11/01/23 by BROOKE LIM

yuxuan: conformity should be the main aim in all schools

2023-01-11 13:25:22 UTC

The job landscape today has been redefined and modern-day companies are searching for creative thinkers who can handle tricky situations in our VUCA world. By enforcing conformity, students are not prepared to handle the uncertainty and complexity they will encounter after leaving school. Rather than narrowing the options of students, educators should hone students’ flexibility and ability to adapt to changes. It would be far more beneficial for institutions to encourage critical thinking to allow students to develop the skills that the workplace of the future is looking for. After all, Forbes ranked critical thinking and creativity as part of the top 5 skills most in demand in the next decade. Hence, it can be deduced that cultivating these critical skills from early education would greatly benefit students and set them apart from others. Furthermore, different students have varying talents that are not purely academic. Conformity in schools perverts meritocracy as it honours the wrong traits. Schools that believe in compliance creates generations of textbook learners rather than creative and critical thinkers. In today’s rapidly-changing world, we face the needs and challenges of modern times where innovation and dynamism are far more appreciated. Educational institutions that prioritise the development of such values will produce students who gain a headstart in the real world. It is safe to conjecture that schools should not place an emphasis on conformity, and rather focus on preparing students for the diversity of the real world.

gabrielle

2023-01-11 13:25:31 UTC

‘The word failure should never be used in education.’ Discuss.

The word 'failure' should be used in education, as it can be beneficial to students' learning. Examinations are markers of a student’s grasp of knowledge and concepts taught. Failure in these assessments allows teachers to identify students who need more help and provide the necessary assistance. In Singapore, students who fail tests attend remedial lessons in school, allowing teachers to bridge gaps in individual students' understandings, as these classes are taught in smaller groups. Irish novelist Samuel Beckett once said, 'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' When students adopt a positive attitude toward failure, it allows them to understand what went wrong and learn from their mistakes. Failure inspires students to do better, facilitating growth. An absence of failure in education can instil falsified confidence in students, which would harm them in the future if they face failure and are ill-equipped to handle it. When failure is approached with the right mindset, it becomes a positive tool for learning and growth.

‘Only educated people should have the right to vote in elections.’ What is your view? (fazhi)

2023-01-11 13:25:35 UTC

Your paragraph here: I believe that only educated people should have the right to vote. This is because educated people have gone through the academic rigour of schools. Schools have equipped students with the relevant skills and knowledge in order for them to make informed decisions about the leaders to vote. This can be exemplified by the General Paper (GP) in Singapore GCE A level. This subject forces students to keep up with current affairs to ensure that they are well informed about the situations of the world as well as decide who they think they should trust. Additionally, students who have been educated learnt how to be resourceful. Similarly, in Singapore for Junior College students, an open folder called the "holy grail" was made for students to aid them in their revision. As students as well as alumni contribute to making the folder resourceful. Students are taught to be more resourceful themselves and find such folders on the internet. Since students are equipped with the skills to find relevant information on the internet to help support themselves. Votes should be given to those who are educated as they are able to research more about a particular candidate rather than just listen to their speeches. Since most politicians have the self-interest aim of being elected. They might make ridiculous claims in order to garner the support of the crowd so that he can be elected. As educated people will realise how ridiculous and untruthful; how come of their claims are either by researching similar acts that occurred in the past. I think that educated people, with their skills and knowledge, learned either directly or indirectly from school is useful to ensure the right people will come into power. However, it would be untruthful to say that educated people will always make the right choice and vote for the right future leaders. Even though they may be educated, this does not change the varying personality type of the people who are educated. Some of them may be extremely biased as they have certain unpopular views that could be harmful to some stakeholders. For instance, Andrew Tate who was educated has extremist and misogynistic views. Such individuals could elect similar leaders and cause other stakeholders in this case females and more difficult times. Additionally, it might not be fair for only educated people to vote. This is because education forms an insular bubble of those who are educated. Hence, they only realise the problem of their race however, they do not realise the issues that are borne by people who do not have access to education. For instance, villagers, farmers as well as less fortunate families. The lack of perspective from such stakeholders could create a one-sided argument for who should be the leader. Leaders who represent those who are not as educated are not given a chance on the stage to provide for the needs of their people. This creates inequality among people of diverse backgrounds. Hence, I think that educated people should not be the only ones who can vote, as they do not have access to the standard of living of those who are not educated. Which creates a one-sided ideology of only those who are educated, disregarding those who are not as fortunate as them.

‘Only educated people should have the right to vote in elections.’ What is your view? (alicia)

2023-01-11 13:26:02 UTC

Whilst many may believe that only educated people should be granted the privileges to vote, i beg to differ. Education is often known as an investment in human capital, where the highly educated tend to come from well-off households. This translates the idea that should votings be left solely to these educated individuals, it subtracts out majority of the poor, aggravating any socio-economic status divide. Moreover, an educated individual only reflects their intelligence in terms of studying and information that is provided in the acaedemic syllabus, less of the world and emotional intelligence. As a result, having only educated people be given the rights to vote will indeed be catastrophic, tampering the social fabric. Countless articles voiced out their opinions on Singapore's education system, criticising how "rigid" and "exam-oriented" it is. Hence, this confirms the idea that education is limited in emabling students to develop holistically, lacking the required knowledge beyond the classroom in order to comprehend politics and prevalent world crises. As politicians are crucial in the decision making process on behalf of the country, it is only fair if both uneducated and educated citizens are given the opportunity to have a say in how the country should be governed, allowing for social issues that may have been looked over by the educated and wealthy to be brought up to the government by the uneducated and minority.

‘The word failure should never be used in education.’ Discuss. (beverley)

2023-01-11 13:26:23 UTC

Failure should not be used in education as it causes students to feel discouraged as it brings about negative connotation. This may result in those who are unable to do well academically to feel incompetent or unworthy when they are labelled as "failures'' after losing out to their peers. Causing them to have a lack of motivation as no matter how hard they try, they are simply unable to catch up. This results in them to experience a decline in self-esteem as they continue to face such roadblocks despite trying their hardest academically. It is important to note that not everyone's strong suit is in academics and therefore, by putting such an intense amount of pressure on a student who may not be good in academics would result in more harm than good for the student. This can be seen in the Singapore education system, where it is a constant contest on the best or smartest student in the cohort, in the school, in the region, in the nation. Such a pressure-cooker system places too much emphasis on being the best so much so that one would feel neglected if they are unable to perform as well academically. This translates to the amount of resources, time and effort each student is able to receive. Which can be seen clearly from the schools they get streamed into after every major exam, even to the classes they get divided by after entering the school, and the different treatment they receive from their cohort mates by being in the so-called "best"/"worse" class. This discrimination against those who are unable to perform well academically causes many of those who are at the bottom of the ranks to lose hope after experiencing multiple failures, and result in them to completely give up. Another place where consequences of using failure in education can be seen is in Korea. The CSAT, or also known as a Korean's most important exam in a lifetime, clearly shows the difference in the ranking of those who are doing well academically as compared to those who have talents in other aspects. The results one receives for this major exam determines if one is able to get into college, or also known as university. Many people vye for the highest results just so that they are able to get into the top universities. The consequences of not getting good results are so bad until many who fail to achieve the grade that they want retake the test multiple times just to achieve their desired grade

(not completed yet ><)

Conformity should be the main aim of all schools_ Renee

2023-01-11 13:26:29 UTC

conformity is believed to tackle the discrimination. However, the idea of conformity is one-size-fits-all. Although this concept removes discrimination, it backfires when this results in no individualism. Without individualism, we lack the ability to think independently. The School's purpose is to prepare students for the workforce where critical thinking is needed. However, if schools focus entirely on conformity, students fail to think critically, thus schools have failed to achieve their purpose.

conformity would lead to a society where everyone shares similar viewpoints. In secondary schools, students are conformed to a certain curriculum and do not have much room to venture out onto topics that they would like to learn. but with a system where everyone learns the same things and are thought to think the same, the students would leave the schools with the same thinking process and viewpoints. This would not be ideal in situations such as that of discussing complex ideas or topics like climate change where multiple viewpoints are necessary in order to tackle a problem. Having multiple viewpoints would allow for more ideas and ways of solving an issue. However, with one viewpoint there is only one solution which may not be the most ideal one in that particular circumstance. But with conformity being focused in the early stages of a person's live, it can be quite detrimental especially since schools are to prepare and equipped students in being the next generation of leaders

‘Only educated people should have the right to vote in elections.’ What is your view? zeyan

2023-01-11 13:26:48 UTC

C.A.: While voting should not be limited to educated people, they tend to have more knowledge on politics, allowing them to make better decisions crucial for the future of a country. Elections represent one of the most important political events for a country as it depicts the next most suitable candidate who will run the party. Educated people are more likely to be more aware and knowledgeable on politics and matters as they are more likely to have invested time and patience into constant reading, broadening up their views on politics. During the 2002 presidential election in Kenya, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) coordinated a multifaceted voter education and training initiative that included community-based voter education, the monitoring of civic preparedness and the evaluation of pre-electoral environments with local observers. With support coming from many other organisations as well, the programmes demonstrated the popular commitment to open democratic processes at every level and reinforced the readiness for change and commitment to democracy among the Kenyan people. The elections were ultimately considered to be the freest and fairest Kenya had held up to that point. By educating people, it allows citizens to make their best decisions that are crucial to the country in the long run. Thus, educated people should have more rights to vote in the electrons.

‘Only educated people should have the right to vote in elections.’ What is your view? Divyesh

2023-01-11 13:27:07 UTC

Allowing only the educated to vote can be problematic as it is hard to define how educated one must be in order for their vote to be conisdered an educated one. A college student might seem significantly more educated than a high school student. However, the high school student might have read up a lot about politics and the candidates in his or her spare time. Whereas, the college student might have only have studied physics, physics and only physics during their time in college. There are two visible problems from the above example. Firstly, education need not only come from formal schooling and hence it is hard to differentiate educated and uneducated citizens. Secondly, it may not be about the quality and depth of education received but maybe what the voter is educated in. Physics is highly useful for engineering but it is not going to help one decide between Joe Biden or Trump. Some might argue that it is possible to test voters about the electors and their policies prior to the election as a means from differentiating educated voters and uneducated ones . However, we cannot be sure that these tests do not inherit any biasness. A survey may also be inaccessible to some due to language barrier as for big countries, there can be people speaking up to a hundred languages and some of the languages are too small in terms of native speakers to actually hire translators for. There are many problems in differentiating an educated vote and a non-educated one and therefore, it may be simpler and fairer to not use education as a consideration