Children's Day

You know, the problem with my research is that the more I dig, the more like a graveyard it looks. I feel that I'm some sort of archaeologist of the educational past – a palaeoeducationist (see note 2 below), if you like. But the evidence is all in the bones, buried long ago. Sometimes you dig into the ground and you think you've found a midden. But sometimes, you realise the bones don't indicate food or cooking or waste dumps. You realise it's a cemetery.

I'm beginning to think that in Singapore's necessary haste to get education up to a high standard quickly, the country has overprimed the shotgun. When the 'O'-Levels were selected to be Singapore's basic level of educational qualification, nobody told the people that this was an examination for the top 20% of the UK population (1). Nobody pointed out that this was designed for a five-year secondary education course. And since the general population didn't know this, everyone prepared to do it in four years and many did very well. The Primary School Leaving Examination, that other pillar of the system, was designed (and probably still is) to be tough enough to eliminate 20% of all students. It was set at a level known to allow only 80% to pass (2).

All this added up to educational pressure beyond conventional belief. But there was another consequence. Since Singapore now had near-universal high-stakes education, the situation became one in which everyone was competitive. Since everyone was a viable high-stakes competitor, and this was the basis of the meritocratic society, the only way to climb to the top was to be significantly more competitive. Which meant that the schools were not considered excellent unless they provided a lot of 'extras'.

That in turn set the school system up for serious re-engineering difficulties. Niche programmes, holistic education, multiple intelligences, ability-driven education – all of which contradict each other philosophically – were used to 'sell' schools to the masses. The shadow education sector bloomed, since private tuition was now the main area in which cash-rich families could stamp their superiority. And that is where we are today.

Happy Children's Day! And God bless each and every one of you!

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Notes:

1. Citations are all from Tan, Chow & Goh (2008), Examinations in Singapore – Change and Continuity (1891-2007), World Scientific Publishing (ISBN: 978-981-279-313-0). (1) is from page 66 and (2) is from page 75.

2. I suppose I should point out that 'palaeoeducationist' is a bastardised Graeco-Roman hybrid. My bad. It should be 'palaeopedagogist' in order to be properly Greek. 'Pedagogy' of course comes from the Greek words meaning 'leadership of children'. It is interesting to contrast that with 'education', which means 'drawing-out'.