LAZY & SELFISH PRC SCHOLAR TRIES TO GAME OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

Dear All Singapore Stuff,

I'm taking my A Levels this year. My school also hosts foreign students in the school hostel, all of which either government/scholarship or privately funded. Most enter in Sec 3 and follow through to end of A Levels. I have one of these foreign students in my class. However since last year he has been displaying certain behaviors that have been negatively affecting everyone around him.

As a start, this student constantly dozes off or plays his phone in lectures and tutorials, and for several hours straight. Now here's the thing, that by itself wouldn't be an issue if he knows what he's doing, but it seems that he isn't. He has been blacklisted from CCA, brought into remedial lessons, and barely made it past J1. In lessons, the more pro-active tutors waste time and resources in constantly paying attention, sometimes unwittingly at the expense of the class. I'd say this efforts go into waste as he doesn't bother doing even the basic exercises given. In daily interactions, he isolates himself and always joins his clique that joined him from overseas (can't find a better way to put this across).

Spoke to him a bit and asked around his social circle along with mutual friends. Seems that he is in essence, trying to game the system. He's on a govt scholarship, but when asked further, has told us he doesn't really care about the A Levels. Rather, his intent is to take the SAT and have the A Levels as a excuse to be funded for his stay here, hence the almost zero effort in school. Rather confusingly, when asked about why he refuses to mingle around with others, he replied that he thinks Chinese is a superior language and hence doesn't bother improving his English to better interact with us. I put this is confusing as isn't the point of taking SAT is to go to US & Europe, where English is the dominant/primary language?

Now, part of me and my classmates has already given up and can't care less about him. The thing is, would it be the correct thing to inform the teachers of his attitudes and intentions "studying" here?

Hunter