reflective journal 5

Reflective Journal 5: Reflect on education. You may choose reflect on the necessary priorities of education, how far the ideals and realities of education converge, how the problems discussed about education in US and China can be resolved. You should explicitly explain how class discussion on education in US and China have influenced/shaped your views.

Education. As most of us know, education is the imparting of skills and knowledge and its purpose is to prepare a nation’s people for the workforce by equipping them with the adequate skills and also for propaganda.
In my opinion, the main purpose of education is to learn, to learn new knowledge and skills.
During class discussion, I strongly agree with the ideal education system that we have discussed, and I feel that schools should be as such to stretch a student’s potential.
Critical thinking and creativity in this era is an important asset, as it sets apart the brilliant from the normal. In this present day and age, getting a degree alone is not enough. Degrees are way too common in this current age. Every year, 6 million students graduate from college in China. With an increasing number of graduates around the world, a degree alone is no enough to succeed. Being able to think creatively and critically by adapting to different situation is important in this day and age.
What exactly is critical thinking? I feel it is able to come up with multiple solutions for a question and to be able to think more than what it seems to be, and to be able to analyze problems and information. What is creativity? I feel that it is to be able to think differently from the norm, coming up with ideas and solutions that most people are unable to think of. Present students have rigid minds, which I will talk about later, thus being able to think critically would set one apart.
After going through nine years of education myself, I would say the problem with the Singapore’s education system is that it is too rigid. The system is structured in such a way that we are not able to think out of the box and creatively, as students are taught to answer in only one way. Since primary school, often have I been rejected by teachers whenever I ask for reasons for the answers, and all I get is, “Do not ask so much. This is the answer”. This has caused my burning passion for learning to be dampened over the years, and I am sure I am not the only one. By instilling a mind-set that there can only be one answer, it causes students to forget the skill of thinking of other endless possibilities to the question. Students become inflexible or like what the Chinese say, dead brain – si nao(死脑).
In China, it’s almost a similar case. Teachers teach, students accept without questioning. My Chinese scholar classmate explained to me that in China, students would never question what the teacher teaches, but just accept everything wholesale, without any questions. This does not promote much thinking among Chinese students.
Another reason we discussed about is standardised testing. Standardised testing is used by countries throughout the world to gauge a student’s potential. After the class discussion, I suddenly linked schools to multinational companies. In the U.S, test scores are used to determine funding to the school. This is much like a company, where results are based on Key Performance Index(KPI). As we have discussed, immense pressure is placed on to teachers and students. This causes schools and teachers put in too much focus on test scores, resulting in students placing too much emphasis on scoring rather than learning. For example, in China, students use rote memorisation rather in order to score well, memorising sample answers. In the U.S., standardized tests have caused teachers to place more emphasis on certain subjects, while disregarding others.
Standardized testing is the root of the problems faced in education. It is the emphasis on scores and results that causes students and teaches to forget the real purpose of education which is to learn.
However I question myself, is there any other way to gauge a student’s rate of learning? Other than tests, I feel there is no other way to gauge the learning of a student. Without tests, students may see no point in learning, and thus not make an effort to listen in class.
Rather than removing standardized testing I have a suggestion to change the education system.
I encourage the use of testing; however, I have an alternative to the methods of testing. In place of standardized testing, I feel that presentation is a more apt way of testing. Students can present what they have learnt, this not only teaches them research skills, but also hones presentation skills and teaches them to think critically when questions are raised by learning how to answer questions on the spot. This provides a holistic development for the students, developing skills that we deem important during class.
In conclusion, I feel education has forgotten its purpose.

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