Singapore’s Educational System

 Education involves the inculcation of knowledge, as well as the social reproduction of personalities and culture. In other words Education not only enlightens the individual’s intellect but shaping the individual as a whole. Singapore has a literacy rate of 94.4% well this fact may be a shock to you judging from the emphasis of paper qualifications for most job requirements in Singapore. A 100% literacy rate would make more sense.  Well the other 5.6% consists of the older generation who were not as privileged as we are now. Delineating how far Singapore’s education has improved. Below states Singapore’s ranking for literacy rate in the world.

Reference site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

The Singapore government's education policy, seeks to provide every child with a well balanced and well-rounded education thus allowing them to maximise their potential. Lessons such as moral education help to nurture them into good citizens who are responsible to the family, society and environment. Physical Education on the other hand helps the child to kick start a healthy active lifestyle at a young vital age. In addition, no child is deprived from an education due to their income, cultural, religion or racial background. I would briefly like to express my views on the concern on the pressure that all this might impose to the young.

Children are sent for tuition at a younger age now than they were before.  I understand that at the younger the child is the more absorbent of the information they are but this is ridiculous grasping the world around us is enough to fill our heads at that age. Parents mean no harm as the emphasis on higher qualifications grow, anxieties within the parents grow as well. Thus, resulting in the Singaporean trait of being ‘kiasu’ I feel that the pace of globalization and increased competition in the corporate world has a chain effect on the educational system. Its effect travels right down to the child’s first day in an educational institution. Do we then still blame it on the education system in Singapore?

Well, that would be unfair right? The root idea of an educational system is to help equip the students with the knowledge to face the corporate world. So can you blame the educational system or the globalizing world for its’ hast pace? It is our jobs to seize the opportunities not wait for opportunities to come knocking at our door. Singapore has kept their eyes wide open for opportunities. Generations are going to come and go but not opportunities we need to prepare the younger generation for the future. From the looks of the world, the complexities of the problems are not going to be any easier, though technology may advance. We need to nurture ones intelligence before their maximum potential can be unleashed.  “Genius without education is like silver in the mine” expressed Benjamin Franklin.

We need to bear in mind that though change is inevitable and slowing down the pace of globalisation is almost impossible, there is always a time for everything. Cramping our heads with all that is in the textbook is not going to do any help releasing endorphin occasionally through exercise is the key to clarity I would say. Going through the educational system in Singapore becomes a little less of a pain.