Thursday, August 30, 2012

Starting Them Young

Parents attending the "graduation" function of a kindergarten typically get to see their kids dressed up in costume, going through a song and dance item for the annual concert. It's the culmination of their education, meaning their darlings were rehearsing the whole year for that one performance. That's 12 months at $500 a month or more.

At another end of the spectrum, one Japanese school actually makes the kid do math homework and master the times tables. As in memorising 1 x 12 =12, 2 x 12 = 24, etc. The parents who subscribe to this hot housing believe their children’s brain development can be boosted through early reading, flashcards, language tapes and exposure to classical music. Mom probably had an iPod taped to her tummy when junior was still inside, bombarded by muzak 24/7.

Start them clapping young
“Play is one of the most cognitively stimulating things a child can do,” says Megan McClelland the early-childhood-development researcher at Oregon State University quoted in the New York Times article mentioned in this year's National Day Rally (NDR) speech. A simple game of touching heads and toes, according to the experts, develops the cognitive functions for a preschooler, including focus and attention, working memory to remember rules, mental flexibility and self-control. The Oregon State study claims that a child’s ability at age 4 to pay attention and complete a task were the greatest predictors of whether he or she finishes college by age 25.

There's only one small problem. Nowadays, our teachers expect starry eyed primary one kids to know the alphabet and be able to write their names in English and Chinese on their first day of school. That's when parents start to hit the phone book and hunt down tutors to prepare them for the Gifted Education Program (GEP) shortlisting. The disconnect is big, huge even. Play here means getting a high score at Angry Birds on the iPad. When they are still in the pram.

Don't be harsh on the parents. When they see the Mandarin scholars make brigadier general in double quick time, hoisted into parliament or a CEO seat in a GLC, all on the basis of their paper resume, the examination grade becomes the all encompassing holy grail. Even when these white horses fail in their assignments, say blow up a budget spectacularly or cause havoc in the supply and demand of housing/hospital/transport, they are never sacked. They are merely moved laterally to another similar paying position. Meritocracy rules. If their kids have to master touching heads and toes, they better score an A for that. And if they have to master clapping, it better end up being invited to clap on cue at the exclusive NDR speech. Never mind if the jokes are not even funny.

23 comments:

  1. Insightful 5 paragraphs. Especially the last one on how the system fails to provide an objective feedback loop. Such a system cannot possibly be self-correcting - which means the weaknesses will only be amplified. So one generation of mandarin molded in this way has now selected the next - DNA (and warts) faithfully replicated. No wonder they appear tone deaf to the real world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why do you call them tone-deaf?
      According to the propaganda tvc to the world, our educators and "reformers" ranked very well leh. And the moment findings say our pre-school standard is way below, they are very quick to want to get up to the top again. Where got heart to relax? Who asked for it? Parents? Leaders? Educators? Surely, it can't be the kids here right?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4EOUvX4QM0&feature=player_embedded

      http://www.lienfoundation.org/pdf/news/sw_report.pdf

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  2. PAP Jokes - Why we need a regime change
    -------------------------------
    Q: What do you call an MIW with half a brain?
    A: Gifted.

    Q: What is the thinnest book in the world?
    A: "What MIWs Understand About Singaporeans"

    Q: Why does a statue of an MIW cost twice as much as a statue of Albert Einstein?
    A: It takes a lot of skill and effort to hollow out the head where the brains should be.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I estimate in another decade (or maybe less), foreign schools all over the world will be looking at asian students , the way people look at mainlanders these days and call them a bunch of "aggressive, relentless, depressive, paranoid, anal, boring people" who didn't know how to play and socialize.

    Our children will be shunned like locusts because they pull down the marks of other children making them look/feel bad, but more importantly, a major contributor of stress that would cause psychological damage to their own. That will say the same for asian bosses/CEO who are all Type As personality like the ones running the countries today.

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/clever-diligent-and-feeling-the-pressure-20111016-1lram.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. “Mine is a very matter-of-fact approach to the problem. If you can select a population and they're educated and they're properly brought up, then you don't have to use too much of the stick because they would already have been trained. It's like with dogs. You train it in a proper way from small. It will know that it's got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate. No, we are not that kind of society. We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts.”
    ― Lee Kuan Yew

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, LKY, for your pearls of wisdom. We certainly start them young now, like training dogs. Know what? They don't deliberately urinate in the lifts now, unlike the old untrained uncles. They do it in high class brothels and they shit in positions of power, increasing the workload of the CPIB! We start them young to see the $$$ signs in their eyes.

      Delete
    2. Old man is not wrong. LKY's wisdom can now apply to the new migrants who will shit in public place. Today HK, tomorrow Orchard Rd.

      http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c9_1328304616

      Delete
  5. In Korea, the government has to send inspector to homes and enforce a 10pm curfew because their parents insist their kids study and tuition up to 14hrs per day. Major suicidal society today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2094427,00.html

      Very true! That is why i will never have kids.

      Delete
    2. Wow..SG may have to do the same soon.
      Sometimes, I feel very sad for these kids/children. A very common sense solution to all these kiasuism is to send those kids back home to their parents, and tell them to come back in 2 months time when the rest of the kids have learnt their ABC. Simple as that. It will push back those kan-cheong parents not to over-feed and teach their poor kids.

      Delete
  6. On one hand PM says don't fall behind, others will catch up, you won't be happy yada yada etc. OTOH, he says let your children play. He mentioned the word 'aspirations' many times that I lost count.

    Got a feeling that we will be revisiting this same problem again in 4 yrs time.

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  7. Besides meritocracy, there is nepotism. But that is available only to the select few.

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  8. On the subject of 3000 additional university seats that PM talked about during NDP, a kiasi writer in TODAY was quick to fear that her degree will dilute as a result of the increase. Even went further to say it is a privilege, not a right. (sigh..)

    http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120828-0000013/Six-varsities-more-harm-than-good

    Maybe she should first find out how many of these 3000 seats are going to be allocated to the ever increasing foreign students here in SG. The last time i checked (pg 54 of report), we have 91,500 Foreign students here, 3rd place just right after Paris & UK. I would give it to any local student any time than sponsoring an FT as a taxpayer.

    http://www.worldcitiesculturereport.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This kiasi writer does not know that the ultimate "grade" which matters in life is human decency and the quality of work one puts into his career. Its ok to have a surplus of degree holders...there are opportunities all over the place for everyone in the world.

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    2. Yes..the human quality grade. Agree

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  9. Parents overly hard up these days.
    Envision your children to be replaced by robots.
    Don't say i never warn you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. How about just let the kids learn ??? Seriously, for all the "kiasu-ism", where does it really get you ? Nowhere ! Singaporeans are high achievers, there is no question about that. But at what cost ? You love to slag off the Western education system, but at the end of the day we all produce great leaders, business people, and innovators. Forget about which school you went to...it really does not matter !!

    As someone who has a Singaporean son, my wish for him is this. That he benefits from the excellent Singaporean education system, but he does not grow up to be like your average Singaporean male. Well educated but unable to conduct themselves on a global stage.....I'm sorry to piss everyone off on this chat, but that's a fact. Despite the fabulous education you all receive, maybe 3 in 10 can actually communicate properly in English. That's what really matters on the global stage. A firm handshake, a steadfast eye to eye gaze, and properly enunciated English. How many Singaporeans can do that ??? I'm sorry, but very few.

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    Replies
    1. the experienced and discerning will see beyond a firm handshake, eye to eye gaze, fluent english and examine very closely for Substance....

      by the way Singapore's education is good but not excellent....





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    2. Errh..where are your innovators?!? Please list.

      The local education system does not educate. It is a test centre, with limited quota. The curriculum is designed to teach children how to pass them. It is also an elevation system. Success in exams offers a passport to a better life in the political through-train or pte jobs. Schools do not produce well-rounded, sociable, self-reliant young people with inquiring minds. They produce winners and losers. Winners go on to college or university to take “business studies.” Losers go back to the same pit as the new incoming migrants where their parents were hoping they could escape. Any innovation will have been drilled out of them by the time they graduate.

      No difference from your China of today, really. Is a common joke amongst the international western community. This country is run like a legalist/confucian state with a democracy facade. A big freaking joke.

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    3. What innovators?!? List them..

      IMHO, our education system does not educate. It is a test centre. The curriculum is designed to teach children how to pass them. It is also an elevation system. Success in exams offers a passport to a better life in politics/pte jobs. Schools do not produce well-rounded, sociable, self-reliant young people with inquiring minds. They produce winners and losers. Winners go on to college or university to take “business studies.” Losers go back to the same pit where the new incoming migrants start, just what the parents want them to escape.

      Please don't kid ourselves. This is a wide acknowledgement and joke amongst the western world that we asians still wants to deny. Only the smartest elite who enjoy a western education like oxbridge+harvard, they will still come back and pretend they are running the country on facade of democracy, but in reality a confucius/legalist/utilitarian facade. Planned by Harvard, Run by Heartless.

      Delete
  11. Our education system is a whole vicious cycle. Get sucked into it and you have to go with the flow. Don't blame the parents, the teachers & tutors. It is a no brainer why couples are weary of having children. I have 2 kids and the system is madness. Try telling those low income families how they can ever level up, in education, housing etc. It is not like the 70s anymore, where people are more homogenous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Utilitarianism validates itself not by justifying the end and means, but by justing the means by the end. Thus a Hitler can say his genocidal actions were for the greater good of Germany, thus making the extinction of a people right. PAP can justify GDP and growth are for the greater good of Singapore, thus making the extinction of a group of people ok. Companies can justify their jobs creation, thus making exploitation of cheap labor acceptable. Elites can say their wealth creation is meritocracy at best, thus justifying losers are deserving of their place and sufferings in society. What kind of world are we leaving for our children?

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  12. Nice blog! Thanks for sharing. But I want to add here that please visit here: http://www.raintreeskindergarten.com/. You will definitely love this school for your child.

    ReplyDelete