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Tag: learning

  • Former Army General Teach Teachers How To Teach Students

    Former Army General Teach Teachers How To Teach Students

    Former Chief of Defence Force-turned-Education Minister Ng Chee Meng talked down on more than 500 principals and teachers at the Appointment and Appreciation Ceremony for Principals today (Dec 29).

    The former army general who has never been a teacher a day in his 25 years-long career in the military, told educators that they should not “intervene too early” and that students should be allowed to learn from their mistakes:

    “Students need to learn to be resilient and self-reliant, as well as learn from their mistakes. Are we, out of the best intentions, preventing our students from going through setbacks and failures and in the process, learn and build resilience? Perhaps we need to let our students learn from their own mistakes, find their own solutions, and put in the necessary hard work or corrective action to eventually succeed. School leaders, teachers and parents alike, may need to learn how to selectively stand back and be an observer rather than intervene too early.”

    Education Minister Ng Chee Meng shares half the education ministry portfolio with Minister Ong Ye Kung, despite having workload not as strenuous as the Transport Ministry or Foreign Affairs Ministry – both which saw major hiccups in recent years.

    Minister Ng Chee Meng continued his lecture-speech on the principals and teachers:

    “The importance of cultivating in students an attitude of lifelong learning, one that comes from a joy of learning, and of the need to prepare students for an increasingly connected and high-tech workplace to reduce the growing skills gap between what we learn in schools and the jobs (graduates) are applying for. The schools’ Applied Learning Programmes can help prepare our students for the future workplace as they can learn innovation, and nurture an entrepreneurial attitude in their learning.”

    Minister Ng Chee Meng was brought in to Parliament through the GRC election system and was fast-tracked to a  full ministerial position without any merit. He currently draws S$1.1 million a year alongside another inexperienced Education Minister, with both ministers double taxing the Education Ministry’s ministerial salaries budget. Under the two Education Ministers, two students have committed suicide due to academic stress in 2016. There is also no significant changes in the education system either.

     

    Source: http://statestimesreview.com

  • SDP Questions The Singapore Education System

    SDP Questions The Singapore Education System

    As this article is published, thousands of pupils would have gone back to school to collect their PSLE results. Some students will celebrate; others will be in tears, crushed in spirit.

    What sort of system inflicts such travesty on 12-year-olds? What sort of education do we have that treats academic performance like a trophy sport: Glory in victory and agony in defeat?

    What values are we imparting to young minds? What happens to the self-esteem and the sense of self-worth when he or she discovers that she is only a ‘Normal’ or ‘Technical’ student?

    And then they can streamed to ‘elite’ or ‘neighbourhood’ schools. The really ‘smart’ ones, who are usually also the richer ones, get extra help in independent schools and gifted programmes.

    A radio DJ yesterday had to sound this caution to pupils: “Whatever score you get, your parents love you.” What kind of society have we built where our children have to be reminded that their score in one exam does not mean that their parents hate them?

    If they don’t do well who have they let down? Themselves? Their parents? The Government?

    This subject is not just a theoretical one, good only for an academic discussion. It affects real lives:

    • 22% of Singaporean children between 6-12 yrs thought of killing themselves. (ST, Jan 2014) Sadly, many actually carry out the act.
    • The no. of children warded for “aggressive, suicidal or hallucination tendencies” at IMH jumped by 35% between 2005-2010. Mental health professionals attribute these problems to academic stress. (CNA, 2 Feb 2013)
    • One in three students say they sometimes think that life is not worth living because of the fear of exams. (FEER, August 2001)

    We must stop doing this to our children. It is not good for them, it is not good for parents, and it is not good for the future of our country. In its place, we must device a system when we educate our children to be creative, compassionate and intelligent members of society with self-confidence and a strong sense of self-worth.

    There are a few ways that we can do this and they are spelt out under the SDP education policy titled Educating For Creativity and Equality:

    1. Remove PSLE. As pointed out, the stress of exams inflict horrific psychological trauma on our children. What’s more, it is not an intelligent approach to assess the abilities of primary-school students on a single exam.

    2. Cultivate creative minds. Build confidence in children by helping them adopt an attitude of independent thinking, willingness to make mistakes, and persevere in the face of failed attempts.

    3. Reduce syllabus, broaden curriculum. The syllabi for existing subjects will be reduced while subjects such as music appreciation, speech and drama, literature, etc. as well as periods for students to collaborate and interact to develop creativity will be introduced to provide a well-rounded curriculum.

    4. Reduce class size. The SDP will reduce class size in our schools to 20 pupils/class from the current 40 to provide students the individual attention they need to succeed.

    5. Scrap school and class ranking. Comparing exam results and ranking students and classes will detract from the real purpose of education which is self-improvement and self-actualisation.

    To read the full paper with other proposals, click here.

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org

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