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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Very good article. I got many knowledge from this article. The most I like is “Canadian public education is free for all its citizens and permanent residents – from kindergartens to high schools.”. :D
Cheers!
This article looked like it gave a good analysis of Singapore’s education system but on closer inspection it’s rather one-dimensional. While it is unreliable to use the ranking of an education system to measure its effectiveness, the same applies to the number of Nobel Prize winners or Olympians a country produces. The point on children being blinded by materialism and money, failed marriages,and poor social interaction skills etc. being the trade-off is simply a slippery slope fallacy.
I agree that having good grades does not constitute better knowledge of a subject. However, the use of examination grades may not be perfect but its has thus far been the best measurement tool we have to assess a student’s level of understanding and their knowledge acquired. To understand why a country structures its education system in a certain manner, we need to first understand the motivations behind it. Singapore lacks natural resources and human capital is its key resource. To invest in its people so as to nurture them to meet the immediate demands is a necessary “evil” for Singapore’s progress. Perhaps, in time to come, its people will start embracing life as a marathon.
nickyname,
Yes, they grow up but then they get to vote in the govt that they want.
How many of us get to do the same, how many of us get to vote for a govt that we want?
My point was that those kids don’t just study, they also learn to have a life.
What Change? @ 51, says it very simply and rightly for the system that we have.
maybe the education system was specially designed to be so stressful that u will not have time to think abt the important political issues at hand…
I don’t think it is accurate to talk about a single Singapore education system. Before independence, Singapore inherited a system from the British which left 60% of singaporeans with primary education or less. In 1965, less than 1% of Singaporeans have a university degree. At this point, the Canadian system is far more advanced. So, when comparing statistics like “94.4% of Singaproreans are literate”, these include those above 50 years old who are educated under the colonial system.
Another unthinking comment is that Canada produced many Nobel Prize winners. To compare Singapore and Canada in an objective way, I looked at the number of Nobel Prize winners provided in the last 44 years of their respective education systems (ie anyone born after 1959.)
I looked at the profile of these Canadian winners and found none were born in the last 50 years. In fact, the youngest was born in 1941.
suspect our education is a mirror reflection of our political system. If the leader need the citizens to be a good follower and efficient worker, then the education system is more likely to tune to produce an obedient and just follow order, no question asked student. Has anyone notice or am I right to say our school do not encourage the student to speak up.
As one of the few Singaporeans who coasted through primary & secondary school more concerned about organising the next soccer game or camp out at our local parish, I totally agree with the author. Not only do Singaporeans fail to understand that life is a learning process and you have to be self – driven to study in order to learn.
Unlike most Singaporean children our age at the time, my friends and I had a life and only put in the necessary effort around the exam period. And asa result we have personalities that allows us to interact with anyone from any background with the only barrier being language.
The Singapore education system needs to change and be more like Canada’s to influence thinking instead of mugging where everyone learns at their own pace instead of the teacher’s. After spending much time learning at my own pace I now hold a Bachelor’s degree and I am planning of taking my masters all this because I chose to learn at my own pace and had parents who allowed me to do so.
I agree with the above article completely… The singapore education system has A LOT to be desired… everyone knows it. I was never a top student, never in the best class… sucked at Chinese. In fact the education system probably affected the way i felt about myself and most likely had a strong effect on a lot of students. With streaming.. major exams (PSLE) at just twelve yers old… Should twelve year olds even BE subjected to that?
While i may not be a wonderful authority on the subject, i did spent a year doing my senior year in high school in Canada ( somewhere between O levels and A levels) While at that school, i managed to excel academically. Everything seemed so much easier, the teachers were friendlier, everything was more relaxed. Sure it was work too, but for once i did not feel like a dunce. I ended up doing well enough to go to a top-ranked Canadian University. Which i am currently in now.
If i had stayed in Singapore, i would probably just have gone to the poly and be working now. (Not that there is anything wrong with the poly) In canada, ( ontario) university students can apply for a student loan for their undergraduate education. this is avaiblable to all citizens and PRs. Plus university fees are not that exorbitant as compared with some places in the US.
The SIngapore education system i feel does not really prepare students that well for the future. Yes, you learn good work ethics, you KNOW how to study for exams having done that since day one, but it all comes at a price. The stress, the tears, the sleepless nights, the amount of money spent on tuition classes. Whatever happened to teaching in schools?? Could this be due to 35-40 student size classes? lack of indivualized attention?
We all get fed model answers for A levels, O levels, we rely on ten year series to get us through. Do we really know how to think? Since going away to study and being at university here, my mind and world was opened to so much more than i had ever realized. Whenever i return home to singapore, i realize how different it is, we may not be backward to speak, but sometimes you have to liberal in your thinking to move forward.
Quenderin,
Your comment has been disallowed as it is almost 900-words long.
Pls keep your comments to 500 words or less.
Thank you.
All these years of our education system, no one dared to question the relevance of streaming, sap schools and independent ‘elite’ schools.
Cheong Weng Lee gives a comprehensive scenario of what the Canadian educational system is like. May not be perfect…
Study with ease. Confinement of thoughts and oppression of creativity is seen in our education system. Little room is given for individual nurturing, always about how well you do in your examinations.
Hence our generation and next, the youth will lose the very essence of interaction to the world at large, selfishly looking for self to do well, lacking the warm and compassion of helping others. Lack of venturing spirit.
In any establishment, the natural process of growing up in tandem with nature and our well-being will bring forth enormous benefit of character than the regimentation of conformity.
As Weng Lee wrote, Canada produced many Nobel prize winners and famous
businessmen. Singapore has yet to see any outstanding personnel apart from Sim Mong Woo, the polytechnic boy made good with his Creative Technology. The many others are just so so.
The flaw of our educational system has yet to be unveiled by our ‘million dollar ministers’ and the top educators of the Ministry of Education. Or maybe, they just do not want to rock the boat. Better to be safe.
System failure but no return mode.
Let’s not overgeneralise about how terrible Singaporean youths are, and how wonderful Canadian youths are in comparison. Singaporean students actually do do a lot of community service, and while everyone’s going to say that this is because it looks good on the transcript, in my experience in an overseas university, it is naive to believe that overseas students have only wonderful ideals about how society should be in mind. There are indeed a significant proportion of Singaporeans with maids, but it is again a generalisation to believe that Singaporean youths cannot take care of themselves. I have seen my fair share of over-protected American students who greatly rely on their parents, and I do personally know many fellow Singaporeans who go on backpacking trips all over the world.
There are many other misleading statements made in this article that really need to be pointed out:
” 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.”
About the second point, I’m not sure this is about Canadian volunteerism as much as it is about Canada wanting to be a major player in world affairs. And also, Singapore’s military does provide valuable support to things like patrolling the troubled coast off Somalia to ward off pirates, relief efforts for natural disasters in this region, etc. In my mind, the very fact that we are even contributing is already surprising for a nation as small as ours.
“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.”
May I point out that those people didn’t get good grades, and therefore dropped out of university, because the university assumed they were unlikely to make good? Every country’s education system factors in grades as a significant indicator somewhere or another. In the US, the SATs are a major indicator of whether a university is likely to accept you or not. There’s just no way around this. True, Singapore may place more emphasis, but this article has lost all sense of proportion.
“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.)”
This is most amusing. MM Lee did not in fact go through a Singaporean education system. How could he? He was fully educated and ready to lead the country before our education system was in place. And are we forgetting that his fine education and good grades under the comparatively horrible Singaporean system, which the author thinks he’s a product of, produced such an important figure in the almost miraculous success of Singapore?
A well written article and though I am neither in Singapore or Canada, I could relate to it as an Indian, as India too have an education system very similar to Singapore. Here too, if you are not an academic performer which means being good in the art of writing exams, things get tough for you. But when I think of it, India has it more as a side-effect of a large population. With so many to feed, it becomes very hard to gauge the progress of students, unless you have very highly qualified and devoted teachers, which requires good education and so it is a cycle. It is hard to individually guide every kid, without forcing him or her, taking care of all round development. So everyone is fed the same and then filter who survives it best. Atleast that has higher probablity that the “best” ones will be able to learn and do the job. And being a large population, it is an ongoing competition for job, to earn, or otherwise just be left behind as good jobs are less in supply than the demand. Probably it is lack on enthusiasm on Govt. and Education system to improve this cycle for better. I am not sure if Singapore too has the same problem
A good thing is that India has seen so called non-performers in school doing good later in life and is a ray of hope that the schooling or educations system is being beaten slowly, which may someday change things for good here.
As a graduate student pursuing education in the US, and who has prior education in Singapore from primary school to uni level, I would like to say that S’pore education system has prepared me well to compete with the American students. Even my Korean and Japanese colleagues here envy SG education system. Considering the fact that we have no natural resources, became independent in 1965, and most of our ancestors were poor and illiterate immigrants, our current achievement is indeed remarkable. Let’s give credit to our policy makers and ourselves for the positive achievements.
However, to move further in this globalized village based on our natural resources alone, we have a lot to fine tune. Most of the contributors above have pointed out that we have been trained to function within system with fixed reference point, and once the reference point is removed, we lost our bearings. We have also tried to mould our child and student to take the same reference point as we do in the past, i.e. meritocracy. Ironically, though meritocracy has provided a leveling ground for different races to compete equally, it has become the only benchmark where we measure ourselves. This could be why SG has been a culture-desert as our society does not value people of different talents sufficiently, whereas skill that is translatable into income-earning ability has been strongly encouraged, pursued, and enshrined. The US educational system seems to be able to take on multiple reference points. You are highly valued for being able to contribute to the community regardless of your background. You are awarded for originality. You are recognized for being unique. This could explain why American college system is a hotbed for diversity and a strong magnet for foreign talents, though they do have standardized entrance exams like SAT, GRE, GMAT, etc.
Educational system with quantifiable benchmark like grades is easier to capture and formulate, and our education system has served our society well by producing workforce relevant to the society in the past. However, no educational system is static as the needs of the society are dynamic, particularly when SG is intricately bounded in this globalized village. Yes, we should demand changes that will continue to enhance SG competitive edge. However, I think the question that we have to ask ourselves is whether we are willing to tolerate diversity and different form of lifestyle. Are we willing to send our child to neighborhood school? Are we willing to take on less prestigious job so that we have more time for family members and friends? Do we welcome foreigners who will increase our pool of diversity? It is only when we seek less perfection within ourselves; stop measuring ourselves against others; willing to make time for other people; open more space for people to decide who they are and who they want to be; tolerate people who are different from us (including foreigners) that that we could demand changes in our education system. I believe when sufficient people live a different lifestyle that does not commensurate with what the current education system is producing, there will be more changes reflected at a systemic level. I am not saying that we ought to seek complacency in order for changes in the education system to take place. I am saying that we ourselves have to be the hallmark for tolerating diversities, and in fact honor and value different lifestyles. We are the ones who must be willing to say “It is wonderful if I go to Laselle instead of NUS or NTU or SMU”; “It is terrific that you have a different lifestyle from me”; “It is remarkable to have traveled in other countries at the expense of my no-paid leave,” etc.
Dear Lee Cheong,
I’d like to raise some issues about your article about Canada’s education system. While I believe that both Singapore’s and Canada’s education systems aren’t perfect and can be much improved on, you make some misguided albeit well-intentioned statements in your article.
Firstly, your statements about examinations, and I quote “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 less or failed grades.” – I’d really like to see those studies, and you should have quoted them. I personally disagree with this statement. One has to apply the knowledge one has acquired in an examination, so here is a fallacy.
Your assertion that Singaporean children tend to be more withdrawn and reserved is also unfounded, and is anecdotal and not a fair representation of Singaporean children. As for the levels of literacy in Singapore, and I’m assuming “English literacy”, – I think it’s a little biased as a lot of the older generation are Chinese-educated.
Also, your assertion about Singapore’s lack of Nobel and Olympic winners and notable cultural figures is also unfounded – the world doesn’t work by proportions or population ratios. How is this an indication of Singapore’s education pitfall? It is also purely scientific that academic achievement correlates with socioeconomic status (Dill, 2006). Your example of notable figures such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are exceptions to the norm. Even Bill Gates was educated in Harvard. Richard Branson came from a family of wealth and Walt Disney was a cartoonist. Although their success is not attributed to their academic achievement, they put in effort and hard work to build up their companies.
An as much as the phrase “Money doesn’t buy happiness”, many studies have irrevocably shown that socioeconomic status is directly associated to health (Adler et al, 1993 and Williams, 1999). Sadly, money DOES buy health.
I do believe that the Singaporean education system is deeply flawed and streaming breeds prejudice, elitism and stress. However, no education system is perfect, not even Canada’s. Lee Cheong, your article is not without merits. However, it is purely an opinion piece which is based on several wrong assumptions and over-generalization.
50) What Change? on November 30th, 2009 11.04 am
“Singapore doesn’t educate kids. It trains future salaried workers.”
Without workers produced methodically continuously, who is gonna carry the carriage ridden by the rich? Who is gonna help the rich earn more money?
Without skilled labor there is no Boss. Because the Boss would have to be the Worker.
An education institution manufactures employees for the workforce. People study to become an employee. Many study business and MBA but still work for people.
Rare few do not follow the rat pack. They become entreprenuers. Monkey see monkey do is not for them.
No amount of remake will ever change the system. We are too entrenched in a process that has been dished out to us for years. I blame the ever embracing and grip of the mandarin/conformanity look East policy by our leaders. While they had the benefit of Western liberal thought it would it would have been too difficult to rule Singapore with such democratic principles as practiced elsewhere.
The solution was very simple. Keep coming up with the communist bogey and you will get a submissive population who would have surrendered every iota of dignity and self respect to the rulers. The education system mirrored all these and will continue to bug our population for years to come and who cares for Nobel Prize winners, we can always buy any number we want.
I want to follow-up on my response to my above article. Unknown to Cheong Wing Lee and many readers in Singapore, the early Americans had to drive out and unjustifiably decimate many native tribes in order to occupy the land. Their early industrial base was built upon African slave trade. Most Canadians today are living on land of the native tribes, and they had even forced the natives to comply with their way of living by separating the natives’ children from parents, and sent off these children into their so-called settlement school. British’s rise to imperial power was heavily dependent on African slave trade and colonization where they siphoned off the natural resources of the colonized people. Just visit the British Museum to see the national treasures they have yet to return to the other countries. I think the Canadians, Americans and British have a lot of historical baggage that they have to answer for. Yes, they may be more advanced than Singapore in terms of their technological advancements, their education system, their alternative to choices and different lifestyles, but they have not sufficiently acknowledged and compensated for the horrible misdeeds they had severely inflicted on other tribes and races. The good news is that there more Canadians coming to term with their past, and are in the process of reconciliation with the natives.
I’ve lived in Singapore for over 10 years and I have heard many Singaporeans talk about their “pressure cooker” education – where memorising was emphasised over understanding, parents added to the pressure from schools, etc.
However, the author of this article weakens his argument by continually making statements that are incorrect or taken out of all context. For example, he stated “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”. I’m reminded of the famous quote “lies, damned lies, and statistics”. He fails to explain the real cause of this difference – how Singapore has come from poverty and third world status to wealth and first world status in the last 40 years. Therefore, many older Singaporeans do lack a good education and suffer from higher illiteracy levels. I do not have the information to hand but I’m willing to bet the literacy rate among Singaporeans below the ago off 40 is at least 99%.
Also, the Singapore government has already acknowledged that more students here need to develop critical thinking skills as Singapore transitions further to becoming a Knowledge Economy rather than a Manufacturing Economy. Changes have been introduced to the education system and more are likely – but only a naive person would expect radical changes overnight when the system works well in many other ways and is otherwise rated among the best in the world.
Singapore is right to be proud of what it has achieved but there will always be naysayers. Wing Lee Cheong, you are entitled to your opinion but stick to the truth if you want more people to believe you.
Bernard Chan,
Your comment has been disallowed as it is more than 1,200-words long.
Pls keep your comments to 500-words or less.
Thank you.
I agree with the article’s assertion that Canada’s education system is akin to a marathon and Singapore’s education system is akin to a sprint. Eventually, it’s Canada that will outlast Singapore. I think Singapore’s education system is no good in the long run. Good grades merely show students are good at exams but not so in terms of real-life applications.
A well written article. As a Singaporean who had gone through the educational system, I could’nt agree more. We were “processed” from primary six onward and if one did not achieve good grades then we were allocated to school that had been “branded” as “school for bad boys” e.g. (Gan Eng Seng Secondary School). A few of us managed to finish “O” level and worked our way out of the country to further our studies. Some of us had become proffessors and senior managers in multinational companies. However, many had not make it. The system condemed young students from the age of 12 to a life of misery. The difference between good school and bad school in Singapore make a big difference when applying for a local university places beside obviously the examination results. The current system had to change if Singaporean want to create a prosperous society with an educated and balance population.
May I quote Vin’s – The system filters the best, and streams them into the most ‘valuable’ jobs. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists. These talents contribute to society, make inventions and policies that in turn boost Singapore to greater heights of success. Their children are told to do the same, to repeat the cycle.
What is the “best”? Here’s the root of the problem. Most of us, like Vin, will conveniently classified someone who top the grades in schools, earn a government scholarship, and make their way up as doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, or top civil servants. Who says that a society is built by these people only? Great nations will not be what they are now, if they don’t have the poets, artists, musicians and philosophers to “engineer” creativity and innovation among their citizens. Vin, you are very engineer in thinking, I must say.
Sorry, but the system does not filter the best as you claim. It just filters the best who know how to tackle examinations. And most of these “talents” are valued by our other systems who treasure followers than innovators. And in turn these followers help boost Singapore Inc. or Singapore Bureaucracy into greater heights. Look around the asian stock exchanges, and you will notice the ratio of GLCs to private enterprises is pretty high here. Why? Because we just need people who are easy to tamed and can’t take much risk, the very kind of “talents” our GLCs want.
And what is a system. System is a set of interacting or interdependent “entities” forming an integrated whole. Singaporeans are but part of the “system”. And who make or scope this man-made system? In a non-consultative system of governance like us, it can only be the top (not best) guys in our ministries.
Hence, systems like “two is enough”, “no dialects on media”, “university grads produce university grads” and others, have shaped or socially engineered Singaporeans into our present state. Well, may be it will take something like Madoff, Stanford, or Lehman, before Singaporeans can have a wake-up call. Until then, most of us are like the characters in the movie “The Island” – just waiting to be lucky enough to be chosen in a lucky draw, and have their organs harvested through the HOTA.
Despite all the achievements and ranking, we still do not have a capable and good leader for the next generations. Yet again, this govt resort to finding someone, with no credible standard, from the military to lead the cuntry.
There is simply no room in Singapore for someone to be different, even beyond education. I have a first-class honors business degree from one of our 3 local universities, but chose not to work for a bank, consultancy or financial house like all my peers. I went into the arts and media industry.
Five years later I am severely regreting my choice. My salary has been meagre compared to my fellow graduates, who have long bought their condos and cars. I am not getting job satisfaction either – writers and creative professionals are second class and poorly appreciated by their employers. The job opportunities available are a bore. It’s not the money I’m harping about- it’s the fact that from what I made, I still cannot afford a HDB flat with its renovation costs and COV. What kind of life are you leading when you can’t even afford basic goods and get scant respect in your career choice?
So thinking beyond grades, even good grades won’t get you a better life. You have to sell your soul and pick a job that PAYS, like a sales-based job. The only ticket to a better life here is to make money.
That is why i have never regretted my choice applying for an Australian Pr should we sink and from as far as many can see, the float system is failing us.
I came back from my studies in Sydney to Singapore. I did accountancy, enough for me to guarantee a PR status. However, I deided to give Singapore one more try. 6 months into my job hunt, faced the Singapore I knew that prompted me to leave for Sydney 3 years before. Highfalutin, government intervention into personal spaces, poor workplace relations etc.
I did my IELTS, checked my eligibility with the Australian immigration, paid a sum of money and am on the way to get my PR visa approved. There is no turning back. Everytime I look around me, the Singapore I grew up in, I feel sad to leave, the friends, family, places of nostalgia. BUT I know, that amout of loss woudl never replace the opportunity LOST should I forgo my chance to work and reside overseas permanently. Definately, this is the place not for my children to grow. I do not want to be judged and judge people in a discriminating manner nor through endless streaming. I want my children to travel during their holidays without principals telling them they require permission to do so and I want my children to know the undamentals of democracy and free elections, something which I have been deprieved.
Last Aug my son and I were in Singapore for 3 weeks to visit my dad.
There was nothing much to do in Singapore so we went to the Science Centre three (3) times. Each time we saw the same painful thing repeated over and over:
Singaporean students of my son’s age (12 to 14) standing up in two straight lines facing the teachers. Most of them jump up and down with hands raised to gain the teachers’ permission to go into the gift shop. Once inside the shop they just ran around or acting as if they have never seen those displays and acted extremely happy or enthusiastic. Even queing up at the Science Centre MacDonald’s they would act hyperactive and happy. Observe it yourself in the Science Centre or elsewhere. In short, it was just NOT a natural human being behaviour. They behaved like those apes in the Planet of Apes!
On one of the visit, I saw a group of students (same age group) from Hong Kong. They spoke Cantonese. Their actions and behaviour instantly flashed back the skiing field trip and the Science Centre trip I went with my son’s school in Edmonton, Alberta. They are just normal kids, behave normally and look at things with “inner excitment” without showing an amplified outward enthusiasm.
In Hong Kong airport, I asked a porter where I can get a trolley, and she walked around the corner and push a trolley to me and walked around. In the Singapore Changi airport, I did the same. But this time the lady porter kept apologizing “sorry , sorry, sorry” and run around the corner to get a trolley for me. I pity the latter for I feel that only a person full of fear would act that manner. I notice that Singapore civil servants everywhere I went…libraries, custom agency ..they are overly courteous. It gave me the “too-good-to-be-true” feeling about their service. It can only derived from a feeling of fear rather than a natural reaction.
Is the Singapore education system teaching the people to be “overly” respectful of authority and fear of making mistakes. Their inward emotions are now displayed in their outward overly exaggerated enthusiam and submissive manner. Can this attitude nurture creativity or world-class conformists for the social good as defined by the government?
Is that the norm for Singaporeans.
I am pretty sure Wing Lee Cheong does not live in Ontario, which is one of the provinces in Canada.If he did,he would not have given such high praises so generously to the overall Canada educational system.
Ontario’s educational system is in fact,far from being perfect.What Mr. Ng Eng Hen said about Ontario is factually correct and right on the spot.Ontario is producing functional illiterates among those born from 1965 and up.Children of newly arrived immigrants failed miserably compared to other provinces.School drop
-outs rate is 30%+ among high school students..Actual school days in Ontario is only 167 days per year and the rest of the months are for holidays and days offs for teaching staffs.Not bad aye! but of course,at your children expense.High school students can opt out basic subjects like Maths and Sciences and
they were never taught simple thing like time-tables and English grammars.
If you knew of Singaporeans who were former U-students in any of the universities in Ontario,they would tell you how inapt and ill-prepared the local
students were in tertiary education.I personally knew of a couple of Singaporean
students who were part-time teaching Assistants in UofT and York University in toronto,during their school summer vacations.They told me most of their 1st yr
students could not functioned without calculators and could not write a page of
simple assay of about 300 words in class.Wonder why private high schools are
doing a rousing business in Ontario?By the way,do you know that about 35% of
local scholarship for foreign students in Ontario goes to Singapore students?
what ‘s the use of students having a lot of self-esteemed and can’t face the working world.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are often sited as examples of people who made good without a college degree. These are really bad examples. Both grew up in upper middle income families. Bill Gates’ father owns a legal firm and junior dropped out of Harvard only because he wanted to carry on with his start-up. Gates is a strong case for pursuing a passion and postponing a college degree than the ability to leave a mark in this world without one.
Loon:
In Canada, most of the immigrant children from Singapore are with parents who have tertiary education. It would be a surprise that only “35%” of the ON scholarship goes to Singapore students. it should be more.
Even in Edmonton, many Singaore kids score high marks. But hold on a moment, so are the immigrant children from Indian, China, Hong Kong etc.
However, your friends would testify to you that among the bright Canadian kids (I mean white kids), they are extremely bright. In other words most of those immigrant smart children cannot touch them. You can see these white kids in school orchestras, law and medical schools.
Yes, we must agree that Singapore education system produces students who have the skill for the workforce. But you cannot say Canada is not doing likewise. I know the province of ON drives the Canadian economy and many bankers and medical specialists are educated in the province of Ontario.
The question is that is the education system producing a all-rounded human being with passion, creativity, not fearful like a dog-with-its-tail-between-its legs, dare to fight for social justice and expose the lies of the government for common good.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are bad examples of people who made good without a degree. Gates dropped out of Harvard to pursue his interest and start-up. His father owned a legal firm in the state of Washington. Jobs grew up in Palo Alto, a upper-middle income suburban town, now the heart of Silicon Valley. Both would have got a college degree if they not postponed their college education in pursuit of their start-ups.
Hi, Bernard Chan,
I don’t see why there is a need to flash one’s credentials in this forum. Just as you quote yourself as one of those who has earned reputable degree and chose to stay overseas, I could easily name friends who did well in their academic studies and chose to return back to SG. One of my friends has earned a 1st class honors in Economics from Oxford, and is now doing his PhD, but is planning to return back to SG; another who was among the top undergrads in UC Berkeley and a master degree in architecture from Harvard has recently returned back to SG permanently; another who is about to finish his PhD in chemistry from Harvard will be returning back to SG permanently as well; and all of them are not government scholars. Similarly, Adam Khoo did badly in his primary school just as you did. But he was worse as he was expelled from his primary school. He later excelled in his secondary school, and even topped his cohort in NUS Business school, and he is still in SG. So, Mr Chan, not everyone who had comparable horrible experience as yours or everyone who earned their degree overseas choose to settle overseas. The examples you quoted from Science Center and Changi Airport are what I called random sampling that has been used to represent the whole population, so I question whether your conclusion is valid. I do not doubt your ability to outshine others if that is what you intend to tell us. I also respect your decision to settle overseas, inspite of the fact that the tax rate in Canada is much higher than SG, and people are entitled to gun ownership in Canada.
SG has one of the best public transport systems in the world; one of the lowest corruption; one of the highest home ownership countries (and UK is trying to emulate SG system of home ownership); is a food mecca at a very economic price; and I don’t see all these various components coexisting together in US. I am not speaking on behalf of the government, neither am I a government scholar. I am in my 3rd year graduate program in Boston. I have observed the differences between North America and SG, and I have examined why. US, Canada, and SG are very unique, and each country has different historical background. I hope this forum does not give the readers the impression that people will leave SG if given a choice, as there are many wonderful things about SG, despite its flaws. I recognize the need to be committed to changes, and to rally people-power for changes to take place. For those who have chosen to live overseas, I admire your courage but I don’t see reason why I should envy you as everyone is unique and we all make choices based on different criteria all the time.
SLK: As a graduate student pursuing education in the US, and who has prior education in Singapore from primary school to uni level, I would like to say that S’pore education system has prepared me well to compete with the American students:
Question: I would like to ask SLK is , if sg education is as good as many other countries. Why on earth are you studying in US. Why sg student are send to UK, US with their scholarships.
SingaExpat: Singapore’s is 94.4 per cent and placed at 74th, according to UNESCO in its 2007 annual report. Obviously you have not read with your eyes opened.
Sg has in the pass uses ranking as a reference to claim this , claim that. Which ,as an sg and knowing media is one sided, there are alot of untruth as most politican cherry pick on what they want the people to know, when local media is biased. As far as most sg (ordinary sporean) are concerned, it is stressful and the sprint is too fast for them. I know for certain kids who have left for Australia was very happy to go to school.
Cheong has summarized it : 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.
Sad: …if sg education is as good as many other countries. Why on earth are you studying in US. Why sg student are send to UK, US with their scholarships.
No one has qualified “good education” in this forum. Most of us assumed that so long as SG uni are ranked among the top 100, i.e. NUS ranked 30th, NTU 73rd, according to Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings 2009, SG education system is good. Cheong has raised some aspects of Canadian education which he thinks are enormous pull factors evidently lacking in SG. There have been a number of case studies that attempt to compare SG education syst on internationally agreed benchmark (there are of course loopholes in every benchmark), and I believe most of us in SG are confident that our local grads are academically competent internationally. Why then do some of us pursue overseas education? For my case, I am passionate about philosophy, theology, science and ethics, and it happens that our local uni does not offer such program, that’s why I pursuing it overseas. When you are doing a research degree, you need supervisors who are recognized authority in your field, and most often than not, overseas professors held much more publication than our local professors. This explains why many SG students may have to explore research degree overseas. At the same time, it also depends on your field. If you were to be interested in ASEAN strategic planning, you might want to consider doing it locally. But I won’t be surprised if part of the local research program requires you to go overseas to places like J.F.Kennedy School of Government at Harvard to understudy how US formulates its policy when interacting with the ASEAN.
For those who are sent to overseas uni with govt scholarship, usu. for undergrad education, I think that will be a totally different story. I believe the foremost reason would be for exposure and network. These govt. scholars are future policymakers. Overseas exposure will be crucial in framing how they formulate future policies. This suggests why these scholars are usu. sent to country which has a strong global presence. So, Sad, you may have to add China and India to your list. The network established there will be important bridge for our future policymakers to work with other countries. Sending our government scholars overseas is a strategic move. The next reason I could think of is to showcase the credibility of SG future leaders. Yes, you could argue that top scholars are not necessary capable leaders, but we have followed British elite system since the 1st generation SG leaders. However, I do see sign where our local grads are running for MP and given multiple portfolio (one such e.g. is Mr Teo Ser Luck, MP of Pasir Ris-Punggol, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Ministry of Transport is a local grad from NTU Accountancy). I hope I have answered your qus.
Reply#80-Bernard Chan.
You are right.Had it not been Ontario government’s policy on scholar-
ship quotas given to different nationalities ,i am certain Singapore students could easily reached 90%rate.Also,i must acknowledge that Alberta and the east coast provinces have the best public school system in Canada.My fault is with the Ontario educational system and not with immigrant’s children.Children of new immigrants score better marks in Alberta than their peers in Ontario.If you had followed school competitions whether it is local or international,Ontario is not on the radar screen.In fact,Ont.school boards Association tries to sweep it under the carpet.
In Ontario,the education ministry is beholden to the powerful teachers’ union.That is why,you have seen so many teachers strikes in Ontario public school and universities.There is more politics involve than in looking after the interest of Ontario students.
I wish TOC be able to conduct an interview with LKY’s daughter who is a medical doctor.Do you know that she has her internship and training in a
Toronto hospital for a couple of years..She may be able to give us a more reliable
overview on Canada public school systems.
do we really need to study so hard like a nerd, do we really need to memorize so hard like a bookworm, with the handy accessible of modern tool like computer and internet?
If MOE made “enjoying life” part of the school curriculum, parents and students will ask if there is a 10-year series for that subject!!!
I honestly dont see how sg education sys r so good, given that, alot of us have to study overseas including PM Lee ‘s son.
And we have this unfair system of O level, N level and EM1, EM2, then ITE, NEC, Dip, A level, U
How many of Sg ppl actually suffer becos of this education system? How many ppl are ITE and how many just have N level and not even a ITE? A lot , for those who are not with the grassroots or think too almighty. Pls search your conscious if you tell me the fairness of ITE, Dip and A, and why A have concessory cards? Cos they are superior? huh?
issnt pre ITE students humans too? or sub human?
Reply#88) Oh Holy
You have assumed that “good education syst” means that it is so self-sufficient that people do not have to go overseas. This is a flawed assumption. Even Harvard which is rank#1 in the world is not strong in engineering and math. However, MIT is sitting next to Harvard and complements its deficiency; hence, it is not economical for Harvard to develop its niche in engineering and math. In US, many American students have to seek out-of-state college education, i.e. they have to study in a different state. If a student from Massachusetts is deeply interested in comparative philosophy, he may find reap more benefits from program in Hawaii uni or Florida uni rather than Harvard or MIT even though both are in Massachusetts. For SG, our limited land mass and population size restricts the number of uni we could have. And there are also many reasons why people seek overseas education and this by no means mitigate the credibility of our local uni. I hope you will understand that.
I would also like to respond to your perception about the unfair system of differentiating into O level, N level and EM1, EM2, then ITE, NEC, Dip, A level, U. First of all, do understand that Europe and America adopt different educational approach. Europe believes in specialization at an early age, while Americans believe in broad base learning so that their citizens could make more informed decision in choosing their leaders. As SG adopts British system, this explains why our education syst is so specialized at an early age. EM1/2/3 is developed to cater to the different academic needs. If you were to lump students of different acad ability into one class from P1 to Sec4/5, then the attrition rate will be higher. EM1/2/3 is supposed to streamline our students so that the system can be made more customizable according to their needs. At the end of NT level, students are supposed to proceed to ITE, which is a vocational institute for those who are non-academically inclined. Without ITEs and their Nitec and higher Nitec certificates, those students could fall out of the education system. Nitec certs gives the students a chance to work as technician and other supportive staff, while higher Nitec gives ITE students an avenue to proceed directly to 2nd year Diploma or to work as senior technician. Similarly, for those who at NA level, they could proceed on to Sec 5 where they will take the O level or proceed to ITE at the end of Sec 4. Polytechnic is tertiary institute that continues that generates most of our work force (according to the number of intake compared to ITE and uni). The increased education level has seen more alternatives for diploma students to pursue Bachelor and some even Master degree. Rather than seeing our system’s cruelties, I see instead a comprehensive level to equip our students so that they could contribute to the society. Some people choose to stigmatize ITE students, while looking higher upon the uni students. This is a mentality we have to overcome together. There are no such thing as lower/higher class, this is a social divide created by ourselves. Any job is noble so long as it is meaningful to the person and contributes to the well-being of the society. My only critique for our education system is that it is not diversified enough to develop those who are artistically inclined or those who are inclined in the social science and humanities.
Regarding your remark about the concessionary pass, please refer to http://www.spp.org.sg/tos/20090209-03.php, by Mr Chiam See Tong. I believe your information is outdated.
@SLK
So you are assuming the self-sufficient ppl like PM Lee’s son dont need to study engineering overseas then?
Even our Education Ministry knows our education system is flawed and they r looking for ways to improve it, because of the mistakes of the past. Are you then better than them, just because u r a graduate?
Oh pls, think of the underdogs, they r ur fellow citizens.
Do I need to prove that many of the so call underachievers are actually scorers overseas and that they are called talents now?
Reply to #89 Oh Holy
We are having an open-ended discussion based on reasoning, not by the fiat that I am a graduate student. I would appreciate it if you could juxtapose my argument with the minister’s concretized argument so that there is more common ground to compare and contrast. I have said previously that any education system that is to meet the dynamic needs of the society has to be fine-tuned frequently, please refer to my #63 post. I have also pointed out some strategic reasons why people prefer overseas education, please refer to my #83 post. Finally, I value my fellow citizens dearly, and I do look forward to ways where I could advocate for my fellow citizens’ benefits. I believe this forum provides a framework for us to do so together. Thanks for your honest feedback.
Interesting article! Interesting comments!
Below an example, though not related to eduation, but you would see what I am trying to highlight…
I had worked for 3 companies before my retirement last year….1 MNC and 2 SME manufacturing industries. In all 3 companies, I heard this same remarks repeatedly throughout my working years – “Our department is the most important as we generate profit so that all of you can enjoy bonus!”
I would often reply them – every department is as important. Without the material planner and purchaser, factory cannot produce. Without factory workers, there will be no products. Without warehouse and logistics personnel, the goods will not be delivered to customers on time. And, so on and on and on…
I am now living in States and am working with local kids from G1-8. Based on my observation, there are pros and cons in both US and SG education system.
With more citizens of higher academic qualification nowadays, I reckon SG education system isn’t that bad. In school, both teachers and students are facing extreme pressure and stress.
Parents should try to not put any further stress on their children. Try not to load them with piles and piles of assessment books, non-ending enrichment activities and so on. Take time to engage with your children in fun-filled and/or meaningful events….like zoo, science centre, Botanic Garden, picnic, play game, social work, etc. Also, it is very important as parents to imparting moral value and good manner to them. We have to set good example to our children.
I have friends who spend thousands sending their kids for “enrichment” classes with well known authors of PSLE prep books and at the Learning Lab. Another friend’s child in the GEP program had private tuition for science subjects which seemed ironic to me. But I guess that’s how important academic performance is in SG. Like Korea and Japan , Singapore’s education system has got more “demanding” over time. The result are students who are exam smart. I agree with the writer that aceing exams does not equate to being creative or becoming nobel prize winners. I emigrated to NZ where there have also been a no. of Olympic medal winners and creative people like Peter Jackson , weta studios etc. I have the privilege of working in early childhood and the curriculum emphasises learning dispositions , such as resilience, curiousity and playfulness, rather than content as the latter is so easily accessible over the internet. My son went to a primary school where there were no exams , although assessments were done which indicated their learning ability over a range (ie child at 9 could be anywhere from age 7 to 14 in his reading and /or maths ability) for example. Also he had sailing and swimming lessons. Skiing lessons were also options . Obviously a lot more enjoyable than rote learning , S’pore style…At the end of the day , I think NZ schools could do with a bit more content and SG schools could do with less ranking and grading which takes the joy out of learning…But between the 2, I’d opt for a system that does not take the joy out of learning. As the writer says, it is a marathon, not a sprint. Education should not be “assembly line” moulding of young lives to become “workers”. It should be about creating confident and competent communicators and life long learners, healthy in body, mind and spirit.
Some points I would like to make.
It is very difficult to argue against the fact that American and Canadian universities are far ahead of NUS and NTU. But this is in no way due to flaws in Singapore’s education system. In the first place, American universities are extremely well funded. They also have a long history in comparison to local universities, and most importantly, they have been at the forefront of research for a long time, and will continue to attract the best minds around the world.
Being an overseas student in the US, I feel the excitement and passion that people in my field have for the subject, because they really are at the forefront. You meet different people, learn much more about the world, and the entire approach to education is completely different. This is a valuable experience, and even if NUS and NTU one day become ranked as two of the top 10 universities, Singaporeans should not be discouraged from studying abroad.
Also, I think condemnation for all things SIngaporean happens too easily sometimes. It is a knee-jerk reaction to claim that “we have this unfair system of O level, N level and EM1, EM2, then ITE, NEC, Dip, A level, U.” It may be unfair to stream so early, and it certainly is difficult to get yourself from one stream to another, but the key advantage to this system is that people won’t just simply drop out of school, which is precisely what happens in the US. If you can’t get past a certain grade in the US, then that’s it. There aren’t organised vocational training schools or alternative routes to higher qualification. Streaming, as with many other policies in Singapore, has its problems, sure. But these policies are not disastrous, nor are they unthinking or purposefully cruel.
When we were born, how were we? Are we born curious, having an intrinsic ability to learn, albeit haphazardly… Then we were shipped off to “school”. Like a child learning to ride a bicycle, you know how it is.
In school, not only do we learn the subjects, but we also learn how to learn. Now, i think the later may be the problem with the singapore school system. Subjects, be it science, maths, geography, etc are more or less similar wether you’re in SG or Canada or States, etc.
The question now is, what are the types of inherent abilities of humans to learn on their own? Some learn faster, some get it later but eventually you get it. Now what singapore system is trying to do is to “short cut” this natural learning process of human by introducing them to a very efficient and highly effective learning “padagogy” – Model answers.
Pls don’t get me wrong, model answers learning approach has its merit. Sadly, i am a beneficiary of such a system. You know how computer scientist train artificial neural network? By feeding the ANN algorithm with countless examples, reinforcing the “synapses” of the ANN “neurons”, train and train until such time, you input a query of similar types and the probability you will get a “correct” output. Congratulations, your ANN is learning! The model answer approach.
This approach is highly effective and efficient! When one discover this “secret recipe”, it can quickly become your one and only mode of learning, like an opium addict, the 1st thing you look for are the past year papers model answers from your seniors!
Sometimes i wonder, if i had not “discovered” this learning approach, would i have discovered my true gift from God? For i believe, everyone of us has a gift.
It is always a fine balance between teaching a person how to learn and in the process not destroying his/her innert ability to learn and naturally move towards the gift. i don’t know…
With regards to streaming.
Recently i met a student, she has just completed her N levels. So i asked what were her plans. She replied that she’s interested to do nursing at an ITE. But, she can’t, because there is no science subjects in her N level!
Our education system streams and streams and yet streams, till you squeeze every ounce of enthusiasm from their soul and their spirit. Then, you put them to work in the workforce.
Reply to #96 radlife66
Regarding the NT student who couldn’t get into ITE Nursing because she did not have Science at N level. This is what I gathered from http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/files/edu-booklet/edu-booklet-english.pdf.
Lower Sec NT: English, Mother Tongue, Social Sciences, Visual Arts, Music, Math, Sci, Computer Applications, Technical Studies, and Home Econ subjects are available.
For Upper Sec NT:
Compulsory subjects: English, MT, Math, Comp Appl.
Science Electives: Sci, Tech Stud, Food & Nutrition.
Humanities & Arts Electives: Art & Design, Elements of Office Admin.
NT students are required to take 5-7 subjects for N level exam.
So, student has the option to take science in her subject combination, not that it is not offered at N level. Should the student take the responsibility for choosing her subject combination or is it the system’s flaw to allow the student to choose so early at Sec 3? I guess we have to weigh the pros and cons and choose one that results in the greater good for the whole, rather than to throw out the whole basket because it does not benefit the few. As I look at the MOE booklet on the current education system, I think it is a big overhaul from what I used to have. We did not have CIP & Service Learning, or the option to take Mother Tongue B back then. The syllabus has also been trimmed to emphasize “Teach less, Learn more.” The current A level syllabus is also a move to include more holistic education. I also notice that our Pri/Sec students have more opportunities to travel overseas. These are no doubt improvements but our current education system is by no means a final product. Let’s hope we could continue to feedback constructively so that our descendants could reap more benefit from the system than us.
Well, I am one such person .
SLK: I do not support your argument. If there is a independent survey to prove that students are happy, not stress for the majority. If you are one of those elite students i will not support. Unless, student from the lower income group or those will who have learning ability except your argument. If not constructive feedback especially for sg education is nothing but all like you talk only
Reply #98 Bernard
Bernard, I feel sorry for the plight that you went through. If you are the same Bernard as Bernard Chan, I would feel proud for you that you have beaten against the odds. Assuming that there are insufficient empirical data and research to compel MOE to revamp the current system, your testimony on how you beat the odds will be very important to students who are not benefiting within the system. Adam Khoo is the other guy whom I can think of who overcame his learning obstacles and made it to a millionaire by age 26.
Reply to #99 Sad
I am not an elite but just an ordinary guy from lower income family who struggled through the system. My formula during the ‘O’ and ‘A’ was based more on rote learning, but discovered to my rude shock that this couldn’t work in NUS engineering. But the training I had in engineering school eventually grounded me in thorough thinking, to learn how to derive from first principle with different boundary conditions, and to do independent research work. I am grateful for that tough training as that discipline prepared me well for my current graduate school. Looking at the current education system, I am more inclined to believe that it is an improvement over the one that I had grew up in.