The selection pressures exerted by the education system of Singapore

Each year, when children of 7 years of age enroll for primary school, they start playing this game. A game rather like survival of a species, in which natural selection shapes the traits of this species, ensuring that only those most suited to that particular environment survive.

A key feature of evolution is a replicating mechanism, the possibility of random mutation and the all important selection. To illustrate this point, suppose there lived a population of organism which were all blind, all without eyes. A chance mutation event enabled one of the members of this population to produce photosensitive cells on the superficial surface. These cells enable that member of the population to have a higher chance of survival as it is about to differentiate light from dark, enabling it to avoid certain dangers of life associated with a sudden change between light and dark, for example a predator looming in front of it. This trait will be passed on to its offspring and its offspring would possess this trait as well and thus propagating this gene for photosensitive cells. Perhaps if this form of primitive vision proves to be sufficiently important, all other members without this trait will not succeed in their efforts towards survival or maybe even edged out by those that possess sight, thus leaving only the sighted ones in that population.

This is basically how selection works even though i suppose i did not explain it really well.

Anyway what has this evolution mumbojumbo got to do with the education system of Singapore. It may not be apparent enough but they certainly have plenty of similarities.

To be more precise, it is the method of teaching that is similar to a life-form. A method of teaching can be replicated, in other words copied. A teacher easily copy a method of teaching from his/her colleague. Similarly, a method of teaching can be mutated, or modified. Whether it is done deliberately in a certain manner or otherwise is another matter. And finally the selection of the teaching method, which is feedback in the form of the student's results. Poor results will most likely lead to the death of a teaching method.

So how has the teaching methods in Singapore evolved to be over time?

As of my time in the education system during the 1990s, i would say the most effective exam acing formula would be route learning. Pile on the ten-year-series and the never ending homework assignments. I figured that if i stayed away from school, skipped all lectures and spend my time doing ten-year-series instead, it would serve me pretty well.

In such a system, the most useful strengths a student can have would be

1) A good memory (especially short-term memory)

2) Hardworking

Creativity certainly doesn't rank highly in such an environment. Or Critical thinking. After all, one only needs to regurgitate the answers found in the ten-year-series and might even get an A. You don't even need to understand what you are writing on the exam paper!!!! Newton's second law? What does it mean? All i need to know is F=ma.

Now that we have a system that solely rewards those with a good memory and the hardworking, leaving traits such as creativity and critical thinking out in the cold. What effect does it have on the Singapore population as a whole.

I can't say for sure, but i see a very distinct and obvious difference between the mindsets/thought patterns/behaviour of Singaporeans and people from other countries. I can't really put my finger on it but if you have lived overseas for a period of time, you would probably know what I'm talking about. Is that why Singaporeans are characterized as

KIASI

KIASU

KIABO

KIABOH

KIACHENGHU?