrichment classes.
Another 32 per cent left the decision mostly to their children.
If their children no longer enjoy the classes, they would stop
sending them.
This was the response to our poll question - What is the main
reason you send your kids to supplementary/enrichment classes?
The poll was created in response to a Straits Times Forum letter
- and the larger debate of the past weeks centred around the Tiger
Mum, Nanyang Kindergarten and Singaporean parents' expectations of
relief measures in Budget 2011, currently being debated in
Parliament.
In the Straits Times Forum letter, published on Monday, Madam
Phyllis Cheong had made a passionate case for supplementary
classes.
She argued that such classes are not meant for weak children in
need of remedial help. Instead, they serve pupils who are competing
to be in, or to stay in, the best schools.
Inevitably, she argued, there is a gap between the brilliant
child - be he naturally so or hothoused by parents who can afford
the fees - and those less academically inclined.
That is why non-elite schools must make sure that the gap does
not widen by holding supplementary classes and give the less
affluent children a fairer fighting chance.
On Facebook, a majority of Straits Times readers placed the
blame squarely on the 'kiasu' mentality.
For example, Ms Joyce Sun felt that sending a child to
supplementary classes is needed to prepare him or her for school,
as the curriculum is always changing and getting tougher each
year.
'Three years prior to my child going to P1, my friend, who is a
teacher, already warned me of what is to come when a child moves on
from preschool to P1,' she wrote.
'She told me to prepare my child early by sending her to
enrichment classes if needed because what they are learning in
school now is very different from yesteryear. I am very thankful
that I heeded her advice... the enrichment centres can teach my
child better than I can as they are more in tune with the current
MOE syllabus.'
-- ST
