Say goodbye to Literature, say goodbye to History
I met an old friend this morning and she was voicing her concerns about her daughter’s education in a Singapore school. She was concerned about the streaming that would affect her daughter. In case you don’t already know, in Singapore students are “streamed” into courses of study at Secondary Three. The courses of study that is offered in the schools in Singapore is very much left to the school principals. My friend’s daughter will be streamed next year and she was concerned that her daughter would not be able to do the subjects of her choice.
My friend’s problem is that her daughter wants to pursue her study of Literature or History. You may ask what is wrong with that but the problem is that these two subjects are going the way of the dodo in Singapore secondary schools. The reason is simple. These two subjects are seen as difficult subjects for students to master by teachers and principals in Singapore. Schools in Singapore here generally feel that students generally don’t do well in the high stakes examinations for these two subjects.
Now the high stakes examination system in Singapore does not only determine the fate of the students but it also determines the fate of the schools (and the principals and the teachers) running them. So if the school offers “difficult” subjects and students don’t do well in them, the school’s academic ranking in Singapore will be adversely affected. School principals in Singapore are reluctant to offer these subjects to their students because of this. We can imagine some of the possible excuses that would be given (eg. “we are doing it for the students good”, “not enough demand” and perhaps “not enough teachers for the subjects”) but here again we see education being sacrificed for mass consumption and prestige in Singapore.
Soon there will be a strange and unwelcome homogeneity in Singapore schools. Most of the schools in Singapore will only offer the same “exam-easy subjects”. This is one unhealthy by-product of the examination system in Singapore. The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Singapore of course will not officially condone such practices. But it is an unfortunate “reality” here. The MOE will remind us that in the ranking of schools in Singapore, the criteria has been diversified to look at not only the examination results but perhaps what is happening is that the paradigm shift with regards to this has not taken place in the minds of the principals. Or perhaps the weight allocated to academic performance in the school ranking exercise is just not sufficiently shifted away from it.
In the meantime, students like my friends daughter will probably not be allowed to pursue their academic interest in Singapore. Where can they go in a system where most of the schools think in like manner?
