S'pore student v China-born student
By Josephine Chew
CHINA-BORN students are doing better, not necessarily because they are brighter, but because they are more hardworking.
Singaporean pupils take the easy path, and it is beginning to show at primary school level.
Now, some teachers feel that notoriously kiasu Singapore parents are not being kiasu enough.
At Peiying Primary, a neighbourhood school making a name for itself, the new star is a China-born student, Zeng Jingyin, known as Annie, with the third highest PSLE score this year - 283.
Its previous PSLE record was in 2002 when another China student, Liu Hui, achieved a score of 281.
And, this year, its third, seventh and 10th best performers are also China students.
So what's the secret behind the China students' success?
'The foreign students, particularly the Chinese, are significantly more hardworking, more driven than locals,' said Mrs Tan Cheng Huat, Annie's Pri 6 form teacher, who has five other students from China in her class.
Annie, 12, who came here eight years ago with her parents, still sees herself as a China Chinese in many ways.
THEY DON'T WASTE TIME
And her teachers say they can see the difference as well.
'China students never waste any time. When local students finish their work, they immediately start talking or playing but students like Annie take out a story book to read,' said Mrs Ong Yen Ling, her Primary 1 and 2 form teacher.
They also see this trend among other foreign students, including Malaysians and Indonesians, who make up roughly 5 per cent of the student population.
According to teachers, they tend to do better than locals, with the Chinese heading the list.
Local student Lynn Lim, 12, who has Peiying Primary's second highest PSLE score of 274, admitted that there had always been stiff competition between Annie and herself, and she was slightly disappointed with her results.
'There were four of us who were at the top and we were very competitive. Two Singaporeans, and two China Chinese. Looks like they won!' said Lynn.
But principal Yip Moh Ching was quick to point out that it isn't always true that foreign students have more drive, and therefore do better.
'I think it's more to do with the family background. I've noticed that one of the reasons many Chinese do better is because their parents are very involved in their education,' said the Peiying principal of three years.
This isn't true for all foreign students. 'We have latchkey kids too, and they don't do as well. So there is a mix,' said Miss Yip.
Teachers also pointed out that while many of their foreign students did well academically, they also had interests outside the classroom.
Annie is Peiying's head prefect and plays the piano for the school choir.
Miss Yip, however, stressed that foreign students are not singled out for special treatment as all new students, local or foreign, who come to the school halfway through get buddies.
'It really doesn't matter if she's foreign or not - they're all members of our school,' said Miss Yip.
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Her recipe for success: Hard work and educational shows
SO how did she do it?
Plain hard work, and a constant diet of Sesame Street and Disney educational cartoons.
When Annie came to Singapore at the age of 4, she didn't know a word of English.
Her mother, Madam Su Wanru, 42, is a homemaker and degree holder who speaks English but had always communicated with her daughter in Mandarin.
'The (kindergarten) teachers would always tell me they were worried because she didn't understand what was going on in class and wasn't participating or doing any work,' she recalled.
Many episodes of Sesame Street later, Annie managed to come in fourth in Pri 1, despite her language handicap.
The following year, she did even better, coming in first.
Now, Annie can't even remember having problems with English but she said her mother was always more than willing to buy her English books and videos.
Madam Su, who never sent Annie for any private tuition, said: 'I wanted her to learn it naturally and in a fun way.
'That way, she learned the language in action without any pressure.'
Annie, who hopes to get into RGS or Nanyang High School, insists that she spends only an hour or two on work a day - except at exam time, when she studies for hours on end.
She says she owes her success to her parents and teachers.
Her family moved here when her father, a metals trader who takes home more than $15,000 a month, was offered a job here.
'My parents are a lot stricter than my Singaporean friends'. But that's how I managed to do better,' said Annie, who won both Chinese and English language prizes, and is the head prefect in school.
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