I have an uncle; he used to be one of my favourite uncles until he became a parent, and I got into NIE. He's got two kids, a girl of 7 and a boy of 5.

I haven't been talking much to him of late, but "stupid MOE policies", "tuition teachers not doing much", "kindergartens too much fun for kids to learn anything" and topics like such make up any one of the conversations that we have.

He's usually asking if I've heard of so-and-so policy that MOE's just come up with, fills me in with what it's all about, and then starts criticizing it as though there's really no point in carrying them out.

Only yesterday, he asked if I've heard of some MOE literacy assessment programme that his daughter's school's just introduced. I said no, and he went on to question the need for the programme, and why are they only doing it in the later part of the year, why can't they do it at the start of the new year, etc etc.

Seriously, if I knew why, I'd probably be sitting in the education minister's seat, won't I?

I replied politely (only because he's an uncle) that it could be a new policy that's only just drawn up, and of course he was unsatisfied with my answer. I'm from NIE, I'm a teacher-to-be, of course I must know what are the uses of all these stupid policies.

He goes on to complain about how poorly his girl is doing in school, only achieving 70+ instead of his expected 90+ in exams, and how he doesn't approve of his boy having "too much fun in kindergarten". He's not even in primary school, for christ's sake!

The way he speaks scares me, a lot. Am I going to deal with parents who are all like that in future?

Are they all going be so competitive (read: kiasu), constantly comparing grades of their children, questioning the teaching methods of schools and teachers, and have the final say in what should or should not be taught in schools? Are they all going to expect teachers and schools to promise something and deliver something that's 10 times better?

I am absolutely terrified by the thought of that happening.

I've always thought my Dad was bad enough (insists that I should spend all my time studying, but nice otherwise), but I think I had it much easier than the two poor kids.

Children growing up in such environments, I can predict exactly what they're going to turn out to be. They grow up feeling they're never good enough for their parents, have crushed self-esteems because they never seem to be able to live up to their parents' expectations, and have extremely competitve natures. Oh, and joyless childhoods.

I really hope my uncle will just let his two kids grow up the way they should and want to, instead of setting so many expectations for them. It gets tiring for both the kid and the parent, and too much pressure is never a good thing.