Streaming in Singapore Schools

Once and for all, I wish to put to rest the debate about the appropriateness of streaming students in Singapore schools. Perhaps the only thing that is questionable is when the streaming should be done, but there is no doubt to me that students need to be grouped according to abilities.

Fact: My sec 3Normal (Technical) students might even fail a sec 1 express stream English test paper.

I am tempted to let them try such a paper and see how well they fare, but I am not optimistic about the results. In the Normal technical stream, their writing component in test papers is guided - they can extract materials from a previous comprehension passage in the same paper, and simply rewrite in from another perspective. Even so, many fail this part, and some can't even be bothered to write. We give primary school vocabulary lists for them to work on, so far behind are they in terms of language abilities.

Fact: Even with students in the same class (for any stream), they often display varying competencies when comparing their results in single subjects.

In my sec 3NT classes again, there are the few who consistently get their A's, and others who regularly fail their English tests or get borderline passes. This shows that streaming is an inexact science, but a necessary one nonetheless. Imagine these kids tackling English papers designed in a different format - the weak students will have no chance at all with them. They will have to first show that they can handle papers customised to their ability level before attempting more difficult papers; which is the reason why promotion from one stream to another is difficult.

Students have a hard life in Singapore - from young they have to learn to swim or sink. If ever you readers out there have kids, make sure you teach your kids to have the proper attitudes with regards to studying, and help them learn their languages well. Somehow, I think that poor results in school can lead to social problems, as true as this statement is the other way round.