Friday, August 15, 2008
1:45 AM
Supian and Hartung argue that talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined and that we tend to produce only certain types of talent. Do you agree with their views?
Supian and Hartung argue that talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined and that we tend to produce only certain types of talent. I feel that this is true only to a certain extent.
Our education system should bear major responsibility for the lack of variety in the types of talent Singapore produces. Don’t you feel that our education system is overly skill-based? The knowledge imparted to students from primary to tertiary education is hardly ever useful when they embark on the path of their careers. As such, many of our students are knowledgeable but the problem is that they are unable to apply it into real-life situations, rendering the knowledge almost useless. This rigid form of education produces talents based on academics instead of holistically. I feel that students should not only be recognized based on their results, but also skills such as finding solutions, creativity, PR and many more. In our society, music, art, literature and other form of humanities are also largely neglected. They are often seen as secondary to subjects such as science, mathematics and economics. One disadvantage of such a system is that students who are talented, say in the area of arts may choose to give up their passion for a stable job or greater recognition in other fields. When this happens, there goes another valuable asset to our country. It is only when we are willing to change our mindsets on what is the true meaning of talent and not stick to the stereotypical view that ir means good academics, can we construct a nation of diversified talents.
However, we also cannot neglect the fact the efforts put in by our country to groom talents in a many different fields. This can be seen from the setting up the sports school to harness the physically-inclined talents. In recent years, the arts school, NAFA, has also been set up to develop talented Singaporeans in the field of the arts. In addition, the Ministry of Education has also begun to place emphasis on the music arena in Singapore. One example is the recent tour to Italy which the SNYO took part in. They were given a chance to perform on an international platform, signaling the progress Singapore is making in the music arena. Thus, we cannot totally say that the talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined as measures are already being put into place to ensure a more holistic development of our local talents. What our country need is time. Given ample time and greater emphasis, Singapore would be able to produce a wide array of talents from all walks of life and might even be able to gain recognition for our talents.
Melissa
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