Commentary: Parents, don’t shy away from a competitive education system
SINGAPORE: Christmas came early this year for many parents.
A move towards fewer tests in schools announced by the Ministry of Education (MOE) terminal Friday (Sep 28) was applauded by relieved mums and dads.
THE Instruction Organisation HAS BEEN Changing
Radical as it seems, MOE's announcement is not all that groundbreaking considering the concerted shift away from an emphasis on bookish grades in recent years.
A roll-out of applied learning programmes across all primary schools by 2023 was announced earlier this yr – heralding a greater shift towards nurturing creativity and developing a honey for learning.
Although the Primary School Leaving Examination volition exist retained, since 2013, MOE has removed the highest and lowest aggregate scores in results slips. Scoring bands will also be widened from 2022 onwards.
At the secondary school-level, the Direct Admission Scheme, which admits students based on their other talents, was strengthened when authorities did abroad with the use of general academic power tests as a criterion this year.
And then changes in the system have been underway for some time. But the reactions from most parents reveal a certain psyche.
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Especially KIASU PARENTS
Wanting children to practice well in school is a goal of every Singaporean parent downwardly the generations, but it seems having gone through a system of streaming and frequent scholastic testing have turned many of my vintage into especially kiasu parents.
There seems to be an unhealthy arms race in parenting. When my parents raised me, existence a supportive parent meant gently reminding your children to written report difficult or sitting with them while they do their homework.
These days, being a supportive parent comes packed with pretty high expectations - including early enrollment into the best pre-school and suite of enrichment classes money can buy.
Numbers is something every applied Singaporean understand. Every test grade your child gets must feel similar a test of your parenting abilities.
Fewer tests means having to deal with fewer periods of busied preparations and that must be such a relief for parents.
STRESS COMES FROM OTHER SOURCES Too
Simply will students finally be free from stress?
"The devil's in the details of how people respond", a friend who has three kids said. I recollect she's onto something.
The Education Ministry might have reduced testing but stamping out the corrosive sources of exam stress will crave a bigger mindset shift from teachers, parents and students.
If we retrieve back, how much anxiety did not arise from the underlined marks on a failing course in a report card, but from the memory of the burning shame we felt when teachers gave out examination scripts in course - in order of merit?
Or the look our parents gave united states of america when we told them our grades?
So it is useful that instead of stress reduction, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has framed the announcement as a focus on what he calls "the truthful spirit of learning" where students can take fourth dimension to savour school, speaking at an event on Wednesday (Oct three).
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Viewed this way, fewer tests could mean parents can spend more time with their children reading, tinkering and discovering together a love for learning, instead of cramming for exams.
Permit'S Think COMPETITION IS A Practiced THING
But in the debate on education and tests, permit's be careful not to shy away from competition altogether. Studies have shown that salubrious competition can be good for a child's development.
No doubt competition can be harmful if exams become a zero-sum race and winning takes primacy over gaining knowledge, writes pedagogy expert Dr John Shindler, simply if tests are viewed every bit a collective challenge, they can foster effective skills of collaboration – similar when students study together.
Competition also teaches children how to cope with negative emotions, confront insecurities, and develop cocky-esteem, co-ordinate to UC Berkeley Pedagogy Director of the Greater Good Science Centre'due south Vicki Zakrzewski.
Schools are putting these lessons to exercise, where many recognise the caustic effects hyper-contest can take.
Many, like Serangoon Garden Secondary School and Agree Master School have besides taken action to back up their students through difficult times – through gratitude programmes, sharing sessions and outdoor educational activity aimed at building confidence and mental wellness – without necessarily dialing back on the importance of assessment.
Preparing for a test, and dealing with the stress and results, tin as well be a learning experience.
Competition WILL Be INTENSE IN AN Age OF DISRUPTION
I worry parents encounter the announced move towards fewer tests as an like shooting fish in a barrel style out – as a justified tweaking of the rules of the game instead of bravely confronting a situation when children react desperately to stress.
The reality is that kids volition grow upward in a more volatile and uncertain world. To deal with the unpredictable challenges of disruption, they will demand agility and resilience to navigate varied scenarios.
Being exposed to competition – whether in the grade of regular testing or otherwise - tin can assistance them grow these needed skills.
And it is incumbent on parents and family members to build in them a robust response to pressure, instead of wishing to protect them from the stresses of life.
Let's not forget they take their cues from the states all.
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Parents take dramatic influence on how their children learn, writes Amanda Ripley, writer of The Smartest Kids in The Globe. She writes:
"Parents who view themselves equally education coaches … allow their children make mistakes and then become right dorsum to work. They teach them good habits. They desire their children to fail while they are even so children. They know that those lessons – near difficult work, persistence, integrity and consequences – will serve a child for decades to come up."
How are parents helping their kids build self-reliance? Do mums and dads actively discuss with their kids their fears and uncertainties about the future?
Exercise parents themselves accept a positive attitude near adapting to alter and disruption? Or exercise they run abroad from problems – in this example from helping their kids navigate stress?
A NATURAL PART OF GROWING UP
All this is non to say that nosotros should wish for more tests to be reinstated – far from it.
Only it would be worrying if equally a nation, we beginning to favour an education system that mollycoddles Singapore's children. That would exist doing them a disservice.
Then in MOE's latest move, it'due south the parents, non the students, I worry nearly.
Only I have faith that parents understand that having to face important challenges and feeling uncomfortable, even broken-hearted, while doing so is a healthy, natural part of growing up that should not be robbed from our children.
And as a society, we must non let the removal of exams diminish the desire to be actively involved in our children's learning journey.
Lin Suling is executive editor at Aqueduct NewsAsia Digital News where she oversees the Commentary section.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/commentary-parents-dont-shy-away-competitive-education-system-277486
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