Arts school is elitist: Parents
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Hmmmm.
Art is something driven by passion, as pointed out by several forumites. In fact, it's something that 99% of everyone here agrees on. Hence, the mere ability to perform well in an art form, be it painting or dancing, is not sufficient.
Perhaps the idea of an arts school for our young teenagers isn't exactly a very good way to cultivate artistic abilities. Since art relies on passion to survive, in my opinion, it is not very wise to make the arts a focus in a young student's life. Passion involves a person's emotions. When a child is growing up, at the same time, the way he or she thinks is also developing. How can you be sure that by the time the child hits 20 years old, he or she will still have the same passion for the arts, needed in order to bring out quality in the arts? Along the path of growing up, they will face several instances that may change their point of view regarding their future career at any time. What if one day the child grows up and decides that "Hey, I love music! But I can't take the stress if I can't earn enough to satisfy my desires. I shall head for a career in finance instead!" Wouldn't that be a leakage of an artist, who has undergone valuable training in the arts, to other sectors?
Perhaps we should not be aiming at grooming the youngsters to become world-class artists, or at the very least, good artists who will make valuable contributions to the arts scene.
How about a normal academic school, where there is a greater emphasis on the arts than any other schools in Singapore instead?
The system of the school could be as such:
- admit students based on a test, such as the SAT (as I've mentioned earlier), of which they have to obtain a minimum score
- hold master classes and invite renowned tutors
- affiliate the Arts school and other higher arts institution of learning, such as La Salle, so that students from the Arts school stand a better chance of entry to the higher learning institutions despite not having excellent grades which might put them at a disadvantage when compared to normal students attending the usual schools.
I think affiliation might be a good idea, since it can help to minimize the pressure on the arts students, instead of making them focus alot more on their academic studies than artistic learning.
And it's also quite reasonable to subject students to expulsion if they do not meet a minimum required grade for exams in the school. After all, they should be trained to become well-rounded individuals instead of becoming only skilled in a certain area.
The above... just my fifty cents worth
It's entirely open to criticism and ahem praise. Just kidding
I think we should have a discussion on what kinds of academic subjects should be offered, and how they should be taught. I can't really figure that out. And the fees - $500 a month - is too high. It amounts up to $6000 a year! More expensive than poly I think.
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heh many people go into nafa and laselle thinking it's going to be easy to pass and get a diploma, and a good number of them drop out before the 1st year even ends.Originally posted by bismarck:in a way u are right abt the dumping ground part but before long they will drop out.
i have seen classmates who simply cant be bothered to study and they repeat so many modules
natural selection at its best
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i tell you what okay... our admission criteria is already very low.
i really don't see what's the fuss about. -
Hi MooKu,
The conduction of Art / Music Option with affiliation to institutes such as NAFA and La Selle would probably come as a better improvement to the current option available in selected secondary and junior colleges.
And with regards to the lowering of fees to a more affordable range, yes, these are points which I can see your point.
However due to the inherent commitment involved to have the above 2 made available to a mass group of students who may wish to pursue these additional curriculum options, one of the foremost challenge would be technical difficulties from such cross institutional collaboration.
In a scenario where the Art and Music options are run in-house, meaning that they are taught by MOE employed teachers, the cost of the entire Option will be significantly less versus the same number of students who will be taking up this option which in contrast are taught by lecturers from NAFA or La Selle.
The opportunity cost involved here will be conflicting, meaning that if you wish for better perceived ‘credibility’ on student qualities for international recognition, you might consider the afflictions choice and have 1) a smaller group of students from the national figure of those interested to be participating in this scheme, and 2) a still significantly higher cost for fees since clearly we can expect NAFA or La Selle to charge for their tutorage.
There will be the issue to understand and balance appropriately - the depth and scope in relationship to students who are interested in taking up Arts or Music a potential career choice in their future in synch with their level of maturity thinking.
Rather than to jump headfirst into yet another highly specialized and preset educational route, my personal preference for the Option by MOE will be for the general student group interested and thinking of progressing along the Arts / Music line, to first have the opportunity to build up on THEIR interest in these areas first.
If the enrolment order is done in such a way with first priority placed on building up and ascertaining a satisfactory level of personal interest, whereby lower cost introduction can be offered to a greater number of interested students without compromise to foundation and introductory cost, followed by more in-depth and sophisticated training to build up on intermediate skills AFTER the interest has been ascertained, this would possible be a better way of allocating opportunities as well as available resources to better deserving individuals and focuses.
This way, students would not have to find themselves facing difficulties of withdrawing from too specialized an option should they realize in a later phase of their secondary school life that they are in fact not able to commit themselves as fully and deeply enough to pursue arts / music as a career, and their parents would not also have to deal with the wastage of having already poured in thousands into the financing of a potentially over specialized option at the secondary school level.
Give everyone time and space to discover themselves before requiring them to commit.
If there is anything lacking in our traditional education system, the allowing of time and encouragement of self reflection is one of them. -
"Disappointed that the arts school will admit primarily Express stream students, they see it as another move to give more opportunities to the better students and shut the door to the less academically-inclined."
Hey.... this is really crap.
It's only practical to have such an admission criteria because we are talking about 13 year old kids and they don't have any decent portfolio of their artwork to show. As far as I know, 13 year olds in Singapore can't draw for nuts.
They only have their PSLE certs, so obviously that's used as the criteria.
I'm sure if applicants don't make the academic criteria, there will be interviews for them, just to verify all the bullshit about he can draw but can't study.
Stop complaining, art schools are not dumping grounds. If you want something, you work for it. Simple as that. -
nafa and laselle both conduct interviews and have on the entrance exams for those that can't make the mark to see if they have any artistic talent.
why can't the same be done for the proposed new art school?
it would be a better and more accurate gauge than PSLE results, since PSLE is just english maths and science. -
I was from NTU, I quit to take up a course in NAFA.
I'm so glad NAFA only requires an O Level cert, there wasn't a need for any interview or portfolio. I had absolutely nothing to prove my artistic talents or whatever, only an INTEREST and an 'A' Level cert.
I went through a struggle when I made the switch. Everyone (myself included) doubts my choice and thinks I'm an idiot. Imagine people asking me about my decision everyday. It's just so annoying.
Art school being elitist? I say it's bullshit. The academic criteria is only a simple obstacle compared to the crap I had to deal with. -
I had imagined (such artistic) interests would sometimes manifest as artworks, in forms raw or magnificent. These would serve as portfolios, attesting to ones passion and proficiency.
Regarding the school, I hope their admission rules are to serve as guidelines, that they flexibly practise it and not for the sake of upholding negligible even unnecessary academic credentials, turn away geniunely fervent individuals or unpolished savants. Noting the abundance of scholastic factories, spare the dreamers a ground to blossom.