The Singapore School System

Two days ago, a man named Ian Tan wrote about how the Singapore school system has become one of "irrelevant, unrealistic standards", that Singapore's pupils are forced to do sums "that are more useful in sifting for maths geniuses than genuinely imparting knowledge". He talked about how his wife who is a honours graduate and stays home to coach the children, is herself exasperated at the standards required of pupils today.

Children pushed so hard are highly stressed, sapped of intellectual curiosity and do not have time to enjoy their childhood because of the heavy load of homework.

My idol blogger Petunia Lee highlighted a response by Sarah Sum-Campbell to Ian Tan's letter, in which Sarah talked about how schools here make robots out of kids, "kicking the life and creativity out of them with a warped focus on achievment". Sigh.

Of course, my husband had to weigh in on this topic with his own views, which was published in 'Today', today (I post entries on this blog, whilst he prefers writing letters to the forum as part of his contribution to society (mainly on his pet topics))-

"Let's rethink the scoring system


I agree with the points made by Mr Ian Tan in "Standards are unrealistic" (May 2).

Our primary school system appears to be slowly but inexorably moving towards the South Korean model, where it is customary for children to head for "hagwons" (private tuition centres) after they finish with school for the day. The obsession with grades in South Korea has reached the point whereby Seoul had to impose a 10pm curfew on "hagwons" so that children could get adequate rest.

On its own, tuition serves a useful function by supplementing the public school system. The problem arises when curriculum is designed such that tuition becomes essential rather than additional.

If this is allowed to happen, one of the key underpinnings, meritocracy, of the education system would be undermined, as those whose parents can afford quality tuition would gain an unfair advantage over their peers. The tuition problem is compounded when the school admission system is score-based. Such a system motivates pupils to over-study so as to exceed a particular cut-off score.

As pupils try harder to beat the system, educators are compelled to stretch the curriculum's breadth and depth just to maintain status quo. Over time, the competition between pupils and educators to stay ahead of the other develops into a vicious cycle and creates a cramming culture.

The authorities should consider replacing the existing scoring system with a banding and balloting system, in which secondary schools and pupils are allocated a band (band 1, 2, etc). School admission would depend on the band a pupil attains at the Primary School Leaving Examination.

If eligible applications exceed the number of places available at a school, balloting takes place. Unsuccessful applicants would be given priority in their second school of choice.

A banding system would preserve meritocracy without encouraging unhealthy competition. Replacing absolute scores with bands takes away the pressure on pupils to over-study and allows curriculum to be designed around the average and not the top pupils.

Band-based admission may also create a more level playing field by allowing schools within the same band to access the same pool of students and vice versa.

Two decades ago, I attained a PSLE score of 275. Since then, no employer has asked me for my primary school results.

Rightfully so, for social and critical thinking skills are far more relevant to today's economy than the ability to memorise and do well on standardised tests. If our children could spend less time on studying, they would be in a better position to develop these valuable skills and Singapore would benefit."

Son, do we really have to migrate in order for you to have a proper childhood?