The recent message by the Minister of Education Mr Heng Swee Keat goes deeper than the usual arguments with regards to the positives and negatives associated with existing education system. One essential term that he stressed in his message is "fundamental". We need to return to the fundamentals of education.
An education system does the best when it really fulfills its fundamental goals. Every society has common expectations and ideals embraced by all members with the community. To guarantee the continuity of individuals fundamental spirits, education of the younger generation turns into an essential tool. Therefore we will better evaluate the Singapore education system in light of the fundamentals being a far more helpful strategy of examination.
1st, the society prizes fairness. In addition to human instinctive sense of fairness, Singaporeans appreciate the significant functionality of justness in running a racially-diverse culture or capitalizing on the utilization of talented people today in a small population.
Hence, it suffices to say the idea of equity has become nailed into the mind of Singaporeans. This kind of a thought is also reflected in Singapore's education system. Despite the calling for abolishing examinations, specifically the PSLE, such odds remains to be distant. And even the minister of education does not endorse the move, as seen in his description of how quite a few countries that used to scrap examinations are going back to exam-based systems.
Exams, as strenuous as they are, established impartial standard of comparison. A grade of Ninety is better when compared with a result of 89. Though it can be arguable simply how much difference does that one mark actually makes, the score-based evaluation primarily based on standardized tests has proved for being far more effective and equitable compared to every other option: the interview-based test, the talent-based assessment where fuzy appraisal is involved.
The grade handed to a dancing performance by a student candidate is in essence haphazard, and can vary throughout different assessors, who might themselves be affected by their very own concept of perfection, their experiences and in some cases their mood on the day of evaluation.
Therefore, exam marks carry substantially more weight of authority that appeals to men and women's feeling of justness. Hence, it may not be wise to contend for doing away with examinations when this kind of a proposal impedes one of several basic values folks hold dear to.
Additionally, the skills and values educated in classes reflect the public demand for such abilities among individuals. The academic institutions tend to be generally tuned in to social requirements because of competition in getting the top students.
The individuals with the ideal set of characteristics the society wants are much more probable to realize success once they graduate. Graduating an impressive batch of university students adds to the reputation of colleges which will entice students with improved branding.
Therefore, the college will strive to equip students with all the socially desired competencies and values.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), with its special IB syllabus that emphasizes breath together with independent analysis, is attracting top secondary school students. The Singapore Management University, as a result of its distinctive seminar teaching system as well as intensive presentation training, helps make its graduates very marketable. A number of critics fret about the value training and skill impartation which are compromised by a strong focus on exams.
Nevertheless due to competition between universities for diversity as well as branding, the potential of education and learning arena might not end up as hopeless as some may predict. Schools are aware that simply by producing high scorers will not make their graduates move far, and that will be reflected in testimonies such as graduate employment survey that moms and dads in addition to would-be students closely examine annually.
Therefore what the government should do may possibly not be dictating value schooling from a top-down strategy, but instead motivate the diversity and competition amongst schools whilst improving a series of graduate surveys and research to further improve the data flow, which in the end incentivizes colleges to respond to what society actually wants.
An education system does the best when it really fulfills its fundamental goals. Every society has common expectations and ideals embraced by all members with the community. To guarantee the continuity of individuals fundamental spirits, education of the younger generation turns into an essential tool. Therefore we will better evaluate the Singapore education system in light of the fundamentals being a far more helpful strategy of examination.
1st, the society prizes fairness. In addition to human instinctive sense of fairness, Singaporeans appreciate the significant functionality of justness in running a racially-diverse culture or capitalizing on the utilization of talented people today in a small population.
Hence, it suffices to say the idea of equity has become nailed into the mind of Singaporeans. This kind of a thought is also reflected in Singapore's education system. Despite the calling for abolishing examinations, specifically the PSLE, such odds remains to be distant. And even the minister of education does not endorse the move, as seen in his description of how quite a few countries that used to scrap examinations are going back to exam-based systems.
Exams, as strenuous as they are, established impartial standard of comparison. A grade of Ninety is better when compared with a result of 89. Though it can be arguable simply how much difference does that one mark actually makes, the score-based evaluation primarily based on standardized tests has proved for being far more effective and equitable compared to every other option: the interview-based test, the talent-based assessment where fuzy appraisal is involved.
The grade handed to a dancing performance by a student candidate is in essence haphazard, and can vary throughout different assessors, who might themselves be affected by their very own concept of perfection, their experiences and in some cases their mood on the day of evaluation.
Therefore, exam marks carry substantially more weight of authority that appeals to men and women's feeling of justness. Hence, it may not be wise to contend for doing away with examinations when this kind of a proposal impedes one of several basic values folks hold dear to.
Additionally, the skills and values educated in classes reflect the public demand for such abilities among individuals. The academic institutions tend to be generally tuned in to social requirements because of competition in getting the top students.
The individuals with the ideal set of characteristics the society wants are much more probable to realize success once they graduate. Graduating an impressive batch of university students adds to the reputation of colleges which will entice students with improved branding.
Therefore, the college will strive to equip students with all the socially desired competencies and values.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), with its special IB syllabus that emphasizes breath together with independent analysis, is attracting top secondary school students. The Singapore Management University, as a result of its distinctive seminar teaching system as well as intensive presentation training, helps make its graduates very marketable. A number of critics fret about the value training and skill impartation which are compromised by a strong focus on exams.
Nevertheless due to competition between universities for diversity as well as branding, the potential of education and learning arena might not end up as hopeless as some may predict. Schools are aware that simply by producing high scorers will not make their graduates move far, and that will be reflected in testimonies such as graduate employment survey that moms and dads in addition to would-be students closely examine annually.
Therefore what the government should do may possibly not be dictating value schooling from a top-down strategy, but instead motivate the diversity and competition amongst schools whilst improving a series of graduate surveys and research to further improve the data flow, which in the end incentivizes colleges to respond to what society actually wants.
About the Author:
The author has spent more than 15 years in the Singapore Education System and is a private educator in Singapore, writing about the developments in education system in singapore in her blog about revolutions in educationin singapore
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