IS THIS ALL??
HOW ABOUT THIS??
Regarding the open letter that the Janelle Lee wrote to the Education Minister, I have to admit that I agree with her whole-heartedly! I feel that the current Singapore's education system seems to brining out the importance of achieving good grades.Pupils have become extremely rowdy and inconsiderate these few days and I believe that it shows how the loose screw is creating many problems. Students have no free space to express their views and instead they are barred from doing so. They have to follow-suit with model answers and memorize them by hard, leaving most students still puzzled and confused. "Why" seemed to be a taboo in Singapore's education system and a students life. A teacher might just shrug her shoulders in disgust and put a big cross on the answer that might be potentially right, had the teacher really read carefully instead of glancing off her answer sheets. Students are restricted in structures used in essays, pressurized by parents to get an A1 in all subjects and taught how results is actually much more a "virtue" compared to attitudes, personalities and mo rals. Lee wrote in a gentle but threatening tone. She seemed polite at all times but is actually showing us that the education system now is not what Singapore needs and longed for. Singapore is now a first world country however its education system still remains prehistoric. There is no emphasis on CME and all the expected manners are taught from the books. I feel that the tone is acceptable. Although its written to the education minister, I feel her letter did raise the awareness among many schools and certainly is a wake up call for the minister to reexamine policies. Though direct, it conveys the message successfully. I would like to raise to the minister that the problem might not seems as shallow as its is. Every time where test papers are distributed, the first thing that students do is to go around to ask and make comments about other's marks while they keep their own zipped up and unknown to others. Students have also resulted in desperate measures to distract a rival, steal his worksheets, crush them up and dump them away. I find this problem alarming as the students seemed to take results as everything. Perhaps, schools needs to come up with policies to encourage to students to study for them to broaden their horizons instead for the sake of going into top universities and becoming the top-notch group in their schools.
I do agree with your response but you cannot say that Janelle is threatening the minister, since she is not a position to do that in the first place. It is more of a suggestion in a argumentative way since the Mr Heng is the person who calls the shots and Janelle is just another average student in the education system.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that a person's character is essential in the working world, thus why is it that CME lessons are treated like any other boring lesson? Imagine a businessman who is extremely rude. Will you feel flustered over his behaviour? The system is actually developing this kind of businessmen. If the system doesn't change, Singapore would be chasing away business than bringing in business.
Hi, this is Darrel. May I ask if you agree with Janelle whole-heartedly, do you mean that you agree with her that Singapore system is about memorising and that memorising will ensure an A1? I think otherwise. In subjects like literature, memorising is not the way out as you have to be able to construct explanations based on the question. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou see, the current educational system is undergoing a change, and efforts like projects day, online lessons, sabbatical week are implemented so as to promote a all rounded education so that we are well versed in may aspects. There are stuff where pure memorizing cannot give you great marks. Examples are like Mathematics, Literature and Chinese. We are only told to follow certain rubrics to ensure that marking our papers would be an easier job, thus boosting efficiency. We only have four years here, and four years is not a long time in fact. Subjects like Integrated Humanities are having their module revised and restructured now and then to ensure that we learn, not memorize. In my opinion, it is just unlucky that our generation would be the guinea pigs for this trial and error test, but eventually things would change and good things would happen. Just wait and see, time would tell if all turns out okay....
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that our education system is "prehistoric". Could you define and explain that in the context? Now that the use of computer learning is implemented in our education system, does that mean that technology is prehistoric too? Please clarify on this.I agree with your point that students are taking results too heavily. This is indeed becoming a serious problem,as it has placed much pressure on the students to achieve good results. When they fail to do so, their worn-out mind might break and this has resulted in an increase of teenage suicides.
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