Singapore UK education system equilavent

[spoilt]

Leave the 25 year old ingenue be! He/she knows better than all those multi-millionaires from China who ship their kids over in droves to the UK to attend our best schools. Let him/her keep spouting the drivel. There are WAY too many foreigners taking up places in our best public schools.

What foreigners? In England? I think you are referring to the 2nd to 3rd generation of asylum seekers from Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and just about every other terrorist countries that are filling the schools in London. I can share sympathy with you there...

No rich China man in the right mind will send their kids to the UK for anything but college and university. Unless ofcourse it was Eton.

To the previous post, I do like my red wine

[yeah right]

Leave the 25 year old ingenue be! He/she knows better than all those multi-millionaires from China who ship their kids over in droves to the UK to attend our best schools. Let him/her keep spouting the drivel. There are WAY too many foreigners taking up places in our best public schools.

What foreigners? In England? I think you are referring to the 2nd to 3rd generation of asylum seekers from Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and just about every other terrorist countries that are filling the schools in London. I can share sympathy with you there...

No rich China man in the right mind will send their kids to the UK for anything but college and university. Unless ofcourse it was Eton.

To the previous post, I do like my red wine

You are joking I hope.  The UK boarding schools are full of overseas kids.  I doubt they are poor as the fees are very high. 

[school views]

thanks.  so primary school is primary school and secondary school is called grammar school but what about 6th form?  Do they have to go to a different school or do they remain in their grammar school?

Secondary school is often called Secondary school, grammar, high school (sometimes) or comprehensive, or even Village College in some cases where I used to live, but it's all the same thing, just different names.

In some places they also have middle school where the children go from age 11-13 and then they move up to secondary, which I think is something like the US elementary school system.

One thing I noticed among expats here is that there is a sense of snobbery in the air. Back in their home countries they are generally just an average person. Locals here have a higher quality of life than the people in UK. So why come here and spend a fortune living in a fantasy (hiring condos, apartments, international schools) if not included in the package? well thats exactly that, they are living in a fantasy. If I had kids, I damn well make sure they will go to local schools over 'international' schools anyday. My experience is that the only way to learn about a country is to get mixed in with the locals, integrate and contribute; not shutting yourself from the world because you are an 'expat'.

I don't think you can tar every expat with the same brush - I'm usually the first to admit that the school I pay for here isn't a patch on my old state school in the UK, however, I'm not going to send my kids to local school mainly because I did that when they were younger and they hated it and they've never hated their international school. 

I've got experience of both local and international and while I'm sure that there are great local schools out there, our experience wasn't so great and it did put me off and I'm sure you'll agree that if you have less than satisfactory experience of anything, you're not likely to repeat it in a hurry.

As for the condo - well why not?  Why would you want to live in the equivalent of a council flat if you can afford something better?  I lived in a council block when I was a student - I don't particularly want to repeat the experience.  Most Singaporeans I know would jump at the chance to live in a house or a condo and many I have met over the years now do so, renting out their HDB apartments to someone they consider less fortunate.

It's not being spoiled, it's enjoying the moment.  We wouldn't live in a place with a pool back home and my kids are well aware of that.  When they move away in a few years and end up living in bedsits and shared houses to save money themselves (because I won't be paying their rent), I don't think they'll be coming back here to visit and giving me grief for not giving them the 'chance' to live in an HDB

[hues of maple]

No rich China man in the right mind will send their kids to the UK for anything but college and university. Unless ofcourse it was Eton.

You are joking I hope.  The UK boarding schools are full of overseas kids.  I doubt they are poor as the fees are very high. 

@ Spoilt: - you are for real? You lived in Canada and you haven't seen/experienced all the China immigrants arriving by the planeloads daily? And the rich ones shuttling back and forth by the planeloads daily every 4-6 mths or so?

The private schools in Canada are half-3/4 full of the China-rich. Even the first gen of HK old rich (gambling tycoon Stanley Ho's daughters were all Cdn-private school educated too) are getting somewhat 'displaced'.
The China-corwd are also getting invites to all the private countryclubs too (previously unheard of); as the smarter and more opportunistic among the locals/old school crowd know who to court, and whose dollar speaks louder these days in their cities.

Whether or not these schools are better at elementary level than Singapore is not important. They are PERCEIVED as better, and once you get a queen-bee setting the trend ... that's already important enough for sheep-mentality mass enrolment.
This is in addition to learn the Western ways and culture - private schools are seen as passports for their kids to become 'tourist guides'. The private school investment will allow the family some insider scoop on how to dress. what to order in Western restaurants or what to eat to show you've 'arrived', and learn the ways of the 'upper crust'.

Even if they decided the education system is better in SG, even the ordinary (not even the rich creme de la creme) of the China/Taiwan/HK immigrants with SONS in the family want their males to do enforced NS (these people come from cultures where they have seen enough of real oppression and military influence in their countries to want their children involved).

I have met many such folk in Canada. SG will only remain a stepping stone, even if they admit they liked living there and thought the (almost free) education system/quality of life good.

[spoilt]

thanks.  so primary school is primary school and secondary school is called grammar school but what about 6th form?  Do they have to go to a different school or do they remain in their grammar school?

Secondary school is often called Secondary school, grammar, high school (sometimes) or comprehensive, or even Village College in some cases where I used to live, but it's all the same thing, just different names.

In some places they also have middle school where the children go from age 11-13 and then they move up to secondary, which I think is something like the US elementary school system.

One thing I noticed among expats here is that there is a sense of snobbery in the air. Back in their home countries they are generally just an average person. Locals here have a higher quality of life than the people in UK. So why come here and spend a fortune living in a fantasy (hiring condos, apartments, international schools) if not included in the package? well thats exactly that, they are living in a fantasy. If I had kids, I damn well make sure they will go to local schools over 'international' schools anyday. My experience is that the only way to learn about a country is to get mixed in with the locals, integrate and contribute; not shutting yourself from the world because you are an 'expat'.

I don't think you can tar every expat with the same brush - I'm usually the first to admit that the school I pay for here isn't a patch on my old state school in the UK, however, I'm not going to send my kids to local school mainly because I did that when they were younger and they hated it and they've never hated their international school. 

I've got experience of both local and international and while I'm sure that there are great local schools out there, our experience wasn't so great and it did put me off and I'm sure you'll agree that if you have less than satisfactory experience of anything, you're not likely to repeat it in a hurry.

As for the condo - well why not?  Why would you want to live in the equivalent of a council flat if you can afford something better?  I lived in a council block when I was a student - I don't particularly want to repeat the experience.  Most Singaporeans I know would jump at the chance to live in a house or a condo and many I have met over the years now do so, renting out their HDB apartments to someone they consider less fortunate.

It's not being spoiled, it's enjoying the moment.  We wouldn't live in a place with a pool back home and my kids are well aware of that.  When they move away in a few years and end up living in bedsits and shared houses to save money themselves (because I won't be paying their rent), I don't think they'll be coming back here to visit and giving me grief for not giving them the 'chance' to live in an HDB

I dont think UK council flats are equivalent to HDBs...UK council flats are comparable to a poohole you would encounter in Moscow teeming with drug dealers. I am embarrased by UK council flats, they are the worst building blocks I have ever laid eyes on, I rather live in a box in the middle of a desert

[spoilt]

No rich China man in the right mind will send their kids to the UK for anything but college and university. Unless ofcourse it was Eton.

You are joking I hope.  The UK boarding schools are full of overseas kids.  I doubt they are poor as the fees are very high. 

@ Spoilt: - you are for real? You lived in Canada and you haven't seen/experienced all the China immigrants arriving by the planeloads daily? And the rich ones shuttling back and forth by the planeloads daily every 4-6 mths or so?

The private schools in Canada are half-3/4 full of the China-rich. Even the first gen of HK old rich (gambling tycoon Stanley Ho's daughters were all Cdn-private school educated too) are getting somewhat 'displaced'.
The China-corwd are also getting invites to all the private countryclubs too (previously unheard of); as the smarter and more opportunistic among the locals/old school crowd know who to court, and whose dollar speaks louder these days in their cities.

Whether or not these schools are better at elementary level than Singapore is not important. They are PERCEIVED as better, and once you get a queen-bee setting the trend ... that's already important enough for sheep-mentality mass enrolment.
This is in addition to learn the Western ways and culture - private schools are seen as passports for their kids to become 'tourist guides'. The private school investment will allow the family some insider scoop on how to dress. what to order in Western restaurants or what to eat to show you've 'arrived', and learn the ways of the 'upper crust'.

Even if they decided the education system is better in SG, even the ordinary (not even the rich creme de la creme) of the China/Taiwan/HK immigrants with SONS in the family want their males to do enforced NS (these people come from cultures where they have seen enough of real oppression and military influence in their countries to want their children involved).

I have met many such folk in Canada. SG will only remain a stepping stone, even if they admit they liked living there and thought the (almost free) education system/quality of life good.

Well coming back to think about it... I did notice an awful lot of Chinese looking people in Calgary and Edmonton.