The Purpose of Singapore’s Education System
So I saw this the other day:
The life of Amelia, a PSLE student in Singapore. A pretty well made video, a hint of satire, a girl well-cast as the quintessential Singaporean student we see here today.
But, whew, there’s a lot to address here so let’s get down to it.
Amelia
Let’s take a look at Amelia — sweet girl, great with her words and expressions, finding humour in her sad 12 year-old life, absolute sweetheart, right? We can all agree she’s a very eloquent girl for a 12 year-old, but not so much about whether she knows what she’s talking about. She knows how to make fun of her predicament with the host and laugh it off, but if you watch her clearly, you can almost see her laughter is not of positivity, but rather of exasperation. In a way, she doesn’t have a choice in this society we live in now.
Host: Who told you that it is such a big exam?
Amelia: Let’s see, every single person about PSLE says that.
Well she hasn’t ask me yet. Because if she did, I would have told her I remembered absolutely nothing about any of my PSLE exams — not the papers, not the exam venues, not the people sitting beside me — nothing, and I’m 20 only, 8 years since my PSLE. In fact, I have a missing reel where my primary education should be in my memory. I didn’t know what I was doing because I was just that — a 12 year-old.
All I remembered in primary school was how I went to my friends house to play Maplestory behind my mom’s back (sorry mom), passing around “chatbooks” during classes — that’s our WhatsApp chat group right there — you know, kids stuff!
Somehow during these past 8 years since my PSLE, it has ascended to the status of an exam that your life depended on it, even though I’m pretty sure you are going to be fine without a PSLE score of 260.
Amelia says she’s stressed because this year is gonna be the second hardest PSLE exam ever (when was the hardest one?). I don’t know what is this going to achieve in letting the students know that, what is the purpose? Make them anxious? Stressed out? Giving them the false belief that if their PSLE score is good they are set on being successful for sure?
All I can see here is a girl doing what she is doing because her parents and other adults tell her what she should be doing. Basically a blank slate with the motivations of other adults scribbled on her.
As mature as she presents herself, she is still a child, she has miles to go before she can truly give a rational judgement on what is actually going on in education systems. Just look at this:
Host: So if you could change something, what would you like to change in the education system?
Amelia: I’d like to remove PSLE 100%. Maybe move the PSLE to secondary, maybe I can do that…then at least we are more used to the education system, or something like that.
Here we just see her truly child-like innocence shining through the cracks, from the shell the adults — father, teachers — had built around her, with their ethos indoctrinated into her. She clearly just said whatever was on her mind, which reflected the disdain she has with PSLE.
Amelia, sorry honey, you can’t move it to secondary because you have O levels at the end of your secondary education. And the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) is called the PSLE because you are leaving primary school. What you actually want — what all students want — is a different PSLE system that you are not miserable in.
The Dad
The reason behind his decision to send his daughter to the mental hospital slowly (pardon the hyperbole) is because of kiasuism — which deserves a separate essay on its own — but I’ll just talk about it a little here.
His kiasuism derives from the Singaporean soul that resides within us, the need to out-compete one another ever since our independence day. “If you don’t get ahead, other people will steal your job/placing/whatever!” Basically a do or die choice that is ingrained in the Singaporean mind that no one can shake off.
So naturally he sends his daughter for tuition to help her get ahead and win the race. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, just a Dad who wants the best for his daughter. He says this:
Dad: Is tuition necessary? Some parents might say that the education system forces us to do that. But ultimately if you think about it, it’s really us who want[s] to give our kids these extra lessons.
However, I don’t really agree with him. As much as it is the parent’s decision to send the children to tuition classes, I think the education system has a lot to do with it, and perpetuating it so much till it created a mess that I think will take more than just education policies and reforms to clean up.
Which brings me to…
The Singaporean Education System
Okay, finally we’re here. The (alleged) root of all problems existing in our students we see today.
Now, it is easy for me to just say Singapore should just adopt Finland’s education system — no exams, no banding, no stress for the students — but still can be ranked at the top of global education rankings. But I don’t, because I acknowledge that there are factors that will affect how it works in a disparate country.
The top 5 “countries” 2015 rankings goes in this order:
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- South Korea
- Japan/Taiwan
- Finland
Yay! Singapore is first, we are the best! Aren’t you proud, don’t you feel good that you are the best at studying in the world? If you are, good for you! If you aren’t, I’m sure you know why, because it begs the question as to what does topping this list even mean?
Ask yourself, does being number 1 on this list mean that we have the best education system in the world? Does it mean we are so smart that we are pumping out revolutionary individuals who are changing the world?
The biggest question of all, the main question we should all ask is in the title of this essay:
What is the purpose of Singaporean’s education system?
If it is to churn out individuals that can do well in standardised tests then we can pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves we did a good job.
But education isn’t a factory production line. Sure, a number 1 on a global test is a good indicator of academic intellect, which is valuable in it’s own way. But at the expense of what? Singaporeans are lucky they have an armour of kiasi-ism protecting them, the other 4 Asian countries in the list have student suicidal rates off the charts from the stress they suffered in schools.
To me, the primary purpose of education is to combine learning and life seamlessly, to create a society that is empathetic and compassionate in the the long run. An environment that engages students to learn actively and seek out answers, instead of studying the material just to ace an upcoming test. One that allows students to find out what their good at and pursue it without a stigmatised eye cast over them.
I know, this view is too idealistic, very political correct, even, but I think that’s the point. It is something that we should work towards, however much time it takes. Note that I’m not saying Singapore’s current education system doesn’t work, it certainly does work, just not in the way I see as healthy and ideal.
It pains me to make generalisations, but Singapore does have the propensity to neglect the human part in education.
Don’t get me wrong, I can see efforts put in by the government to educate people — be it MOE, PA, NLB or whoever else — but to what fruition? Eradicating PSLE scores, attempts to remove eltism between schools, these are just vain ventures to please the public outcry for “less stress”.
This is where the boomerang comes around back to society, to the parents, to the students. We bemoan the stressful conditions we are in, and yet we can’t stop sending our kids to tuition, neither can students stop thinking they have to go for tuition. (Admittedly, I also willingly took up tuition classes because I feel like I was lagging behind.)
Ultimately, it is easier to say, “I would have scored better if I went for tuition,” because it is a good justification for your own shortcomings. I don’t blame them, because they are programmed to think that way. If you have time on your hands, why not use it so you can score better in exams?
Here comes the rub, the fault in our education system is the fault in us humans, the fault in Singaporeans, in our culture, in our past. The education system makes us, and we make the education system what it is. It’s a loop, a viscous one that we are afraid to break out of, from fear of uncertainty, failure, and the ubiquitous “I told you so” people will say if we screw it up.
It is simple to put the blame on someone and rectify it from there, but don’t you see? Everyone is at fault — government, parents, students, teachers, you, me — everyone. It is the whole education structure that is in quicksand — a foundation formed by our country’s history and culture, driven by our Asian values that landed us (together with South Korea, Hongkong, Japan, and Taiwan) in this state. Sure, it works for the economy, evidently, but are the unintended effects on our social structure worth it?
I don’t claim to have any solutions, neither am I here to criticise the government or tell the country what it should do. Because the topic of education is too much of an all-encompassing problems that are too convoluted which require much more than my pea-brain to work out.
However, I do believe it is only a matter of time before we can progress to that idealistic future. As history has proven countless of times, mindsets can be changed, no matter how ingrained they are. Look at the crumbling of the Mongolian Empire and their violent days of conquest, the Japanese ways pre and post WWII, China opening up markets and economies, I’m sure you can think of more examples than I do. But this just serves to show how possible it all is — to change mindsets.
So just because it seems hopeless now doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Because honestly, the change starts with you.
Thanks for reading! This is just my take on the Singaporean education system after watching the video from Channel NewsAsia’s facebook page. If you liked it press the ❤, or ‘like’ the Facebook post you clicked from! Of course, if you think what I’ve said makes sense, do share it, it will be amazing to let more people see it!
If you like, feel free to leave a response, you can disagree with me, add arguments, whatever. Anything goes! Thanks again!
