MISS Eden Chua is right in advocating that schools play a greater role in supporting the weaker students ("Free tuition good, but schools still main resource"; Tuesday).
Our pervasive tuition culture is more of a luxury than a necessity for the majority of our students who, with sufficient self-motivation and discipline, should be able to cope well without tuition.
More than 30 years ago, when I was in school, tuition was almost unheard off. Most of my friends and I had no tuition at all throughout our entire school journey.
For a time in secondary school, I slacked in my studies and ended up with mediocre and at-times failing grades. A few months before my O levels, I knew that I had to pull up my socks to have a fighting chance of doing well. Tuition was not an option and I studied intensively on my own to catch up. My hard work paid off and I qualified for a good junior college.
Fast forward to the present and tuition is often the first recourse when children do not perform to expectations. My daughter was from the Integrated Programme, but many of her classmates had tuition for multiple subjects.
When she consistently received sub-passes for Higher Chinese, I finally arranged tuition, which she grudgingly attended. But despite the additional support, her results remained the same.
In contrast, when she got below-par results for General Paper, she asked, on her own accord, to attend enrichment classes conducted by an organisation which her college had once invited to give a talk to the students.
She eventually got a distinction, but I suspect it had perhaps more to do with her own motivation in the subject than any specific help given in the enrichment class.
It is hard to fathom that most students of bygone years could do without tuition while even highly able ones today routinely go for them. With the right attitude and self-reliance, many of our students - and their parents - will be able to eschew tuition.
Maria Loh Mun Foong (Ms)
Our pervasive tuition culture is more of a luxury than a necessity for the majority of our students who, with sufficient self-motivation and discipline, should be able to cope well without tuition.
More than 30 years ago, when I was in school, tuition was almost unheard off. Most of my friends and I had no tuition at all throughout our entire school journey.
For a time in secondary school, I slacked in my studies and ended up with mediocre and at-times failing grades. A few months before my O levels, I knew that I had to pull up my socks to have a fighting chance of doing well. Tuition was not an option and I studied intensively on my own to catch up. My hard work paid off and I qualified for a good junior college.
Fast forward to the present and tuition is often the first recourse when children do not perform to expectations. My daughter was from the Integrated Programme, but many of her classmates had tuition for multiple subjects.
When she consistently received sub-passes for Higher Chinese, I finally arranged tuition, which she grudgingly attended. But despite the additional support, her results remained the same.
In contrast, when she got below-par results for General Paper, she asked, on her own accord, to attend enrichment classes conducted by an organisation which her college had once invited to give a talk to the students.
She eventually got a distinction, but I suspect it had perhaps more to do with her own motivation in the subject than any specific help given in the enrichment class.
It is hard to fathom that most students of bygone years could do without tuition while even highly able ones today routinely go for them. With the right attitude and self-reliance, many of our students - and their parents - will be able to eschew tuition.
Maria Loh Mun Foong (Ms)
