Month: November 2019

About a month ago, we got approached by a TV show researcher, asking us about a piece of old news- this year’s so-called tough PSLE Maths question. That was after all the major papers and networks had covered the story thoroughly and we had moved on to preparing our students for the ‘O’ levels. The lack of timeliness of the news aside, I was always happy to help if I could, because I understand how difficult it is to get voices for stories as a former journalist. I gave the whole background again (even though it had been exhaustively covered) to the researcher but what I really disliked was the way questions were later broached. I emphasised from the start that tuition is simply a complement to regular MOE classes, and that the PSLE Maths questions were not too difficult per se- it just requires more thinking and it is not unfair to require students to think in an exam. We have reiterated this in various posts we had on social media and other media interviews too. What struck me was how the journalist kept trying to ask loaded questions to get the story that she wants. Initially, I was asked: Is the syllabus alone enough to tackle the questions? When I answered yes and explained again how they could practise more variety of questions but the syllabus does teach the concept, the reporter came back to me later with the same question phrased differently. “Can those difficult PSLE math questions only be answered if students have tuition? Do tuition centres help to fill in that gap?” Fortunately, I am well versed in media interviews so I did not fall prey to the traps of these repeated questions. Still, I am frustrated because it is very personal to me. 1) As a former reporter, I believe in best practices. Often, we pursue stories with an angle in mind, but after research, it is not uncommon to kill stories because we may be wrong. Talking to analysts, industry experts will help us see a clearer picture. It may be a lot more effort but more importantly, as journalists, we need to reflect the truth, not the truth as we see it. When I teach journalist students newswriting, I always emphasise accuracy is paramount. Our opinions may not necessarily be facts. 2) As an educator in the private sector, I find fault with this because it reinforces stereotypes about the tuition industry and puts the blame on both MOE and tuition centres for increasing the pressure on students, all because someone wants to take the shortcut in reporting. In the end, perhaps because I wasn’t able to give a sound bite related to their angle, they didn’t pursue the interview with me. A disclaimer: not being interviewed isn’t the reason for my beef with them. I am concerned about the quality of journalism and the bad light we are shown in. Recently, a photo of a Vietnamese mother carrying two children won the prestigious Hamdan International Photography Award. According to the submission, it “documented an intense humanitarian moment. The feelings of a Vietnamese mother whose speech disorder did not prevent her from feeling hopeful and evoking a sense of strength for her children.” There were later claims that this photo was staged. To be fair, the contest wasn’t for photojournalism so there’s no rule the photo can’t be staged. However, in the bigger scheme of things, the lesson learnt is we need to also be vigilant and discern the news we read and watch, to make sure we get the full picture. Photocredit: Ab Rashid’s facebook post #thurswithwei #journalism #psle #pslemaths

Posted on by Wallace

About a month ago, we got approached by a TV show researcher, asking us about a piece of old news- this year’s so-called tough PSLE Maths question. That was after all the major papers and networks had covered the story thoroughly and we had moved on to preparing our students for the ‘O’ levels. The[…]