Cat Stevens wrote this words many years ago:

Oh. I know we’ve come a long way,
we’re changing day to day,
but tell me where do the children play.
Well you’ve cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air,
but will you keep on building higher ’til there’s no more room up there.

Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry,
will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die.
I know we’ve come a long way, we’re changing day to day.
But tell me, where do the children play.

(from Where will the children play by Cat Stevens)

I often wonder about this song and what we in Singapore are giving up in a our race to build skyscrapers. Singapore has come a long way since its independence. However, one wonders where we are taking our children to with the high pressure examinations system that is the Singapore school system. Our students are known for acing their examinations. Our students also do well in international surveys and examinations. Our students are able to enter the top universities.

Do the others know what price Singapore students have to pay for these? Do they know of the very long school hours that the students have to put into school? Do they know about the amount of mechanical learning and rote-learning that is being done in Singapore schools? Do they know the amount of drilling being done to pass the examinations? Most of all do they know “where do the children play”?