Deep Dive Podcast – Changes to JC admission not meant to increase competition or stress: Chan Chun Sing

Here’s an excerpt from the conversation: 

Crispina Robert, host: 

I was just speaking to a mom (and) she says: “Okay, I don’t want to stress my kid and we’ll see how it goes.” And then her kid’s weighted assessment comes back. She’s in Primary Four and she fails her Chinese. And then (the mom) goes into a panic mode.

I would go into a panic mode too. I’m sure you would too, if your kid came back and didn’t do so well in something. So the reality of it is that we do have an idea that our kids need to do well enough so that they can move on, have good jobs, maybe even be a scholar or a minister. That’s the paradigm. 

Steven Chia, host:
But what is well enough?

Chan Chun Sing, Education Minister: 
I think well enough is if the kid has tried his or her best. I think that’s good and well enough. But our fear is that we keep making our children live in someone else’s image … Sometimes we are caught in this thinking: “Why is my kid not measuring up to someone else?”