THE EDUCATION VICIOUS CYCLE




As our National Conversation on education enters its second phase, let me present my analysis of our national education conundrum.

So far, most people give their opinions as to whether the PSLE should be retained, whether our education in Singapore is too stressful, whether students of different abilities should be taught together, whether our emphasis on high-stakes exam is healthy, whether tuition or remedial lessons are necessary and whether our education system is conducive to social mobility. But, I believe I'm able to pinpoint where the central fault lies.

The crucial error is in our basic premise that intelligence is fixed (not developable), intra-personal (the property of an individual) and one-dimensional (mainly IQ).  It is because of this belief in a rigid definition of intelligence that schools have degenerated into becoming proving grounds for students to show their worth. The intention of all that teaching is not to improve the intelligence of students per se, but to provide the means to uncover their intellectual status.  Exams then become the raison d'etre of schooling.  The sad realization is that the real reason we go to school is not to learn but to be classified.

Whatever learning that takes place is purely incidental because the name of the game is to be accredited with an official seal of  approval in the form of excellent exam results.  Such results will become the deciding factor in determining the availability of entry to better schools and to future higher educational opportunities which inevitably lead to better jobs and rosier economic well-being. It is no wonder that every student wants to jump into the golden bandwagens by 'studying to the test' and teachers responding by 'teaching to the test'.  Extra tuition and remedial lessons also become mandatory if we desire to manufacture excellent exam results.  Yes, excellent exam results can be manufactured.

Unfortunately, such a fixed and narrow way of studying is not conducive to the development of essential life skills, social maturity, good character and the establishment of moral values as these will not stand a chance in the race to prove that you are smarter than others.

Inevitably, students live in a high-stress world where there is no time for study-life balance (and later work-life balance) and the pursuit of happiness and civic consciousness.  Because of the neglect in the cultivation of real-world skills, the prospects for future high work-productivity and creative entrepreneurialism appear dim.

The other consequence is that because of how the rules of this education farce are applied, the rich and the already-successful have higher resources to better prepare their offsprings to propagate their familial success in this game.  Now, we know it is no mystery why social mobility in Singapore does not improve despite apparent equality in educational opportunities.  Further, this consequence will appear to provide powerful 'objective' evidence that intelligence and ability are fixed and probably highly genetically-determined.

So, if you refer to the diagram at the top of the page, you will realize that the last point merely brings us back to our first mistaken premise that intelligence is fixed and cannot be changed by the educational process.  So, round again it goes in this very vicious, vicious cycle!

What needs to be done?

The very first step towards sanity is to keep ourselves updated on the latest research from experts like Carol Dweck, David Perkins and Robert Sternberg so that we can correct our first premise to read: intelligence is developable, multi-dimensional and inter-personal!  If we can change the premise, there is hope to reverse this vicious cycle and transform it into a virtuous cycle.