Should schools take a break during school holidays?


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sbs99

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Jan 17, 2002
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A current topic hotly discussed among parents, educators, news.

What do the schools think?
What do the teachers think?
What do the non-teaching staff think?
What do the parents think?
What do the students think?

What do you think?
 

At least, the ministry of Education, should change the "School Holidays" to a more appropraite word to reflect the requirement of student during these periods.
 

according to my colleague a teacher still has to report to school for 1/2 a mth
 

I seriously don't see the need to mask these periods as "holidays" when the real difference is students just do work at home, or go back for lessons sans flag raising.
 

An equivocal YES.
Although I seriously doubt school kids get a break.
Anxious parents will sadly load their kids with even more tuition and holiday enrichment classes...
 

Hmm....if school takes a break, then how about the teacher's salary? Do they pay them less for attending less time in school?:bsmilie:
 

Hmm....if school takes a break, then how about the teacher's salary? Do they pay them less for attending less time in school?:bsmilie:

They usually not required to come back to sch, unless got activities, meetings, duties, etc.
From what i heard most teachers are free to go home after school on normal school days which is just after lunch time. But some are really bogged down by misc work so they got to stay till really late hours everyday. Then again there are some who really go off early almost everyday, maybe they bring their work home to do?
 

What do you think?

:think:

my time still got break what, you mean now no break?

usually if no break is student/parentś choice.. like my cca need to train during holidays, can pon lor, then cannot take part in nationals later on. as for teachers, well, let me ask you this question - if they are paid on the same scale as any other civil servant, with perhaps minor differences (not sure about that).. and most civil servants get 14 days of leave each year only when starting out.. do you think it fair?

a lot of teachers happily sign up thinking that wa, can go back to primary school again, but there are exam papers to set and vet, there are holiday classes to run.. choosing a job is like buying lens mar.. have to shop everywhere and get a feeling of the situation before signing and committing.
 

:think:

my time still got break what, you mean now no break?

usually if no break is student/parentś choice.. like my cca need to train during holidays, can pon lor, then cannot take part in nationals later on. as for teachers, well, let me ask you this question - if they are paid on the same scale as any other civil servant, with perhaps minor differences (not sure about that).. and most civil servants get 14 days of leave each year only when starting out.. do you think it fair?

a lot of teachers happily sign up thinking that wa, can go back to primary school again, but there are exam papers to set and vet, there are holiday classes to run.. choosing a job is like buying lens mar.. have to shop everywhere and get a feeling of the situation before signing and committing.


erm...sort of, coz operations are now run on performance basis and results orientated. So that sort of leads to a lot other things too.

Yah last time, not much activities in sch, nowadays like got cca, enrichment, training, duties, etc for the students, maybe they would be back in sch at least 2 weeks of the whole month? im not too sure, need students to verify. haha

yah i find quite a number of teachers getting into this job, not becoz of the passion, but becoz of the pay and stability. I have a couple of friends who got into it, then complain alot about the workload, most of them got in becoz of the pay, benefits, and definitely not passion. Some of them, a mid-career change, got that "let's try and see", as they are tired of working in places like banking, etc. And most of them are looking to hop out again after the bond, with that civil service experience under their belt, hoping to rake in more money back in private sector.

As for the leave allowance, the non-teaching staff in school, yes entitled, but do they really have the chance to use it? Nowadays with so much going on during normal sch days, and holidays, they are required to be around in sch, don't think they got a chance to take a long break. Usually staggered days, one here, one there. So yah... i guess it's difficult for them to plan long vacations.
 

actually it depends la, my sports training during jc days was like 4 times a week during the holidays, it was fine for us though, we all enjoyed it.

long vacations are unfortunately, not exactly a luxury for people who work under the umbrella of any organisation, be it the civil service or private sector.. maybe if you are your own boss i guess. some of the ang mohs i see here backpacking are damn cool la, take no pay leave to travel for 2 months or so.. others even quit their jobs to travel. i think while this is also possible in singapore, no one wants to try it either. :dunno:
erm...sort of, coz operations are now run on performance basis and results orientated. So that sort of leads to a lot other things too.

Yah last time, not much activities in sch, nowadays like got cca, enrichment, training, duties, etc for the students, maybe they would be back in sch at least 2 weeks of the whole month? im not too sure, need students to verify. haha
 

A current topic hotly discussed among parents, educators, news.

What do the schools think?
What do the teachers think?
What do the non-teaching staff think?
What do the parents think?
What do the students think?

What do you think?


i think we shud tell the moe that we are all very stessed by the schools... i don't think the teachers like it too
 

i think we shud tell the moe that we are all very stessed by the schools... i don't think the teachers like it too

it is probably mutual stress.

the parents want the teachers to give their kids a good future..

the teachers want to do well so that they can get promoted and get more $ and feel accomplished too..

the kids.. well, most of them just want to play..

so tell me, how to not stress each other out? all want to do different things for different reasons. :bsmilie:
 

so tell me, how to not stress each other out? all want to do different things for different reasons. :bsmilie:


well sad :thumbsup:
 

actually it depends la, my sports training during jc days was like 4 times a week during the holidays, it was fine for us though, we all enjoyed it.

long vacations are unfortunately, not exactly a luxury for people who work under the umbrella of any organisation, be it the civil service or private sector.. maybe if you are your own boss i guess. some of the ang mohs i see here backpacking are damn cool la, take no pay leave to travel for 2 months or so.. others even quit their jobs to travel. i think while this is also possible in singapore, no one wants to try it either. :dunno:

yah the thing is "enjoyment"....if it's something the kids would like, of course they would attend, turn up, get involved. but when it comes to trying to force feed them with activities, "you must come", "you must attend" or else or else....then more likely they wouldn't be happy bout it. During the formative years, most of them, all they want is a break and play, and they are pretty honest bout it. Hahahaha

so end up, kids wanna enjoy, they don't allow the results that teachers/schools/parents want....then all also LPPL, no matter how they try to enforce. Fail.

yah backpacking is fun, but here, so competitive, once u go on no-pay leave, u can start seeing the boss panicking and making plans to hire a replacement, end up u might lose your job because u need a break or want to backpack. Hence nobody actually does it here or wanna risk it. Like robots...all damn piah. :sweatsm::bsmilie:
 

yah the thing is "enjoyment"....if it's something the kids would like, of course they would attend, turn up, get involved. but when it comes to trying to force feed them with activities, "you must come", "you must attend" or else or else....then more likely they wouldn't be happy bout it. During the formative years, most of them, all they want is a break and play, and they are pretty honest bout it. Hahahaha

yah backpacking is fun, but here, so competitive, once u go on no-pay leave, u can start seeing the boss panicking and making plans to hire a replacement, end up u might lose your job because u need a break or want to backpack. Hence nobody actually does it here or wanna risk it. Like robots...all damn piah. :sweatsm::bsmilie:

well like i always say it takes all hands to clap - if the parents only panic when the kids are really having trouble with schoolwork and the teacher is doing nothing.. if the kids have a positive attitude and see learning for what it is, see how hard the teachers work for their behalf when the teacher is good.. if the teachers all learn to care for their job, but not so much that they get negative over the bad eggs.. then the system will be a much better one, no?

hahaha, well some of the people i met quit their job because their company refuse to give them no pay leave.. not just starting out leh.. got 30+, got 40+.. i guess the mentality elsewhere is very different huh.
 

well like i always say it takes all hands to clap - if the parents only panic when the kids are really having trouble with schoolwork and the teacher is doing nothing.. if the kids have a positive attitude and see learning for what it is, see how hard the teachers work for their behalf when the teacher is good.. if the teachers all learn to care for their job, but not so much that they get negative over the bad eggs.. then the system will be a much better one, no?

then i think, they should change the system to suit culture and mentality, rather than bend it to their "perfect system". It's obvious over so many eons, kids prefer play over studies, so from young they already know what "school holidays" mean to them - a short one month break from the school. (which many are complainng "sch sux" nowadays, don't we do that too in the past? hahaha)

its like the "move to back" issue for buses, people simply are refusing to go to the back, becoz the exit is in the center, so the clogging starts from the center all the way to the front. And they keep spending money on campaigns, hire staff to pester passengers to move to the back. Why not change? Get buses that have exits at the end? Instead of insisting they have their way and expect people who pay for the service/product to follow their way. Why not be flexible and benefits for both side, win-win situation, no?
 

then i think, they should change the system to suit culture and mentality, rather than bend it to their "perfect system". It's obvious over so many eons, kids prefer play over studies, so from young they already know what "school holidays" mean to them - a short one month break from the school. (which many are complainng "sch sux" nowadays, don't we do that too in the past? hahaha)

its like the "move to back" issue for buses, people simply are refusing to go to the back, becoz the exit is in the center, so the clogging starts from the center all the way to the front. And they keep spending money on campaigns, hire staff to pester passengers to move to the back. Why not change? Get buses that have exits at the end? Instead of insisting they have their way and expect people who pay for the service/product to follow their way. Why not be flexible and benefits for both side, win-win situation, no?

:dunno: i thought can exit from front too, if too packed?

how do you propose to change the system? i only know that the kids today seem very different from the kids during my time.. but i admit that perhaps i have been relatively sheltered. well, when one reaches uni then a real break is a real break.. :) see, like now is real break for me. :bsmilie: to me, it is one thing to change the system to suit the demands because the demands are realistic and have merit..

but just saying that you should change it to let kids play.. i would say that you would need a lot more justification than that.

about the move to back issue.. i think there would probably be certain issues about that.. leejay has just highlighted one of them.. magic bus rides.. :bsmilie:
 

i thought can exit from front too, if too packed?

about the move to back issue.. i think there would probably be certain issues about that.. leejay has just highlighted one of them.. magic bus rides.. :bsmilie:

possible, if you are near the front, then it's easier. If you are like trapped between/middle the front and the middle, then you will get alot of "tsk! tsk!" hahahahaha
People crammed at the front doors, usually refuse to give way to let you off from the front, coz they fear commuters waiting to go up at the bus stop will snatch their coveted spot on the bus. (and usually they do try to snatch, from what i have seen...tsk tsk)


how do you propose to change the system? i only know that the kids today seem very different from the kids during my time.. but i admit that perhaps i have been relatively sheltered. well, when one reaches uni then a real break is a real break.. :) see, like now is real break for me. :bsmilie: to me, it is one thing to change the system to suit the demands because the demands are realistic and have merit..

but just saying that you should change it to let kids play.. i would say that you would need a lot more justification than that.

it's hard to say to give suggestions or solutions to such problems, that's why most of us only can point out the faults and find difficulty to provide really good solutions, and who would really listen to those who do have good suggestions?

big companies usually dun take such views seriously, they see them as "complaints", whimsical opinions, usually shoot down by asking for justification (not u, bro. haha), no justification, no talk. Follow the system. Shut up. And when there's justification, they would analyse and attack the weaknesses of the suggestion, and shoot it down. Still the same, shut up and follow the system.

maybe (wild thought).... a 2 week shut down break? middle of the month, then again, other implications come in, people will be trying to cram everything else in that first and last week. Kind of self-defeating. If declare a full month shutdown, the sch's will be cramming everything just before or after the break. Kind of LPPL as well. hahahaha. I think the problem lies somewhere else, what would make so much activities a neccessity? What causes it? What causes the mindset? Why? Think to really find the answer, people have to dig real deep, and they might not like what they find, or in other words, people might not like what others may find. :bsmilie:

i feel this is going to drag on and on with no good solutions , maybe even if MOE implements new rules on this, there will still be dissatisfactions, bugs, etc. And the way people do things, handle business, do transactions here, there's always weighing of pros&cons, who gets to benefit more, any possible loses, etc. There's a dark side to everything, i don't wish to go there. :bsmilie:
 

A current topic hotly discussed among parents, educators, news.

What do the schools think?
What do the teachers think?
What do the non-teaching staff think?
What do the parents think?
What do the students think?

What do you think?

seems like discussion gone off topic. apologies :sweatsm:

Opinions on the topic?

any parents? students? non-teaching staff? teachers?
 

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