Wing Lee Cheong / Canada
“Singapore’s ranked 1st in quality education system in the world” – Global Competitiveness Report 2007–2008
“Singapore ranked one of the world’s best-performing school systems” – McKinsey Report, published September 2007
“Singapore students ranked among the top in Mathematics and Science” – Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007
“Singapore ranked 4th among 45 education systems” – Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006
Those are very impressive achievements that one can be proud of. Dr.Ng Eng Hen, the Education Minister of Singapore, cited a 2007 survey by the Fraser Institute that shows 94 per cent of Ontario students were dissatisfied with the Canadian public school system. Dr.Kishore, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS, proudly claimed that educational leaders around the world are flocking to Singapore to copy Singapore’s successful educational model. He said that some North American schools are even using similar textbooks in their schools.
Canada may not have a perfect education system but I seriously doubt the reliability of the survey cited by Dr Ng. One has to question the criteria and sample size used for the survey.
Most Canadians are proud of their education system and will not trade it for the aggressive streaming system of Singapore where one’s future and career is based solely on academic results. Studies have shown that passing standardized examinations with good grades does not necessarily mean that one has a better knowledge of the subject than another with lesser or failed grades. In most cases, it simply shows that the person is better in the art of taking examinations. There are controversies amongst Canadian educationists if standardized examinations can accurately assess students’ subject knowledge and the application of that knowledge. Not knowing how to apply the knowledge is no knowledge at all.
In the pursuit of academic excellence, Singaporean parents force their children to study long hours to make the grade. In the fierce process, Singapore children are denied the joys of childhood. This explains why Singapore children are more stressed and tensed compared to Canadian children with their happy and carefree outlook. Children of Singapore friends who visit me in Canada tend to be more reserved and do not interact well. More interestingly, almost all of them would bring their school work during these visits. The parents made sure that their kids did certain hours of studies everyday despite the fact that they were on holidays. It is a strange trend amongst Singapore parents who want to be one-up on others. It is a reflection of the typical Singapore “kaisu” culture.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint
Canada is one of the few countries that do not have a central or federal education ministry. All the thirteen provinces and territories have their independent education ministries to coordinate the national system through the Council of Education. This system has worked well for the country. Canada’s literacy rate is 99 per cent and placed at 19th in world standing, while Singapore’s is 94.4 per cent and placed at 74th, according to UNESCO in its 2007 annual report.
Canadians believe that life is a marathon and not a 100-meters sprint. Children are encouraged at a young age to develop at their own natural pace. There is no streaming. Mentally-challenged children are put in the same class as the normal and gifted children. Exceptions are made for severe mental cases. Under this environment, Canadian kids learn to develop compassion towards the less fortunate and realize that the world comprises different kinds of people. Hence they grow to be less arrogant and less prejudicial.
It is mandatory for students to do part-time jobs or perform volunteer duties at seniors’ home and other charity organizations in order to graduate from high schools. The students get marks for doing charity or part-time jobs. It is not uncommon to see volunteers in the hospital reception areas, families picking litter on the streets, distributing food/clothing to the needy, volunteers in senior homes, even the mentally and physically challenged are taken care of by volunteers. While in Spore the handicapped are considered an embarrassment and kept in the homes by their families, here in Canada volunteers bring them out shopping and they are encouraged to participate in recreational activities.
Canadians constitute less than 1 per cent of the world’s population but provides 10 per cent of the world’s peacekeeping forces in its selfless and unceremonious way. Volunteerism has become second nature to Canadians.
Singapore – just study and get good grades
This is in contrast with Singapore where an increasing number of parents would have maids attend to every need of the children. The maids carry the school bags, bring the drinks and food. All the children need to do is to study and get good grades. It has come to a point where many kids cannot do without maids. I have friends whose kids would scream to their maids to do simple chores like getting a drink. Few of these kids know how to make a cup of tea let alone a simple meal for themselves.
Even our much respected figure of MM Lee, despite all the fine education and good grades he had, did not know that one needs to peel off the egg shell before a hard-boiled egg can be eaten. (As related recently by his daughter in a Straits Times article.)
It is a common practice for Canadian university students to take a year or two off to travel the world and return to complete their studies later. My daughter took a full year off to backpack in Australia two years ago. With another classmate, they bought a used car and drove all over Australia. Most of my friends in Singapore thought I was crazy to let a young girl postpone her studies and travel aimlessly for a year.
Perhaps to most Singaporeans, it was a complete waste of time and money. My two other boys similarly backpacked in Africa, South America, Asia and Europe during their summer holidays. They learned more from their travels than from textbooks. Most importantly, they enjoy their lives. It is difficult to reconcile how forcing our children to go on a relentless paper chase can be the right thing to do.
Canada may not compare well with the Singapore education system in world rankings. Canadian students may not compete well in mathematics and science tests against Singapore students. Despite these, however, Canada has produced eighteen Nobel Prize winners, 44 Olympics medalists, with 9 Gold Medalists in the last three games, plus hundreds of world-renowned entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, writers, actors, singers, etc. By population ratio, Singapore should produce at least three Nobel Prize winners and scores of artists and writers, etc. Even Hong Kong and Taiwan each managed to have one Nobel Prize winner, many Olympic medalists and entrepreneurs.
Trade-off and compromise
The Canadian and the Singapore education systems are built on different premises. Singapore trains its students to be 100 meters sprinters for fast results to show the world whilst the Canadian system train its students to be marathon runners for the long haul in life. Canadian public education is free for all its citizens and permanent residents - from kindergartens to high schools. Tuition fees for most universities cost an average of C$6,000 per year.
The unscientific assumption by Singapore’s leaders that if you are not good at passing examinations with good grades, you are unlikely to make good for the rest of your lives, is laughable. History has shown us that there are scores of high achievers without degrees, i.e Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc.
History teaches us that we cannot get something for nothing. If we push our children hard to be super human beings, we may push most of them over the edge. There is always a trade-off and compromise.
These children would grow up to be blinded by materialism and money, potentially resulting in a lack of compassion, failed marriages, poor social interaction skills, aggressive behaviors, and so on. No one has managed to social engineer a super society. There are already signs Singaporeans are stressed out before retirement. If the people are pushed at an early age, they will wear out at an early age. Few people can last being stressed for their entire working lives.
Singapore may have a better education system (according to certain rankings and studies) and the citizens may be contented and proud of it. However, I still prefer the traditional Canadian education system where we are taught to be human beings rather than human machines. We may not be high in world rankings but we are happy. That is what life is all about. All the millions of dollars a year would not necessarily bring you genuine joy and happiness.
We were born with nothing and we will leave with nothing.
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Cartoon by the author.
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Reply to #82
To talk to the thick head PAP running dogs we need to flash our qualification if not they think we are just another Ah Bing. If you feel otherwise, then I respect you for not showing. I have nothing to hide. I give out my full name and even my address like what Mr Wing the write did in some of his writing. So I think I should not hide my qualification. And by the way Imperial College is now at par with Oxford U….3 best university in the world! 1st is Harvard and 2nd is Cambridge.
First and foremost we must accept Canada is a vast and blessed country. Singapore was created by a hardworking population and a committed and competent Govt.
If all things being equal, I am sure Singaporeans will be as relaxed as the Australians and Canadians. They are lucky and we are not so lucky.
Parents play a big part in the rat race. Parents knowingly or unkowingly encourage their children to go for academic excellence. Not a big problem except that the child misses his or her childhood.
Cheong Wing Lee can emigrate to Canada. A good choice but don’t look down on those who stayed and asked us to let our guards down because we don’t have wild salmons leaping up the river, pine forests, oil tar, etc etc
Frankly if we have too much time in Singapore without the natural wonders of Canada, our kids will end up in the shopping malls, game arcades etc
I think better study and earn enough money to travel the world.
For me Singapore is my base and the world is my playground.
But must study hard first.
Ultimately what matters is whether you get an education in spite of the educational system or because of it.
Singaporeans are lambs. From young they are trained to follow, even after they graduated they are paid to follow. Rebels are punished & condemned. Maybe one thing which the government needs to know is that this is no Matrix movie where humans are used cultivated for economical production. This is disrespect of Human Rights from childhood even till the adult years.
As a Singaporean who’s been in “elite” schools for ten and a half years of her life, I’d say that even though I had to mug really hard for good grades, it wasn’t all THAT bad. I’m currently studying in an international school in Canada, so all this talk has been quite interesting and relevant to my life at the moment.
Coming from Singapore where so much emphasis was placed on studies and being thrown into such a chilled out environment was quite unsettling initially. But soon enough I realised that I was quite ahead of most of my peers academically, though socially I could learn quite a lot from them as well. And now, while my peers at home are all stressing out over their A Levels, I just completed an Underwater Photography Specialty course in SCUBA diving. I guess the problem then doesn’t lie in the education system, but rather the whole environment of Singapore in general, as we as students and children are quite sheltered from the “harsh realities of the real world”.
I’m a true Singaporean kid, brought up with a maid and not knowing how to operate a washing machine or a coffee maker. I’m now living in a boarding school with my parents and family halfway across the globe and have been here for over a year. My parents wanted me to do well in school, but weren’t as kiasu as some other parents that I’m hearing of. Primary school was when the external discipline was more necessary, though I did manage to have a good childhood while juggling piano lessons, swimming trainings and schoolwork. After that, my siblings and I slowly gained more independence from my parents and I think we still turned out ok and not SO academically-oriented. The point of this is actually just to say that parents do play a large role in the whole social skills/academic orientation jazz, so it’s not entirely the fault of the Singaporean education system that we’re producing SOME socially inept kids or uncreative un-brilliant kids.
I think the problem of the education system lies in the fact that we’re still quite a young nation, and still quite a conservative one. The mindset of the older generation, in my opinion, is this: This education system has worked well in the past, so why change it? And this goes for many things outside of just the education system. Singapore was born out of hard work, and let’s not forget that it was these “iliterate elders” that we so eagerly dismiss who built up this nation. However, I do think that we need to evolve in order to survive in this ever-changing world. I’m not quite sure that we should adopt the Canadian school system, though, because, as mentioned before, we are in very different environments with a lot of varying factors. Also, I’d rather have to deal with kids stressed from school rather than kids out getting high on drugs or alcohol [not to make generalisations, but those are just some of the problems faced by some schools here]. I’m not quite sure how we can change the whole system without first changing the mindsets of the people involved within it, which include parents, students, teachers and the government.
Also I don’t think we should measure a country’s achievements by just the number of Olympic medalists or Nobel Prize winners or whatnot. How, then, would this be different from the education system rankings claimed by Dr Ng? I think the most important thing isn’t how high Singapore is ranked among the world [though yes I do understand that we are a small country wanting to make a name for ourselves], but rather how happy its people are. If the education system is producing stressed children that want to move out of town as soon as possible or whose only goal in life is to get As for everything, then that’s the biggest problem that needs to be tackled. Not how to change the education system so that we can produce more Nobel laureates or Olympic medalists, but how to change the system so that we can produce empathetic humans with values who live a happy life in a country that they love [I think that was actually more or less the point of the whole article above?].
My apologies if I may seem incoherent throughout this response. It’s 2.40am and I still have homework due later today [see, wherever you are, this still happens].
Cheers, all.
This is form Temasekreview forum: for all those who think sg education is still OK. for SLK as well.
Please go to this website video and see if you see any parallel and connective spins with The Truth About Dubai’s Shiek’s EXCESS in his Kingdom!!!… Especially by his HIGHLY Paid minister od development in answer to Western INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST!!!…
And know WHY Liesky is so so afraid of investigative journalism!!!… Because he always have something to hide from us. Do True to Goodness and Honesty people… EVEN National leaders… need to hide… with GARBAGE VERBAGE???…
Please SEE and Hear for yourselves people of Singapore…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUW9MWLIQYw
Saw my young nephew tear up the shitty times a few days ago after seeing yet another foreigner girl getting PSLE top, stepping over locals.
Have locals no shame? How can anyone stomach this?
#107 TanAhTeck
i think we are also part of the problem. We are so obsessed with the top “winners” we forget the rest of the 99.9% of the ordinary, average singaporeans. We par-take in the meritocratic ideology. Sure, they are good and we must not begrudge them.
But no matter how good they are, when the sh*t hits the fan, we ordinary, average singaporeans have no where to go, but to stand our ground and defend this land and our people. We original, true blue, singaporeans.
It is tiring to see our gov “feeding” meritocracy to the detriment of ordinary, average singaporeans. We count nutz to the singapore gov.
my heartfelt congratulations to the young student who ace this year’s PSLE :-)). You have worked hard and deserved this honour. Jia You!
We are not against foreigners per se.
As a Singaporean who have gone through the education system in Singapore from a boy till now, a soon-to-graduate undergraduate student, I certainly agree with many aspects of the articles that in Singapore, many of us are just environmentally forced to study.
As young as kindergarten, we were often asked what we wanted to be when we grow up. Our answers were always naively answered as a doctor, policeman, fireman etc. But not knowing much about the future and being a child who only have the word “play” in their mind, how often do we become what we “wanted” to be when we grow up?
I know that my grades were not very good and my parents would never force me to study. But for some strange reasons, my parents wanted to send me for tuitions as early as primary 1. I was happy to be able to go tuition like my elder sister, but was really scared to go for fear of meeting new people, hence I resisted going in the end. I know then, that I have to work hard myself, to make my parents happy. Then I asked myself what was so hard about studying. I soon become a self-motivated student who studies and studies, having the ambition to enter JC at the age of only 10. Maybe for my generation, parents then were not as “kiasu” as now, but I remember the education system turning more difficult 1 or 2 years after my batch.
Hard work got me streamed to a class of students all with good grades. My hardwork did not change, but what has changed was that, when I was streamed into the good class that year, I no longer feel that my hardwork was enough. Everyone seemed much better than me, and it only pushes my to work harder and harder (implicitly self-motivated?).
I entered good secondary school (the one in the picture above… haha) and that environment of tests and exams almost every fortnight kept me busy day and night. I lost myself. I found myself a slave studying and studying and studying. It was really stressful. Really really stressful. And I hated myself when I failed to keep to my self-created studying schedule. That was really bad. Nevertheless, it does train me up in terms of my stamina. I become a person that could manage stress better, someone who is not afraid to be given lots of work. Overall, there was a sense of achievement. Great. But imagine if you are forced into that situation for all your life? You will just get sick of the stress one day.
I wanted to learn piano ever since I was young. But my parents were against it initially until I proved my true interests in it. But in the end, I still had to give up learning it when I was taking my O levels, simply because the amount of time I have to spend on studying. I cannot cope. I had to give up my passions, for my grades. Perhaps this is what has shaped us, to become slaves for grades, forced or voluntarily.
I desired for an overseas education then, as I was really bored with living in Singapore. I worked hard, really hard, for what? For good grades in A level. Why? To get scholarships because my parents simply could not afford. In the end, after 2 years of studying almost 12 hours daily, I got AAAA for my A levels. But I still did not secure a scholarship. I was forced to study locally, in local uni.
Since then, I let myself go easy. I lost my will to work that hard already. I dont see anything I will gain working so hard for grades. Maybe still, I worked hard for my uni, but this time, it was for fighting a chance to go for exchange overseas! I spent 1 year of my studies in Germany through exchange, and I must say I truly experience a different lifestyle and seen a different perspective. I have seen how people continue to study till 30 and not even worry about finding a job. I have seen people studying a second degree, I have seen people studying without stress. I have seen my europe friends failing exams several times but yet they took it absolutely easy. They have a different education system! They can simply fail exam over and over again, and repeat as many times as they like. They dont force you to study a semester, or force you to come to class, you get your grades so long as you pass the exam. Isnt that far less stressful? Getting the same recognition for spending more time studying at a leisurely pace? We dont have such a luxury in Singapore. A failed exam unless is an F is not allowed to be repeated in NUS. And this F grade cannot be erased! It stays with you for the rest of your life! So now, who doesnt want to study hard?
We were often criticized to be apathetic about politics. With grades issues in our mind, who will ever have the time to bother about issues such as politics that are unrelated to our grades?
I have thought it through, thinking about life and looking how other people lead their lives. I tell myself, grades isnt important in life. So I went ahead to study whatever I want. I studied Japanese, German and Indonesian in University, even though my major is Computing. Cos I am interested in it. And I dont really care if it affects my grades. I dont believe that good grades means better job or future, unless you work for the government.
Sometimes, I just want to shake my head, learning that some of my friends are giving up the opportunity to spend a sem or 2 doing exchange overseas or picking up some new languages for the sake of their grades. There is so much that there missed in life due to this pragmatic and grade-oriented education system…
I may not have grades as good as them, but didnt I learn much more than them by mastering 3 new languages at the expense of lousier grades?
Now, I have graduated 1 semester later than others, but I think it is all worth it. I have learnt so much more through the year spent overseas. Just let go, pursue your passions… I have even plans to study cooking and baking after graduations.
That is the way I think it should go… and Singaporeans need to see just that…
Reply to#109-kuch
Wow!,you must have been fed with a silver spoon in your mouth.So much time and money spent on your overseas experiences and pursuing your studies,
passions,ambitions and what else.You have much to be thankful for, that your parents who live in Singapore and have succeeded in making a lifestyle so comfortable for
you.Unfortunately,for most of us Singaporeans, we do not have that kind of luxuries
like yours.We are so thankful to the government for giving us an education which is
as good as any developed nations and to be able to have a decent jobs to support our families.Those cooking,baking,piano lessons and overseas experiences things you did are secondary to us and has nothing to do with whether my parents have a kaisu and kaisi mentality or not.
Please do not wish that “Just letting go” should be the way to go for
Singapore cos we might end up as a jack of all trades and master of none.I wish
you all the best in your near future.I really do.
Reply to #110
Sorry, but you are wrong. I worked hard for everything. All those lessons? I worked hard to pay for it myself. And my overseas experience are paid for by the overseas government scholarship. The main point is to just let go of GRADES. Are GRADES really that important? I think you are comparing it to wrong items.
And yes. Worked hard. Like all sucessful and kiasu singaporeans. Work hard! VERY HARD. To get fight for every of my passions and ambitions! When others who lost in the competition only complain! I have to fight, even though I say let go! This is SINGAPORE! And are you not sick of this constant competitions? I AM! So everyone just need to let go, for the goodness and betterness of everyone else….
I screwed up my A level’s, got into the “last resort school” after being rejected by the 3 universities, and graduated with second class honours in a major that doesn’t particularly interest me.
I am jobless. I am young, I am inexperienced, and I am gay. Who wants to employ me?
Lesson learnt: Do not screw up your A level’s. And it helps to stay in the closet.
why so worry why chase here and there
as the author said
“We were born with nothing and we will leave with nothing.”
relax one corner lah friend…work to live not live to work
don’t compete,co-operate lah…
if the malay community can accept you chinese and indian to our tanah melayu [malay land]
why not accepting the malay culture of lepak one corner instead of following your culture of kiasuism
aren’t you guys tired?
I am…
Singapore is officially uncapable to become the world’s super power so why bother?
be humble,can survive surely…
Reply to#113-Anonymous.
How foolish you are,telling the whole world that you are gay.Don’t you
know that when you go public about your gayness, there is a price to be paid for your alternative sexual lifestyle in Singapore?No wonder you are still jobless as most employers here will discriminate you. I believe you still have lessons to be learnt.Next time,when you go for your job interviews,be wise and keep your
gayism to yourself or put it ‘in the closet’.
Reply to#112-KUCH
You sound a little bit agitated in last comment.I do not mean to offend you with my
words pertaining you and your lifestyle.My apology.
You and i and our parents would not be what we are today,if there was no
competitions.Studies,business,sports,nation building,even dating someone you
like need to compete with others,CONSTANTLY.Until i win a big big lottery,i will have
no choice but to compete with others to have a good life.If i were fed by a silver spoon,i would be packing my bag to some far a away land maybe in Gobi desert and
live like a nomad with no worrier and no constant competitions.Have a nice and
bright future.I really do mean it.
Reply to #116 Preston Loon
Thanks for your reply and your apology. I was not agitated. I merely want to emphasize that I was not born with a silver spoon. What appears to you is that I got so much more opportunities than you. But well, that is another classic example of how a person losing in a competition will feel. They feel that they cannot do anything but to fight until they win lottery.
But if you are willing to look beyond competitions, opportunities are everywhere. My overseas trip of 1 year for instance is totally free! Why? First of all, German education is totally free, even for foreigners. Second, I did well enough to receive a schlorship from German government to pay for my living expenses. Not that I did exceptionally well, but simply because there was literally NO COMPETITION for the scholarship (How many people are willing to go beyond their comfort zone to learn German? And study in German?)
It may seems that you need to compete to get a good living, but how true does it apply to the real world? You have limited yourself to only Singapore. Any yes, what I can forsee is Singapore will just become another Tokyo in many years to come, where stress level, suicide rate and competitions are high, and no students go for no tuitions!
But if we look beyond that, looking at Europe and Australia, why are they able to achieve a good balance of quality life and work without much competition while we cant? One might argue that they have natural resources and we dont. But since we dont have natural resources, isnt more important for us to cooperate to share the remaining resources instead of competing for the already limited resources?
Let’s imagine that everyone of us are farmers. We grow fruits for a living. With limited resources (fertilizer, and water and seeds and land) if we contantly compete for these resources to ensure that we grow the BEST fruits for ourselves, how would others who lost in the competitions survive on? Wouldnt it be better for us to share these limited resources and not compete with each other, so that everyone will at least get to bear their own fruits? Why do we need to get the best grades? Wouldn’t t be better that we dont compete but share knowledge so that everyone have the most basic knowledge to grow their fruits?
Singapore education is lacking in this. We are forced to compete and compete and be selfish to one another. But even if you win in the competition, how long in the long run (marathon) can you continue to get the BEST FRUITS with limited resources and constant competition for resources? In the end, everyone, whether the winner or the loser, is injured in the competition. Is this what you want to see? Is this worth it?
Think beyond your greed. I used to think like you until I see more in life about how people in other countries are able to lead a relax and stresfree life, yet able to compete equally well in this competitive world. Even in poor countries like Poland, they care more about living a quality life than to earn more money. Like my polish friends always say, they rather earn less than not having holidays. Why not us?
If we just remain status quo and not reflect about the flaws of our systems, we will not make any progress in this world.
hey guys, read this! in canada there are no maids! What the heck should then be better in Canada than in Singapore….
Having maids is the best for education as they can clean and wash, while parents can enjoy more leisure time with children and help them better with their studies.
I am against rote learning, and agree that this should change here. But saying Canada is better is a rather wild assumption. And even if so, Singapore is still better than any other country in Asia.
Thanks to the PAP! Onwards Singapore!!!
I am a PR n I have studied in the local school but after reading this article, I believed that more locals will want to migrate to Canada esp the quality of the lifestyle is better. This is one of the main reason I still kept being a PR instead of becoming citizen.
I am a Vietnamese but have got a Singapore PR, after graduation from a Singapore university on a scholarship given by the Singapore government.
I have been working here in Singapore for the last two years and am thinking of doing my masters in Canada. After that I may decide to get a Canadian PR because I believe not only the education system there is better than in Singapore but the social welfare aspects are also better.
The Canadian government takes good care of her people’s welfare, especially the young and the very old. They do not simply brush their old folks aside like what is happening in Singapore over the last few years that I have observed. Therefore, after knowing what the Singapore government is doing with its own people, I am afraid I would not like to be treated as such. That is why I have not applied to become a New Singapore Citizenship when I was offered.
To many of us, we know what the Singapore government’s interest is in offering us the scholarship so freely but we also have our own mind to think for ourselves, to take care of our own individual interests in the long run.
We, of course, appreciate the kindness shown to us but we have to think deeper in the interest of our future and our children’s future.
Singapore is great, but just a stepping stone to assist us in our pursuit of a better future somewhere else!
i wonder if our schools will ever teach critical thinking as a subject? or when we will ever have a proper journalism degree course in S’pore.
Of course that would preclude having a free press.
Reply to #121 nocolour
our school does teach a bit of critical thinking. In General Paper of JC, we learn to think critically to issues and comment on them.
But with students mainly concern with their grades, most people will definitely invest more time in their main subjects like maths and sciences instead of GP. Because to think critically takes time, but to score well in those subjects is an easier task! Just bury yourself in books and you can do well. Not so for critical thinking. Hence mostly simply cant be bothered with GP, unless it is so much more important to them… like those who already mastered other subjects, or those who want to be lawyers where GP grade is important.
reply to#120-SGPR
I have doubt about your nationality.If you are truly from Vietnam,would you
kindly please rewrite your last comment in French.Thank you kindly.
Reply to #117-KUCH.
If Singapore were to pattern after Germany,CANADA or any angmoh spheres,in no time,Singapore will become a land of FREE-LOADERS.It would be a
piped-dream to say that somewhere there is a stress free environment to live in.
This is what we called UTOPIA.Socialism and communism are dead entities.If you
looked back in histories of industrial revolutions in Europe,their people were working
hard and had a lot of competitions, many instances they competed with each other
in economies.That was how they created multi-national companies from within.Can
you imagine if Singapore has a Government who does not believe in orthodox works
values.You and i and our parents may still be living in a fishing village and have the
identical way of life like our neighbor north of us before 1980.I rather compete to have a good life for myself and my family than to live in utopia and rely totally on
government hand-outs.COMPETITION=PROGRESS.I hope that you still have a
Singapore passport in hand as you might need it in the near future in case
Germany economy crumbles.I still have mine and i hope you do too.
Reply #124
Thank you for your concerns. Time will tell. =)
And you are quite out of point. Our topic is Education. Which means, competing for grades….
So you believe that competing for grades = better grasp of knowledge?
Think again
If living in a fishing village could buy back the time…. the quality time I lost to be able to spend with my families instead of mugging 12 hours a day for the past 10 years. I would……… would you not?
Time and tide wait for no man. We live in this world for such a short period of time. How much time do we have for our loved ones? Spend it on your family, instead of competing excessively and unnecessarily. If you have kids, spend more quality times with them and not push them unnecessarily by forcing them to go for tuitions or do assessment books or whatever. For there is no true gain in the knowledge anyway.
Fortunately, for me, I realize this much earlier than you, and my parents are still around. Time will tell you, how true is what you have said….
Good luck!
@67 SLK, @81 SLK
Critics should confine comments to context of the article. History of gun ownership and racial atrocities towards natives and other races are irrelevant in this forum.
Likewise, the blatant sex trade in Geylang and other HDB neighbourhood cannot be blamed on the Singapore education system. Please do not digress and confuse the readers.
SLK’s self-righteous and authoritative lecture on my ignorance of Canadian history based on his tabloid knowledge of Canadian history is naive and presumptuous on his part. My grandfather paid a $500 head tax to immigrate to Canada more than 80 years ago. He lived through turbulent times of injustice done to Chinese Canadians – the racial riots, burning of Chinatown, job discrimination, the Chinese Exclusion Act, no property ownership bylaw, etc., etc. There were exclusive districts where Chinese were not permitted except if you were servants. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947 and July 1st was named Canada Humiliation Day to remind younger generations of the injustice done and never to be repeated. It is later proclaimed the National Day of Canada.
Most of the issues of injustice mentioned have been addressed and resolved amicably. The Prime Minister of Canada had personally apologized to all Chinese Canadians about the unjust Head Tax directed towards the Chinese Canadians in the past and made financial compensations to all those who suffered. The First Nations (natives) issues were also settled but I would not go into detail due to limited time and space.
Canada has evolved over the past fifty years to be a model for racial harmony. The country has people from practically all parts of the world as citizens living together harmoniously.
My article was written without malice. It was to show the differences between the two education systems and the effects on our children and society. There are pros and cons. In the end, it is to each his own.
I was expelled from school at sec.two in Singapore. Had I not immigrated to Canada, I would never been able to work my way up to be the CEO of a USA medical equipment manufacturing company and put my three children through universities and am now comfortably retired. Everyone is entitled to his opinion and where he wants to live. There is no necessity to use gutter politics to prove your case.
Yours truly,
Cheong Wing Lee
Hi Weng Lee, well said! To each his own. Perception of thoughts and realities are two different things altogether. Life’s choice is for us to make. You did well to make the right choice. When my friend migrated to Mississuaga in 1992, I was toying with the idea. I stayed in his home for 3 weeks but the winter cold was severe at over -10 degree. I backed out and the rest was history.
Thanks for sharing a good life in Canada. For one iota, Singaporeans will suffer under the prolonged rule of PAP if change is not courageous made by the very people under such authoritarian, despotic and neopotic rule of a one party failure system.
Reply #129 leesjuanpat
Hi, your first part is credible, but there is no need for you to point any fingers or criticise anyone…. People who reads it may take offence. =)
Crude = weakness
Refine = power, strength
If you point fingers, or has any unproven accusations, like many others above who resort to using insults and sarcasms to prove their points, it will just make your credible ideas sound weak. =)
Hi Wing Lee and all,
Indeed, I am also considering whether to emigrate out of Singapore. I also had problems in Singapore’s education system. Previously, I did not want to mention my harrowing past but now come to terms with it. The environment changed me to be a extremely competitive oriented militaristic man. When I went over to the States for tertiary studies, I was struck by the relative laissez faire attitude shown by some Americans. The gap is so much bigger between the best American students and the worst Americans students, as compared to Singapore. I was able to perform much better against the lower and middle range Americans but cannot hold out against the best American students who are better in thinking out of the box. So I am a upper above average guy thanks to my firm foundations received in Singapore education system.
Indeed, I noticed that the Canadians also tend to be more friendlier and less racist than the Americans as a whole. I wonder and thinking of going to toronto if fate permits, to experience on a long term basis .
@131-kuch
Thank you for your enlightenment.
If Singapore education is so great, where are the thinkers, the personalities in Society?
Singapore does not have them. We have on PM under the armpits of papa. And an old man who seems to be unable to die.
#20 Sheikh Ridingcherokee on November 29th, 2009 7.38 pm -
“I live in Malaysia and Singaporean to us is a race of mechanical or computerized Robots with gross attitute problems and its politicians having a phobia of being attacked by either Malaysia or Indonesia or both together.”
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2183&Itemid=178
Check out above. You’re darn right we have the phobia. So what do you suggest we do?
#20 Sheikh Ridingcherokee on November 29th, 2009 7.38 pm -
Singapre’s “politicians having a phobia of being attacked by either Malaysia or Indonesia . . . ”
Jakarta invaded the tiny East Timor in 1975.
Mr Sheikh Ridingcherokee do you do comtemporary history?
no opinion, no comment from me. just a question. appreciate a response, if possible.
our cabinet ministers – are they educated in Singapore U, NUS or overseas U?
All I have to say is, you win some, you lose some.
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NO comments But got a question :
Can any one tell me a brief introduction about the educational system in generall ?? and i wanna the diffrent between sangapore and iraq?
To be honest , I really hate singapore’s education system . All we really do is study to get good grades . When are we just gonna enjoy life , live our dreams , and just enjoy school? Instead, we study for good grades all the time . Grades grades grades , if canada’s education system is good , im gonna emigrate there when im older , coz im sick of fighting for good grades .
Just read through a lot of this, and I thought I’d lend my voice to the discussion.
This is not an issue of Canada’s education system but more so the attitude canadiens have towards life in general. I’m a 22 year old university student, I’ve travelled to Europe multiple times, gone all over canada and plan on traveling to Holland and The dominican republic after I graduate for pleasure and volunteer work (all at my own expense) I play varsity sports, and I’m currently applying to do my Masters, all while maintaining a GPA that my family and I are content with.
While most parents do want their children to be academically successful in Canada, they also realize pretty early on that this will have very little bearing on how they turn out in life. For example my father barely passed his way through his degree and now makes more then most people could ever dream of. Which he got through hard work, not the proverbial “silver spoon” i’ve seen bandied about this thread. This leads to more well rounded students, which in turn will lead to more well rounded adults. We go out on weekends and let loose, relieving stress by having fun with our friends, we are encouraged to eat healthy and be involved athletically in sports, many play an instrument or are involved in other form of artistic expression (painting, sculpture, theatre, etc.). in short their degree becomes only a small part of who they are as a person, and in many cases (including my own). They’ll end up working in a position completely unrelated to their degree.
It seems to me as though (only briefly reading this and never having been to singapore) even after graduating, grades still play a major factor to your ability to land a job. In canada your job experience and ability to network are more valuable then your degree. As it should be in my opinion.
Their is one thing that the author did neglect however, this canadien attitude towards education is only something noticed as one nears the end of their degree, during first year many are frantic to try and maintain high marks and it’s not until students are older that this attitude appears.
Side note: Average age for attending university varies widely across the country in British Columbia for example most student’s don’t attend University till they are almost 22. Whereas on the east coast many attend straight after High school.
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