CAN THE NATIONAL INITIATIVES REALLY WORK?

This was an essay written to reflect my beliefs on the National Initiatives as proposed by the Singapore Educational System.

Introduction

Singapore is a nation without any appreciable resources of its own. From young, we have been taught that we only have people as our resource. As a result, the nation has grown up with a strong emphasis on education. The best and brightest of our educational system are groomed to take over important positions in the military, administrative service, and the cabinet.

The Singapore educational system of pure academic excellence has worked well over the past two to three decades. It has produced many problems, however. And the two most important being the lack of nationalist feelings among the top graduates, and the fact that recent studies have found them rigid and unable to think.

Added to these is the fact that the world economic system is changing rapidly, and Singapore has to change from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one. With all these in mind, the government decided to introduce the National Initiatives for the educational system.

The National Initiatives

The National Initiatives consist of four important areas of focus for the Singaporean educational system. They consist of Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Information Technology, and National Education. The first three of these are skills, while the last is more of systematic awareness.

Critical Thinking is the ability to dissect and examine any thinking process. It calls for the ability to evaluate a person’s style of writing, and to read his thoughts. Someone with critical thinking skills is able to realise faulty reasoning, the choice of words to elicit preferred responses, and to recognise propaganda. Conversely, he is able to employ these strategies to effectively put across an argument.

Creative Thinking is the ability to think divergently, to come up with new and untested ideas that have a chance of working. It is the ability to approach a problem from a different angle. The creative thinker is frequently an entrepreneur, one who dares to take a risk on untried ideas, and one able to come up with solutions to a myriad of problems.

Information Technology, also known as IT, is the use of new technological advances to help in communicating and presenting ideas. While mostly associated with the computer, it is more than that. The man who is IT savvy will be able to carry across his ideas more effectively, and has a wider net of information to tap from. The latter is especially important to the new knowledge-based economy.

Finally, National Education seeks to imbue the Singaporean with an understanding of Singapore’s historical, geographical and political situation. It seeks to create citizens able to believe in and defend Singapore in times of need, and to play a useful role in the growth of the nation.

The Importance of the National Initiatives

With these four initiatives, the ministry hopes to enable all Singaporeans to be well prepared for the new economy coming up in the 21st Century. We cannot afford to stick to the old methods of education, where rigid studying of texts is required, producing the top brains who know how to conform, but who do not know how to think.

The National Initiatives, if successfully implemented, would result in a nation of people able to think critically of the events happening about them. Their analysis of situations will enable Singapore to move on its toes, to be a step ahead of the competition.

It will also result in a nation able to come up with new ideas and new and better methods of doing things. With the call for a more entrepreneurial spirit among our citizens, the ability to take risks and think divergently to provide better services and products, a people able to think creatively means once again that Singapore will be ahead of its competitors.

With new volumes of knowledge being released on the internet, in the news via cable and satellite, and numerous scientific journals, the nation best able to sieve through and use all the flood of information will be best poised to take advantage of the new economy. Singapore needs its people to be IT-savvy.

And finally, it is extremely important that after putting in so much efforts in giving its people all the necessary skills, that the people believe in their home country and work within the necessary limitations placed upon them.

However, with so much emphasis placed on them, perhaps we would have to ask ourselves one very important question. Can they really work out in practice? If we do not examine critically this question, we are inviting trouble into our future and possible survival as a nation.

Can Critical Thinking Work in Our Educational System?

Critical Thinking skills, more than anything else, requires a strong command of the necessary language. Since information is provided by a writer, with his own biases and agendas, he is able to manipulate the information and thoughts to provide his point of view.

He may use words deliberately chosen to inspire emotional responses. He may use writing techniques like selective presentation (known among writing circles as “counting the hits but not the misses”), missing contextual cues (to lower the intensity of the train of thought) and quoting out of context.

All writers use these techniques, whether consciously or unconsciously, all the time. It requires a strong command of the language used to detect the minute changes in the choice of words, as well as the language structure to argue a point. Perhaps then the most important obstacle to implementing Critical Thinking is the language ability of our students.

The two neighbourhood schools the author was attached to drew their catchment of students from mainly the lower and middle-income families. Many of them had lowly educated parents, some of whom had no time at all to see to their children’s emotional needs. They speak the mother tongue, or any of the dialects, at home. In fact, the author would have a problem communicating with the parents if not for the fact that he had a passable command of Mandarin.

The author got the privilege of teaching some of the weaker classes (coincidentally, both weaker classes he taught were the last EM2 class), as well as the “elite” A class during his Training Practicum with two schools. He realised the big difference in their language use and abilities within the first week of class.

The “A” class tends to speak more English, and be more vocal in their expressions. They would not hesitate to ask questions of anything they do not understand. The weaker classes, however, tend to speak more in their mother tongue, and they were pretty reticent when asked to speak. Some of them spoke so softly the author could hardly hear!

The author also taught Sunday School, where the catchment of students are mainly from the middle to upper-income families, and where the main language spoken at home is English. He notices the close resemblance between these children and the “A” class.

Language is best learned through acquisition – getting it through constant contact with an environment rich in it. Since the weaker students speak English only during lesson time, and probably has no access to help or stimulation from their parents, language for them has to be learnt through rote learning. This is not exactly the best way of learning something that has to be used at a fast pace in normal conversation, and examination conditions.

With the language deficiency in our majority of weaker students (how many “A” and “B” classes are we going to have in each school?), it is really quite impossible for them to be able to think critically. Handicapped by their poor command of English, they could hardly decipher an informational text, much less critique it.

As such, the author believes the teaching of Critical Thinking may be quite impossible for the general population of students. In order for them to acquire the language abilities needed, they may need to either be very bright (bright students generally have no problem thinking critically themselves anyway), or have a strong language background. Since both intelligence and family background are relatively unchangeable, the students stuck with both are disadvantaged. They will probably never be able to think critically.

Interestingly, while the author does not have the data to back him up, he believes the children may have a higher level of critical thinking ability in their mother tongue. Since Critical Thinking is tied very closely to language ability, perhaps this may just be the answer to successfully implementing Critical Thinking in the educational system. Since Singapore is seeking to broaden its horizons by seeking overseas and regional markets, a nation of people strong in thinking in the native languages of the region may prove to be an advantage. Perhaps the ministry can look into this area of education.

Can Creative Thinking Work in Our Educational System?

A person’s ability to think creatively has been acknowledged by some to be innate. It comes with a curious mind, and the acceptance of things considered deviant. The author may like to draw attention to eccentrics like Edison as an example of creative thinkers.

Yet at the same time, a person’s experiences and existing schema influences his ability to think creatively as well. Someone with a wealth of experience may be able to think of a new approach that a newcomer may not be able to come up with. It may also be sobering to remember that a person’s negative experiences can have a negative effect on his creative ideas as well.

It is interesting to observe the methods of teaching still being employed by most of the teachers today. Even the author himself is not exempted from some of these. Students are required to conform to rules, and to be quiet. Many a times, work is given to them by the teacher, to be completed and handed up for grading. Grading is done against a set stock answer, and deviant answers are considered wrong.

The children did most of their learning in the classroom, and many may not get to see even a photograph of what was being taught (though the author must admit that beautiful illustrations are many). The only time the children got out of their classroom for learning is to go to the Science Lab, Music Room, or to the field during Physical Education. Two of the above-mentioned instances are still classrooms, albeit different ones.

Curiosity means extra questions that may be outside of the syllabus. The teacher, pressurised to complete the syllabus in time for the exams, normally discourages them, or gives quick, unsatisfactory answers. The children soon learnt not to ask too many questions of this nature.

Deviant practices like drinking in class (the author sometimes wonders what the problem is with that practice), answering without raising of hands and standing up, or whispering of any sort among the children (even to ask questions to clarify what the teacher is teaching!) are no-no’s in the classroom. The author really wonder what would happen if Thomas Edison was punished or given a telling to for attempting to incubate the goose egg when he was young.

All these experiences in the Singapore classroom would rob our children of whatever creativity they would have, even innate ones! The requirement for conformity means the children learn quickly the necessary thinking processes to do well in the educational system and with the teachers. In a sad way, the author acknowledges that the children have been quick in learning how to stifle their innate curiosity to achieve what they perceive as important – the examination results.

Perhaps then, in order to properly teach Creative Thinking in our schools, we would need a change of schooling environment. While it is encouraging to hear that the ministry has called a review of workload in the schools, it is the author’s experience (and that of many teachers he has spoken to) that not much true changes have happened – the reduced workload just got replaced by new ones.

What is truly needed is the time to encourage curiosity, to bred students willing to try out new ideas, even if they do not work. A lot of time and patience is required to overcome this among the students, and much of the syllabus and worksheets may be left uncovered.

At this point in time, the author is still trying to encourage his students to speak up with their answers, even if they are wrong. It is his experience that many dare not speak up for fear of being wrong. He has been drilling this maxim in the class – “You must try, or you may never know whether you are right or wrong, and learn from it.”

It can take as long as 3-5 minutes just to cajole and encourage some of the more reserved to speak up! The author at this point of time is behind the syllabus. The pressure to complete the syllabus has resulted in many teachers giving up and going on to the next student, but the author hopes that other teachers too would be willing to give his method a try. It may not produce a scholar, but perhaps it may produce a Bill Gates later in life?

The teachers must realise that not many of the children have the experiences needed for greater creativity. Allowing for more field trips for the students to see and enjoy life outside of the classroom will broaden the child’s outlook, and gives him more creative stimulus. It is interesting to note that the children of Beacon Hill school, founded by philosopher and mathematician Lord Bertrand Russell, were inspired to compose a poem after a field trip, without any prompting from the teachers.

And perhaps, just perhaps, classes can be conducted outdoors, in less stifling atmospheres. The fresh air, and the openness of the surroundings, may inspire more thinking on the part of our students. Again, it may be worthy to note that many of the foremost advocates of progressive teaching methods prefer education in outdoor settings.

Can Information Technology Work in Our Educational System?

While the author has previously mentioned that IT is not merely the use of the computer, the fact that a majority of new IT-based instruments are digital and computer-based means that the IT initiative is heavily tilted in the area of computer awareness.

Obviously, it goes without saying that frequent contact with computers is required to reach the level of proficiency to use IT based instruments and knowledge tools. At this moment, all classes are given 2 periods each week to access the computer lab, at the ration of one computer to two students.

It is interesting to note that only one or two of the students in the classes taught by the author has a computer at home. Even then, only one of the computers is connected to the internet. The student himself has no internet e-mail address.

The author himself graduated with an Electronics and Communications Diploma, after spending probably 20 hours with computers. He was still very weak in using IT then, even with the 20 hours. Today, much of his ability to work with computer hardware and software come about because of his frequent contact with IT during his years with the military.

With that in mind, it is little wonder that the students probably did not pick up much IT skills with the limited exposure they were given. There simply is not enough time given for exposure to computer hardware and software.

This is compounded by the fact that many teachers, while trained to use IT, are not trained to teach them. The classes consisted of CD-ROM based lessons, with no efforts to teach them research skills, or computer software learning skills. These are the true IT skills, not the ability to teach using a CD-ROM instead of the chalkboard.

Perhaps what could be done is to teach the students the use of the internet as a resource for research on certain project works. These projects could be tied to existing lessons (a lesson on the solar system, for example, might prompt interest in research work, to read up and to see the pictures at the NASA web site). They could also get their personal e-mail accounts, and use the lesson time to read and send e-mails to each other. This can also aid in sharpening their language skills, since English is the medium of communication on the internet.

Further things that should be done would be to teach the use of Word Processors, especially layout and presentation (so they can easily switch over to another Word Processor, or in the case of upgrades, for new features). Writing an essay using the computer, with pictures and information from the internet embedded, could be an enriching experience in itself.

In order for more time to be given to IT based tasks, the educational system needs to be reformed to allow for more project based work, rather than strict examinations. Since the students are not assessed for their ability to use IT, but rather to pass examinations, teaching using the traditional methods will always be better than and preferred to the acquisition of IT skills.

There has been encouraging signs that the ministry is intending to go in this area, to have more project based work instead of classroom work. Still, it would be noteworthy to mention that unless changes occur in the weightage given to the PSLE, “O” Levels, or the “A” Levels, no teacher (perhaps even the author himself) will be willing to spend time that would have been better utilised preparing the students for the all-important examinations.

Can National Education Work in Our Educational System?

National Education actually has always been a part of the educational curriculum. From Civics class in Primary school, to the Moral Education classes in Secondary school, important values relating to the need to be loyal to the country has always been embedded.

With such a strong background in the teaching of National Education, the next logical step is simply to make it separate from Civics and Moral Education, and give an awareness of it to the teachers, that they may consciously weave it into their lessons.

Among the four initiatives, this is the only one that seems to have worked. Many of the children are aware of Singapore’s natural limitations. The news they read, and the news channel on TV (which could have been in their mother tongue, assuming that their parents watch the relevant TV channel), will create this awareness.

In other words, the children already have a strong background knowledge and schema concerning Singapore. They probably have fathers, uncles or even brothers in National Service. Many of the local children’s programmes also subtly weave this into the theme (“Water” for instance). All these contribute to an easy implementation of the National Education initiative.

Still, much of whether National Education works would have to depend on the child’s experience with Singapore as he grows up. At this stage, it is difficult to say whether it works – except to say that the children know and understand. Whether he grows up believing in Singapore or not, that can only be known through a major crisis.

It is interesting to say that the nation was able to gear itself and unite to overcome the recent economic crisis, accepting great sacrifices to do so. Other nations without a strong National Education programme have suffered social and political unrest as a result of the crisis. We can conclude then, that the National Education programme being subtly taught in the past decade has worked. It can only work better with the conscious implementation of the initiative.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while the objectives behind the four National Initiatives are honourable and well thought of, the implementation leaves much to be desired. The abilities of the vast majority of students are simply not up to the level to handle the skills properly. The exam-based educational system also makes it difficult, even impractical, for the brightest of pupils to think creatively.

Meanwhile, the background of the students hampers them again in their learning of IT. Without sufficient exposure to the use of IT in their life, they are just simply not able to pick up the necessary computing skills. This is compounded by improper and misunderstood IT teaching by their teachers.

Finally, the only feather of the hat must go to National Education. It has proven itself successful in achieving its objectives of providing social cohesion and nationalist feelings. And it is probably the one initiative most familiar to the teachers.

Obviously, only time will tell how the students may come out under the National Initiatives. The author hopes that the article would prompt a review in the way the National Initiatives are being taught in the schools, resulting in them benefiting the students who would need them the most – our lower and middle-income families.