Spore Students Love Results, Hate Learning
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I teach at the university level and taught in both Australia and Spore. My students in Aust r diverse - Europeans, Australians, Asians. My students in Spore r mainly Sporeans, mainly Chinese.
I'm sorry to have to say this, but I really dislike teaching Sporean students (even though I was born Sporean and Chinese). The Sporean students that I meet - either in Spore or in Aust - are simply NOT independent in learning and do NOT seem interested in learning. They come to class for the sake of attendance marking, REFUSE to participate in tutorials and ONLY want model answers. What's even more irritating is that students like to come up to me only after tutorial and lecture times to ask questions in order to ensure other students don't learn the extra bits.
Yes, I was educated overseas before I entered university. Although education systems are different across nations, I'm not sure why the Spore system is so unique. I'm appalled at the prolific number of selfish rote-learners in such a small society.
Education is about the dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge should be shared for the good of society. Why and HOW has it been degraded into a rat race of systematic memorizing? -
why 2 post?
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erm...ya can use the questions ya students asked ya and disseminate to the rest of the class?
But ya cant blame the students, we were molded in this way.. Maybe ya shud try studying in singapore den ya will understand why... -
i love learning, i like asking questions in class
and my results always sucks
so? want to have me as a student?
i don't want to sound like i'm discrimating against any one group, but i'll still have to say this the students you've mentioned sounded like most of the jc people i know 
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1st, sorry for the two posts. When I first submitted the msg, the msg came - unable to load, please refresh. hence, I did and therefore, there are two messages. I don't consider this as spam, since it's only two. I thought you should have someone flooding with the same topics before it's spam.
2nd, yes. I would prefer to teach someone who is different. People who seek to understand why tend to flourish, whilst people who seek to memorize how to tend to do badly.
so what is the bloody jc system in spore like? -
stressfulOriginally posted by ejl:1st, sorry for the two posts. When I first submitted the msg, the msg came - unable to load, please refresh. hence, I did and therefore, there are two messages. I don't consider this as spam, since it's only two. I thought you should have someone flooding with the same topics before it's spam.
2nd, yes. I would prefer to teach someone who is different. People who seek to understand why tend to flourish, whilst people who seek to memorize how to tend to do badly.
so what is the bloody jc system in spore like? last time i heard , a parent was complaining that his son had people jumping on him -
Well, I never did rote-learning, got screwed a lot in JC for not conforming to many things, yet I still got two distinctions and still ended up in NUS.So, not all students are the same.
May I know which Faculty you teach in? -
Many students have been told by their teachers since their primary school days that they should not be "disrupting" the class with "stupid questions". The selfish attitude is an off-shoot of the competitive mentality in overdrive. Doing one's best don't really matter, only beating everyone else and maintaining face do for the warped minds.
I was from a JC and most of the students make small talk during lectures, safe in the knowledge that they will be provided with notes anyway. Reading this thread makes me want to break out of the mould, and such reminders are nice.
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Hehe.The price we all pay to conform.It's just not worth it in the end.Originally posted by Kuali Baba:Many students have been told by their teachers since their primary school days that they should not be "disrupting" the class with "stupid questions". The selfish attitude is an off-shoot of the competitive mentality in overdrive. Doing one's best don't really matter, only beating everyone else and maintaining face do for the warped minds.
I was from a JC and most of the students make small talk during lectures, safe in the knowledge that they will be provided with notes anyway. Reading this thread makes me want to break out of the mould, and such reminders are nice. -
What are we conforming to? Joining the rat race? Bleah.Originally posted by LazerLordz:Hehe.The price we all pay to conform. It's just not worth it in the end. -
Poor little kids, they did not have a choice.Now we must stand firm and be ourselves.Originally posted by Kuali Baba:What are we conforming to? Joining the rat race? Bleah.
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Now, u know why S'porean students aren't creative- but are just like lab rats..
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But we dont have a choice last time and now; it was either rote learning or rote learning; we were conditioned into thinking that this is the best route to go and so we followed... You want to undo so many years of influence? I hope you can do it but chances are slim
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ha, i am different, dats why i set up idomain in ntu for people to mass-download tutorial solutions.
And...yes, you are are right, i am the loved/hated* idomain Big Bad Boss.
* Delete which is not applicable -
Originally posted by ejl:
Why do you only blame the students.... if most/all the students "study" the same way.... there could be a deeper cause.
I teach at the university level and taught in both Australia and Spore. My students in Aust r diverse - Europeans, Australians, Asians. My students in Spore r mainly Sporeans, mainly Chinese.
I'm sorry to have to say this, but I really dislike teaching Sporean students (even though I was born Sporean and Chinese). The Sporean students that I meet - either in Spore or in Aust - are simply NOT independent in learning and do NOT seem interested in learning. They come to class for the sake of attendance marking, REFUSE to participate in tutorials and ONLY want model answers. What's even more irritating is that students like to come up to me only after tutorial and lecture times to ask questions [b]in order to ensure other students don't learn the extra bits.
Yes, I was educated overseas before I entered university. Although education systems are different across nations, I'm not sure why the Spore system is so unique. I'm appalled at the prolific number of selfish rote-learners in such a small society.
Education is about the dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge should be shared for the good of society. Why and HOW has it been degraded into a rat race of systematic memorizing?[/b]
In Singapore, we've been spoon-fed, and taught there's only ONE solution to a problem, like for maths... however, to their credit, the government IS opening up and trying to "encourage creative thinking"... but thats a bit...
students come up after lecture times to ask, mainly because, they are either too shy , do not want to disrupt the class, or wish to maintain a i'm-smart reputation. those that ask questions are either labelled as bookworms or disruptive elements.
sorry, that's just the culture here. it's very hard to change! =( -
Originally posted by ejl:
I am sure that most of them are just too shy to ask questions during the class, just like I was during my JC time.
<<< Snipped >>>
What's even more irritating is that students like to come up to me only after tutorial and lecture times to ask questions [b]in order to ensure other students don't learn the extra bits.
Yes, I was educated overseas before I entered university. Although education systems are different across nations, I'm not sure why the Spore system is so unique. I'm appalled at the prolific number of selfish rote-learners in such a small society.
Education is about the dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge should be shared for the good of society. Why and HOW has it been degraded into a rat race of systematic memorising?[/b]
Probably a result of scarring by teachers in junior schools (they loved to make scathing remarks about "stupid" questions), these students might just be saving their faces in case what they were asking happened to be common knowledge, and they face humiliation in front of a full lecture room.
Perhaps you could consolidate the list of questions that these students have asked you privately, and briefly mentioned it during the next class for the benefit of those whom might have missed it. You would have still achieved your objective of spreading knowledge.
Better still, leverage on the Internet, and start a web page detailing common question and answers (also known as Frequently Asked Questions) for the students' reference. -
[quote]Originally posted by ejl:
I'm sorry to have to say this, but I really dislike teaching Sporean students (even though I was born Sporean and Chinese). The Sporean students that I meet - either in Spore or in Aust - are simply NOT independent in learning and do NOT seem interested in learning. They come to class for the sake of attendance marking, REFUSE to participate in tutorials and ONLY want model answers. What's even more irritating is that students like to come up to me only after tutorial and lecture times to ask questions [b]in order to ensure other students don't learn the extra bits.
Yes this is the sad thing about Singapore education system. Students are not encourage to think and to question. Our meritocracy policy has unfortunately caused students to develop an unhealthy fixation with good grades. They believe that memorising the books is the only way to it. To think and to question is a waste of time.
If you have been reading this forum you should know that there are some who don't like to think and question. They accept anything that is fed to them and would even put up with any inadequacy. -
Memorising? God, I hate memorising. I cant wait to leave for Oz. once I finish my NS.
Enuff of memorising, I prefer learning & understanding. Memorising drives me nuts! -
u aint seen nothing yet. china students are 10 times worse
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I remember once when I tried to rephrase some of the textbook's definitions just by looking at the units and tieing it up with the rez of what i had learnt..
Ended up being chided by teacher for veering off course..
Aparts from that, whenever I engage the teacher in an arguement I could see the popular-waiting-to-get-laid-by-the-jocks girls rolling their eyes at me? The bez response i got was a yawn from the school's jock..
It isn't entirely the students' or the teachers' fault that we aren't intereactive during classes.. Because they have to produce the results, not for the students but for the parents!
Nowadays, whenever the child fares badly in school, the first thing in the parents' mind is that the teacher is incompetent, not the child's intelligence and dilligence(blame it on the tuition and crap holiday motivation classes ie money,basically).
As a result, the teacher has to work towards grades in a short period of time and what better way to do that other than memorising?
Intelligence in Singapore is grades, established "branded" schools and getting the MOE, Cambridge certified answers.
Learning is encouraged.. but they prefer us to do it in our own free time..
Remembered last year, I had this fantastic prof for physics, he neva had answers, we gave him answers by thinking abt the questions he posed in classed.. Learnt that thinking and learning rather than physics are more important -
because the whole reward and panality system of education here is geared towards that negative behaviour you talked about and reinforced the students such that only through rote learning, regurgitating, model answers and other socially unacceptable actions that they can make it to higher levels of education but for people outside of the system do not understand.
Whereas, in other countries, perhaps, its geared towards exploration, discovery, sharing and presentation with an ideal to groom better, curious, independent people. Such is not the ideal of MOE that much I can say. And it will not happen any time soon, so don't hold your beathe...
or you'd turn blue.
Anyways, I did it for survival. Without a good cert in singapore, all the doors are closed to you. So you see, the entire system is geared in this way and it becames social conditioning and a norm/bahaviour trait imprinted onto the society. -
sorry but as students we need a fucking degree to qualify for an interview.
but i know that other den that, it is practically useless heh. that's y i always ask n discuss abt unrelated sch stuff with teachers. and oso discuss abt the world n sg's politics with them -
Wah lau, sum of them memorised song dynasty poems when they were 10 yrs old- this maths thing is nothing for them!Originally posted by wd1:u aint seen nothing yet. china students are 10 times worse