title: Victims of education.
date: Saturday, August 18, 2012
The education system in Singapore is very, very screwed. Yes, this system is so perfect such that it helps - or forces - everyone to maximize their abilities. It is so perfect that even famous stars like Andy Lau is keen in sending his daughter here to study. But things that outsiders do not know... things that will only be understood by the students and parents in Singapore.
Education is supposed to be a passion for learning, a system for the young to be cultivated with the norms of society and to prepare them for "mature life". This reason for education is the same everywhere in the world, including Singapore, but I would prefer to believe that education in Singapore is something that everyone is forced to go though. The passion for learning in us has vanished if it did even exist in the first place. Maybe kids who are about less than 10 years old will experience curiosity about things but as we grow, the curiosity in us vanished as we do not learn the things we learn because we are curious about how it works, but because we have to learn them for the sake of our grades.
Grades are the root problem here. I wonder why did grades even exist. Is it to show how much we know about the subject, or is it to show our ranking against other people? Why do they want to rank everyone in the first place? Here comes the part about how it allows people to maximize their abilities. This forces people to put in their best of the best effort and force themselves to study to make it to the top. So if everyone did put in their best, what if their best still places them at the bottom? They claim that they do acknowledge people who put in their best effort - but only those who made it to the top.
Then comes the part about "forcing ourselves to study". I am typing this chuck of things here because I am a victim of this cause. I have practically forced myself to study for years and I am maximizing that force now. Studying - this action word has became a forced action to many people. We do not study because we want to - but because we have to. This totally defeats the purpose of education, isn't it? The passion for learning? Maybe this is why the passion is long gone.
Well it could also be because of the repetitive cycle of education. We get sick of studying because we have practically studied the same things over and over again for a long time - things like chemistry, physics... using the same formulas for 2 to 4 years or even longer. Not surprising that people get sick of them, eh?
All this wouldn't be so bad if students can give themselves a break. But no, even taking a break for a day can make me feel very, very guilty. Because everyone else is all studying, just one day can make someone lose out and it would be hard to catch up as others never stop. We are all making ourselves stressed. If everyone is willing to take a certain day off all at the same time, things would be great. We can have fun and enjoy without having to worry about lagging behind. These joys are gone from my life.
Although I know I will not be able to study, I am not able to put things down and rest even just for that day. I will make the greatest attempt to try and study - most of the times to no avail. I still do that, just to make myself feel less guilty about it because at least I tried my best - or maybe not. The smallest things I can do, such as reading newspapers or typing out a post like this are deemed to be better than sitting there and idling away. At least I can see this is a small attempt to help me improve my language, rather than none.
So this very poorly typed out post managed to make me feel less guilty for the less productive day - what a difference does it make.
