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Letter to and from Mr Ang regarding the HC diploma. The LetterFeedback on C2 principal dialog session : Hwa Chong Diploma Dear Mr Ang, I am Tan Hong Chan from 07S72, and would like to provide feedback with regards to the issues raised today during the dialog session, regarding the HwaChong Diploma scheme. Firstly, I would like to thank you for forking out time for the dialog session, and share and discuss viewpoints regarding school policies. This would certainly help students to foster more understanding with regards to policies initiated by the school administration, and this understanding between the student body and the school is crucial for a policy to work. I find the issues raised by these 2 students, Hui Jie and Guo Jie, especially valid and relevant to us. Guo Jie had pointed out that diploma is a form of certification issued to all students who have completed his course of studies. All the institutions of the world, be it a polytechnic or a university, do not limit the issuing of their diploma to a certain perc! entage of the graduating batch of students. This is equivilent to not awarding a student his A level certificate for not being at the top 30% of the cohort, if we want to analogise it in the local context. A diploma is a form of professional certification of one's completion of his course of study, regardless of how well the person performs. If it is to be limited to the top 30% students, I believe that the proper coinage would be "award". I wish to point out that there are vast differences between an award and a diploma. A diploma can be use directly for scholarship/university admission, whereas an award simply serve to testify one's achievements in a certain field, and it cannot be used directly for any applications to universities. Thus, to term the certificate as an "award" or a "diploma" has significant impact on the student body. I understand the school's dilemma, but if we are to label the certificate as a "diploma", it must be awarded to th! e rest of the school as well, since all the students have completed th e coursework of their studies. However, it may compromise the credibility of the certificate. If we are to label the certificate as an "award", it cannot possibly serve the aim of replacing the A levels in the future, as awards are not in the same league as the recognised-qualifications such as SATs and A levels. I believe that awarding the award to the entire student population now will not harm the credential of the certificate. The pioneering polytechnics also start off their diploma programme with the issuing of diplomas to every students who completed their course of study. Today, these diplomas are widely recognised by both local and oversea universities. This shows that awarding the Hwa Chong diploma to every student may not necessarily affect the diploma's credibility in the academic world. Also, it is well known that the level of difficulty of Hwa Chong's internal assessments are set at a notch higher than the A levels, and given our school's trac! k record of over 50% of every batch scoring 3 H2 distinctions and above, it is unfair to issue the diploma to the top 30% of the cohort. In addition, it is not a fair assessment to designate students in the top 30% of internal assessment, as as a benchmark, as the overall quality of every batch of students may differ. For instances, the cut of point for a certain year may be 70%, while the cut off point for the following year may differ at 50%. This is not a true meritocratic manner to issue academic qualifications. I believe that a more proper method is the current system of assignment grades to marks. This would serve to ensure that those who meets the criteria would not be denied the diploma, as in the case of the percentage-grading system.If the school still feel insecure about awarding the diploma to every student, we can adopt a system similar to the university grading system, of first class, second class etc. This would ensure banding of the students, distinguishing the most outstanding students from the rest of the cohort, a win-win solution, as oppose to not issuing the diploma at all to the remaining 70% of the cohort.This brings me to the next issue raised by Hui Jie, regarding the edge held by diploma-holders over non-diploma holders, when applying for a job/ scholarship etc. The school currently plan to award the diploma to 100% of the student body in the future, after establishing the credibility of the diploma. Also, the long term aim of the diploma is to replace the A levels examination in the future, and that means that if the scheme succeed, it would result in a irony. While students all over the world are able to obtain the Hwa Chong diploma, the pioneer batch of Hwa Chong students are on the other hand, unable to obtain their school's own diploma. Taking into account the decreasing popularity of the A levels examinations, and UK's slated review of the Cambridge GCE A levels system in 2012, it may not be long before the hwa chong diploma win worldwide recognition. As mentioned previously, as the diploma is a piece of professional certification, the lack of it may be disadvantageous. Imagine, 10 years down the road, when the school decided the issue out the diploma to all students. This batch of students, after subtracting 2 yrs from NS and 4 years from further education, may still be active in the job market. these students have to compete against fresh school graduates with both their A levels/ degree and diploma. In the mind of the interviewer, it would seem that the interviewee without the diploma is somewhat inferior to the diploma-holder, (assuming both candidates were of equal calibre). It would be similar to the current scenario of a candidate without a testimonial competing for a job against one who has an outstanding testimonial. Without the testimonial, it will lead to the interviewer assuming the worst, even before the interview, adopting a bias stance against the candidate, penalising the candidate even bef! ore he can promote himself to the interviewer. Likewise, the same coul d be said to non-diploma holders. Interviewers will question themselves privately, "what has this candidate done to not get his diploma?", and naturally assume the worst. Given our school's reputation, it is highly viable for the school to first issue the diploma to every student first, while at the same time building up the brand name of the diploma, for it to gain further recognition. I hope you would consider my humble feedback on this issue, for the benefit of not just me, but also, the entire cohort and the future batches of students to come. Yours Sincerely, Tan Hong Chan 5/4/2008 ____________________________________________________________________ The Reply Re: [SPAM] Feedback on C2 principal dialog session : Hwa Chong Diploma From: Wee Hiong ANG (ANG_Wee_Hiong@moe.gov.sg) Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 5:02:58 PM To: tanhongchan@hotmail.com Cc: Kwok Leong CHAN (CHAN_Kwok_Leong@moe.gov.sg); Bee Kuan CHIN(CHIN_Bee_Kuan@moe.gov.sg) Dear Hong Chan, Thank you for your feedback on our Hwa Chong Diploma. This diploma scheme is a long-term project aiming to do away with A-level exam in 10-15 years' time. Launching the diploma is only our first step to this long journey. I don't think any of our students need this diploma now because all of them are taking the A-level exam. The A-level certificate will help your son gain admission to a university suitable for him. If we want local and foreign universities to respect our diploma, it's important for us to commence with a right note. The decision to award the Diploma with Distinction to only the top 30% of our students will make the diploma very prestigious. That's the reason why NTU immediately declare their recognition openly. What we need to do is to invite other universities to consider recognising the diploma gradually. At the right time, we will roll out our diploma to more students without compromising our standard. The Hwa Chong Diploma scheme is guided by an advisory board which comprises people who are highly respected in the education circle. They will advise us on when to increase the number of students getting the diploma. Our current IP students who have gone through 6 years of education in HCI will stand a better chance of getting the diploma, because they have been trained from young to do research and to serve the community. These are pre-requisites to the award of the diploma. Academic performance is not the only criteria. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. _____________________________________________________________________ |
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