They have now brought about the opposite effect as well, giving the impression that staying in Secondary 5 is the better option, compared to going to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). They have caused ITE students to believe that they had made the wrong choice in not going on to Secondary 5, that they would otherwise have had the opportunity eventually to go to university and perhaps gain the highest honours.

Yes, some have done so but such cases are rare.

The question before parents is this: Do you want your child to progress, or to take a big risk in placing his hopes for higher education on the Sec 5 route?

ITE graduates have also done well in later life, doing what they enjoyed and even acquiring higher qualifications.

What happens to students who fail the O-level exam? They have already suffered the stigma of being in the Normal stream and to fail could cause them trauma.

Our responsibility is to lessen the pain for our children and help them to understand that it is better to start again at their level of competence and work their way up.

In the good old days, our parents made the decision to move their children to appropriate areas of endeavour. There was no Normal stream or ITE to go to, so the children go off to work. I dare say some of our top entrepreneurs today went through that route.

Let your child decide, and let school heads be given the opportunity to tell children the truth.

Daniel Gwee Choon Seng