A more student-focused education system?

One look into the Singaporean education system makes one truth very clear — it is a system based on enumeration, grading and ranking. The rituals of examinations, reception of austere report cards and the subsequent reactions to the “percentile” section of the report card make this painfully obvious. Students are often told that this is imperative because it allows them to get a sensing of where they are in terms of competence compared with their classmates and peers.

But the 21st century invites us to rethink implicit assumptions we make across all fronts — technology, health, education, and more. So I have to ask one core question: why is the extant comparison in terms of competence essential? What value does one have to gain from knowing that they’re better than Steve at a physics module and worse than Madeleine at calculus?

The argument for exams goes as follows — the job market is competitive, and the endpoint of education is work that enables fulfilment and a comfortable standard of living. Therefore, exams and the associated competition which comes with it, both (a) spurs individuals on to develop their skills and academic abilities to defeat the competition, and (b) acts as a powerful profiling tool for businesses to screen out the individuals with the abilities they are looking for. On the surface, this appears to be a simple but reasonable justification for examinations in their current competitive form, and our enumeration-based education system at large. However, I believe that a more student-focused education system would bring in more substantial benefits to society at large.

Firstly, the chance that competitive exams will spur individuals to develop their skills and academic abilities is not certain. It’s likely that if this is even true, such benefits will only apply to some students, not all — for students who haven’t the time to spend on academics because they have to help their families with household chores to support their parents, a competitive education system does nothing to spur them on to do better. It only just adds an extra burden onto their shoulders, leaving them more stressed and demoralised. For students who are not interested in their education, exams do nothing to bring them into the system. A competitive education system buttressed by exams could further inequality, with the motivational benefits of doing better than everyone else only being granted to those who have the resources to commit to their education beyond school fees, and those who are inherently driven to outdo everyone else.

Secondly, the notion that exams and a competition-based education system would aid businesses in screening out individuals who would bring in economic value is insidiously wrong and painfully uncertain. Examinations do not distinguish people who genuinely engage with academic subjects and spend time outside of curriculum hours to develop soft skills from those who merely study what is tested for examinations; those who sign up for various co-curricular programmes while putting in the minimum hours to leave with a certificate and the accomplished feeling of having gotten something for nothing. Businesses and society may end up with a host of passionless individuals whose core ambition is their own personal gains.

It’s, therefore, possible that an education system based on enumeration is far from perfect, and the benefits often associated with such education systems are either (a) surface level or (b) uncertain.

We must rethink education to ensure that it is more student-centred with the end consumer — the student — is kept in mind throughout the curriculum planning process. Education planning should not be based on the question “which system helps businesses find the best students?”. Instead, it should consider the question of “which system develops students to a large degree, and more importantly, does it do so genuinely?”.

Educere has proposed P-Level as a possible curriculum method that, through practical applications, encourages students to engage more directly with the curriculum beyond what is tested for exams. Education should also build character and soft skills, even when it cannot be examined in a paper-and-pen format. There must be a broad-based cultural acceptance that that which is not enumerated is of equal value to that which is enumerated.

There are a lot of ifs-and-maybes in this quest for a better education system, but perhaps what is required is some small baby steps. Students should take a longer view of our education system, moving beyond the short-term gratification of doing better than our peers in examinations to see what would actually benefit us (and hopefully society) in the long run — we should also see how our education system would result in personal satisfaction and development. Businesses should look beyond on-paper qualifications to value other qualifications more — yet, it should be ensured that individuals do not cheat the system. The government needs to reframe exams as merely one facet of our education system, not the end-all.

Whenever I think about education systems and potential improvements, I face the tendency to lean back into my chair, sigh loudly and give up. “It’s systemic,” I want to say. But then again, systemic issues require systemic reforms, and reform must come fast because new issues require passionate thinking, not shallow pretended thinking. So let’s engage in a discussion on education — what do you think a student-based education system looks like?

I would like to live in a utopic society, where, with a snap of the finger, all students care more about actual learning instead of “performed” learning. Where businesses, with the snap of a finger, can tell who has learnt deeply by looking past the number on an exam certificate. However, I know that practicalities obstruct this. The first step I would take in this case is to take a baby step to solve the issue by taking it into my own hands to understand fully the applications of my learning. You too can do so by referring to the P-Level series on Educere which will be coming out soon!