Re: Cost May Be High
I'm not sure whether cost is a decisive consideration when you want to have a deschooling society or a free learning system. There are just too many loop holes in our educational system which the 'elites' do not want to address (too lazy or stupid to think) the stiff and stubborn problems that keep popping out like those pesky pop up ads.
Everyone are borne different, so localisation or customisation are needed to fit a person with a specialised curriculum to the T. I have always complained about a certain bench that was a bit too high for a good and proper bending to do a dumbbell back row. The fix bench is obviously designed for a big caucasian bodybuilder. Luckily, I did find something else as a bench to do a good row.
Cost ! The economy of scale is important to make a cheaper 'standardised' education available for commoners. If you are rich, you can have your own tutors from Harvard or Oxford. And again, everyone wanted a race. The O-level tracks, the A-level tracks, the good'ol NUS tracks, etc. Why ? I don't see anyone who are a champion from one of these tracks become successful in life. Both Sim Wong Hoo and Bill Gates gave up their racing tracks for real opportunities to be successful.
So, there are still people who will go round and round and ... when will that dead-end pursuit end with a "Eureka !"
The premise of this thread and the subsequent posts are all way off the mark. There is nothing wrong with the singapore education system per se. Fundamentally, the core is there. Ask any singapore students that transfer to a foreign uni for undergraduate studies, and you will find that the singapore system equips them very well to compete with Aussie, canadian, american and UK students. The lack of analytical thinking is problematic bit with effort, most singapore students studyong abroad can overcome this.
Where the problem lies is with society at large and parents in particular. Every parent thinks there kids are doctors, lawyers , etc. They push the kid to achieve academically to go into these professions, teachers are pushed to get the students grades a high as possible so that they can meet their parents expectations of their future profession. As a result, there is stress all the way down the line. This is simply a kiasu attitude at its worse. Parents pile on tutors at their kids, teachers pile on homework, and than stress themselves out by having to mark the assignments. Seriously, if you give the child 3 variations of the same problem and he can solve all 3, is there a need to make him do 20? The western education system is set up to make sure the kids know the knowledge, how to use it. The singapore system is set up to make sure the kid gets the highest score. This is the difference.
If a western parent had to send their kids to as many tuition as we do, they would have had a riot at the school. If you cannot teach the child all he or she needs to know at school, than the education system has failed. Western parents have a different mindset, and hence their expectation of the education system is different from singapore. A long as their child is happy in what profession they choose, and as long as they can earn a decent wage, they are ok with it. Does not matter if the child becomes a carpenter, plumber, mechanic, or anything like that, does not have to be a lawyer or surgeon, as long as they enjoy what they are doing. You can see most Drs. in singapore do not care about the patient, they are in it for the money and prestige.
Therefore, I say singapore does not need a better education system. Singapore needs less kiasu parents that will whack the MOE for the amount of homework, studies, etc. Singapore needs a govt. that can ensure that other professions other white collar are accorded some level of ability to pay well and not let in cheap unqualified FTs to steal these jobs. Believe me when I tell you that there are waiters in the US that eaily make USD$40K plus a year on tips and base pay. Waitering is look down on in singapore.
