Amber is an incoming first grader this June and she's only 5. She completed 2 interviews and 3 battery of tests. Something that makes me a very proud mother. She passed the the private school tests with an above average rating while we are still waiting for the result of the public school after having three screenings (ala-bar exam kiddie version without the fraternity/sorority send-off) for three days.
The experience of having to wait for your daughter go inside a roomful of kids with a paper and a pencil was enough to describe what a stage mommy feels but to look at her after a gruelling two-hour written test and finding a face that can be compared to someone who just finished a race minus the sweat left me wondering what she went through. Is this how schools screen students now to get the the so-called cream of the crop? Will this guarantee an excellent group of students in preparation for a higher learning? Was my daughter ready? Did her preschool prepare her well or rather did we teach her enough?
While I was waiting for my Amber to finish her test on the first day of the second screening in a public school with the rest of the parents, I am not the only one who is getting sweaty with the heat and worrying. After the first day of screening, 300 were left for the second screening. Out of the 300, 150 went through another set of tests for English, Math, Science, Mental Ability and Creativity. From 150, 105 were left to take another set of tests for sectioning with 35 students each for the Science, SPED and Section 1 classes. Whew! And to think that these were just 5 and 6 years old kids who might still be drinking milk from a bottle just like my girl.
Like the rest of the parents, we are still in a dilemna as to where we should enroll our daughter. Like any ordinary parents, we also want only the best for our kids. This has somehow boiled down into the issue of the pros and cons for the private and public schools. The private schools having all the conveniences like air conditioned rooms, less students and better amenities while public schools are just the opposite. But with the differences in the tests that were given, we can only deduce that public schools are giving these private schools a run for their money with their strict, structured subjects and a more "scientific" approach to teaching and learning. The lack of amenities or facilities is somehow compensated with a more competitive, advanced lessons as evidenced in the number of science high school passers from their schools as compared to private elementary school graduates. These science high schools in turn will "produce" students ready for the best schools in the country which is of course what parents eventually want for their kids. Talk about being bias, I am a product of these public schools.
Having said all this, it still boils down to what our Amber decides. While waiting for the public school result, we just tell her what her options are and what to expect. We just don't want to make her entry to grade school a scary or stressful thing for her as we want her to enjoy it as well because she is after all just five years old.
