To The Powers That Be at Singapore American School,
I am writing to you as a concerned parent, and concerned
American citizen. I would like to know
how you decided upon the name for your school.
Why do you include the name “American” in the title of your school? As far as I have seen (with three children
attending your school), you have not taken the effort to display any American
ideas into your educational system. In
America, my children were welcomed, no matter how they excelled or how they
struggled, into the public school system.
In a system desperate for funds, teachers who were paid peanuts were
able to tackle the challenge of 28-30 child classrooms, speckled with children
of various learning differences, meet their needs as best as they could, and
still have them find areas of success.
American schools are inclusive.
They do not see any challenge as insurmountable. They meet every child at their level and work
to bring them to their own idea of success.
Your school, on the other hand, is the very antithesis of
the American spirit. You are exclusive,
rather than inclusive. You take only the
children that meet your narrow demands, keep your classes small, insist that
children stay tightly within the boundaries of your ideas of “education” and
charge more than a year at an American Ivy League university for your annual
tuition. With these restrictions, it is
no surprise that you produce children that attend prestigious
universities. How hard is it to turn out
“legacies”, afterall? All you need is
money.
Do you know anything about real, authentic learning? Do you know that those who have made the most
advances in the world of art, science, literature, and medicine, have done so –
not within the constraints of their educator’s boundaries, but - when allowed
to roam as far and wide as the mind is able to?
My children whom you have allowed to enter your “hallowed”
halls are good students. They were good
students at one of the poorest public schools in Washington state, and they are
good students in your outrageously priced private institution. You are not to take credit for their
success. They are successful because
they are innovative, creative, self-starting, incredibly compassionate and
introspective children who have been brought up by parents who love them
unconditionally, and have encouraged them to push the boundaries. Your “excellent” teachers have each sent
communications home which have held grammatical and spelling errors. They have each told my children that they
shouldn’t read certain books, write a certain way, or think in a certain manner
because it does not follow the rules that they have decided must be
obeyed. How is telling a child not to
read a more difficult book because it hinders their reading speed helping a
child to advance? Helping a child to
enjoy reading? Helping a child to strive
for more?
My child to whom you have denied entrance may not have the
label of “good student”, but believe me, he is brighter than any of the
teachers you have in your entire institution.
This child regularly converses with his grandfather who is a physics and
computer engineering professor at The Ohio State University. This professor states over and over that this
child needs to have regular access to professional scientists, because his mind
is so far advanced that high school science teachers will not be able to meet
his needs for information. He has said that his PhD students do not even
know to ask the question that my son is asking.
My son is not a child who sits and listens. Who is able to intake lessons and spit them
right back out for tests. He takes that
information and pushes it further. He is
one of those who will change the world, and I pity you for not being able to
see that this child who does not fit inside your box will end up changing your
world.
While you go on and produce children who will go into the
world of finance and marketing, for those are the jobs that produce money, my
child will be making advances that will probably impact your life more than any
money fretter will.
How is it that I, the nearly straight A student, ended up
being the college drop-out, and my husband, the one who nearly failed out of
high school, ended up graduating college in two years’ time, with honors, and
with a family? How is it that the “good
student” is now at home and the “class misfit” holds graduate degrees and
succeeds in two prestigious jobs? How is
it, as well, that this college drop-out can research how children learn, and
see all of these truths, and be able to teach her own children at home to
success, and your teachers who hold masters degrees, and each have an
instructional assistant in the classroom, cannot manage teaching my child, nor
understand that using “learning games” on iPads does not constitute as actual
learning? Can it be, that learning is
more than what a person can write on paper in a given amount of time within the
tight restraints of rules?
To where does all of the money you receive from tuition go? How is it that children with very little
around the world can learn and grow and succeed, and yet your prestigious institution
which charges such an exorbitant amount of money cannot fathom taking on the
challenge of my brilliant child? Where
are you spending your money? As a mother
who has homeschooled many years, I know how much it takes to provide an amazing
education, and I can’t even dream up things to buy and do past $1,000. And yet you charge from $30-45,000? What is costing so much? Do you need help with budgeting? I would gladly give some input on what is
necessary, and what is fodder!
And while I’m at it, you can stop emailing me about our
vaccination status. The law says I have
a year to have my children up to date with the two compulsory vaccinations (a
fact which I had to bring to your attention, you never having heard of it in
all of the years you’ve been in this business).
When that year is up, I will inform you with my decision. Until then, you will stop harassing me, or
else I will show up there in person. And
this mama bear is not one you want to encounter.
Most warmly,
Amy Hoyt
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