Recently, I boarded a local public bus service to go to the National University of Singapore (NUS). Until today, I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at what I saw plastered on the back of the seats in the bus.

On th back of each of the seats were plastered advertisements for teachers. They were adverts from Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE). In bold letters it said, “NO CHILD SHOULD BE LEFT BEHIND” (NCSBLB). I stared at it for awhile between puking and laughing. Surely, it must be inspired by George Bush’s discredited, high stakes examinations focused, “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) policy. It must rank as high as the MOE teacher recruitment advertisement at Raffles Place which I had written about.

Is it a coincidence that the people in MOE had approved the NCSBLB advert? Is MOE drawing inspiration from the US? Or is it the other way around? Or the educational authorities in both countries are equally confused? Surely, since our leaders are talking about preparing its people for the new economy of this century, they need to send out a very different message. NCSBLB is no different from NCLB. Or is that telling of the attitudes of those in MOE?

PS: See the PR shot below released by MOE of its staff all decked in black (and leather?)