I have written about the need for students to learn to take notes as one of the vital skills that a successful student who hopes to be an independent learner. Note-taking improves the students ability to decide what is important information and what is not. It also helps him to organize the information into a proper structure most suited for his own learning. In addition to note-taking, a student must also acquire a few other skills. This includes the need to be social and collaborative; seek all possible sources of learning; reflect and evaluate his learning to make judgment about what he has learned; and apply and transfer his learning in dissimilar situations from that where his original learning has taken place.

One of the most important skills that a learner must possess are good social skills. Learning is very much a social process. The stereotype image of a learner as the lone geek is far from the truth about how learning takes place. Good social skills will assists him to be part of any learning community and participate in the active exchange of ideas. Collaboration with other learners becomes part of his learning style. Good social skills include the ability to respect any potential source of knowledge. This respect is essential because otherwise a natural mental block will be erected in his mind that will prevent any learning from taking place. Proper respect also includes respect for authoritative sources of knowledge. While this does not mean that he dismiss less authoritative sources of knowledge, it means simply that he is more discerning about where and who he is getting his information from. He also is more discerning about the quality that he is receiving from the source. It also serves as a mirror for him when it is his turn to transfer or share his knowledge with others. Those same qualities that make a source of knowledge authoritative can help him try to emulate those quality in the manner that he conveys or shares his knowledge with others. Good social skills will of course also help to open doors to new sources of knowledge too. Therefore, while it may sound like a contradiction, an independent learner is a social learner.

Another important skill is not to over rely on only one source of knowledge. Although it is important to be committed to a source of reliable knowledge, one must also be willing to expand one’s learning circle to include many other sources of knowledge. To source for other avenues of knowledge is not to be done in a haphazard manner. Again, a keen discernment of what is useful and important helps one not to go into information “black holes” where one because lost in information overload.

A good independent learner must also be a reflective learner. He is reflective with regards to what is learned; how it is learned and transmitted; what learning is important; and what learning is to be prioritized. All of these are important fro him to be more effective in his learning. He will not be a robot. He will not be someone who is just being led blindly. He becomes clearer about the direction and needs of his learning.

Lastly, an independent learner must be bale to apply his learning in different contexts. When he is able to do that, his learning has become real and meaningful. It would refelect a deeper understanding of what he has learnt because he would have to adapt what he has to lend what he has learn to fit with different environments and its challenges. Adaptation such as this can only take place with deep understanding as opposed to superficial learning that often takes place in schools.

There is a driving school in Singapore where they don’t give you a chance to drive a car. The only instruction that you will get from them is when they will ONLY TELL you how to drive. Will you enroll in such a driving school? I think the answer is clear. Yet there are many such schools in Singapore, where the teaching of skills is just by mere telling.

Recently, my son who is studying in one the polytechnics in Singapore, had an assessment for a communications module in his course. In the assessment, he was required to speak for about three minutes. I believe he was able to do that quite easily but he also described how some of his classmates struggled with the assessment. He described how they struggled for words, spoke in monotones, in short end up looking like very incompetent speakers. That got me and my son into a discussion about the module and the assessment.

I asked if they were taught how to speak during the course of the module. He initially told me that they were taught to speak but when I probed further it was clear that they weren’t. What actually happened was that the lecturer only outlined what are the aspects of good communication. The lecturer only gave an outline of the art of speaking but in theory only. When I probed my son, there was no opportunity to practise what they had learned during the module. Yet the students were assessed through an actual public speaking exercise.

In my view, this is just like learning driving through verbal instructions and perhaps some written notes. It would be unheard of and no one will take such a driving school seriously. Yet similar practices are being done in Singapore’s “educational” institutions. Worse no one seems to take notice of it, much less mind it. The situation is just incredible. You don’t need to be an expert on education to know that in order for someone to master a skill, you need lots of practice in that skill. Such skills are known as “procedural knowledge”. Robert Marzano et. al. in Dimensions of Learning says:

“Learning procedural knowledge requires the learner to perform a process or to demonstrate a skill, that is , to take some action.”

These skills can be mental or physical skills but the teaching of such skills are characterised by a breaking down of the skills into logical smaller steps and the learning and teaching of these steps are accompanied by repeated practice until mastery is achieved.

What had happened in my son’s class was a pretense at teaching a skill. If my son did well, it is IN SPITE of the teaching. If the other students struggled with the assessment, it is because of the poor teaching. No excuses ought to be given for this.

This may not happen in some aspects of the Singapore school experience. We know Singapore teachers are good at drilling the students to the test. But this applies I believe only to the acdemic subjects where they will face written examinations at the end of the year. However, where the soft skills are concerned, usually, it is a case of the “non-driving” driving school. Yet, it is these soft skills that at the most basic level, employers are seeking from the graduates of Singapore’s educational institutions.

Even local Singapore employers have been complaining of graduates who are academically bright but unable to fit into the work environment which demands skills far beyond the rote-learning and memorizing often demanded in Singapore’s educational institutions.

In case, you are still wondering if such a driving school exist in Singapore, the answer is they don’t. But you can find similar ones in our highly rated educational institutions.

Are schools today still relevant? In other words, what is the role of schools today? In Singapore, the education system is often seen as necessary to prepare its people for the employment market. The Singapore economy needs them so the schools must produce them. In fact, education today in Singapore schools is really about the needs of the economy. It is not about education at all but rather about training workers. Schools in Singapore have long given up that role as educational centers. They are in reality training schools for the job market.

But what if the economy is going to undergo rapid and constant changes? What if, as it has been predicted that people will have many different jobs (some say up to 16) by the time they are 40 years old? What can the schools teach to keep these people meaningfully employed in their later years?

Can a school system that emphasizes mainly content be relevant in this age? Can a school system that only emphasizes producing exam smart students be relevant? Can a school system that emphasizes giving only “correct” answers be of any use to an economy that requires workers with skills relevant to the 21st century?

Schools need to change their priorities with regards to what is taught if they want to remain relevant even in its narrowly defined role as training ground for the future workforce. In a future (some say even current) environment where content is no longer king, and skills matter more, schools in Singapore, and the rest of the world must move towards emphasizing the teaching and learning of skills. Content must be taught in greater tandem with skills. If this fundamental shift does not take place, then school obsolescence will become permanent.