A friend recently shared a video on Facebook purportedly of a flash mob doing dancing in the middle of Raffles Place, the heart of Singapore’s financial district. I commented that it was not a true flash mob as I lacked spontaneity as the dance was clearly choreographed. I also suggested that it was typically Singaporean, that is, we don’t seem to know when to be spontaneous. Spontaneity had to be choreographed and organized it seems over here.

This reminded me of another occasion when I experienced this utter lack of spontaneity among Singaporeans. It happened a few years ago while I was still with the Ministry of Education (MOE). The MOE was organizing an international conference on ICT use for education. As part of the conference, there was a chance for some young Singapore teenagers from a well-known school to perform using Creative Technology’s digital musical equipment. I happened to be there at a rehearsal at Suntec City. The performance was musically great only thing was that all the teenage school student musicians were not even smiling, or even moving their bodies. They were out of synch with the music. I recall telling them to lighten up and smile to no effect.I remember remarking to my boss, “It is sad when our education system produces kids who don’t know how to enjoy themselves.” As I recall the actual performance was of the same quality.

Creative Technology which produced those digital musical instruments once tried to introduce its Zen MP3 player in a most uncreative manner. In the TV advert we are shown a scene showing a traditional Chinese scholar in full traditional Chinese scholar garb, trying to remember. The Zen which was a portable MP3 player was linked to something so outdated and out of synch with what an MP3 player is used for. Compare this with Apple’s iPod advert when it was introduced. Apple was targeting a lifestyle while Creative Technology was targeting Chinese culture by associating “Zen” with traditional Chinese scholarship? You get the picture.

Today, I came across an interesting write-up about creativity. Looking at the ideas described in the article, I wonder if these ideas can be incorporated into the Singapore education system. Joey Reiman, CEO of BrightHouse, an Atlanta-based innovation consulting firm said:

“The five last bastions of thinking are the car, the john, the shower, the church or synagogue, and the gym.”

He believes that people should be “encouraged to visit a spot conducive to reflection and let their neurons rip.” Now where do you find that in schools? Even in subject areas where creativity is supposed to be key as in art, music and literature (and dare I add the sciences?), creativity is not prized as highly as meeting the examinations requirement of the subjects. Business-like KPIs add further nails to the creativity coffin in schools. Can we imagine an award like Maddock Douglas‘ annual Fail Forward award, which is designed to celebrate endeavors both ambitious and disastrous in schools in Singapore?

Not likely. Not likely in an environment where there is one right answer for everything. Anything else is marked with a red cross. Not likely where rote-learning is the norm. Not likely where conformity and rules are over-emphasised.

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