Sorry for scoring only 75 marks

A primary school teacher asked students from his class who scored below 85 marks in their Mathematics exam to write letters of apology. A disgruntled parent complain when her daughter was made to write this letter upon scoring 75 marks in her exam.

The primary five student had to explain why she did not score at least 85 marks (the minimum mark for Band 1), and get her parents to sign the letter. In her class, a total of six students were made to write letters of apology.

Her daughter used to be very cheerful, but has become more and more depressed since she started primary five. She would ask what if she was not in the best class. Mdm Chen told her daughter to just do her best and not give herself too much pressure, but is still concerned that she may breakdown due to stress.

In her letter of apology, Mdm Chen's daughter wrote "I tried my best" four times, and apologised to the teacher twice. According to the letter, she scored 60 marks in the last exam, and 75 marks for this exam, but she apologised for "improving too little". She also wrote, "I know I will be kicked out of this class."

Principal said that teacher just wants to encourage them, the purpose of the letters was to make the students reflect, and encourage them to improve their performance. The six students did not meet the targets that they had set for themselves, so the teacher's intention was to help them understand where they went wrong, and improve they way they learn.

Their parents' signature was required so that they will be kept informed of their children's progress in school. The principle also clarified that this was not practiced in other classes within their school.

Schooling seems to be getting more & more competitive, stressful than it used to be in the 80s & 90s. What is childhood to them? Teachers out there, maybe you might wanna get the kids to write or have an open decision on childhood with them. This reminds me of a movie which I've watched sometime back called "Front of the Class", a movie base on Brad Cohen's book "Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had".