What is wrong with our system?

[Donkey Kong]

Singaporeans in general did very well in schools and many are doing better. Our kids Maths+Science are top in the world.


Why there are no Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Faraday, James Watt, etc.? Oh ya, Sim Wong Hoo is running out of steam. Creative Share drops a lot. Nobody helping him?

Our CSM - Chartered Semi Conductor selling away. Taiwan TSMC does very well and listed in NYSE. Where are our SMART Alexes?

We are only scorers? No doers?

Why?

[adhdadhd]

Donkey Kong:

Singaporeans in general did very well in schools and many are doing better. Our kids Maths+Science are top in the world.


Why there are no Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Faraday, James Watt, etc.? Oh ya, Sim Wong Hoo is running out of steam. Creative Share drops a lot. Nobody helping him?

Our CSM - Chartered Semi Conductor selling away. Taiwan TSMC does very well and listed in NYSE. Where are our SMART Alexes?

We are only scorers? No doers?

Why?

Hi,
Like your view very much, as I have been pondering on education systems too. Top in the world, so what?

CSM is a National shame, $billions wasted to follow TSMC strategy, (cause TSMC is first mover in foundry biz model), but failed to copy the talent management part, Sg just did not have enough Doctorate to compete with TSMC, or if they do, much more expensive than TSMC's, why? because they are/were FT! TSMC had more than 10 years of unfair advantage in taxation, as their account systems allow them to declare shares payout, after netted profit (instead of reflecting as expense).

Sim's Creative is here because of CV funds from California, after he failed to get Sg funds.

Gov.sg are still working on ways to create the billgate.sg and the like, this is why our kids at P5, already studying chromosones, DNA.

We need to work very hard to fight this Asian's Kiasu culture, it trickled like water, find its way in every mind-gaps...

American have spirit to venture even if there is no rewards, can we match that?
American can start business from backyards, can we match that?

[Yusof]

This is such a serious AND interesting topic. I am attracted to it like a bee to honey. I am tuning in...listen first before I talk.


:lol:

[adhdadhd]

Donkey Kong:

Where are our SMART Alexes?

Pertaining to this question, a possible answer is..

SMART Alexes (of Sg) are FT elsewhere, with better pay and benefit, more over, becoming FT means you can rent out your property in SG as it appreciate in value... these are probably diamonded singles that cause low population replenishment rate, another reason to bringing more FT, especially those could afford more kids...

Is it a fact Pay package must be good to attract FT, so FT are better paid than LT (same job value hoh!), is obvious, in fact this is probably one of the causes of LT losing jobs (familiar with \"structural unemployment\"? ...), and going on this could be a vicious cycle I am afraid.. as FT built empire with more FT, once FT have jobs here, they can afford to produce more kids... (Scots only trust Scots, but dont know why TngLang only trust Angmo)..

Singapore will be eventual be run by FT.. according to a an email by Adam who, circulating around in emails...

[Cheval]

Yusof:

This is such a serious AND interesting topic. I am attracted to it like a bee to honey. I am tuning in...listen first before I talk.

:lol:

Same here. Also a sensitive topic, to Singapore and to myself, a used-to-be-FT now citizen. Will listen to you guys first. Go on please ...

[corneyAmber]

We are spending our time the wrong way, still alot of drilling, the kind of race I am not keen to pursue for my child.

[tankee]

IMO, we can’t produce many Sim Wong Hoo because our society is less tolerance to failures and being different from majority. To be an successful entrepreneur, we must be able to take risks & failures, and find a niche by being different.


And while we are academically strong and exam smart, we lack creativity.

[tamarind]

The GEP has been around since 1984. What happened to all those gifted children ? Where are all the great scientists, inventors, etc ?


I heard that in the top primary schools, the teacher sends emails to all parents, informing them of their kids’ marks and ranking in the class, for major tests. Kids who get perfect scores and praised, those who get low marks are criticized in class. This happens in P1.

Kids are pressurized to get perfect scores, to aim for that number 1 position. Some parents think that this is good, because without competition, how can a child excel ?

In the fields of scientific research nowadays, it is not about competition any more. Technology has become so advanced, that it is impossible for a scientist to work alone. Everyone has to work as a team, and help each other to achieve the goal.

In the corporate world, a good manager is not someone who is good at doing everything on his own. In fact, a manager should not be doing the work, he must motivate his team members to do their best. Bill Gates did not succeed by working alone.

Our education system is not designed to create people like Bill Gates, etc. A child who grows up while constantly being pressurized to do better than others, to get that perfect score, will not suddenly be able to work well in a team when he is an adult.

[watmekiasu]

…because our kids are wasting too much time brushing up on their weakest subject in school and not focussing on their strength to go further. That’s the result of the PSLE. In the end, everyone is just an average Joe or Jack of all trades but master of none.

[mathsparks]

If we go strictly by statistics, it would be near to impossible for our tiny country of 4/5 million to produce a bill gates who came from a country of 300+ million.



I wouldnt fault our education system too much where maths and science are concerned. Much changes have been made in the syllabus to move away from rote learning to creative thinking. We will get there someday.

Seriously, how can we blame the system when some of our kids are still memorising entire compositions, humanities essays etc just to ace the exams.