There’s a really interesting article in the IHT today about the changing education system in China. I haven’t got through it all yet, but this section rang a lot of bells:
The continued growth since then has been a success in many respects; educational attainments and college attendance have surged. Yet in the process, some prominent government officials have grown concerned that too many students have become the sort of stressed-out, test-acing drone who fails to acquire the skills — creativity, flexibility, initiative, leadership — said to be necessary in the global marketplace. “Students are buried in an endless flood of homework and sit for one mock entrance exam after another, leaving them with heads swimming and eyes blurred,” lamented former Vice Premier Li Lanqing in a book describing his efforts to address the problem. They arrive at college exhausted and emerge from it unenlightened — just when the country urgently needs a talented elite of innovators, the word of the hour. A recent report from the McKinsey consulting firm, “China’s Looming Talent Shortage,” pinpointed the alarming consequences of the country’s so-called “stuffed duck” tradition of dry and outdated knowledge transfer: graduates lacking “the cultural fit,” language skills and practical experience with teamwork and projects that multinational employers in a global era are looking for.
A lot of this is very relevant in Singapore. Although the education system here is very well regarded regionally – to the extent that Singapore is becoming an ‘education hub’ – many of the same problems are to be found here. The Straits Times over the weekend ran a piece on how foreign students thrashed locals in debating contests, in part due to their broader knowledge and more flexible thinking.
The comment about “blurry vision” also struck a chord, as I’ve heard of it being a big, and growing, problem for Singapore. A quick search finds this:
Fact: Myopia is worsening in Singapore
Myopia is a rapidly worsening public health problem in Singapore. Surveys have indicated that myopia afflicts 25% of 7 year olds, 33% of 9 year olds, 50% of 12 year olds and more than 80% of 18 year old males in Singapore.
Over 80% of adult males males entering adulthood? Wow, that’s not good….
