Saturday, June 28, 2008
7:52 PM
“The main function of education should be enable people to gain employment.” Do you agree? (CAM 1994)
In present society, educated people find it easier and have and advantage over people with little or no education when looking for jobs. Higher education often guarantees higher-paid jobs. Often, the most educated people can make choices over different jobs to choose whereas the least educated people have to made do with whatever jobs that are - left-unwanted jobs such as manual labour. However, there are also random cases where educated people cannot get their desired jobs and people with little or no education secure jobs of their choice and excel in their jobs.
Education can be taught to refine an individual. By teaching a man the basics of reading, writing, speaking and calculation, he is better able to express himself more fluently. He can also improve on his memory and learn about the nature and his surroundings and put it into good use into his daily life and the present society. He will become smarter and appreciate the achievements and contributions that are made by people of his same mankind.
Education can also be taught to enable a man to lead a higher life. An educated man can discuss fluently about the world affairs and happenings that are present in his society, appreciate arts and languages, enjoy reading books and watching plays. Therefore, education encourages a man to take an interest in the world.
Education can also help a man gain status in the society. Since higher education often guarantees higher paid and higher recognition jobs, a more recognized status will be bestowed on people who hold jobs which need high education qualifications such as doctors, lawyers and etc.
In conclusion, I feel that the main function of education is to enable people to gain employment. The society and the world is realistic, therefore only people capable and smart enough can survive.
Jessie :X
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Friday, June 27, 2008
1:35 AM
Is formal education overvalued?
Formal education is certainly highly valued, especially in an Asian country such as Singapore, where grades, at least for up to adulthood, matters above all else. This is reflected in our society’s fixation with obtaining good grades. As mentioned in the article, success or failure is measured by one’s ability to get into the best schools, the best university, subsequently the most stable, highest-paying job. It cannot be denied that formal education has been the main driving force to equip the much needed manpower with skills to drive economic growth. However, I do believe that formal education has been overvalued.
Why do I say that? To take the example of Singapore, children are reminded constantly from young to study hard, not to gain knowledge, but to get a ”good” job in the future. Certainly, many childhood years are spent doing endless assignments and studying for countless exams, both of which are prominent features of formal education.
I quote from the article why school is bad for kids that “education is a lifelong process… the problem comes with the misconception that learning begins just after the first bell rings and stops after graduation,” and “the point of education is not to teach what to think but how to think.” I agree completely with the author. For most students, the sole purpose of education seems to be to attain good grades to graduate. The thought of the real purpose of education has probably never crossed their minds; it is to “train and develop people in knowledge, skills, mind and character in a structured and certified programme.” In order to achieve that goal of good grades, students hone their skills in memorising, “he learns countless ways to con the teacher into thinking he knows something he doesn’t; he learns to bluff himself.” That is where the education system fails, and precisely why I think formal education is overvalued, for it is definitely not an adequate way to educate youngsters.
Education seems to exist only in schools, even though this is not the case. Education does not merely mean the knowledge we acquire in school, but what we learn from our interactions with others, our daily experiences. Simply said, an education is learning something, whatever it may be. Even though formal education provides us with the “hardware” information, most of the time it fails to let us understand the “software”. Through formal education, we are pumped with information- most of which students will promptly agree has nothing to do with “real life”. Moreover, many students memorise facts and figures without real understanding of the concepts taught. They may be able to proudly recite mind-boggling lists of formulas, facts and figures. However, faced with a real life situation, it will not remotely be of any use. Then, formal education would have failed to fulfil its goal.
The criticisms of formal education is what contributes to its overvalue. Formal education encourages conformity, and a “one size fits all” mentality. Parents, of all people, would agree that all children are different, with different abilities, interests and way of learning. Yet, most parents would agree that formal education is the only way for their sons and daughters to succeed in the future, even at the expense of their creativity and interest in learning. This is mainly due to the over emphasis on formal education in the society, where formal education seems the only rote to learning.
In Singapore, where there is seemingly an absence of alternatives to formal education, yes i agree, formal education is overvalued.
kiawoon
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
6:18 PM
“Education has failed to make people educated.” Do you agree that this is true of people in your country?
Education is supposed to enrich the learning experience of people and nurture a cultured and gracious society whereby people exercise social conscience. However, despite the high level of literacy rate in Singapore, many of us are still unruly and ungraciousness. One classic example is the situation when an MRT train arrives at the platform of a station. Instead of letting passengers alight first, people just barge their way in, for fear of the lack of seats. This causes great inconvenience to those alighting and some are even unable to alight in time. Is this what is education supposed to do, make people selfish and self-centered? Thus, in the area of social conscience, education has failed to make people educated.
Another aim of education is to remove the different level of hierarchies in today’s society. However, it does have instances where education backfires. The more educated people would feel that they are more superior and start to despise those who are lower in education, or those that may not even have a chance at education. This can be seen from the instances of maid abuse that is reported in the Singapore news. Isn’t education supposed to make people more aware of human rights and respect for it? This clearly shows that while education provides knowledge for people, it has failed to inculcate a sense of sensitivity for others.
As such, I feel that the rigid education of Singapore is not effective in making people educated. Education needs to be more flexible and include more areas such as social conscience and moral responsibility. An educated society is not one full of knowledge, but rather one that is compassionate and cultured. Though doing community work is compulsory for secondary school students, it sometimes defeats its purpose as students just do it for the sake of clocking hours. To make people truly educated, our education system must undergo reform.Melissa
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