A 12 year old girl, Peony Wee, lost her life on a mountain trekking trip
to Mount Kinabalu
when an earthquake hit the mountain. 2 teachers and 7 more students are still
missing. The students were there for leadership training as part of their wholesome
education and investment for the future. Our education process is top notched,
our students did not just go to school to learn the 3Rs but a lot of other ECA
and character development programmes to make them leaders of tomorrow. Only a
rich country like ours could afford such a comprehensive and enriching
programme unlike the developing countries. Hopefully the product of our expensive
education system will produce useful graduates for the economy in the future.
If only this comprehensive system was introduced earlier, our PMETs would not
be in dire straits today.
While we pray for the safe return of the missing students
and teachers, maybe we should take the opportunity to reflect, with hindsight,
how much we want to do with our children to make them better adults in the
future. Mountain climbing for 12 year olds to me is a bit far fetched though
many would thing it is normal and good. The overall picture is that all
outings, even within Singapore,
would incur some form of risk and could turn into tragedy if fate is unkind.
The Korean ferry tragedy is still vivid to many and still
being mourned by the parents of those children that were gone. I thought that
would have been food for thought to rein back some of the activities of the
schools. Apparently our overseas trips and programmes for students are in full
swing and students are encouraged to travel around the world, to many distant
countries for all round character development. This is very good if everything
turns out fine.
The question is that should schools be involved in such
overseas trips that often benefits a few that could afford the cost and many
that could not and could only envied? Should such trips be left to the parents
and families to their own fancy and not involved the schools? It is good to
have such programmes, a great outing, a great holiday to remember of. But as to
the real value, it is subjective especially for very young children.
Maybe the MOE may want to rethink and look at the bad side
if things did not turn out right like this case. Tragedy that can be avoided
shall be avoided. The process of growing up and learning is a life time
experience and there is no urgency to do it at the primary or even secondary
school level. The biggest training programme and character development will
come when the boys get enlisted into NS. That is solid training to turn boys to
men at the appropriate time, and if danger is part of the process of growing
up, NS training is full of it.
The Mount Kinabalu
tragedy is still unfolding and could be worse. 9 are still missing. We do not
need a bigger tragedy of the South Korean dimension to regret and think it is
unwise to expose our children to it. Let the parents bring their children to Disneyland
or the African jungle if they so choose to. The principals and teachers do not
need to live with such memories and to regret the rest of their lives.
The Americans are great adventurers and love to go to war to
return as victors and heroes. But when the brave young men and women return in
body bags, the pain and hurt will last a life time. Having fun is one thing and
everyone loves to have fun. Think of the consequences and ask if it is
necessary. Is it something that must have or good to have or nice to have but
not really necessary?