June 02, 2008

No sensible education in this city, too!

Of course, that's not true. We have the Ministry of Education. And ostensibly, a very sought-after education syllabus and structure. So much so that many other countries are emulating us.

Indeed, if you just bother (ya, I know... why would you, ever! but I said 'IF') to read what the M of E has on their website on the Singapore education system, you might be thinking... "ahh... the perfect place for my child to be educated". After all, they did pay someone who can write well enough to write up that fable. That's how sincere we are in partaking in this competitive education industry. We have ISO standard schools. This city would die to impress.

But despite being a 100% pure product of this system (I've never deviated from the MOE mainstream), and having worked with primary school kids for the past 10 years, I must say part of my fatigue comes from the belief in the almost non-existent good in this system. At least, I have something to believe in... OK!

1. The thing about creative thinking?
Creativity is always welcomed. But, how creative can it get when you institutionalise creativity? If you look into some of the Maths questions in school workbooks, exam papers and assessment books, you may think that 'creative' is synonymous with 'IQ 140 and above'. Honestly, I don't believe in pushing children to think out of the box. Mainly because they are not even in the box yet! Children are creative, no matter how you look at it. The difference lies in whether they translate that creativity into getting the correct answers to impossibly demanding questions or into surprising responses to some of adults' daily dilemma.
However, the way I see it (and a couple of my students' mothers agree too), the system wants to sculpt creative academic genuises out of every child without first giving them a solid groundwork to stand firm on. This is particularly evident as children these days struggle with grammar and sentence structures in English and see the whole galaxy of stars (I meant figuratively, just in case...) when trying to figure out Maths problems.
If you equipped Da Vinci with P***lar brand art materials, is it fair to expect him to produce a Mona Lisa? Ok, maybe 'yes'. But that's because he is a genius, already. But, let's face it - there are more Jane and John among us than Leonardo.
So, can we give the little Janes and little Johns more structure so that they can perhaps build a box first before they attempt to think out of that box? Can we teach them properly why we need to learn common factors and multiples and how to find those first before we hand over the calculator to them, hoping they can solve a complicated fraction-cum-ratio-cum-decimals story sum? Can we make them memorise that some verbs do not change forms even in the past tense before we make them write poems on saving our earth? Can we teach them when to use which pronoun first before we get them to act out a story and write their thoughts on that?

... unfinished...

Posted by 杏 cy （Jancy） at 17:01