<p>Interesting article:</p>
<p>We All Have a Lot to Learn
Singapore's students do brilliantly in math and science tests. American kids test much worse but do better in the real world. Why?
By Fareed Zakaria</p>
<p>I myself hate learning math and science in school, but I'll go home and read books about Darwin and Steven Hawking, and teach myself calculus. But at school ehh, I stay away from it. Perhaps it's the way it's taught. At my school, math is the subject you try and keep away from. </p>
<p>I'm also going to college next year as an economics major, and people on this site will ask me "are you asian"? All of my school's top students who go to top schools such as duke and washu for science, are mostly Asian. The majorty of my friends major in either: Business, History, or Communications.</p>
<p>i think that's a really interesting article. after all, we were made to interact, not to sit at a desk and write exams.</p>
<p>It's kind of the same here. A lot of my Asian friends are raised by their parents to be calculators, not humans.</p>
<p>There's something on 20/20 next week about poorly performing schools.</p>
<p>Coming Up on 2020
Next Friday, Jan. 13, at 10 p.m.
John Stossel has an eye-opening hour on public schools -- "Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids."</p>
<p>For me, the take-home message is not that Singaporean students are test focused drones but the following:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Despite all the praise Shanmugaratnam showered on the States, he said that the U.S. educational system "as a whole has failed." "Unless you are comfortably middle class or richer," he explained, "you get an education that is truly second-rate by any standards. Apart from issues of fairness, what this means is that you never really access the talent of poor, bright kids. They don't go to good schools and, because of teaching methods that focus on bringing everyone along, the bright ones are never pushed. In Singapore we get the poor kid who is very bright and very hungry, and that's crucial to our success.</p>
<p>"From where I sit, it's not a flat world," Shanmugaratnam concluded. "It's one of peaks and valleys. The good news for America is that the peaks are getting higher. But the valleys are getting deeper, and many of them are also in the United States."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The United States can dominate because it has such a large pool to draw from. You only need a few innovators and creative people, after all. But in the valleys are large numbers of students who have been left behind.</p>
<p>Testing to the greater extent is a recent development. When schools were not test-driven, we had Edison, Franklin, Whitney, Carver, etc. necessity truly was the mother of invention, along with curiosity. When you memorize and regurgitate, there is no curiosity, but merely application of the rule. It is the free thinkers, the ones who think out of the box, that truly shine. Perhaps it is the free society we have that allows us to think creatively and to dare to be different. Singapore's society does not encourage this, so it is difficult to see it translated into the classroom. Education does reflect societal norms. If an area truly wants excellent schools and supports the teachers and administration in their goals, the schools are wonderful, but if an area fights the school all the way, then education falls into place. What irks me is the statement that public education has failed, making it seem all-inclusive. Yet, we all know of wonderful public schools, many of which place many students into ivies and elites every year , and these students are successful. But they seem to be in areas where the community supports the effort. No parent boo-hooing that Johnny's teacher is too hard, and wants him out to get him an easy "A." A lot of people talk about wanting things better, and that learning is more important than the grade, but in practice, when it is their child involved, believe me, the opposite is true. Their mantra seems to be - raise the standards of our schools, but not with my kid! Until this changes, schools will not change, either.</p>
<p>Anyone who has witnessed precollege education first hand knows that it is test oriented with an emphasis on rote learning. While this undoubtedly improves standardized test scores it does little to prepare one for the workplace.</p>
<p>Another cultural difference is the tolerance for mistakes. Innovation is always accompanied by countless failures. I think people involved in cutting edge businesses in America have a greater tolerance for failure than anywhere else.</p>
<p>And finally, NEVER underestimate the importance of the entrepenurial opportunities available to individuals in this country. A Google, Yahoo, Apple or Amazon would be much more difficult to achieve in Japan and nearly impossible in China or India. Anothe factor is access to venture capital.</p>
<p>That being said, we are in danger of loosing our dominance as an economic superpower for the following reasons. Stricter immigration ploicies. Dwindling numbers of scientists and engineers. Intellectual property theft because of outsorcing. Failure of government to adequately support public education and scientific research compared to governments in Asia.</p>
<p>Education is an investment in the future and we shortchange our students and researchers at our peril.</p>
<p>I would say that the culture in Singapore is really different from that of America's having undergone 12 years of my education in Singapore. Most friends I know only aim to work hard, get a scholarship, get a good degree and becomes a civil servant or someone in one of the plentiful government boards. In Singapore, it's really prestigious to become a civil servant, to serve the army, police. You get a really good pay and an iron rice bowl... Entrepreneurial spirit is sorely lacking over here. Also, I would say that Singapore kids are mostly shielded throughout our lives... we are not exposed to things outside academia. Our main priority is to get good results. The rest are secondary. I think that has to do with our culture as well. However, I would say that the paternalistic government has done a good job in looking after kids of different social spectra, unlike that of the States.... as wad the Minister has said about the second rate education in public schools.</p>