AS A parent of a child attending Hwa Chong International School (HCIS), I would like to debunk some of the misperceptions about local international schools ("Pricier, but worth it for some" by Mr Frankie Mao and "However, they risk dividing society" by Mr Calvin Cheng Ern Lee; both published last Wednesday, and "Home-grown global schools: Guard against condescending views" by Mr Quek Hong Choon; Forum Online, last Saturday).
My family is a middle-income family and I am the sole breadwinner. It is financially challenging to put my son in an international school, but we chose to do it for two reasons.
First, my son was in Primary 6 when I was posted to China for work and we had to take him out of school before his Primary School Leaving Examination. When we returned to Singapore after two years, we had much difficulty putting him into a government secondary school because he has no PSLE results to show.
Second, while living in China, my son was given opportunities that exposed him to different types of learning and we saw how he thrived. After evaluating several schools, we decided to put him in HCIS because it has a very good balance of local and international focus.
During his five years in the school, he was given opportunities to try different things. Last year, he put up a proposal to start a Model United Nations (MUN) event and invited neighbourhood schools, instead of brand-name schools, to participate.
There are several MUN events in Singapore, but the organisers and participants are usually the brand-name schools. Neighbourhood schools are rarely, if ever, invited to participate in such events.
My son wanted to help neighbourhood students develop an understanding of international affairs and see how blessed they are to be living in Singapore. It was a major undertaking, but my son's principal fully supported it.
Patrick Tan Siong Kuan
My family is a middle-income family and I am the sole breadwinner. It is financially challenging to put my son in an international school, but we chose to do it for two reasons.
First, my son was in Primary 6 when I was posted to China for work and we had to take him out of school before his Primary School Leaving Examination. When we returned to Singapore after two years, we had much difficulty putting him into a government secondary school because he has no PSLE results to show.
Second, while living in China, my son was given opportunities that exposed him to different types of learning and we saw how he thrived. After evaluating several schools, we decided to put him in HCIS because it has a very good balance of local and international focus.
During his five years in the school, he was given opportunities to try different things. Last year, he put up a proposal to start a Model United Nations (MUN) event and invited neighbourhood schools, instead of brand-name schools, to participate.
There are several MUN events in Singapore, but the organisers and participants are usually the brand-name schools. Neighbourhood schools are rarely, if ever, invited to participate in such events.
My son wanted to help neighbourhood students develop an understanding of international affairs and see how blessed they are to be living in Singapore. It was a major undertaking, but my son's principal fully supported it.
Patrick Tan Siong Kuan
