THE TEMASEK REVIEW

An influential newspaper in Miami, a southern city of the U.S. had lavish generous praise on Singapore’s education system and its “national obsession” with education. (read article here)

Andre Oppenheimer, a columnist of the Miami Herald went on a study trip to Singapore to learn why Singapore’s students score so well on international science and maths tests. He came back visibly impressed and inspired by what he saw.

During his weeklong visit, Oppenheimer was literally blown away by Singapore’s public libraries at malls, big media headlines about students who excel academically and even Singapore’s ubiquitous 2-dollar note, which shows students in a classroom listening to a professor, with a university in the background.

Oppenheimer wrote that there are “ some things that Latin America, a region that has some of the world’s lowest education standards, could learn here.”

“Only four decades ago, when Singapore was told by Great Britain that it could no longer remain a British colony, Singapore was so poor — and hopeless — that no other country was interested in taking it over. Its per capita income at the time was the same as Jamaica’s.

Today, largely thanks to its focus on education, Singapore is the world’s ninth-richest country in per capita income. Comparatively, the United States is 10th, Mexico 82nd and Jamaica 123rd,” he wrote.

Oppenheimer noted that Singapore ranks No. 1 in several categories of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), test of fourth- and eighth-graders’ abilities in math and science.

While Singapore students were first in science in the TIMSS test, U.S. students ranked eighth. Most Latin American countries rank so low in broader international academic tests that they don’t dare participate in the TIMSS.

Oppenheimer attributed Singapore’s successful education system to its founder and ex-Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew who made English the first language to be used in all Singapore schools in addition to their mother tongues which are relegated to being a second language.

Under Lee’s leadership, Singapore’s education system was transformed into one of the world’s toughest academic meritocracies, where children are ranked by their academic performance, from first to last starting from Primary 1.

The discipline of Singapore students also left a lasting impression on the American journalist. He observed that whenever a visitor turned up in class, the students will bow automatically. They wear uniforms all the way through community college-like technical schools. Mohawk haircuts, dyed hair, jewelry or baggies are a no-no, even in junior college.

Singapore’s Education Minister Ng Eng Hen told him in an interview that technical schools or ITEs are the “jewels of his crown”.

“Almost all countries have good universities, but few have a system of good vocational schools,” he quipped.

The high education level of Singapore is fast becoming its Achilles’ heel. Because of their proficiency in the English language, Singaporeans are one of the highest prized and mobile workers in the world.

According to government sources, there are as many as 145,000 Singaporeans working or studying overseas.

In a survey done byExperiences 2009, the organiser of an annual US education convention, of 153 Singaporean undergraduates at 15 top US universities, as many as 79 per cent prefer to work in US after they graduate. Only 18.1 per cent want to return to Singapore immediately after they complete their studies. (read Asiaone report here)

The brain drain suffered by Singapore is getting considerable for the government to set up an “Overseas Singapore Portal” to keep in touch with Singaporeans living overseas.

In the last two years, the Minister of Home Affairs Mr Wong Kan Seng went on a tour of a few countries with significant numbers of Singaporeans such as Australia, Britain and even far-flung Uganda to remind them to “keep the Singapore flag flying high.”

In a way, Singapore is becoming a victim of its own success. Well educated and skilled Singaporeans are in a position to tap on the increasingly globalized and competitive labor market to seek better opportunities to improve their lives. Many often do not return after living overseas for a number of years.

Source: Miami Herald