The recent speech by the Minister of Education Mr Heng Swee Keat goes deeper versus the usual arguments about the positives and negatives of present education system. One particular key term that he stressed in his address is "fundamental". We have to go back to the requisites of education.
An education system does the very best when it really meets its fundamental missions. Every single society has general expectations as well as ideals embraced by most members of the community. To guarantee the continuity of those fundamental spirits, training of your youthful generation turns into an essential means. Therefore we will much better evaluate the Singapore education system in light of the fundamentals as a much more helpful approach of examination.
First, the society places a premium on equity. In addition to man inherent sense of equity, Singaporeans recognize the essential functionality of justness in running a racially-diverse community or optimizing the utilization of capable people in a compact population.
Consequently, it suffices to say the idea of justness has become nailed into the head of Singaporeans. This kind of an idea is also reflected in Singapore's education system. Despite the calling for abolishing examinations, especially the PSLE, such a probability continues to be far off. Even minister of education does not endorse the move, as witnessed in his description of how some countries that used to eliminate exams are going back to exam-based solutions.
Exams, as taxing as they are, set impartiale standard of assessment. A score of Ninety % is stronger than the result of 89. Even though it can be arguable simply how much distinction does that one mark truly can make, the score-based assessment based mostly on standardized tests has proven beyond doubt to be alot more trusted and fair as opposed to any other alternative: the interview-based test, the talent-based evaluation where subjective evaluation is employed.
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.
Hence, exam results carry substantially more weight of authority that appeals to folks's feeling of fairness. Consequently, perhaps it will not be a good idea to argue for abolishing exams when this kind of a proposal impedes one of the fundamental values people today hold dear to.
Additionally, the skill-sets and values educated on in college reflect the social need to have this kind of capabilities amongst students. The colleges tend to be normally attentive to social requirements as a result of rivalry in bringing in excellent pupils.
The students with the appropriate set of characteristics the society wants are much more probable to succeed once they graduate. Graduating an impressive batch of university students enhances the popularity of educational institutions that will entice students with much better branding.
Consequently, the college will aim to equip college students with the socially desirable competencies and values.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), using its exceptional IB curriculum that concentrates on breath and independent analysis, is enticing finest secondary school applicants. The Singapore Management University, because of its one of a kind seminar teaching concept as well as considerable presentation training, tends to make its graduates hugely marketable. A number of critics worry about the value training and skill impartation which are compromised by a strong emphasis 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.
Hence what the government ought to do may not be passing value training from a top-down strategy, but rather motivate the diversity as well as competition amongst academic institutions while bettering a series of graduate surveys and study to boost the info flow, which ultimately encourages schools to respond to what society actually needs.
An education system does the very best when it really meets its fundamental missions. Every single society has general expectations as well as ideals embraced by most members of the community. To guarantee the continuity of those fundamental spirits, training of your youthful generation turns into an essential means. Therefore we will much better evaluate the Singapore education system in light of the fundamentals as a much more helpful approach of examination.
First, the society places a premium on equity. In addition to man inherent sense of equity, Singaporeans recognize the essential functionality of justness in running a racially-diverse community or optimizing the utilization of capable people in a compact population.
Consequently, it suffices to say the idea of justness has become nailed into the head of Singaporeans. This kind of an idea is also reflected in Singapore's education system. Despite the calling for abolishing examinations, especially the PSLE, such a probability continues to be far off. Even minister of education does not endorse the move, as witnessed in his description of how some countries that used to eliminate exams are going back to exam-based solutions.
Exams, as taxing as they are, set impartiale standard of assessment. A score of Ninety % is stronger than the result of 89. Even though it can be arguable simply how much distinction does that one mark truly can make, the score-based assessment based mostly on standardized tests has proven beyond doubt to be alot more trusted and fair as opposed to any other alternative: the interview-based test, the talent-based evaluation where subjective evaluation is employed.
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.
Hence, exam results carry substantially more weight of authority that appeals to folks's feeling of fairness. Consequently, perhaps it will not be a good idea to argue for abolishing exams when this kind of a proposal impedes one of the fundamental values people today hold dear to.
Additionally, the skill-sets and values educated on in college reflect the social need to have this kind of capabilities amongst students. The colleges tend to be normally attentive to social requirements as a result of rivalry in bringing in excellent pupils.
The students with the appropriate set of characteristics the society wants are much more probable to succeed once they graduate. Graduating an impressive batch of university students enhances the popularity of educational institutions that will entice students with much better branding.
Consequently, the college will aim to equip college students with the socially desirable competencies and values.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), using its exceptional IB curriculum that concentrates on breath and independent analysis, is enticing finest secondary school applicants. The Singapore Management University, because of its one of a kind seminar teaching concept as well as considerable presentation training, tends to make its graduates hugely marketable. A number of critics worry about the value training and skill impartation which are compromised by a strong emphasis 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.
Hence what the government ought to do may not be passing value training from a top-down strategy, but rather motivate the diversity as well as competition amongst academic institutions while bettering a series of graduate surveys and study to boost the info flow, which ultimately encourages schools to respond to what society actually needs.
About the Author:
The author has spent more than 15 years in theSingapore Education System and is a home tutor in Singapore, keeping track about the dynamics in education landscape in singapore
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