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Foreign Student
Saturday, November 22, 2008

Foreign Talent in School
-Newspaper article

Below is an article about discussing about foreign students being a threat to local students in Singapore. Read the article carefully and you can see my name in it.

"Sat, May 17 2008
The New Paper

THEY are not a threat.

That was the view of most local students of their foreign peers in a poll by The New Paper.

Of the 104 students polled, 77 per cent had foreign students in their classes or levels.

And 86 per cent of the 104 don't see foreign students as a threat to them.

"They may be more hard-working than we are, but I don?t feel threatened into competing with them," said St Joseph's Institution's Timothy Chan, 16.

"It's up to me if I want to push myself. It doesn't make a difference whether they are in the picture or not."

Many agreed and some also said their foreign peers helped them.

Kuo Chuan Presbyterian student Max Misson, 13, said he had received help in his weaker subjects, mathematics and Chinese.

"I feel I am on par with them even though most of them are older," he said.

But what of older foreign students competing with younger locals at the same academic level?

It's still fair, said 66 per cent.

"It is fair competition overall, since we study the same things and have the same lessons. They achieve because they are smart and work hard," said Jovan Yeo, 14, of Tanjong Katong Secondary.

They face disadvantages too, said some local students.

Jaren Lim, 14, of Victoria School, said that foreign students "don't have it easy" because they have to adapt to an unfamiliar education system.

Added Soh Shu Yi, 13, of Bedok View Secondary: "They come here with a lower level of education than us because Singapore's standards are higher."

Quek Jing Xiao, 15, of Raffles Girls', said: "English isn't their first language, so it's not their fault that they are held back a couple of years."

Among the 14 per cent who felt "threatened" by foreign students is Rachel Chia, 16, of Yuying Secondary.

She said: "They are constantly reminded to work harder since they pay more to come here."

Samantha Seah, 15, of Raffles Girls', said that the Chinese students in her school were better at accelerated mathematics as they had learnt some advanced maths concepts in China.

But Jed Chan, 14, of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian, said those who do well are "always humble".

"They never gloat. They are hard-working, so they deserve whatever they get. They are my role models."

- By Charissa Yong and Melody Zaccheus, with additional reporting by Cheryl Teo, Shila Naidu, Kelvin Chan, Chermaine Goh and Swan Tan, newsroom interns

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 14, 2008."

Source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20080516-65595.html

Amazingly, I did not know about this article until last night when I was shown by someone ,who stalked me online. :D Yes, indeed those words came out from my mouth. Actually I typed it out in a sms. Kelvin Chan asked me for survey about this foreign threat issue last time and I did not expect it to be something on the newspaper.

Anyway. Let's face the truth. We hate foreign students just because they do better than us in academic. If you were to have a classmate from other country and his or her result in school isn't that great, will you think that he or she is a threat? NO. So, it's really the hard work that they put in that made them scholars. Maybe it's becasue they have spent so much money and effort to get a place in Singapore School, so they treasure their place a lot and study much much more harder than we students.

Let's study hard and not use foreign students as an excuse for not doing well in school. :D

1:11 AM
**Jovan aka Koshiru
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