A Parent’s Perspective: Nurturing Success in a Competitive Education Landscape

Singapore’s edu­ca­tion sys­tem is known for its rig­or and high expec­ta­tions, and many par­ents go to great lengths to ensure their chil­dren receive the right aca­d­e­m­ic sup­port. For Christi­na, this jour­ney has been par­tic­u­lar­ly sig­nif­i­cant. Hav­ing guid­ed two chil­dren through the PSLE with out­stand­ing results and now sup­port­ing her youngest child in the same path, she has gained valu­able insights into what it takes to bal­ance aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence with well-being.

Think Teach Acad­e­my was select­ed by EBS, a South Kore­an news chan­nel, as the tuition cen­ter to fea­ture in their cov­er­age of Singapore’s edu­ca­tion sys­tem. As part of this, Christi­na  and her fam­i­ly were cho­sen to share their expe­ri­ence, giv­ing the crew a glimpse into their learn­ing jour­ney. The news team fol­lowed them on the day of their child’s PSLE results release to under­stand the role tuition plays in aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess. You can watch the fea­ture here:

We spoke with Christi­na to learn more about her par­ent­ing phi­los­o­phy, the chal­lenges she has faced, and the strate­gies that have helped her chil­dren thrive aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly.

Q: If you had to sum up your par­ent­ing phi­los­o­phy in a few words, what would they be? What are the most impor­tant val­ues or habits you instill in your chil­dren to help them suc­ceed aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly?

A: Do your best in every­thing that you have to do, regard­less of whether you like it. Life is such; we do not always get to like what we are tasked to do. Right now, their role is to be a stu­dent; so, they should be the best stu­dent they can be.

Q: Many par­ents strug­gle to cre­ate a struc­tured rou­tine that works. Do you have any dai­ly rit­u­als or habits that you feel have played a key role in your children’s aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ments?

A: “Some­thing is bet­ter than noth­ing,” so my chil­dren are used to doing a bit of revi­sion or read­ing every day. It can be revis­ing school work or read­ing wide­ly. Often, Chern­wei and I will email them or bring up arti­cles of inter­est for dis­cus­sion. They may not always be inter­est­ed, but we still talk about them! It is impor­tant to gain knowl­edge. As a rule of thumb, we work hard dur­ing the week­days and play hard over the week­end.

Q: Singapore’s edu­ca­tion sys­tem is known for being rig­or­ous and demand­ing. How did you per­son­al­ly feel about the high expec­ta­tions and pres­sure placed on stu­dents, and how did you nav­i­gate this as a par­ent?

A: To be hon­est, I’m not a fan of our edu­ca­tion sys­tem. Hav­ing taught my chil­dren through their pri­ma­ry school years for the past 11 years, I feel exhaust­ed. I actu­al­ly still spend time read­ing up on the syl­labus just to be famil­iar with the changes and how I should teach them to be exam-smart. How­ev­er, being in the sys­tem, we just keep mov­ing. We jour­ney with our chil­dren through the “pains” and their joys, and con­stant­ly encour­age them to do their best in all they do, because we don’t want them to regret any­thing lat­er on.

Q: What were some of the biggest chal­lenges your chil­dren faced while prepar­ing for the PSLE, and how did you sup­port them emo­tion­al­ly and aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly dur­ing these stress­ful peri­ods?

A: The months lead­ing up to PSLE can be loaded with a lot of work from school, so bed­time gets pushed back. Because they feel oblig­at­ed to com­plete their work, they push on and are inevitably phys­i­cal­ly and men­tal­ly exhaust­ed. Tem­pers flare, and it can get unpleas­ant. So, a few months before PSLE, I out­source the teach­ing to the won­der­ful teach­ers in Think Teach Acad­e­my to con­tin­ue their revi­sion. Chern­wei and I then become in charge of fun! We ensure that they get their treats, watch movies, play their respec­tive sports, and have enough down­time to rest and recu­per­ate.

Q: As par­ents, we nat­u­ral­ly want the best for our chil­dren, but aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence often comes with its own pres­sures. How did you bal­ance your own expec­ta­tions while ensur­ing your chil­dren remained hap­py, moti­vat­ed, and well-round­ed?

A: Again, with the mind­set of “some­thing is bet­ter than noth­ing,” it’s about effort and growth. This may sound cheesy, but we remind them to be a bet­ter per­son today than they were yes­ter­day. Also, I tell my chil­dren that hap­pi­ness is overrated—much to their chagrin—but I try to make it up with lots of hugs and some Bub­ble Tea.

Q: Were there moments when you felt over­whelmed by the demands of the edu­ca­tion sys­tem? How did you find a sense of bal­ance for your­self and your fam­i­ly dur­ing these intense aca­d­e­m­ic years?

A: Sure­ly the years when they had nation­al exams were a bit more intense, but I think the key to this is to be con­sis­tent from the begin­ning. It has become a habit for my chil­dren to do a bit every day, so it’s not a dras­tic change from their usu­al rou­tine when exam sea­son comes around.

Q: Aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess isn’t just about hard work—it also requires a strong sense of self-moti­va­tion. How do you encour­age your chil­dren to take own­er­ship of their learn­ing and devel­op inde­pen­dence in their stud­ies?

A: Hon­est­ly, a child’s self-moti­va­tion is out of any parent’s con­trol. For our fam­i­ly, Cherns and I just keep encour­ag­ing (and I keep nag­ging) and con­stant­ly pray hard for God to grant them matu­ri­ty soon­er than lat­er! In moments of suc­cess, Cherns will tell them to remem­ber this “shiok” feel­ing, and hope­ful­ly, that will moti­vate them to con­tin­ue to want to do well for them­selves!

Q: What fac­tors influ­enced your deci­sion to enroll your chil­dren in Think Teach Acad­e­my, even though they were already high achiev­ers?

A: In March 2020, a friend who was keen to enroll her daugh­ter asked me to accom­pa­ny her for one of Think Teach Academy’s mar­ket­ing events. There, we got tasters of lessons for Math and Eng­lish from Teacher Jere­my and Teacher Algene. What con­vinced me was a con­ver­sa­tion I had with Teacher Jere­my after the ses­sion. I asked what he did when high-abil­i­ty stu­dents could not answer a Math ques­tion. He replied that he would give them a tip and tell them to reread the ques­tion and think. That sealed the deal for me because it is impor­tant to me that my chil­dren are taught to think for them­selves and not expect to be con­stant­ly spoon-fed!

Q: Could you share a spe­cif­ic moment when you saw Think Teach Acad­e­my mak­ing a pos­i­tive impact on your chil­dren?

A: Noah’s spelling was atro­cious, but after attend­ing Teacher Sharon’s lessons, it start­ed to improve as he enjoyed her class­es. He is an audio-learn­er, and her delight­ful sto­ries moti­vat­ed him to write bet­ter. And to write bet­ter, he had to know how to spell!

Natal­ie is (friend­ly) com­pet­i­tive by nature, so learn­ing alter­nate ways from what I taught her to solve Math prob­lems faster and more accu­rate­ly was some­thing that Teacher Jere­my helped her with. Also, Think Teach Academy’s Sci­ence lessons are top-notch! Shout out to Teacher Gen and Teacher Nicole!

Q: Many par­ents strug­gle with the pres­sure of want­i­ng their chil­dren to excel. What advice would you give to oth­er par­ents try­ing to sup­port their children’s aca­d­e­m­ic jour­ney while keep­ing them hap­py and well-bal­anced?

A: Be consistent—learning is a jour­ney. Teach them good time man­age­ment. Make them do chores and sports!

Q: Beyond just good grades, what kind of mind­set and skills do you hope your chil­dren have gained from this expe­ri­ence?

A: We hope for them to under­stand that hard work yields results and also that it is impor­tant to be pre­pared. We also hope that they real­ize oppor­tu­ni­ty costs and the types of doors that open or close for them are a result of their choic­es. So, we pray that they make good choic­es!