All,

Looking for opinions on sending Children to Chinese HS versus National HS

1) Children will go to USA for college after HS/SPM. So, proficiency in Malay is irrelevant.

2) Very strong foundation in English. So, proficiency in English is not a problem.

So far, what I found

A) National HS -> No meritocracy and too much Islamication.

B) National HS -> Lazy and incompetent teachers

Only good National HS are

1) Mara HS which my children will not get in and don't bother

2) Kolej Islam -> forget it.

Dreamer

Quite blur on what you are asking ..... Are you mean Chinese Independent school as Chinese HS and National HS as government secondary school ?

Anyway, if compare both, Chinese school is better if your son/daughter know some basic Chinese words and have attend some sci/math in chinese (But if you are attending Independent school in east Malaysia, eg, Sabah, they will use fully english in both sci/math)

which "kolej islam" are you talking about?

right, since you know your children will not get into MARA schools, and you have listed down cons to regular SMK, then go ahead and enrol them into chinese schools. or better yet, send them to private/international schools since their tertiary studies will be in the states. but in my personal opinion, you just cant beat the fun environment you get from normal SMK. it mixes all races together and teaches kids to get along. but since you only care bout quality and standard of teaching alone, then perhaps you should not consider normal SMK.

Not very clear on what are you talking about...
Can you explain more briefly??
thanks..

chen9wei,

<<Are you mean Chinese Independent school as Chinese HS and National HS as government secondary school ?>>

Yes.

Dreamer

lol basically u already decided to send ur children to chinese hs

High school ?!
You don't actually need to choose a good high school for your kid. As long as you get a normal high school can already. But of course, a popular one that has good high average score graduates will be a plus!

SBPs (boarding schools) are closely monitored by the MOE. They have good facilities and the students are among the brightest ones. Your children will be in a very conducive environment.

meaj,

Give some example of what schools that you refer to. As far as I know, their quality has went down to hell too.

Dreamer

you can try to enter foon yew high in JB. but where's your location?
hmm...what can i say abt their students? BRILLIANT! (maybe just the ones i met)
my housemate n roommate were from foon yew. superbly good in maths.
but BM n english not really good...anyway, since u stated that BM n english is ok...
so u might as well just enter foon yew.

or maybe u can enter chung ling high in penang or chung hua(or izit hwa?) all these not bad.
got friends from all these schools...and all are very good...(maybe chung ling fellas a lil lansi )

with current China as next giant economy, who is so stupid to send their child to national school?

lol...u've already made ur decision...why bother to open this thread? to confirm your decision is the right one?

The title of the thread was about >>>



This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Feb 20 2008, 04:28 PM

i do agree with drreamer101 at certain point

i`m from partially national high school; it seem tat our govt tend to intro more so called rubbish education in it rather than building strong human capital as such improve their English, Sci and Math and building a good skills for industry.

basically; the root of our education system need to be clean up and be prepare for more global world

This is a thinly veiled attempt to bash national schools. Sadly, it's not entirely unjustified.

WillHung,

I graduated from SMK school. It was very good. So, this is not an attempt to bash national school. But, things has been going down hill for the past 20+ years.

If at all possible, I would prefer not to send my children to Chinese Independent High School. The pressure is TOO MUCH. But, our national high schools are SO BAD that the teachers refuse to teach most of the time. I heard story where the teacher come to class and said I do not have to teach anyhow since most of the students are in tuition classes.

Remember, I am in Klang valley. So, you could imagine how bad things could be in the rural area.

Dreamer

I come from an SMK school, but attended a former Chinese (SMJK) school for my Form 6 where most of the students attended Chinese primary schools.

Now, I'm a normal guy who does decently (say, top 10 in class) in school but likes to have his fun as well. I did not enjoy my time in the ex-Chinese skl at all. Yes, teachers were dedicated and the students were studious. Unfortunately however, the average chinese skl educated person also seems to be on the shy introverted side, lacking the ability to socialize with people easily. Many of them also seem to have very little interest beyond studying (and maybe some HK pop stars). You are not going to get many flamboyant people here, the type who likes to give speeches or confident presentations in front of the class. It was just too subdued for my liking. The main advantage of attending a chinese school would be for picking up the Mandarin language. I personally feel that the most anyone should endure in a Chinese school is a few years in primary school. Those places just suck the fun out of childhood imo.

Yes, the standard of teaching in SMK schools is pretty rubbish in general, but at least the people there are more fun (and varied) which I think makes a person more sociable. The SPM is not that tough, and a motivated student can self study well enough (I did it).

If you are going to send your kids to the US, just make them sit for the SPM and the SATs. And I'd like to apologize in advance if my opinions are unintentionally offensive to some.

This post has been edited by BurgaFlippinMan: Feb 21 2008, 11:18 AM

International HS?

IMHO (from my own observation, take it with a pint of salt. No offence to Chinese HS grads ^^)
Chinese HS tend to produce overly studios, introverted and shy students who lacks critical thinking and communication skills. The only good thing is learning Mandarin. The system is very rigid and allows very little development of soft skills. Chinese HS also tend to have this 'blend in with majority' mindset and rarely appreciate individuals with different mindset than the majority. You are not encouraged to break out of the circles.

National HS is crappy too but at the very least, there's more chance for social interactions (Chinese HS focused way too much on academic) through school activities where you can learn to build up social skills and leaderships. Of course, there's still some good schools around but you have to really look for it.

IMHO if your kid is an independent student, National HS, albeit having crappy teachers shouldn't impend his own will to study.

This post has been edited by feyhime: Feb 21 2008, 11:07 AM

Have you considered the traditional mission schools (the one where the church still has a degree of voice in it as compared to those who have turned into SMKs and the church has stopped being the patron or administrator the school)? I am a product of such a school and I can say that if I had a choice to choose where to study, I'd go there again. And if I have a child, such schools will be my first choice to consider before I explore other options.

There's just a different atmosphere in such schools - traditions of excellence, discipline and holism (as in holistic (whole), not holy). There was another observation I made also, was that the command of English for all students were good regardless of whether they were in the top class or the bottom-most class. Everyone could at least speak decent English. So that takes some worry about English away.

Do bear in mind that these sort of traditional mission schools are getting rare though. A lot of mission schools now are mission school in name and not in tradition/administration. So scout around well. I'm not sure about those in Klang Valley but I guess you can start with taking note of the famous ones and asking around about their current state of affairs and quality.

Edit: for clarity.

This post has been edited by djspinnet: Feb 21 2008, 11:40 AM

students from chinese high schools are very very good in maths..... haha

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Added on February 21, 2008, 1:07 pmi totally agree. I was in chinese school before i transferred to smk and i realised the difference. However, the SMk i was in is one of best school in the area. There are many chinese, very competitive, more or less the same as chinese school but MORE ALIVE.

This post has been edited by ychien89: Feb 21 2008, 01:07 PM