Musical Chairs and the glossed over education system
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With the official announcement, our PM is now a full-fledged PM only, having handed the reins to Tharman as the incoming Finance Minister. This is a post that he will serve, together with his already burdening Education Minister's position until a suitable replacement can be found.
One expects Dr Ng Eng Hen to be that man, tipped heavily over Lui Tuck Yew. But if Ng were to step up (if you call that a promotion or a re-designation), that leaves the Manpower Minister 'headless', or with Ng holding two portfolios (like Tharman presently), till his successor is found.
Next we will have another 'the search for the next manpower minister'. Maybe we should start a reality TV show.
A la-musical chairs of sorts.
How ironic that possibly, with the exception of Defence, the position of Education and Finance, two of our most crucial govt bodies, will be managed by the same man. Chances are both will suffer for it. Tharman, an ex-CEO of MAS, may have the calibre to warm up quickly to his new post, but Education AND Finance??
Unlikely.
Meanwhile, our long-serving Tanjong Pagar MP Prof Koo Tsai Kee wrote a recent article about the GEP system and its benefits:
Singapore's education system works
His glossed over view that our education system 'works' was put to the sword by another concerned reader:
S'pore education system works - with tuition
I wonder whether our esteemed Minister of state for defence is really aware of the problem faced by our education system or if his sweeping views come from a select crop of the 'elite', who have this self-delusional vision that everything 'works': from our rising inflation and cost of living, to our 'world class transportation' and now our 'first rate education system'.
The endemic problem of self-praise still plagues our current crop of leaders, and this presents a serious political problem. -
For the benefit of readership i have posted the articles here:
Singapore's education system works
By Koo Tsai Kee, For The Straits Times
THIS year's Primary School Leaving Examination results are heart-warming. Natasha Nabila Muhamad Nasir, a Malay girl from a working-class family attending a Christian school in a Gifted Education Programme class, tops the nationwide exam in grand style. Her score of 294 is a record that will remain for some time to come.
While her results are remarkable, the messages behind her achievement are familiar ones. Singapore is a place where everybody can do well. The elites do not have a monopoly on success. And success is not entrenched in the old establishment.
The first message is clear. The elites' children do not have a monopoly on good grades. The elites - having attended 'good' primary schools themselves - may cash in on their affiliation points and enrol their children in their old schools. But at the end, it is intelligence and, above all, diligence and motivation that produce good grades.
Every year, I see top PSLE students coming from working-class families. They worked themselves up from neighbourhood schools to GEP schools and then on to good secondary schools. Natasha is one such example. Our system gives them a chance for upward mobility. The system doesn't ask where you live and where you come from. It only asks if you are capable and willing to scale the peaks of excellence. The best schools are those that open the gate as wide as possible to the ablest and the most determined regardless of race, language, religion or wealth.
Money cannot buy intelligence, nor pedigree ensure clever children. Sure, money alone can buy some advantages; and pedigree can indeed give the child a head start. But the random nature of reproduction has shown that successful parents do not always have clever children.
The GEP has been much maligned. Changes are always welcome. But without the GEP, many outstanding students from working-class families in neighbourhood schools would not have been able to move to the good schools. They have no affiliation points to use, they cannot afford to live near good schools. In that sense, the GEP is a gold standard for transparency in enrolment. Only the motivated and intelligent need apply.
However, if parents think the GEP is a gift, they are mistaken. It is true that GEP students as a group do very well, but it is also well known that some fall by the wayside. The reason is clear. GEP students - however intelligent - do not have a passport to good results. Some GEP students could have come in by chance. Others may not be suitable for the academic rigour, while yet others find their interests elsewhere. Everybody has to prove themselves once again at the PSLE. The competition is re-set every few years.
In my daughter's primary school, 17 pupils obtained over-270 marks in this year's PSLE. Of the 17, only 10 came from the GEP, the rest came from mainstream classes. But what is noteworthy is that eight out of the 10 GEP students who scored over 270 marks had come from neighbourhood schools.
The second message is the multiplying strength of diversity and social harmony. Children of all races and religions, across economic profiles, study together happily in the same environment. St Hilda's Primary did not pre-qualify only Christians. If it did, it would have lost Natasha. Nor is the school exclusively for members of the establishment and the rich. Natasha's father is a technician and her mother a full-time housewife.
And our system doesn't bankrupt families' savings. Tuition fees are so low they are even affordable to poor new immigrants. Scholarships allow them to go to the best universities.
The third message is that the system works. If it didn't, if it only produced exam-smart kids, then how does one account for the success of modern Singapore? What fuels this metropolis? The answer is smart Singaporeans. With limited natural resources and limited human resources, it is the quality of the people that matters. Quality education delivers quality people. Nothing else does.
Sometimes, news can be misleading. A headline in The Sunday Times told of how the international school United World College beat top local schools at The Arena debating competition. That attracted attention and created a noisy chatter. But no headline noted that UWC was beaten in another school debate series.
But really, headline news does not matter to most people. What really matters is how the average student performs. The average is the centre of gravity of our system. In the Natasha story, her score of 294 is outstanding, but it is the average score of the average PSLE student that vindicates our system.
Here, it should be noted that the average literacy level in Singapore is very high. And the average Singapore student has consistently done well in international benchmarking tests. This is the system which many international educators have been trying to approximate.
It is a system that works. It delivers the Singapore dream.
The writer is Singapore's Minister of State for Defence. This article, however, is written in a personal capacity. -
This is the response article:
S'pore education system works - with tuition
THE Minister of State for Defence, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, praised the Singapore education system in his article, 'Singapore's education system works' (ST, Nov 24). There are two issues which need clarification.
Prof Koo commented that 'without the GEP, many outstanding students from working-class families in neighbourhood schools would not have been able to move to the good schools'. Is he implying that neighbourhood schools which do not offer the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) are not good schools? That all GEP schools are good schools?
The annual Primary 1 registration is already stressful for both parents and schools. Some parents, eager to put their children in 'good' schools, clocked up numerous hours in volunteer work, only to find that they did not have the luck of the draw. Then there are parents whose children had already secured places in such schools. Fearing that their little ones might not be able to cope with the demands of the school, or to give their kids a leg up, they enrolled them in enrichment programmes and, thence on, it is tuition all the way till the PSLE.
Implying that neighbourhood schools are inferior to GEP schools is being very unfair to non-GEP schools and their teachers. Moreover, this puts additional pressure on some parents to get their children into GEP schools.
Prof Koo concluded his article by pronouncing that the Singapore education system is one that works. I do not refute this, but there is a missing addendum - with tuition.
It is a well-known fact that a large proportion of our students, from pre-primary all the way to pre-university, have tuition.
Some children are so reliant on tuition that even though they score above-average grades, they would insist on continuing with tuition the following year, for 'security' reasons.
Students in schools with the integrated programme (IP) are supposedly the cream of the crop, yet there are many who have tuition. A few centres have been called 'IP tuition centres' because of their large number of IP students.
When a child says that he does not have tuition, but his parents coach him using assessment books, that is tuition in a sense.
So, Singapore's education system does work - with tuition.
Ng Kim Yong (Mrs) -
i hear true stories of how parents in my son's SG school chased their kids outside the door and threatened not to let them into the house unless they complete their homework, and that was 11pm at night.
kids these days are under such immense stress in SG.
u learned Advance math, DNA science etc.. and how much do we actually use these kind of stuffs daily in your work? and how can the schools NOT teach students to speak well, have self-confident, nuture them positively, instead of coercing them to score high marks so that the schools can look good in the school rankings? -
I wonder who is orchestrating the musical chair game with our education ministers? Amazingly, this very important ministry is just a “transit” point and has the highest “turnover” of ministers!
It really makes no difference, the next education minister will be just a seat warmer! -
anyone have statistics on suicide rates among those doing O and A levels?
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Koo Tsai Kee was a former PAP MP and I believe was on NTUC's senior position.
He always appearing from nowhere and applauding the PAP when something happens in the favour of the govt.
Whether he is a expert in the matter or not, it doesn't matter.
He should just stick to areas he is familiar with - trade union and when comes to areas that are not his forte, keep his big mouth shut. -
With the future of Singapore being placed in the proposed ''integrated resorts'', PM LHL must have believed that it is most appropriate to mix the finance portfolio with the efforts at educating our young to be prepared in the ''dollar and sense'' of working in the IR.
In any case, it is not a surprise that LHL will now finally disassociate and distance himself even further from the Finance portolio, after a string of disastrous outcomes from decisions by a crony-led Temasek, which is directly under the Finance Ministry.
The incoming Finance Minister is no stranger working under LHL, who headed the MAS with Tharman as an executive subordinate. It was Tharman, who probably took the bullet on behalf of LHL during the embarrassing leak of the official 1992 quarterly economic estimates from the MAS to the news agency.
Tharman was eventually charged under theOfficial Secret Act in 1994; and despite his plea of not guilty, he was subsequently tried and fined $1,000. This punitive amount did not bar him from being accepted by the Ruling Party, which found itself short of willing candidates with clean records to stand on their platform in the 2006 election. -
i dont need statistics.Originally posted by Demonight:anyone have statistics on suicide rates among those doing O and A levels?
my cousin killed herself when she was 14 years old over her exams back in 1994 by jumping off a building. -
as much as i don't like the idiots running the education system, and think that they are utter and complete asswipes who favour statistics over the real tasks of actually educating the children, i have to say one thing...
IT TAKES TWO HANDS TO CLAP
pressure on the children?
as if the parents are blameless...
you cannot and must not blame the ministry for the actions of the kiasu kiasee kiabo parents.. because ultimately, they are adults...
and looking at the severely maladjusted idiots who hang around SC, i fear for the children out there... -
with the push for academic excellence, constant pressure by parents, society and the flawed implementation of the education system, i'm not surprised that the future generation would be reduced by half - with half of them being 'pushed off the building.'
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Atobe:
----“Tharman was eventually charged under the Official Secret Act in 1994; and despite his plea of not guilty, he was subsequently tried and fined $1,000. This punitive amount did not bar him from being accepted by the Ruling Party, which found itself short of willing candidates with clean records to stand on their platform in the 2006 election”
Fined $1,000 and now a minister, very interesting! Perhaps his “crime” is not considered a criminal act? -
Really sorry about your loss but I predict this trend will escalate if more pressure is put on the youth of today and tomorrowOriginally posted by fishbuff:i dont need statistics.
my cousin killed herself when she was 14 years old over her exams back in 1994 by jumping off a building. -
Atobe: Tharman entered politics in 2001, not 2006.
Anyway, this guy has an interesting record. IIRC, he has ever met with Tan Wah Piow. -
Please don't kid me. Dr Ng is seriously not suitable for the MOE position. Dr Ng has got other matters to handle and heading over to MOE will bring big troubles.
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How about ADM Lui for industrial relations? Anyway, what other matters does Dr Ng need to handle?Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:Please don't kid me. Dr Ng is seriously not suitable for the MOE position. Dr Ng has got other matters to handle and heading over to MOE will bring big troubles. -
Iveco:
“--- met with Tan Wah Piow”.
Not only TWP but also he knew many buddies that were detained in the Marxist plot. His political “god-father” is surely watching over him ! -
Can we for fark's sake, have ministers take charge of ministries that are related to what they are skilled or experienced in?Originally posted by iveco:How about ADM Lui for industrial relations? Anyway, what other matters does Dr Ng need to handle?