Education in the 21st century
All Rights Reserved 2010 Darren Chong
I read with interest about a new secondary school coming up in 2010. The School of Science and Technology “will offer another route for bright students with an interest in applied learning”. It is aimed “at individuals with a special edge and passion for what they do".
However I am personally worried that such notion might promote elitism or at least evoke unwarranted elitism tendencies.
It is without doubt, MOE's directions are clear. Its strategy is to provide alternative to mainstream schools to cater to the different calibre of students.
However, with an initial intake of only 200 students, no doubt there will be a ‘demand more than supply’ scenario as can be seen from the sharp discrepancies between application and actual enrolment figures for the specialised schools of Singapore Sports School, NUS High School Of Mathematics and Science, and the School of The Arts.
A predilection will be to start with least a handful of such schools spearheaded by MOE. Education is the cornerstone of a nation. Great nations built up their defence, research, technology and enterprising capability through years of education for its citizens.
A concern on opening more such specialised learning institutions is that it will put a big dent in the educational budget. But what is a ten of millions of dollars to setup a few more specialised schools as compared to billions earmarked to be spent or already spent on science, research and development? It is also a paltry sum compared to the recent multi-billions dollars investments in the US banks.
Conceivably we should quicken the pace of decentralization for schools in our countries. Perhaps a ‘mass liberalisation of education’ should be the way to go forward.
That is not to say let’s open a floodgate of schools. But at the very least, popularised widely the concept of these ‘meritocratic’ schools. Open up a few in the major neighbourhoods so that such specialized independent schools will not be deemed as elitist.
I might be a leaning towards Maoism here, but possibly it is time we should “let a hundred flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend”, as the education system in Singapore moves into a new era.
I read with interest about a new secondary school coming up in 2010. The School of Science and Technology “will offer another route for bright students with an interest in applied learning”. It is aimed “at individuals with a special edge and passion for what they do".
However I am personally worried that such notion might promote elitism or at least evoke unwarranted elitism tendencies.
It is without doubt, MOE's directions are clear. Its strategy is to provide alternative to mainstream schools to cater to the different calibre of students.
However, with an initial intake of only 200 students, no doubt there will be a ‘demand more than supply’ scenario as can be seen from the sharp discrepancies between application and actual enrolment figures for the specialised schools of Singapore Sports School, NUS High School Of Mathematics and Science, and the School of The Arts.
A predilection will be to start with least a handful of such schools spearheaded by MOE. Education is the cornerstone of a nation. Great nations built up their defence, research, technology and enterprising capability through years of education for its citizens.
A concern on opening more such specialised learning institutions is that it will put a big dent in the educational budget. But what is a ten of millions of dollars to setup a few more specialised schools as compared to billions earmarked to be spent or already spent on science, research and development? It is also a paltry sum compared to the recent multi-billions dollars investments in the US banks.
Conceivably we should quicken the pace of decentralization for schools in our countries. Perhaps a ‘mass liberalisation of education’ should be the way to go forward.
That is not to say let’s open a floodgate of schools. But at the very least, popularised widely the concept of these ‘meritocratic’ schools. Open up a few in the major neighbourhoods so that such specialized independent schools will not be deemed as elitist.
I might be a leaning towards Maoism here, but possibly it is time we should “let a hundred flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend”, as the education system in Singapore moves into a new era.
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