The recent speech by the Minister of Education Mr Heng Swee Keat goes deeper versus the usual arguments about the positives and negatives of present education system. One particular key term that he stressed in his address is "fundamental". We have to go back to the requisites of education.
An education system does the best when it really fulfills its fundamental goals. Every society has common expectations and ideals embraced by all members with the community. To guarantee the continuity of individuals fundamental spirits, education of the younger generation turns into an essential tool. Therefore we will better evaluate the Singapore education system in light of the fundamentals being a far more helpful strategy of examination.
First, the society places a premium on equity. In addition to man inherent sense of equity, Singaporeans recognize the essential functionality of justness in running a racially-diverse community or optimizing the utilization of capable people in a compact population.
Consequently, it suffices to say the idea of justness has become nailed into the head of Singaporeans. This kind of an idea is also reflected in Singapore's education system. Despite the calling for abolishing examinations, especially the PSLE, such a probability continues to be far off. Even minister of education does not endorse the move, as witnessed in his description of how some countries that used to eliminate exams are going back to exam-based solutions.
Exams, as strenuous as they are, established impartial standard of comparison. A grade of Ninety is better when compared with a result of 89. Though it can be arguable simply how much difference does that one mark actually makes, the score-based evaluation primarily based on standardized tests has proved for being far more effective and equitable compared to every other option: the interview-based test, the talent-based assessment where fuzy appraisal is involved.
The grade allocated to a dancing performance by a student applicant is primarily haphazard, and fluctuates across various assessors, who may possibly by themself be affected by their particular idea of brilliance, their experiences and in many cases their mood on the day of evaluation.
Hence, exam results carry substantially more weight of authority that appeals to folks's feeling of fairness. Consequently, perhaps it will not be a good idea to argue for abolishing exams when this kind of a proposal impedes one of the fundamental values people today hold dear to.
Additionally, the skills and values educated in classes reflect the public demand for such abilities among individuals. The academic institutions tend to be generally tuned in to social requirements because of competition in getting the top students.
The students with the appropriate set of characteristics the society wants are much more probable to succeed once they graduate. Graduating an impressive batch of university students enhances the popularity of educational institutions that will entice students with much better branding.
Consequently, the college will aim to equip college students with the socially desirable competencies and values.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), with its special IB syllabus that emphasizes breath together with independent analysis, is attracting top secondary school students. The Singapore Management University, as a result of its distinctive seminar teaching system as well as intensive presentation training, helps make its graduates very marketable. A number of critics fret about the value training and skill impartation which are compromised by a strong focus on exams.
However as a result of competition amongst schools for diversity and branding, the potential of learning landscape might not turn out to be as gloomy as some might predict. Colleges know that just by producing excellent scorers will not help to make their graduates move far, and that will be reflected in testimonials such as the graduate employment survey that dad and mom in addition to prospective students closely examine annually.
Hence what the government ought to do may not be passing value training from a top-down strategy, but rather motivate the diversity as well as competition amongst academic institutions while bettering a series of graduate surveys and study to boost the info flow, which ultimately encourages schools to respond to what society actually needs.
An education system does the best when it really fulfills its fundamental goals. Every society has common expectations and ideals embraced by all members with the community. To guarantee the continuity of individuals fundamental spirits, education of the younger generation turns into an essential tool. Therefore we will better evaluate the Singapore education system in light of the fundamentals being a far more helpful strategy of examination.
First, the society places a premium on equity. In addition to man inherent sense of equity, Singaporeans recognize the essential functionality of justness in running a racially-diverse community or optimizing the utilization of capable people in a compact population.
Consequently, it suffices to say the idea of justness has become nailed into the head of Singaporeans. This kind of an idea is also reflected in Singapore's education system. Despite the calling for abolishing examinations, especially the PSLE, such a probability continues to be far off. Even minister of education does not endorse the move, as witnessed in his description of how some countries that used to eliminate exams are going back to exam-based solutions.
Exams, as strenuous as they are, established impartial standard of comparison. A grade of Ninety is better when compared with a result of 89. Though it can be arguable simply how much difference does that one mark actually makes, the score-based evaluation primarily based on standardized tests has proved for being far more effective and equitable compared to every other option: the interview-based test, the talent-based assessment where fuzy appraisal is involved.
The grade allocated to a dancing performance by a student applicant is primarily haphazard, and fluctuates across various assessors, who may possibly by themself be affected by their particular idea of brilliance, their experiences and in many cases their mood on the day of evaluation.
Hence, exam results carry substantially more weight of authority that appeals to folks's feeling of fairness. Consequently, perhaps it will not be a good idea to argue for abolishing exams when this kind of a proposal impedes one of the fundamental values people today hold dear to.
Additionally, the skills and values educated in classes reflect the public demand for such abilities among individuals. The academic institutions tend to be generally tuned in to social requirements because of competition in getting the top students.
The students with the appropriate set of characteristics the society wants are much more probable to succeed once they graduate. Graduating an impressive batch of university students enhances the popularity of educational institutions that will entice students with much better branding.
Consequently, the college will aim to equip college students with the socially desirable competencies and values.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), with its special IB syllabus that emphasizes breath together with independent analysis, is attracting top secondary school students. The Singapore Management University, as a result of its distinctive seminar teaching system as well as intensive presentation training, helps make its graduates very marketable. A number of critics fret about the value training and skill impartation which are compromised by a strong focus on exams.
However as a result of competition amongst schools for diversity and branding, the potential of learning landscape might not turn out to be as gloomy as some might predict. Colleges know that just by producing excellent scorers will not help to make their graduates move far, and that will be reflected in testimonials such as the graduate employment survey that dad and mom in addition to prospective students closely examine annually.
Hence what the government ought to do may not be passing value training from a top-down strategy, but rather motivate the diversity as well as competition amongst academic institutions while bettering a series of graduate surveys and study to boost the info flow, which ultimately encourages schools to respond to what society actually needs.
About the Author:
The author has spent more than 15 years in the Singapore Education System and is a private educator in Singapore, writing about the developments in education and society in her blog about education revolutions in singapore
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