In 48 seconds, this video tells you what's wrong with our education system
And no, it's got nothing to do with one's ethnicity.
What we have is a system that pushes the responsibility of succeeding in education to the parents. The teachers are not given time to spend on the students, to try and ensure that every child succeeds according to his or her ability. Instead, this is farmed out to the tuition agencies. This video is proof that our education system may crash, and crash badly, if we are not a tuition nation.
But the problem is, the more well-off you are, the more you can spend to ensure your child's success. Lee Wei Ling for example in expressing how something is not right with the education system in a recent newspaper article, also goes on to detail how she was tutored by the employees of BBC, and even by the daughter of the then British High Commissioner (link: http://bit.ly/U3gnJI). That could be the reason why 6 out of 10 pupils from Singapore's top primary schools live in private properties (link: http://bit.ly/TRDoNH).
Former GIC economist Yeoh Lam Keong, speaking at a talk organised by Function 8 said that 'if you want to be in the running for a top school, the cost of putting a kid through tuition to get to the top school is $1,200 to $1,500 per kid per month in Primary school and $2000 per kid per month in secondary school. This is certainly beyond the reach of people with low income. The top 20% spend five times more in education than the bottom 20%. So there is no level playing field for the poor when it comes to educational opportunities.'
He asks, 'the question is, do we recognize that the central function of education is a prime vehicle for social mobility?' (link: http://on.fb.me/SZIx5o)
But what about the children that are not so well-off? Should we take comfort in the fact that they'll always have the $5 tuition?
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