onslaught
03-02-06, 08:32 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663340/site/newsweek/
Singapore's students do brilliantly in math and science tests.
American kids test much worse but do better in the real world. Why?
This small event says a lot about global competition. Traveling
around Asia for most of the past month, I have been struck by the
relentless focus on education. It makes sense. Many of these
countries have no natural resources, other than their people; making
them smarter is the only path for development. China, as always,
appears to be moving fastest. When officials there talk about their
plans for future growth, they point out that they have increased
spending on colleges and universities almost tenfold in the past 10
years. Yale's president, Richard Levin, notes that Peking
University's two state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication lines—
each employing a different technology—outshine anything in the
United States. East Asian countries top virtually every global
ranking of students in science and mathematics.
But one thing puzzles me about these oft-made comparisons. I talked
to Tharman Shanmugaratnam to understand it better. He's the minister
of Education of Singapore, the country that is No. 1 in the global
science and math rankings for schoolchildren. I asked the minister
how to explain the fact that even though Singapore's students do so
brilliantly on these tests, when you look at these same students 10
or 20 years later, few of them are worldbeaters anymore. Singapore
has few truly top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors,
business executives or academics. American kids, by contrast, test
much worse in the fourth and eighth grades but seem to do better
later in life and in the real world. Why?
"We both have meritocracies," Shanmugaratnam said. "Yours is a
talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. There are some
parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well—like
creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all,
America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional
wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas
where Singapore must learn from America."
Shanmugaratnam also pointed out that American universities are
unrivaled globally—and are getting better. "You have created a
public-private partnership in tertiary education that is amazingly
successful. The government provides massive funding, and private and
public colleges compete, raising everyone's standards."
Shanmugaratnam highlighted in particular the role that American
foundations play. "Someone in society has to be focused on the long
term, on maintaining excellence, on raising quality. You have this
array of foundations—in fact, a whole tradition of civic-minded
volunteerism—that fulfills this role. For example, you could not
imagine American advances in biomedical sciences without the Howard
Hughes Foundation."
Singapore is now emphasizing factors other than raw testing skills
when selecting its top students. But cultures are hard to change. A
Singaporean friend recently brought his children back from America
and put them in his country's much-heralded schools. He described
the difference. "In the American school, when my son would speak up,
he was applauded and encouraged. In Singapore, he's seen as pushy
and weird. The culture of making learning something to love and
engage in with gusto is totally absent. Here it is a chore. Work
hard, memorize and test well." He took his child out of the
Singapore state school and put him into a private, Western-style one.
This certainly provokes thoughts about the quality of the education system in Singapore? Any response (from s'poreans especially)
Singapore's students do brilliantly in math and science tests.
American kids test much worse but do better in the real world. Why?
This small event says a lot about global competition. Traveling
around Asia for most of the past month, I have been struck by the
relentless focus on education. It makes sense. Many of these
countries have no natural resources, other than their people; making
them smarter is the only path for development. China, as always,
appears to be moving fastest. When officials there talk about their
plans for future growth, they point out that they have increased
spending on colleges and universities almost tenfold in the past 10
years. Yale's president, Richard Levin, notes that Peking
University's two state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication lines—
each employing a different technology—outshine anything in the
United States. East Asian countries top virtually every global
ranking of students in science and mathematics.
But one thing puzzles me about these oft-made comparisons. I talked
to Tharman Shanmugaratnam to understand it better. He's the minister
of Education of Singapore, the country that is No. 1 in the global
science and math rankings for schoolchildren. I asked the minister
how to explain the fact that even though Singapore's students do so
brilliantly on these tests, when you look at these same students 10
or 20 years later, few of them are worldbeaters anymore. Singapore
has few truly top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors,
business executives or academics. American kids, by contrast, test
much worse in the fourth and eighth grades but seem to do better
later in life and in the real world. Why?
"We both have meritocracies," Shanmugaratnam said. "Yours is a
talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. There are some
parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well—like
creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all,
America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional
wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas
where Singapore must learn from America."
Shanmugaratnam also pointed out that American universities are
unrivaled globally—and are getting better. "You have created a
public-private partnership in tertiary education that is amazingly
successful. The government provides massive funding, and private and
public colleges compete, raising everyone's standards."
Shanmugaratnam highlighted in particular the role that American
foundations play. "Someone in society has to be focused on the long
term, on maintaining excellence, on raising quality. You have this
array of foundations—in fact, a whole tradition of civic-minded
volunteerism—that fulfills this role. For example, you could not
imagine American advances in biomedical sciences without the Howard
Hughes Foundation."
Singapore is now emphasizing factors other than raw testing skills
when selecting its top students. But cultures are hard to change. A
Singaporean friend recently brought his children back from America
and put them in his country's much-heralded schools. He described
the difference. "In the American school, when my son would speak up,
he was applauded and encouraged. In Singapore, he's seen as pushy
and weird. The culture of making learning something to love and
engage in with gusto is totally absent. Here it is a chore. Work
hard, memorize and test well." He took his child out of the
Singapore state school and put him into a private, Western-style one.
This certainly provokes thoughts about the quality of the education system in Singapore? Any response (from s'poreans especially)