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In My Words "Don't ever lose faith in who you are, for that's what makes you different. Don't try to turn yourself into someone everyone else is, for if that happens, the world is a poorer place." - Sept 2005 Flying Fingers of
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Monday, February 07, 2005
Goh Wen Zhong
S8223371G 65 Cliffords InnFetter Lane London EC4A 1BX United Kingdom DID : +44 777 553 7420 E-Mail : w.z.goh@lse.ac.uk The Editor The Straits Times Forum Page By Email : stforum@sph.com.sg Dear Sir, I read with interest recent articles in The Straits Times which throws significant spotlight on Singapore’s education system, from an internationally regarded primary school syllabus to the outstanding students this system produces. Yet, as Christopher Choo points out in his article “Meritocracy should be more than academic”, there have been instances where academic capability does not parallel character development. One glaring instance in which this deficiency rares itself is in the case of scholarship bond-breakers. While I would not deny that it is partially a product of questionable character and a sense of responsibility, but I also believe it is a case of a change in one’s career aims. While the first fault can be attributed to the individual, the second is perhaps one of the system. Do scholarship holders really know what it means to sign away the 4-6 years of their life, and is the scholarship going to lead them to the career they want? When I was a student in Secondary School and Junior College, the only careers I ever did consider was that of a lawyer (influence : The Practice on Channel 5), a teacher (inspirational teacher in JC) and an interior designer (interest in art). But save for that of the lawyer, I never really did know what the other two careers entailed. In my first year at university, I met many friends who had perfect ideals of what they wanted to do when they graduated, from journalism to foreign attaches at embassies, but in second year, I see a lot of them with different career aims, that of investment banking, corporate finance and management consulting. All this because in my university, a lot of these firms conduct numerous presentations, individual societies organise open days at the firms, private firms arrange for placements for ethnic minority groups at big banks etc. As such, the exposure to the spectrum of careers available is wide and reasonably in-depth to provide a clear picture of what the student must study to qualify for the job, what the job entails, an unglorified insight into the everyday workings of the profession among others. The last aspect is especially important, as with many other aspects of life, no theory is complete without a practical. It is this amount of immersion, understanding and knowledge that is lacking in the system, and is exacerbated by an ignorant and apathetic attitude among the general youth. While the latter problem is of a greater scale and takes more than a system to correct, I believe the former is a viable option that can be introduced in schools. The current system in which limited career guidance is given until the student goes into university is unsatisfactory for fact that the student is applying for and embarking on a university course without really realizing what it entails. This is especially so in the case of male Singaporeans, who serve National Service in between. Job attachments at the end of their second year come far too late for them to realize that the career they thought they would love is not what they thought it to be in the first place. After the second year of your three-year course, it is pretty unrealistic to expect them to consider changing course. The all-too-familiar situation of students applying to do accountancy because “I love mathematics”, law “I did well in general paper” engineering “because I love physics”, economics “I enjoyed the A Level course” must stop. I applied for a course in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with a view to do economics as a major, but what I did not know is that university economics is very mathematical, and my highest standard passed was elementary mathematics at “O” level. That would have been the only reason why I would apply to FASS, and too take up the course and find out halfway that I cannot take the module or find that my lack of background would severely impair my progress is something I am glad that I did not have to face. Thus, what I propose is a comprehensive career guidance programme which all students have to undertake at Secondary 3 or Secondary 4 level, which allows them to identify possible careers which they would be interested in, conducted by careers specialists who are really well-informed about the industry. The focus of this programme should be to highlight to students whether they should take the JC route, or the Polytechnic route, and thus the students will probably enter the institution with the fullest knowledge of what is expected of them, and what subjects they would have to take to qualify for further education. This should be followed-up by a practical attachment to an industry of their choice or selected by aptitude after their examinations or during the holidays. More in-depth and specific programmes can be organized during Junior College, but the focus must be that the student must be sure of what he is applying for in university. Time would definitely be cited as a problem, but what I feel is that a lot of time is wasted in school. Projects, while definitely necessary, are starting to look excessive. Students are involved in Community Involvement Programmes that merely require them to stand along a road and sell flags for some supposed cause that they know nothing about. Perhaps this time can be better spent by letting some of the more capable students be assistant teachers in lower primary schools, or conducting tours to the Straits Times newsroom, or trips to the Singapore Stock Exchange. While this adds an extra burden on a student’s time, it will also add an added inspiration or impetus to the student, to give him/her a further goal than to get as many A’s in the exam as possible. Students would be more goal orientated and as idealistic as it may sound, it probably will lead to a workforce that is more motivated if what they were doing is something that they always wanted to do. The mission of the Ministry of Education is to mould the future of our nation. But I find a fundamental flaw in this ideal, and that is how is the system going to mould the future of our nation, i.e. students, if they themselves do not know what they want for their future, or even if they do, is it a complete, realistic and well-informed image? As someone who has gone through that phase, I will say that it is something that is very real and is happening to our youths today. And it does not bode well for our workforce and the economy in the long run. Something must be done, for the sake of these many futures that are being moulded. Goh Wen Zhong London, UK kelvin was inspired at 1:06 PM |
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