Education as an equalising instrument for society
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Thanks 3Boys.
I'm still trying to find my balance
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Education will not guarantee equalisation, but it will help greatly. On the other hand, a society without education will perpetuate inequality.
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ConcernedDaddy:
Education will not guarantee equalisation, but it will help greatly. On the other hand, a society without education will perpetuate inequality.
Well said!
But i think the concern being voiced out in this thread is how skewed the Singapore education system has become.
a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
what annoys me is the wayang and sheer waste of resources that goes into packaging when a minister etc visits. all these excel fests and what not.
back to basics people!! let the teachers who love teaching do what they are hired to do.
i have quite a few teacher friends and family, and hearing what they have to do makes me mad. my kid's not in pri sch yet, but reading these few pages makes me feel depressed. -
toddles:
It is honestly my view that the education system does what it is supposed to, and does it well, and I am not saying this to be gratuitously offensive.
Well said!
But i think the concern being voiced out in this thread is how skewed the Singapore education system has become.
a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
what annoys me is the wayang and sheer waste of resources that goes into packaging when a minister etc visits. all these excel fests and what not.
back to basics people!! let the teachers who love teaching do what they are hired to do.
i have quite a few teacher friends and family, and hearing what they have to do makes me mad. my kid's not in pri sch yet, but reading these few pages makes me feel depressed.
Do all the children enter P1 with the same abilities?
Definitely not. So the early P school teachers spend an inordinate amount of time doing 'rescue' work on the poorer students that are failing their subjects. This in itself is already some form of equalisation. My DS1's P1 teacher told me very frankly, she had 7 students in her class with poor fundamentals, she had to make sure that they get her attention. She encouraged me to push my DS1, who had a higher academic baseline, harder at home and via external sources, as she would not have time to do so much in class. I think this is a reasonably fair approach, don't you? Yes, it is skewed, but in a fair and right way.
I will write my thoughts on this later when I get some time. -
No worries 3boys!!
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As parents, we can disregard the system and seek a balance … but the impact of the system on our society as a whole will have impact on us in someway. Being competitive (aka "kiasu") is how we work. But must we start kiasuism so young?
I think our education systems perpetuates inequality. It divides kids into different abilities, provides different resources - these in turn drives parents to ensure their children have an advantage and the viscious cycle, raising the bar year on year.
In Finland, "the first six years of education are not about academic success … It’s about being ready to learn and finding your passion." Is this too idealistic for us? -
3Boys:
well i guess my beef is not so much with streaming but with the waste of time on wayang activities.
It is honestly my view that the education system does what it is supposed to, and does it well, and I am not saying this to be gratuitously offensive.toddles:
Well said!
But i think the concern being voiced out in this thread is how skewed the Singapore education system has become.
a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
what annoys me is the wayang and sheer waste of resources that goes into packaging when a minister etc visits. all these excel fests and what not.
back to basics people!! let the teachers who love teaching do what they are hired to do.
i have quite a few teacher friends and family, and hearing what they have to do makes me mad. my kid's not in pri sch yet, but reading these few pages makes me feel depressed.
Do all the children enter P1 with the same abilities?
Definitely not. So the early P school teachers spend an inordinate amount of time doing 'rescue' work on the poorer students that are failing their subjects. This in itself is already some form of equalisation. My DS1's P1 teacher told me very frankly, she had 7 students in her class with poor fundamentals, she had to make sure that they get her attention. She encouraged me to push my DS1, who had a higher academic baseline, harder at home and via external sources, as she would not have time to do so much in class. I think this is a reasonably fair approach, don't you? Yes, it is skewed, but in a fair and right way.
I will write my thoughts on this later when I get some time.
also, all I'm asking for is a system that does not take tuition as a given, and for the non-tuition folks to be the anomaly rather than the norm... I never had tuition but it seems that gone are those days... teachers are asking everyone to get 'extra help'...
a move towards a tuition-less education system - too much to ask? -
toddles:
There is no way the school system can teach you everything there is to know. The arms race is between parents, and to a certain extent, the schools are just bystanders. The simple way is to make the exams easier, compress the scores at the top end, and then that will make tuition superfluous. IMO, schools provide very well for the low end, they provide reasonably for the middle, and they have some interesting things for the high achievers. Few people walk away from the Singapore education system having learnt nothing.
well i guess my beef is not so much with streaming but with the waste of time on wayang activities.
also, all I'm asking for is a system that does not take tuition as a given, and for the non-tuition folks to be the anomaly rather than the norm... I never had tuition but it seems that gone are those days... teachers are asking everyone to get 'extra help'...
a move towards a tuition-less education system - too much to ask?
But, that's not good enough for Singaporeans, is it? So we tuition our children to death. The school did not impose tuition on our children, WE impose tuition on our children. As I said, a simple way is to dumb down exams (or do away altogether). When 50% of the cohort are in band A scoring 99%+ for every subject, the tuition issue will magically disappear.
Any takers? This measure, I happily support. -
toddles:
Well, chill I guess, and take a cold hard look. Yes, there will be some wayang, but is it out of proportion and does it detract from the teaching in any meaningful way? When you were dating your husband-to-be, did you not pause to put on some make up now and then?
well i guess my beef is not so much with streaming but with the waste of time on wayang activities.
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Alright, here goes…
There is a difference when we say "Education should be an Equalising Instrument in Society," vs saying, "There should be Equality in Education." The first, I agree with, a laudable aim, the second…meh…it depends, and in many circumstances I don’t even think "Equality in Education" is a good thing.
When I first read the title and the first few posts in this thread, I somehow could not summon up in me any feeling that the education system in Singapore was terribly broken and in need of major fixing. It is an honest view, and when I mulled about why I felt this way, instead of perhaps taking the more intuitive position that there was IN FACT something badly broken AND needed fixing, a few things came to light.
‘Equality’ (presumably of opportunity) exists at many levels. For instance, whether you were born in Holland or born in Ghana makes a big difference in terms of your opportunity to access good education. If you were a girl born in Pakistan, your opportunity is markedly lesser than a boy’s.
Even within countries, if you were a Turk born in Istanbul or Ankara, your opportunity to access top class education is markedly different than if you were born just 200 miles away to the east in the countryside.
In these countries, socio-economic standards play a far more important role in determining educational standards than anything the education ministry can throw at them. So personally, I think it is impossible to talk about opportunity in education without talking about the socio-economic system that the education system exists in, be that Singapore, Finland, or Ghana. Trying to fix the former without paying attention to the latter is akin to fiddling on the Titanic, i.e futile.
How does Singapore fare? We have good basics, our base socio-economic level is reasonable, most of our children are well (or over-) nourished, the vast majority have electricity and running water at home. I think girls and boys generally have equal opportunity, and whether you live in Toa Payoh, Tampines or Toh Tuck makes no real difference in your opportunity to access good schools. So check-box ticked, but lets do better…
The harder question, does socio-economic status in Singapore affect access to the FINER differentiations in the education system. I think it does, but in a manner that tweaking the education system can fix? I have doubts.
My personal belief is that the school system teaches relatively well for the bottom 1/3rd, and rightfully so. One of the KPIs for teachers is definitely the pass-rate, and a key priority for many teachers (at least those I know) is to make sure the weak students in class get to pass. So then, having delivered on this, what next? Depends on which school of thought you subscribe to, should we differentiate, or should we flatten?
Flattening is easy, teach everyone the same thing, examine only what you teach (or don’t exam at all). This is an okay system in my book and maybe even gives the facade of equality. But at the end of the day, it may meet the aim of "Equality in Education", but does it meet the aim of "Education as an Equalising Instrument"? I don’t think so, in fact, I think its counter-productive to that aim. If you cannot differentiate in school, the high-achievers from the mediocre ones, then on what grounds would new graduates depend on to get a leg up in the work place? Well, those that are able, will depend on Daddy’s and Mummy’s connections yes? I don’t see this as being ‘equalising’.
And the unintended consequence? There may be bona-fide bright kids who fail to get the coaching or motivation to excel and shine, and we would have lost them to society forever, in the name of ‘fairness’. Those with means will always find a way out, via various external avenues.
So, I can accept, but don’t subscribe to ‘Flattening’ as a way to social equalisation.
How about the opposite, we stretch, we stream, we differentiate. I think most parents agree this is where the present school system is. There are definitely supporters of this system amongst parents, that we are where we are now is NOT entirely the fault of MOE! And personally, I find this preferable, as it takes a little of the pressure off the parents for them to have to find their child’s ‘level’, as the school is doing it for them. The drawback is that a child with strong home support will likely be further ahead, than one who does not.
So, my view is…help the one who does not have the means to access extramural help. My church, for instance, has an after-school care organisation that provides quite effective academic assistance. More can be done for poor families to aid their children by providing financial assistance and coaching. In other words, level up through supplementary socio-economic means, help them find their real level, not tweak the education system per se.
To that I will add 2 further thoughts.
At the end of the day, I think it really does not matter too much how well a child does in school. In modern society, generally a bright and intelligent child, will find some way to make it in life. Someone who is less bright, but hot-housed to good grades, may find life a whole lot tougher in adulthood.
Last, I do plead that we do not go changing things ever so frequently. There is enough to-and-fro in the education system and everyone wants to have a say, my head is spinning from all the chatter. Like good wine, once you’ve bottled it, you lay it down and wait 5-20 years before you open it and savour the results. You don’t pick it up every month, shake it about, open it after a year and then criticise its lack of maturity. We have a reasonable system in place, let it run its course for a while. We are not perfect, but I sincerely don’t see that we are so broken as to need major surgery, or raise great hackles amongst parents.
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