setting goals

today was parent/ teacher day at AG's school. hubs and i went together coz .. well .. i made him come. it started at 11 with a focus group session with the principal who had 2 impt items he wanted to communicate on his agenda.

1) the school was changing it's name. i'll summarise it as a re-branding exercise.
2) the primary school is doing away with it's direct affiliate with the secondary school and will introduce a moving minimum cut-off point system (200 pts now) for students to have a guaranteed seat in the express steam in the secondary school.

the discussion for the latter was really robust as many parents felt that this will cause undue stress on the kids. the principal retorted that the children were becoming complacent with the safety net and they needed the edge, a sense of responsibility and ownership, to push them to their second phase of development.

i was concerned coz i know i have a hippy child who does not conform well. she may not ace her PSLE (when it happens in 4 years) and well i was worried for her future. hubs too.

he analogised to the principal - take high-jumping for eg, if my child can't reach the minimum 2m mark without falling the pole, but she has learned the right technique to make the jump, isn't she still a high-jumper?

principal said - if the child can't make the minimum 2m mark, than she can't call herself a high-jumper. the child needs a goal and that's what we are doing.

i sit on the fence with this. i think 200 is a reasonable cut-off but i wonder what the cut-off will be like 4 years, 6 years and 8 years later. is the world ready for my hippy chick to take over and conquer? her form teacher said it best,"your child is a non-conformist. she likes to do things her way and in her own time. like she's in her own world. the good news is, she will be in high demand once she starts working. the bad news is, school life will not be very fun for her."