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And Then We Reached The End
Wednesday, November 5, 2008/ 7:19 PM
I seriously appreciate the miracles of the body, rather, I'm surprised that there hasn't been any chemical explosions of sorts going on after the point where all my medication decided to collide in my bloodstream. That would be cool. So far its just making me drowsy, dizzy, tired and irritated with myself. And of course the usual waspy, barely-there voice and cough and drippy nose booster pack to add on to the real deal. Have I mentioned that I hate being sick?
But anyway, albeit my keen interest to completely obliterate the 's-c-h-o-o-l' word off my mind, some Facebook notification through my email stuck the word right back into my puny little brain. On this note, someone (I apologise, I really forgot who it was) sent me an invite to join the group "Students Against Our STRESSFUL Singapore Education System". Being my usual self (and slightly bemused) I double-clicked to discover that there're 914 people in the group (and counting). Assuming that these people didn't blindly click on the "Join Group" button, that's heck of a lot of Singaporean students. So back to the point where this bubble-like question mark appears on my head. I started thinking to myself; Is our Singaporean education system really the culprit behind the soaring stress levels of our Singaporean students? Or perhaps, is it just us? Carried on my train of thought with what constitutes of the Singaporean education system when the entire mindmap of the routes of education (which I think is on the MOE website somewhere) which was shown to us once during CLE came to my head. First things that came to my head - Streaming. Of course skipping the entire "optimizing resources and allowing students to progress at a rapid pace whilst interacting with students of similar learning abilities" part, somehow the mention of a single word (or two, or three) makes all these benefits' worth simply topple down like domino bricks, leaving them to waste away, more or less forgotten. It is simply this - It causes stress. Now, what is stress? Essentially the dictionary defines it as physical, mental, or emotional strain. So, does streaming really cause stress? Yes, a lot would point out. The stress to outperform, to outdo, to land in the gifted/ EM1 streams, to be the elite. So now after much thought and contemplation, we have officially done away with gifted/ EM1 streams (or so I heard), perhaps in a bid to make the education system seem less stressful after all those complains on forums and what not. But is our education system stressful, really? I think another aspect a lot of us incessantly point out is the tumultuous homework load in line with all the other commitments which are "not compulsory", but definitely necessary for our pretty portfolios (yes, this includes CCA). But I think we simply draw the link between the two and fail to realise these are merely characteristics of the way the education system has been chosen to be carried out. Our education system is merely a hypothetically structured framework for students to pass through - it is us that makes the system fluid. And hence to me, the system in itself isn't stressful, but the process in which it is being operated on results in a tendency for students to become stressed out. Basing the education system as a microcosm of society in our preparation for the dark and deadly unknown we know as "future", we know for sure that most things in this world (I'm sorry for demystifying those still in their little bubbles of oblivion) are viewed as a competition. If you choose to disagree with this, you still have the admit that the segregation through classes (pun not intended) will inadvertently be present in our society due to the various factors present resulting in a cumulative effect we simply cannot eliminate. Let's face it: there is nothing much really, that allows for a purely homogenous society where everyone is of an equal standard. And this is what our Singaporean education system has done, by streaming us through our grades. But does it mean we have to be stressed out because of the way we're classified? Perhaps it's too young an age to clearly define which route an individual should take. Perhaps it's because of the sheer one-way education route decided upon us in the early stages of our lives that makes it so hard to step out of the conventional cycle, resulting in the stressfulness of the entire schooling system here in Singapore. But all in all, you have to admit; we are the ones stressing ourselves. Not so much because of the education system but instead the way we perceive the standard routes of what we should or should not do while we traverse this route. But that in itself is a choice. It is a choice, but the odds of not following is too high, you might add on, and I agree that it is deemed almost necessary for all of us to follow the traditional "mug, study, exam, mug more, study more, exam" routine, to follow the footsteps and tread the same path generations over generations have taken on their route to achieve success. Maybe it is because we have it inculcated in our heads that in order to get to where we want to be, this is the safest route to take. But this route comes with high levels of stress, yet we choose to embark on this route altogether. So really, is our education system the one that is stressing ourselves out, or is it perhaps, just our environment, or even more, maybe just us? Unknowingly (or knowingly so), we all set expectations for ourselves and in this system. We're forced to look back and ensure that we achieve these goals for the fear of failure. But then again, we fail to realise that this path of wanting to achieve-it-all is purely our decision based on what others have decided to do, and definitely not something the education system laid down for us to follow. So call it being naive or whatsoever, but essentially to me, the term 'stressful' in itself is merely a matter of perception. The Singporean education system (just like any other education system in the world), may result in stress; perhaps slightly more than the average, perhaps much more. But what adds the f-u-l to the stress is merely one group of people - us. That's right - the way we perceive the stress levels, the way we handle them, the decisions we make in this system and finally the importance of staying ahead in this rat race we call life. So, being a student in Singapore may be stressful, but to the extent we can blame the Singaporean education system for our woeful cries of despair when major exams come round the corner? Not likely. Okay I guess this topic's pretty much open to one's interpretation and opinion so this's just my two cents worth (with a sniffly nose to go along). On a sidenote, Higher MT O's are over! It sucks sitting through four hours of Chinese wanting to fall asleep while coughing sporadically, but hey, its over! Now I'll just have to pray that I pass. Labels: Ramblings, Studies, Thoughts |