Education for what? For fun, for leisure, for excellence?

SINGAPORE: One year after subject-based banding was fully implemented, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said the initiative has helped students learn at their own pace while instilling respect for diverse abilities.

Speaking to CNA in an interview reviewing education policies from the current term of government, Mr Chan highlighted that his ministry is tracking key outcomes of subject-based banding, such as changing mindsets and nurturing a love for learning – beyond just academic performance....

The goal is to move away from a culture of "comparing ourselves with one another", he said.

"The results are not for comparison. The results are more for us to better understand ourselves, so that in the next step of our learning journey, we are sited in a more appropriate environment."  CNA

The above quotes give the impression of a very caring and well meaning education system, taking care of the needs of students of all abilities and letting them enjoy education as a pleasant passage in life, learn whatever they can, do not compare with those that are doing better or doing worse, just be happy with who and what they are. This kind of attitude towards education is a luxury only for a rich country like Singapore and western first world countries. Just like the western bourgeoisie and aristocrats, life is about enjoyment and be happy. Education should also be viewed in the same light. Why put so much pressure on the students to excel, to get all the A stars? When they could not do so, the students would be unduly stressed and so would be their parents. And some very negative consequences could occur.

It is always welcomed by the parents when all the students passed and passed with good grades. Never mind when their abilities or grades were questionable. The foreign talents with their funny degrees but with excellent grades is a good example. No one cares about what is real as long as they see all the A's in the certificate. Never mind if the professionals, eg doctors, engineers, architects etc etc would not be trusted to do their respective jobs and it becomes a norm to depend only on those from reputable universities.

Across the world, competition is very keen. Only the best survived. The world of artificial intelligence, high tech, satellite communication, space exploration, the making of the best mobile phones, best EVs, chips etc etc would not be kind or generous to the happy go lucking type that takes education as a pleasure pursuit, to be happy and learn at your own time, without or little pressure. Competition in the 4th Industrial Revolution is fierce and unkind and waits for no one. 

Can Singapore survive in a highly competitive world where only the best survives with the present education policy and thinking? The Americans are the pioneers of relax education where everyone will pass and even get a good pass with little effort, and with a little effort would be bestowed with top educational honours and awards. Caveat, the really top students were reserved for foreigners, hungry foreigners that want to be the best they can be. 

America is now paying a very expensive price for being heavily dependent on foreign talents to do the hard stuff while the white Americans enjoy life aplenty doing sweet nothing. Oops, they can all become politicians, lawyers and fund managers gambling in the stock market. Let the foreigners do all the heavy lifting in high tech and artificial intelligence. Money can buy all the foreign talents needed to make America great again. Singapore can just follow the American example.

Is Singapore, the miniature America, facing the same problems, with happy Singaporeans with no talents and needing mass injection of foreign talents to keep the economy moving? Is Singapore also paying the price, like the Americans, with a relax and every very happy education system producing happy graduates but unable to compete against the best from the rest of the world? Singaporeans today are even unable to compete with fake talents from third world countries for jobs in Singapore. And these foreign suspicious talents did not graduate from world class universities like NUS and NTU, but from their village universities where verification of their academic qualifications is difficult.

A happy education system that seeks to make everyone happy, doing away with high stress and pressure, is unlikely to produce the top talents needed by a modern world economy where only the best is needed for the 4th Industrial Revolution. Is the Singapore education system becoming obsolete for a highly competitive world? Or the children of natural aristocrats and the old and new rich can rest on their laurels and wealth and do not need to compete, and can enjoy education for fun, for pleasure at a more leisure pace, education for the sake of education? Can the children of HDB flats enjoy the same privilege without the wealth to let them live a comfortable life? Caveat, unless they are happy to be jig workers or flaunt their degrees as hawkers.

What do you think? Why is Singapore so desperate for foreign talents? Why is there a dearth of Singaporean talents?

PS. Today it is taboo or a 'crime' to talk about being top students. 

India is stuck between a rock and a hard place

 Palki Sharma now realizes that the USA is throwing India and Modi under the bus. She cannot be singing American Pie forever, or else her own countrymen will desert her.

India is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The USA does not want Indian rupees for its exports to India, while India wants USA products to be paid in rupees, same as wanting Russian weapons and oil to be paid in rupees, which Russia cannot agree. How to do trade like that?

Modi is rather quiet now with all the trouble he is going through. The Hindu Mother of all Festival, the Kumbh Mala, is becoming a deadly celebration. Trump's deportation of Indians from the USA is creating problems for India. The Indian economy is unravelling, with GDP growth slowing. Now India and China are head-to-head in GDP growth, but on a different base. But Palki Sharma is not talking about all these problems. Her problem was and is all about reporting bad things happening in China, not India. Imagine an Indian news site not covering news about India, but mostly about what is happening in and with China. She has still to protect her master's reputation.

Anonymous

Be like North Korea, no American sanction can cause any harm, be free from American coercion

 Iran's Supreme leader just said that any nuclear talks with the USA 'are not intelligent, wise or honorable'. What does this indicate? Does Iran already in possession of nukes? Hard to say. Many are of the opinion that Iran can have nukes in a matter of months if they want to. And with Russia behind, who knows.

Trump is going to relive his romance with Kim Jong Un to try to do another de-nuclearization move against North Korea. It is not going to happen. North Korea already just stated that de-nuclearization is a non-negotiable issue. That is throwing the ball into Trump's courtyard, telling him not to waste time and not to make another attempt. Trump is threatening more sanctions and tariffs against North Korea if it does not cater to his demands. He is delusional and grabbing at straws. What is North Korea exporting now to the USA, with all the sanctions imposed over the decades, which makes tariffs a non-issue in reality? What can the USA sanction North Korea with after all those decades of sanctioning? Kim Jong Un is not short of anything that he needs and looking at him, he is showing signs of more prosperity. Of course, North Koreans are affected by shortages, but this is not making them turn against Kim's regime. On the other hand, it could be making the people more patriotic and resentful of the USA and the West, just like in China.

Anonymous

DeepSeek is just the tip of the iceberg

 DeepSeek is just the tip of the iceberg that is already posing big problems for OpenAI, Amazon and Google/Microsoft among others. The USA is having a nightmare of sorts trying to justify its spending of an enormous amount of money, attempting to monopolize control of the AI sector, only to be marginalized by upstarts like DeepSeek. All that narrative about high-end chips monopolization is losing its purpose.

According to Kevin Walmsley, Alibaba is coming into the picture with its own AI model Qwen 2,5, which is even claimed to beat DeepSeek and OpenAI in various parameters. And Alibaba is not the only other Chinese technology company undertaking development of AI. They are all competing against each other to innovate and improve AI workings. All these developments by Chinese AI developers are making AI developments in China about to sweep aside the USA AI developers, outside of the USA of course, that needs hundreds of billions to achieve what Chinese companies can achieve with only pittance to do it.

The USA Government and its AI developers are touted to be spending another US$500 billion trying to monopolize the AI industry, after already having invested US$250 billion into the sector collectively. Perhaps it now still does not realize that such a venture may just be throwing good money after bad.

But Chinese companies in the same industry must not try to correct the mistake of the enemy. Let them destroy themselves is the best strategy.

Anonymous

The Empire of Lies thinks that lies and putting down others would make them great again

 For decades the world had been led to believe that the USA was the good guy against the bad guys like Russia and China. Communism was touted to be a bad system, and only democracy is good for the world, and everyone must lend a hand to protect democracy against the Communists.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the USA thought that it was going to remain the perennial superpower of the world forever with no competitors. The rise of China put paid to that grandstanding moment, and the USA's dream fell apart. China even became a peer competitor, competing with the USA in every sector. This was a hard pill to swallow and that started all the demonization of China, not about its Socialist roots, but about its domination in many sectors.

Using the narrative of the Chinese Government providing subsidies to manufacturing was actually a moot point, knowing that the USA Government had subsidized many of its own sectors and with subsidies that dwarfs what China was doing. It is the pot calling the kettle black and holds no water. That was the reason for the start of Trump's trade war against China, touting subsidies as the reason for the competitive edge of Chinese manufacturers.

Even the Europeans were up in arms over USA subsidies to lure manufacturers to the USA, using tactics such as the 'Inflation Reductions Act' as a cover and not calling a spade a spade. But, as we know, the Europeans had to take it all lying down and watch their industries moving to the USA and elsewhere, without being able to do anything about it.

When trade wars went from 'easy to win' to 'difficult to win', new narratives were formulated like overcapacity and increasing tariffs were dug up to demonize China. Overcapacity is a Godsend for people in BRICS and Global South, with cheaper and cheaper products to enjoy. Increasing tariffs hurts USA consumers more than Chinese manufacturers.

What other nonsense will the USA come up with, now that their AI innovation sectors are facing Chinese headwinds as well?

Anonymous