Importance of Primary School

Recently, Chrys has been fretting about the enrolment of her first son into primary school. She has shortlisted a few schools which fell within one kilometer radius from her home. However, it seemed that despite her proximity to these schools, she would only stand a 40% chance of getting her son into these schools during the balloting. I have never expected competition to be this fierce for primary school enrolment.

To me, the choice of the primary school is important but not as important as secondary school or junior college. My preferred primary school is one that is near to the home of the student so that he needs not spend unnecessary time on travelling. Moreover, travelling can be tiring especially with the early start time of school days.

If a child can be enrolled into a SAP school, it will certainly be good. However, parents should also be aware that once you are in a SAP school, your child will be exposed to intense competition from a tender age as meritocracy and strive to excellence will be some of the values strongly inculcated. If you child is still not mentally strong enough to withstand these pressures, the competition can stump instead of catalyse the development of the child. In the worst case scenario, it can atrophy the joy of learning.

I have very fond memories of my primary school. I believe my primary school days help lay very strong foundation of my quest for learning and my determination for giving my best. It is a place where I have the most enjoyable time of all my study years. I remember the wild days of running around the school field during recess time playing ET with my classmates. I remember stealing all the valuable time before assembly for our zero-point training and keeping it from my mum. My mum barred me from doing zero-point because I was growing taller than other kids my age and she was afraid I was suffering from gigantism.

Despite being a neighbourhood school, my teachers were as proud of us as if we were the brightest students in Singapore. They encouraged us to take part in the Singapore Youth Festival despite the choir group only forming six months before the competition. My teacher actually ferried me to a National Chinese Essay Writing Competition. We might not have won the competition but we felt we had won just by participating.

It is because of these enjoyable times that I like going to school and that I have confidence that I can achieve as long as I believe and work hard. I see the same passion and confidence in my of my friends who are also from neighbourhood school. Would I have been able to achieve more if my parents had enrolled me in a SAP primary school instead? I don't know. However, I am certain that despite graduating from a neighbourhood primary school, I too can do my part to the society.