Smarts No Longer Good Enough For Singapore Students
A recent Singaporean film, "I Not Stupid," recounts the travails of
three 12- year-olds categorized by their school as not too bright.
School officials streamed the boys into courses labeled "em3," the
academic basement of the country’s hypercompetitive education
culture.
The first student, Kok Pin, is more artistic than academic, so his interests don’t fit into the school’s math- and science-heavy curriculum, much to his parents’ dismay. The second boy, Boon Hock, doesn’t have much time to study. He has to work at his parents’ "hawker stall," or roadside cafe, to help make ends meet. The third, Terry, doesn’t succeed in school for different reasons: The movie portrays him as lazy and spoiled.
Many in this small but powerful city-state often smile and shake their heads in aggrieved amusement over their culture’s emphasis on education and the standardized tests...
This article is available to subscribers only.
To keep reading this article and more, subscribe now or purchase this article.
Subscribe to Education Week and Save
Get a full year and save up to 45%!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
- Elementary School Teacher
- Success Academy Charter Schools, New York, NY
- Superintendent
- Pinellas County Schools, Pinellas County, FL
- K-8 Principal
- EdVantages/Performance Academies, Detroit, MI
- Principals
- Prince George's County Public Schools, MD
- Program Coordinator
- Institute for Educational Advancement, South Pasadena, CA
