SOME THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION DIRECTION

I walked past the newly completed School of the Arts when I was going for my facial last week. And thought how far Singapore has come in this area.

I remember many, many grouses from peers many years ago about lack of what I would call “minority degree programs” such as music, liberal arts etc. Some other friends were lamenting the lack of diversity in our University modules; in the States, they said, students could have modules like “Modern Dance” mixed into their engineering and business degree courses, thereby leading to a better rounded program. In Singapore, you were stuck with those boring basic engineering, law, business etc modules most of the time. If you didn’t like any of these, you were screwed. No modern dance for you.

Today’s kids have a lot more choices and can pursue their interests more freely, which is good. But I also caution Singapore against going the other extreme. A very good example would be the States now. From what I have been reading, the lack of trained professionals in engineering and science is seriously affecting their competitiveness, a result of too many years of too many students taking on “soft subjects” that have no immediate applications on the modern society. Unemployment is high there, but graduates are unable to take advantage of the available jobs in certain high tech sectors which require engineering and science majors. Meanwhile, everyone else goes hungry, because a society in recession cannot support the patronage required for these other non-technical professions, like your modern dancer. And the lack of these trained technical professionals, who will be the ones creating real growth on the ground, may prevent the society from rebounding from its recession as fast as it should.

I have also seen recent arguments made against too diverse a course structure, as per my modern dance example. Students in the US now face fee hikes and education budget cuts, and generally take longer than they used to complete their degrees. A reason for the time and cost incurred was the presence of too many non-relevant modules which ultimately had no real value add to their employability in their intended fields. So much for the value of a well rounded education.

I feel that we mirror the US closely in certain parts of our developmental path, and in this instance of education, we should really take warning, and not move our education base too much towards the left. What we have right now is quite a nice balance, and we should take care to keep it this way.