Yes, the Singapore education is well-praised. But there is another aspect of it which I am still trying to figure out.
I'm sure many of us have heard about how some Singaporean students didn't do well at O or A levels. But because their parents are wealthy, they managed to go to UK, Australia or US to study in universities there. Popular choice subjects are accountancy, law, finance and business. For those who got rejected by the local NUS medical school, their rich parents could send them to UK or Australia to get their medical degree. Most of the time, many of them could cope well with their studies in the foreign universities. Some even went on to do well, despite doing poorly for their national exams in Singapore.
The interesting thing comes after these students graduated. When they came back to Singapore, some employers often favoured them over local uni grads. One main reason given was that employers found graduates from those foreign unis had more critical thinking skills. They also tend to become more outgoing, have better initiative and can express themselves well.
Cut long story short, those students, who once didn't do well in their exams, actually got jobs more readily (some even got paid higher) than local grads who scored better than them in the exams previously! Not to mention, many parents these days often complain and worry that their children are under a lot of stress from schoolwork and mugging for exams. In contrast, foreign students seem to be more relaxed and enjoy the outdoors more than concentrating on scoring high in exams. I think such stories are so common that some of us can easily identify.
Ironic isn't it? So how does the excellent educational system in Singapore actually help students when they grow up as adults looking for jobs?
My own guess is, we may have a "good" educational system in Singapore. But what is missing is something more that goes beyond just textbooks, for example, creativity.
I realize one thing: Local graduates are very faithful in "going by the books". If you ask Singaporean students to sit for exams based on how much they know or can remember what the textbooks say, they will emerge top in their academic study. If that is the way we judge an education system as being excellent, then of course, we can no doubt say Singapore is one of the best.
But I think in the outside world, thinking out the box and being "free" to do what you enjoy and to challenge your creativity is a lot more important. Many times, it has been proven that these people become more successful than even those who once scored many "A"s in their exams.
That is why I suspect those students who previously didn't do well in Singapore schools but have parents who are rich enough to send them overseas to study, can perform even better than many local graduated eventually.
Actually the few good things about Singapore is its education system. My Canadian professor once told me her two kids were educated in Singapore govt schools. When they got back to study in Canada universities, education becomes stress-less and they top their schools. Our students are world class study machines and I am proud of it as its world renowned. From O Levels to A levels to IBs etc, nothing is going to stop the local students from acing all kinds of subjects.
Malaysia international schools cant be compared to Singapore education system. We have the cheapest and most valuable education system in the world. Credit must go to the old man Lee Kuan Yew for the transformation. If there is another LKY in charge of Singapore, I might consider retiring here. Now is too late as everywhere I go in Singapore, I feel like a foreigner. Everywhere I go in Malaysia, I feel very local
