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Student Life

Singapore's Great Education System May Be A Nothing More Than A Myth

Education aspires to brilliance, evolution and change, not to systematization.

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When it comes to Standardized Testing, there isn't much of an argument on what the format has done to plague the American education system. The pro-testing 'argument' (or lack thereof) relies mainly on the fact that it's important for a kid to go to college. And that isn't even the heavyweight point of the accusations made against it.

But here's a pretty eye-opening statistic: Singapore is a country that commonly ranks among the top in global education standards. The country also relies heavily on SAT-esque standardized testing to develop its education system.

Teaching is also an incredibly difficult field to get into there. One must be a top performer in his or her class to be an educator in Singapore. But other than the differences in how teachers are pulled (and the balancing of wealth), the system isn't too differently structured from America's. To an extent, it's an example of peak efficiency of the same system.

But defendants of the American Education system, hold on a second. Because it's all essentially bogus.

This so-called world-class education system in Singapore is plagued heavily by student suicides, depression, ranking illegitimacy and questionable outcomes.

Let's begin with the elephant in the room. We're talking about a world-class education system that is notorious for inflicting intense stress and depressive, and in extreme cases, suicidal behavior for students on a scale that deems it a serious problem.

That also means that the education system is one that filters students harshly. The stress that some students may face at home, combined with the reliance on standardized scores, means that the pressure students face is enough for most to fall in line with the mindset that the education system puts into place.

This mindset turns them into adults that follow guidelines and expectations fairly and strictly, as these are the standards they have grown up with. I'll get to what that has resulted in a a bit later. But now it's time to get into the legitimacy of the rankings.

Worldwide system rankings are heavily based on a test not many have heard of. It goes by the name of PISA, and it tests students internationally in reading, math and science. Sadly, the test may not be credible enough to rank students in so many countries.

In a 2016 journal investigating the legitimacy of the PISA test, written by Shlömo Yitzhaki, Yitzhaki concluded his findings with the statement, "Choosing an OECD country at random and flipping a fair coin would give a similar degree of accuracy."

This also means that the rankings of these countries are less reliable than what we once thought. But there's another way to measure how well an educational system works, theorized by Bob Vos, in the Working Paper Series I-1, which analyzed educational indicators and policy effects. It's constructed to be seen in the format of input, access, output and outcome indicators. Applying this to Singapore can show some surprising results.

Input indicators show that there's quite a bit of investment in education, both socially and economically. It's seen in the pressure students face and in the fact that Singapore spent nearly 20 percent of it's public funding on education. On top of that, it outputs an overall high school graduation rate of over 90%.

All looks good and well before you get into the outcome.

According to a 2012 Gallup Poll, Singapore is ranked as the least emotional country in the world.

What's even more surprising is that the same poll found that only 2 percent of the country's respondents said that they were engaged in their jobs. And despite the country being described by Chris Queck as a hub of entrepreneurship, a large amount of its citizens fail to think big (this article also theorizes the culture, but in a different direction).

The country has one of the most advanced workforces in the world, is a hub for businesses and is at the top in cleanliness. But when it comes to innovation and empathy, the country is alarmingly lagging in its statistics.

Add to that and the problem it faces with student stress, and the outcome part of this system begins to show its weaknesses.

And what does this tell us?

As efficient as the education system is in creating a workforce, it's like this because it's disciplinary and embeds youngsters into a systematic, less emotional and creative cultural theory - not because it's educational.

Education, by human nature, aspires to brilliance, evolution and change, not to systematization.

What is then seen is heavy input, accessibility and output. But the outcome, or the final and vital part of this detection, trips over itself when it comes to the mere basics.

The Singapore education system, beyond its illegitimacy in terms of ranking, finds itself in rummy waters when it comes to the basics of what education is meant to help provide - from the student stress, right down to the cultural themes it ends up inflicting on society.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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