Thursday, July 22, 2010

Singapore Education System

A friend asked me to write something about Singapore Education System, so here I am after so long to blog about something. To me, education is not purely about the gaining of knowledge, but also on character development because the school environment plays an important role in the life of a student.

However, I find that there are many challenges facing the education system in providing a holistic education to students. Firstly, in the teaching of knowledge, the diversity of learners is a challenge in delivery of lessons as students have different needs and abilities to learn. Therefore, it is hard to have a lesson that caters to the needs of all students, which means that some students might be left out in class.

Secondly, in the character development of students, it is an uphill task for a teacher to be concerned with the many students that he/she has. It can be a mentally and physically challenging job if one remains totally committed to the character development of students. Furthermore, in order to help students, a rapport must be built between both parties in order for the child to be receptive, which requires time and effort.

Therefore, to hope that our education system will be able to achieve all the goals that we hope for is unrealistic, but yet the same time I believe that the system has produced a significant number of talented and civilized citizens of the new generation. While our education system is not perfect, it is not totally flawed. Most importantly is for us to reflect on the challenges and needs in order to improve our education system.