Thursday, April 19, 2007

Education & Children- Food for thought

April 19, 2007
Parents should allow their kids to follow their hearts and not their brains
By Heng Cho Choon


Online forum Straits Times

I WAS attracted to the Review article, 'Einstein: The patron saint of distracted schoolkids' (ST, April 13), in which the writer advocated the importance of imagination and creativity.
Be that as it may, it may be pertinent to note that Einstein's road to success was paved with cobblestones of failures for in 1895 he failed an examination that would have allowed him to study for a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich.
Nonetheless, he went on to win the Nobel prize in 1921 for his theories in Theoretical Physics and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
Sim Wong Hoo's theory of NUTS (No U-Turn Syndrome) may be food for thought for our Ministry of Education officials as our schoolkids and civil servants have grown used to the entrenched culture of NUTS.
In the US, when there is no sign on the road, it means that you can make a U-turn. In Singapore it is the reverse. When there is no sign on the road, you are not allowed to make a U-turn. When the authorities allow you to make U-turns then they will put up signs to give you that right.
The end result is that the social behaviour of Singaporeans is unique for their mindset is one of unquestioning conformity to higher authorities before taking any action. The tenet, 'If it ain't broke don't fix it', is pervasive in our society.
The recent triumph of the United World College in the 'Arena' debate series clearly shows its superiority in elocutionary skills. Its students out-talked the best debaters from Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution as they were able to think out of the box and were fast and furious in their rebuttals.
Steven Paul Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple, is now the largest shareholder of Disney and is considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.
In 1972, Jobs graduated from high school and enrolled in Reed College in Oregon but he dropped out after only one semester. When years later he was invited to give a speech at Stanford University he spoke frankly about his opinions on entrepreneurship, work and life. He reflected on what kept him going through challenging times.
'I am convinced that the only thing that kept me going is that I loved what I did. You have got to find what you love.' He spoke of the importance of 'following your own inner voice'. The message is that parents should allow their kids to follow their hearts and not their brains.
Enrico Fermi won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity. He once said: 'There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.'
Our school kids should be taught to formulate their own hypotheses and learn to question what they have learnt from the teacher and their textbooks.
Heng Cho Choon
My comments:
Dear friends,

I read this nice and succinct letter to the online forum page by Mr. Heng.

It more or less encapsulates what I feel about education and Singapore life.

I have already ranted about this topic before, so I will just spare you guys the agony this once.

But not before quoting Mark Twain:

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Cheers

Dr. Huang Shoou Chyuan

12 comments:

Ned Stark said...

Dr,

While i do share ur views on the shortcomings of the education system, i feel that the Arena cannot be taken as evidence to support the contention that our education system is too much into rote learning etc. This is because apparently the UWC coach was from said HCI.

nofearSingapore said...

Hi nedstark-
I am not judging the system by the Arena alone.
But anecdotal evidence from kids who have had different system of education showed that the kids suddenly loved to go to school and more into independent thinking and knowledge searching.
I know things are changing in Sg but parents' mindset is the main barrier to creative teaching/learning

Ned Stark said...

Dr,

One thing that cheeses me abit, it seems that its those at the top of the cohort who are given the opportunity more than those not at the top. This i feel will worsen the problem of elitism.

nofearSingapore said...

Hi nedstark,
if you are talking about the through-train where top percentile of cohorts get direct entry into the better schools then I agree.
But I think there are very good teachers spread out throughout all the schools and some neighbourhood schools have excellent teachers.
Hence I agree that teachers should be paid well. Getting excellent teachers to remain in the education system is the first step in the transformation of the education system. (more creative thinking/less rote learning; more questioning less accepting of facts as gospel truth).
But I am more convinced that we must persuade the parents to let their children have the time to explore their passions. This freedom is scary cos trying the less trodden path is uncomfortable and the kids will have ups and downs before finding their real talents and passions.
And these talents may not be treasured by our society ( in dollar sense). But the kids will excel in their chosen paths and then our society has a small chance of throwing up a world-beater who may be a Pulitzer winner or fashion designer or computer whizz kid. Maybe in another generation, a Nobel prize laureate. ( ya I know it is wishful thinking)

Anonymous said...

When I came to NZ and saw that my children had so little homework compared to what they had in SG , I was really concerned. But I've realised that children can learn more if they are "taught" less. As an example, children are given free rein to do what they want for science fairs - no exams. And that's how 2 fourteen yr old girls made world news finding out that Ribena has no vitamin C! Some topics my 12 yr old had to do in school - in English "Can betrayal be forgiven ?". A Science topic as a 13 yr old, "If Einstein , Marie Curie , Charles Darwin and Nicholas Copernicus (who's that?) were on a hot air balloon and only one could stay on and survive, who would you pick? This was a fun way of learning - investigative , thought provoking etc. He picked Einstein at the end for a number of reasons. The thing was I don't think there's a right or wrong answer for that question. I guess it's hard to do away with a system that's taken yrs to build up. But really , kids in SG either get exam smart or lag behind. It is a shame when I hear of depressed children having suicidal thoughts or "elite" kids looking down on the "neighbourhood" kids. We need to really wake up to the fact that it's a whole new world requiring new skills before our children continue to become good "doers" but lack creativity / initiative for problem solving. Just my 2 cts worth having seen the SG and NZ systems. The NZ system definitely has room for improvement but I guess given the 2 , I prefer my children to enjoy learning and have a childhood here !

nofearSingapore said...

Hi anon 2.52:
I have said enough already about how Sg education system still has much room for improvement. At one of my previous posts about education also, bloggers started getting defensive. I don't think we should have a "us and them" mentally as if we were trying to win a debate or trying to put the other side down. We are all on the same side, hopefully the same side as the children.
I worry for my children to a point that I almost want to take them out of the system. But in Sg, "out" means going to the so-called "International schools" which are not really international schools. A true-blue S'porean cannot get into UWC or other real international school unless one spouse is foreignor/ or the family has been out of the Sg system for some years. Other way is to get psychitrist's/psychologist's report that the child is going nuts in the local system. Even then, I probably have to change my surname before I get the place!

Anon: I am sincerly happy for your kid/s.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dr,

My kids are certainly happy. The older one is doing subjects she loves eg History of Art , Sociology, French which she could never pick in a S'pore JC. And being a typical S'porean mum , I might have discouraged her from such subjects as well. Having said that, we all need to be on the side of our children as you rightly pointed out. I read somewhere that after a certain member of a famiLEE went to the S'pore American School that it's easier now for S'poreans to enrol their children into international schools. Have you checked if that's true? You don't have to change your surname in that case ; lol.

aliendoc said...

anon 3:56 - If a Singaporean wants to enroll his child into an international school, he needs approval from MOE. Reason for transfer usually because of learning disability (as in the case of the Lee child) or if the child has been overseas for sometime & unable to re-assimilate back into the system, or the child has dual citizenship.

nofearSingapore said...

Hi anon/aliendoc:
Sg kids can only go to ACS International/SJI International/Hwa Chong ? International, but ones which the famiLEE goes to.

nofearSingapore said...

Hi,
brain faster than my typing-
what I meant was that Sg kids will not be able to go to Int. Schools other than those cited by me above. Those wyo want to go UWC/SAS would need criteria as set up by aliendoc.

Anonymous said...

While I do agree with the sentiment regarding our educational system, for the average Singaporean and their children, this is the only system they are going to get. Most people are just trying to make a living. There is no spare cash for alternative education system. If their kids dont make it, then it is an early entry into the work force with whatever education they have. This is life.

nofearSingapore said...

Hi anon 1.14:
whilst I understand your "pragmatic" but slightly fatalistic analysis of the situation, I takr the view that whilst our system is not bad, there is room for improvement and hence we should not accept the status quo.
If everybody in any system and any civilisation think this way, we would still be wearing bear skin and living in caves.