Speaking in his first National Day Rally speech on 15 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien said Singapore’s education system was set for more reforms in the years ahead, particularly for the primary and secondary education.Read the summary of his thoughts on education below.

For a start, the Government is prepared to send and additional 3,000 teachers to Singapore schools, cut the courses of study even further and change the way the mother tongue, especially Chinese, is taught.But, for the changes to be successful, parents need to help.

Singapore has a devoted group of teachers and principals and quite a few of them are outstanding, but the Republic’s schools can be even better.To help the schools make a jump in quality, the Government plans that within the next 6 years, it will send 1,000 more teachers to primary schools, 1,400 to secondary schools and 550 more to junior colleges.Each school would decide how to use its extra teachers.Some may want to make classes smaller so students get more individual attentions while others may have new teachers assist more senior teachers, but the overall goal is to give teachers the time and space to come up with ways to bring out the best in their students.

More teachers must not mean more homework, however.In fact, the Prime Minister wants to see the courses cut down so that there is less pressure on the students.Good grades are important but they should not be the only goal students have.PM Lee is convinced that “we must teach less so that our children can learn more.”

Another change will be in the teaching of the mother tongue so that students can become more fluent.The key is to teach Chinese as a living language not just an academic subject like Latin.Therefore, the focus should be on speaking and reading the language.To do this, there must be an environment outside the classroom that is contributing to strengthening the Chinese lessons.

The text is mainly about         in Singapore.

      A.the education reform       B.adding more teachers

       C.the mother tongue           D.ways of teaching

The general goal of using extra teachers is to          

       A.make classes smaller       B.assist more senior teachers

       C.teach more              D.help teachers improve teaching quality

PM Lee holds that the students should         

       A.do more homework        B.give up higher grades

       C.study more courses      D.be given more time to learn more

The key to teaching Chinese well is to          

      A.make it academic                B.have a creative environment

       C.give more Chinese lessons      D.encourage speaking and reading a lot

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him,and let him know that you trust him.” These words are from the black American educator,Booker Washington. He was saying that,“If you want people to grow up,you have to stop treating them like children.”

In America,families are close but children are encouraged to be independent,to make their own decisions,even at a very early age. It’s not unusual for a child of seven to be given an allowance(津贴)every week. The child is encouraged to save some of the money but he or she can spend it on whatever they choose,for example,buying clothes,school supplies or CDs. Some teenagers even have their own credit cards! That’s a big responsibility since even adults are tempted to overspend when they have credit cards.

From an early age,American children are asked for their opinions and they are included in family decision making. At the dinner table,teenagers will be listened to on any topic,from politics to buying a new family car or where the family will go on vacation. In this way, teenagers are getting practice in becoming individuals:they are learning how to stand on their own two feet.

Many Chinese young people are becoming almost as interested as American teens in searching for independence. They want to express those qualities that make them unique human beings. You can see this in the way they dress, the music they listen to and the friends they choose. “Super Girl” Li Yuchun caught the imagination of Chinese teenagers on the “Super Girl” television contest. She was not the traditional “nice,young Chinese girl”. With her short,spiky hair and boy-like clothes, she was telling everyone that she was different. She had the courage to be her own person and to stand on her own two feet...and she won!

There is an old saying,“Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him and then choose that way with all his strength.” If you do this, step by step, over a period of time, you may find that you have become the person you always wanted to be.

The passage is intended to encourage the youth to________.

A. save money for useful things                 B. become independent

C. express their great ambitions                        D. make important decisions

A child of seven is given an allowance so that he can______.

A. be accepted as a popular guy                      B. learn to decide how to use money

C. overspend money without care                          D. have school supplies of his own

The author implies that many Chinese children________.

A. are more independent than Americans              B. should become interested in America

C. are happy with their present situation                 D. are not satisfied to be nice, quiet ones

The main idea of the last paragraph is________.

A. that we should do things step by step          B. why we should understand our desires

C. what we should plan for our own life         D. how we can manage to realize our dreams

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