Now and again, the topic about the twins' education comes up. It is the Now, again. When we talk about education for them, it is also us talking about moving to Oz. The two are now synonymous. Gone are the days when moving to Oz meant lofty intellectual goals of starting and finishing my PhD. A long time ago, when I talked passionately about the PhD, my brother very sagely said that things happen, priorities change. How right he was! Of course, he is older and he's been married longer and has had more kids. But now, when we talk about moving, it's for 2 reasons. One of them being sheer arrogance and small-mindedness of the society we live in and connected to that, the worry that bringing up our kids here will subject them to that mentality more than we can for. The second reason is one that is driven home every time I wonder where they are going to go to kindergarten since I've committed the cardinal mistake of not enrolling them at birth. Add to that, there's the whole analogy of a chef not eating what comes out of his kitchen or if you worked at Macs, you'd never eat another burger again, well, the same thing here. Having both of us in the education sector, we know and are sometimes pretty scared off by what is expected and what is actually taught. Of course, there is also the school of thought that what happens at home also influences how much and what they pick up at school. Which is true. But I think, for us, we just don't want to have to fight an uphill battle.
So when it comes down to it, it becomes a pro-con list.
Reasons to leave
- Packrat gets very angry with the government and their hypocrisy. Every time he reads the papers, he wants to throw things at them.
- I don't trust the system to not stress my children out.
- I don't trust the system to encourage creativity. Yes, I'll do everything in my power to do it at home but no point if it gets undone in school and that leads me to another issue, the kids spend so much time in school, in the classroom.
- I strongly believe in open spaces for the kids to run and play and there aren't that many in Singapore and it's so hot.
- Sometimes, too many chefs cooking the same pot spoils the broth.
- There is better social support here, in terms of family and friends.
- What are Packrat and I going to do there? We do need some sort of income to diaper the twins' bums in a country where any sort of paper product is costly.
- There are different battles to fight there. While we want to expose them to new experiences and teach them to be open-minded, we don't want it to be so open that every single thing falls in and let's face it, there are some pretty darn scary influences that lurk in the school system there
- The trade off for creativity is discipline. Yes, they may become more articulate, confident and creative individuals but will they be able to sit still, be motivated and disciplined enough to work for what they want?
- The Aussie accent drives Packrat insane.
- Chinese will be a problem.
Technorati Tags: babies, education
The decision to stay may be 'practical', but it's only of short-term importance. Short term imperatives, coupled with natural inertia, lulls us to think there're very important reasons not to make a move.
ReplyDeleteAim to actually leave when your kids are school-going. Then the relative loss of social-support will be much less important.
You have to start researching & applying round about now. Do not leave any later then when the boy is around 8--or else you'll have to grapple with NS or no-NS uncertainty. I mean, currently the cut-off age is 10, but they keep changing it & bringing it lower.
Now that I have actually left, it has become even clearer the paucity of reasons to have stayed. So happy not to have to contend anymore with all those frustrations that I had felt when back in Sgp.
I read in ST Forum today a reader comparing US-system with Sgp-system. How true! I made the same observations in another blog under the pseudonym of 'YY':-
http://hedgehogcomms.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-should-english-be-taught-in-schools.html
Read also the comments section where I quoted Tharman from the very same newsweek article that the forum writer alluded to.
Also read the comment where Nobel-Prize-Per-Capita is mentioned. That really puts into perspective why I don't want my kids to be stuck in Sgp.
As for public schools in western nations, yes, they can differ vastly in standards. A good bet is to live in a good neigborhood, esp. near a top University. The intake of the public schools there are bound to be tiptop academically! I don't know about Oz, but Canada has good public schools with class size only 20. There is more egalitarianism in Canadian public-school standards compared to USA--where public schools in underfunded neighborhoods can be very subpar. Even then, schools in more upwardly-mobile neighborhoods in Canada are also better in standards.
YY.
(errata: I did not refer to the Newsweek article at the time of posting my comments on the blog that I referred to, but did so later on in an email to that blogger. Thanks. YY.)
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested, this is the link to that Newsweek article in which Tharman explained why Sgp high-school students maybe world-beaters but do not go on to become world-beating adults:-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsweek.com/id/47366
But education is hardly the only reason to leave. There are plenty others.
Sorry to hog your comments page but here is something a friend sent to me:--
""Retiring abroad: One ex-S'porean's experience
I HAVE read many negative comments on the plight of Singaporeans retiring abroad and I would like to share my personal experience.
I have been retired for more than 10 years and have and spend my time
between Guangzhou in China and Vancouver in Canada. Both these cities are inviting, fun and less expensive than Singapore.
In Guangzhou, I live in a penthouse apartment I bought for $150,000 five years ago. It is situated in Tian He district (similar to District 10 in Singapore) and next to the beautiful 400ha botanic garden condo residents can access for free through a side gate. It is a gated community with a clubhouse and first-class facilities, an Olympic-size swimming pool and modern security services. A similar apartment in Singapore would have cost at least $900,000 or more. For about 5,000 yuan or about S$1,000 a month, I live extremely well. A similar lifestyle in Singapore would cost me at least $5,000 a month. One can easily survive in Guangzhou on 2,000 yuan. It is cheaper if one decides to live in smaller cities like Fushan or Chungshan. A Singaporean who speaks proficient English can easily get a part-time job teaching English and earn 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month.
A retired professor from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore lives in the same estate as me in Guangzhou for the past few years. He teaches science at a local university and earns about 10,000 yuan a month. He too can testify to the cost of living in Guangzhou. He is unlikely to return to Singapore as he has liquidated all his assets there.
In Vancouver, I live in a 5,000 sq ft waterfront property that costs me less than $1 million. A similar piece of waterfront property in Singapore would cost $3 million or perhaps more. I drive a Honda Civic Hybrid I bought brand new five years ago for $25,000. A similar new Honda Hybrid in Singapore would have cost close to $100,000 if you include COE. If one prefers a more prestigious cars like a new Mercedes 250 or a BMW 325, these cars cost less than C$50,000 (S$67,000). The cost of living for my wife and me, not including housing as it is relative, is less than $2,000 a month. The cost of living for me in Vancouver will drop significantly when I reach the age of 65 when I am entitled to old-age pension from the Canadian government. My wife and I will then receive more than $2,000 a month from the government. This pension is given whether one is rich or poor.
If you factor in savings in the cost of buying a house and a car in
Vancouver and in Singapore, the difference is more than enough to pay for a happy and comfortable retirement for the rest of one's life.
If one is more adventurous and hands-on, the cost of living in Vancouver can be only a few hundred dollars a month. This can be achieved when you fish,
catch crabs and prawns, grow your own vegetables, hunt and so on. There are lots of places to fish and hunt. All you need then is to buy rice, sauces, spices and pay for essentials like gas and electricity at home, telephone bills and transport. These items amount to no more than $500 a month. I have tried it and it is fun.
It is impossible to find similar possibilities in Singapore where one can survive solely on Mother Nature.
Some readers have complained with depressing tales about lack of friends for retired Singaporeans living overseas. To these people, I suggest we shed our introvert and 'kiasu' mentality. If one is an extrovert and willing to engage in and be proactive, one will have lots of friends. I have lots of friends of all races in both Guangzhou and Vancouver. I participate in dragon-boat races in Vancouver, San Francisco, Guangzhou and Hawaii. I am the only Singaporean with the rowing team and the oldest. The rest of the team are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Thailand and some European countries. I play golf with friends of all races. I give free English lessons to Guangzhou university students, as well as local businessmen. I am a member of both the Guangzhou and Vancouver Toastmasters clubs, Guangzhou Canadian Friendship club and Friends of Taiwan club. I am always welcome by friends in Guangzhou and Vancouver. We have activities all year round, such
as snow hiking and skiing in winter, fishing, gardening, cruises to Alaska, and barbecues during summer, pot-luck, mahjong and hunting the rest of the year. There is hardly a dull moment.
My wife, who is a retired teacher from Singapore, gives free English lessons to doctors and nurses at Chungshan Hospital in Guangzhou. She does volunteer work in Vancouver. Life is so rewarding and there is no time to be depressed.
There have been a number of comments that we are treated as second-class citizens in our adopted countries. It is inevitable there will be a small minority of people who are racists and bigots. These people even hate their own kind. It is not the norm and it happens in any country, including Singapore.
I have kidney failure and it costs the Canadian government $8,000 a month to treat me at no cost to me. There are nine friends willing to donate a kidney to me. They include a Caucasian, a Taiwanese, a Malaysian, a Korean, a mainland Chinese (a doctor herself) and four members of my family. It not
true to say we are second-class citizens when people like Dr Ron Werb, head of department at St Paul's Hospital, accompanies us in dragon-boat rowing practices twice a week, together with other doctors. As immigrants, we have the same opportunities and rights as other citizens, regardless of race.
I remember when I first emigrated to Canada more than 20 years ago, my three children were given C$250 each as 'milk money' until they reached high school. This policy is still on going. There are a lot of support and help organisations for new immigrants of different cultures and race to help them assimilate into Canadian society.
I was born without a father, expelled from Outram Secondary School in Secondary 2 and worked for less than $100 a month at the age of 15 years in Keppel Shipyard as an apprentice. With that kind of credentials, I doubt I could achieve much in Singapore. But in Canada, we have a level playing field where we are rewarded by what we can do and not strictly by academic qualifications. Please don't tell me we are treated as second class citizens.
The Canadian government pays for my medical treatment when I travel
overseas. Health care is very costly and an important factor for retirees. To have access to good free medical treatment during retirement is like striking a million-dollar lottery .
The benefits of free health care offered in Canada make Singapore's claim of a lower cost of living meaningless.
I welcome any member of the press to visit Guangzhou or Vancouver and stay with me for a month and experience the truth. However, there is one condition. Don't send an introvert or eternal pessimist who engages in self-pity and complains.
Retiring overseas is not a bed of roses, but only if one is not prepared to make the necessary adjustments and sacrifices to suit the environment. If one is prepared to work hard, stay positive and stop complaining, it is hard to fail. For me and many others, we are happy immigrants. Life could not be better. There is no shame and we certainly have a clear conscience when immigrating from Singapore.
Cheong Wing Lee""
Finally, I invite you to view my photos here, where you can see my beautiful Vancouver home (only C$625K bought 2 yrs ago--the price of a Sgp condo?) and the many driving trips we've done down to USA. We have a Benz (C$33K), Ford SUV (C$15K), and an MPV (C$2K!).
http://www.webshots.com/user/ruack
Thanks.
YY.
When the results of the latest TIMSS (Trends in International Math & Science Study) came out, what was deeply intriguing to me was the performance of the state of Massachusetts in USA. (Massachusetts & Minnesota were the 2 U.S. states that were assessed separately in TIMSS--and not lumped together as were the other US states--as 'benchmarking' participants.)
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Massachusetts is 2nd only to Singapore in grade 4 Science and is 3rd after only Singapore & Taipei in grade 8 Science.
As for Math, Massachusetts' grade 4's are in 4th place before Japan, & its grade 8's are in 6th place after Japan.
Relevant data can be found in these 2 links:--
http://timss.bc.edu/TIMSS2007/PDF/T07_M_IR_Chapter1.pdf
http://timss.bc.edu/TIMSS2007/PDF/T07_S_IR_Chapter1.pdf
These results became less surprising to me after I noted Massachusetts' historically strong commitment to education. With a population of only 6.4million (not much more than Sgp), it has more than 40 colleges in the greater Boston area alone. Most famously, Massachusetts boasts Harvard University, which is consistently ranked No. 1 in the world, as well as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which is equally renowned & ranked No. 9 in the world.
(http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/hybrid.asp?typeCode=243&pubCode=1&navcode=137)
Massachusetts also belongs to the 'New England' region in U.S.A. that boasts most of the Ivy League universities, as well as 1/3 of the top 30 universities in the world.
So if I were thinking of moving to the USA but worried that my kids would miss out on the 'strengths' of the Sgp education system, I guess I can just go to Massachusetts.. :-)
I wish I had known these statistics before I moved to Vancouver...
YY.