A system is only as good as it's intent.
Category: Education
The elephant outside the classroom
Chew Wei Shan's facebook post on meritocracy and elitism clearly made a lot of people very uncomfortable, especially those of a certain socio-economic status (SES). She didn't pull any punches in her sharp, self-aware commentary on the divisions in our schools. In the other corner, are these feeble attempts to examine things superficially instead of structurally,… Continue reading The elephant outside the classroom
Protest the test
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Really?" The most important thing I've learnt from being a teacher in Singapore for the last 15 years (teaching at Primary, Secondary, Junior College levels and in both Government and Independent schools, MOE HQ and now in a private international school) is the importance of "learning how to… Continue reading Protest the test
Sea change
I guess things are changing, and more than just one step at a time. Kudos to the Ministry of Education, Singapore! Now the tough part will be changing the mindset of some (maybe many) parents and some (hopefully few) teachers. To me, the biggest, boldest change is not the removal of the mid-year exams or… Continue reading Sea change
What’s the merit in meritocracy?
What is the merit in meritocracy? Meritocracy is a social system in which people reach positions of power based on their abilities - physical and mental abilities like health and intelligence, social abilities like leadership and people-skills, character traits like confidence, discipline, resilience. And how does one get these abilities? 1. You're born with them.… Continue reading What’s the merit in meritocracy?
Invitate et Caritate
Why is there no proper, elegant word for the situation where you find yourself writing to the persons you invited to say they no longer are welcome? "reject"? No, you offered, there is nothing for you to reject, except yourself. "dis-invited"? An ugly prefix which far from fixes. "uninvited"? Feigns ignorance of the invitation. "withdraw/… Continue reading Invitate et Caritate
10/10
A place I used to work at celebrated its 10th anniversary last week. In honour of that, I've put together 10 poems that I wrote while in that place about that place, called "10/10". It'll be available at the Evening Assembly, on 28 July 2018. Below is one of the poems in this collection: See you… Continue reading 10/10
Hippocracy
Every school is a good school but some are (Independent). Every school is a good school but some are for descendants. Every school is a good school but some have balls and formals. Every school is a good school but some are not (Normal). Every school is a good school but some are (Higher Chinese).… Continue reading Hippocracy
