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A
letter to Barack Obama on Singapore's education system
Singapore
Democrats
14 Feb 08
Senator Barack
Obama
Presidential Candidate
Democratic Party
United
States of America
Dear Senator Obama,
I read in one
of your campaign speeches that you wanted American students to
match up academically to those in Taiwan and Singapore. While I
cannot speak for Taiwan, allow me to relate to you a few brief
facts about the reality of the schooling system in my country
Singapore:
A survey showed that one in three children
between the the ages of 9 to 12 say that life is not worth living
because of the fear of academic failure.
Nearly 20,000
students consult psychiatrists because of their fear of classroom
examinations. Two-thirds of them are in primary (elementary) and
pre-school grades.
Another survey asked American, Japanese
and Singaporean students what their greatest fear was. While a
majority of the American and Japanese children said that losing a
friend or the death of their parents was their number one fear,
Singaporean students said that not achieving good grades was what
they were most afraid of.
Is it any wonder then that 50
percent of young Singaporeans indicate that they want to emigrate
and live somewhere else. More than a third say they are not
patriotic to their country.
Of course there are the few
that excel in test-taking and school competitions. These are the
ones that make the headlines so that the country's rulers can
claim the credit. If you squeeze an apple hard enough, you will
extract some juice. Its the crushed pulp that we mourn
over.
Many Singaporean parents have left the country
because they refuse to subject their children to the torment that
passes for education here. The precious joy of learning is
utterly killed by the time one finishes school here.
In
fact, the Singapore government recently bemoaned that more than
1,000 of the country's best and brightest were leaving the
country every year. For a country with a population of only 3
million citizens, you can see how alarming the situation is.
So
why can't the people of Singapore change the education policies,
or the government for that matter? Because, unlike what you have
been blessed with – the ability to campaign and speak
freely, the opposition in Singapore is crushed by detention
without trial, criminal prosecution, and crippling defamation
lawsuits. Our media is completely in the hands of the ruling
party, and public speaking and assemblies are banned.
While
there maybe significant problems with schools in the US, the
educational system in Singapore, as you can see, is no model. As
for our political system, there is a dire need for democratic
reform.
I take this opportunity to wish you all the very
best in your bid for the presidency of the United States of
America.
Sincerely,
Chee Soon
Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
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