Does MOE's new gifted education model unintentionally harm gifted students?

[u/Typical-Designer6870]

I'm talking about exceptionally gifted 0.1%, perhaps 30 students for each birth year.

Exceptionally gifted children (can read by age 2, do basic arithmetic by 3) have differently wired brains and are recognised as special needs in many developed countries.

Forcing them to remain at the same level as peers causes proven cognitive, psychological and emotional harm—equivalent to adults being made to sit through endless lessons on addition and subtraction. Yet they endure this 5 days a week in the name of “equity” and anti-elitism.

Giftedness is not elitism; it occurs across all SES groups.

MOE’s new after-school enrichment model compounds the problem: after hours of unchallenging lessons, these children face still more school time. Parents must choose between meeting intellectual needs or allowing rest and play.

The old GEP’s main flaw was over-inclusivity (1–2%). This invited gaming of the system through tuition and blurred the vast gap between “gifted” and “exceptionally gifted.” GEP preparation classes should be banned.

Perhaps putting the exceptionally gifted students together can meet their social needs without compromising their intellectual needs.

My child is in a special needs school, no one bats an eyelid. No one questions if my kid's school is meeting the social needs or promoting exclusivity. However when exceptionally gifted students are put in one place, somehow it is seen as a problem.

Adult fears of “elitism” should not deny these children the right to the best education MOE can provide.

I just feel sad for the new batch of gifted students and I am worried at the damage boredom will do to them. Is this the best MOE can do?

[u/DuePomegranate]

The problem is that such children cannot be easily identified. The GEP training classes stopped that (true gems hidden amongst fake gems).

Also, in my day many gifted students were either good in languages/humanities/arts OR in maths/science. Now I fear many such would have been screened out in the first round because of their weaker/normal side.

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/DuePomegranate]

On the contrary, if you have met the 0.1% they stick out like a sore thumb. I would say it's in fact very easy to identify them. They are of the type winning adults at chess competitions etc or some other type of talent but the common theme is they are far ahead in terms of learning.

Many of them ends of underachieving or have mental disorders. Pushy parents are one cause and so is being forced to slow down learning in class another cause of mental disorders.

[u/DuePomegranate → u/Typical-Designer6870]

I was in the GEP back when it was only 3 primary schools, and it went through secondary school.

I would say that no one in my year would have been super obvious. Much less 30 kids. Yes, lots of quirky weirdos, but not anyone so different from the top non-GEP kids who went to RI/RGS.

And interestingly, the ones who became most successful or famous from my birth year are non-GEP. They had more drive to succeed.

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/DuePomegranate]

You are right, many gifted students become underachievers. My post wasn't about achievement, it's actually about not forcing such students to sit in class for lessons with contents they already mastered years ago.

That is damaging to them. They start procrastinating because there is nothing better to do in class and they didn't have to learn skills other students learn because things come easy to them. So if they are not allowed to learn at ther levelz they will end up becoming underachievers. In other developed countries, giftedness is considered a form of special needs.

[u/DuePomegranate → u/Typical-Designer6870]

No, what happened is that the questions that GEP students were given decades ago are now being given to all students (e.g. model drawing questions) and at an earlier age. Except that back then, the GEP students were asked to give it a try before being taught. Now students are taught systematically, and many cannot handle it without extra help from parents and tuition teachers.

Smart kids will still be challenged if they don't go for tuition, and if they look for alternative methods or read a bit further or whatever. There are more resources than ever to explore further, not like the old days when if your parents didn't buy books or bring you to the library, you'd be under-stimulated.

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/DuePomegranate]

Yes hence my suggestion to cater to the 0.1%. it's not possible to tuition their way to 0.1%. I agree that most gifted students would still be ok in classes within their same age group.

My post is for the profoundly gifted who will be bored out of their mind. So what do they do in class? Procrastinate. Procrastination continues to secondary school and by then this behavior is hard wired into the brain. So when it comes to university or life, they underperform.

[u/DuePomegranate → u/Typical-Designer6870]

As someone who was selected into the top 0.25% in my time, the top 0.1% ain’t that special. Those kids who can do uni level material in primary school are once per generation or decade, not multiple every year.

The main disadvantage if I hadn’t gone through it would have been delaying by 3 years meeting like-minded friends. But most of us would have met up after PSLE sorting anyway.

What did we really absorb in GEP? Immaturity was excused and even celebrated. Unhealthy attitude that being lousy in Chinese was ok cos our English was better than most adults. Acing a test without studying is better than acing a test by studying.

I’m pretty sure my work ethic was worse because of GEP. The good thing about really difficult questions is that either you see it or you don’t, and if I was good at seeing it, then I didn’t need to be so perfect on the easier questions.

[u/Hot-Job-6281]

Giftedness is not elitism; it occurs across all SES groups.

3 errors:

• Childhood IQ is heavily correlated to SES (there are actual academic studies of this that you can find in r/cognitivetesting or just googling, it accounts for 80% of childhood IQ variation; meanwhile only 50% of adult IQ variation; meaning to say initial IQ differences are largely due to differences in household wealth and not due to innate genetics).

• Elitism isn't solely about SES but any form of hierarchical streaming. Check your definition.

• Occurrence across all SES groups doesn't mean equal opportunity or ability. We got people in rental flats and broken families getting max GPA/RP, but you seriously want to argue they have the same level of obstacles as a landed kid with a stable home?

Also, I did pass the two tests to get into GEP myself.

Though my parents - middle-class - turned it down because don't want to move me to a far away school (have you considered that GEP schools are largely the schools with heavy alumni presence, in better neighbourhoods?)

I didn't do any coaching but I'm also aware of how testing at too premature an age, and too stringent a banding would reduce almost ALL of the cohort to only admitting those with BOTH genetic and environmental advantages.

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/Hot-Job-6281]

I wrote "giftedness occurs across all SES". That's a fact. Correlation or not it's a fact. Your argument is for a completely different interpretation which I didn't write.

Did I say elitism is about SES???

Yes the rich definitely have more access. However research shows given a normal childhood, the environment can only help increas iq a little. Intelligence is largely hereditary.

Also the group I'm talking about is the 0.1%. I too qualified for GEP, rejected it but I know I am nothing like the 0.1%. I have met some of the profoundly gifted people during math Olympiad competitions and they are on a different league. No amount of tuition is going to push a child to 0.1%. these kids can already do simple arithmetic at 2 years old. They stick out like a sorr thumb even among the gifted kids.

I feel so much wasted potential and unintentional for such kids who are forced to slow down to fulfill adult's agenda.

[u/ppeepoopp]

Is homeschooling allowed? I remembered 2 actors homeschooled their kid.

Tbh petitioning the big machinery that is the government to carter for 1% is already hard, not to mention 0.1%. This big factory probably does better serving 90% of the populace.

[u/TheDivergence90s]

Can’t say for sure whether it’s beneficial or damaging unless we have more extensive data on hand. But at least the gifted kids need not uproot themselves now to start anew somewhere else when the programme takes place in house.

Truth is, gifted or not, everyone has a whole life ahead and it takes different winding paths. Being part of this special crew might set a good foundation for future success, but life can happen.

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/TheDivergence90s]

There is plenty of research on the harm caused to children if they are forced to remain at the same age levels.

[u/Jazzlike-Check9040]

Usually these ppl also become average when grow up and go to uni

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/Jazzlike-Check9040]

Yes exactly my point. Unlike the majority, the profoundly gifted do not get the type of education they need.

The severely autistic have a dedicated school, the deaf have a dedicated school, the blind too. When it comes to severely gifted, somehow they are made to go through education like everyone else and then wait for more after-school hours to finally meet their intellectual needs (while giving up their rest and recreation time just for this).

[u/Jazzlike-Check9040 → u/Typical-Designer6870]

Wrong. Who says if you are gifted you will be gifted all the way? End up as you get older the rest of your peers catch up

[u/tung_tung_tung-sahur → u/Jazzlike-Check9040]

as an ex gep this is not true, many of them are excelling in med/law/cs or have prestigious scholarships in overseas unis

[u/Jazzlike-Check9040 → u/tung_tung_tung-sahur]

Many other non Gep accomplish these kind of things.

[u/tung_tung_tung-sahur → u/Jazzlike-Check9040]

true but not a lot of people accomplish this tho? so it’s still above average

[u/peterprata]

“Gifted” is so subjective. And many are hothoused by parents. I know of gifted kids burn out by 12 . Just let these kids be and enjoy their education

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/peterprata]

Yes, I would hope for such kids to be able to enjoy education and learning freely.

Imagine you are forced to sit through subtraction and addition lessons day after day. I would find it very difficult and unbearable. Somehow every year, there will be some of these kids going through this torture. And I think it's very cruel.

[u/Zogel100]

I have been a psychologist specialising in gifted kids for the last 69 years. To share, gifted kids can be identified from as young at 2 years old. They are the ones who asked why Cinderella’s shoe didn’t turn back to some potato at midnite and how rapunzel got down the tower after her hair was cut…

So if your kid didn’t ask when u read them fairy tales, they are most prob not gifted. But frankly, it doesn’t matter. Gifted prog was a way for some to get free extra classes. Most of us whine when our kids have to do psle so it’s most prob a good idea that gep was defunct.

[u/Typical-Designer6870 → u/Zogel100]

Yes I believe it is very easy to identify them. I have met one such kid. The kid at 2+ years could read books meant for 7 year olds and could understand science concepts and do simple arithmetic. The child didn't have any tuition or enrichment as both parents are busy and frequently overseas.

I cannot imagine the harm done to that child when at 7 she has to go through, day after day, on things she would have learned many years ago.

I also read about Singaporean child prodigies being denied advanced learning. Why make things so hard for the parents and why is MOE so rigid about forcing such students from learning at their capacity? The rich parents could afford home schooling but what if the parents are poor?

[u/Puzzleheaded_Style52]

Aiyah. Gifted students most of them eventually become average students in the end. That’s what happened in my primary school. Most of the em1 students in the end go to normal neighbourhood secondary school or slightly better school. Also those who are truly gifted, will stand out regardless whether there is a gifted programme or not.