PERSPECTIVE: Chiong Xiao Ting is a mother of two daughters, aged seven and four.
At the time of her eldest daughter's Primary 1 registration in 2019, Chiong initially placed her daughter at her alma mater, which is a SAP school.
However, after much consideration, she decided to withdraw her daughter from her alma mater and register her at a neighbourhood school instead.
Here, Chiong writes about how her own difficult childhood informed her initial expectations of her oldest daughter and how she eventually came to the decision to choose a neighbourhood school.
An earlier version of this excerpt first appeared in the book