Term 3 Week 3 (Blogging Assignment)

Ultimately, the education system in Singapore is a failure in today’s society. Why? Schools teach students to memorise and express facts in a way too rigid for improvisation, too structured for understanding and creativity. The Singapore’s education system teaches people to accept facts as they are, and not truly understand the reasons behind these curious questions. As a result, what is being taught does not prepare them for the future and as working adults, but rather to get past the O-levels and A-levels to get scholarships to get into prestigious universities. Yet, it is our foundation and the true potential of our inquisitive mind that is compromised.

In fact, I speak from experience even though I am still at a young age of 13 years old. When my mind was developing at an even younger age, I was exceptionally quiet for a kid my age. Unlike many of the playful children that fool around all day, I retreated into my mind and embraced the many wonders around me; there were always an unlimited number of questions racing through my mind. I recall sitting my parents’ car and deriving mathematical questions from the view flashing across the window. Perhaps that is why my favourite subject is Mathematics now; it is the only source of knowledge that I can truly understand the roots of all my questions, because it is simply a matter of right and wrong, without the need to ask an adult.

As a matter of fact, an ideal education is possible, but not realistic in the context of our advanced society. True education is teaching people to be able to think for themselves, not to listen to facts that others have derived many decades, even centuries ago. Human civilization will become obsolete if we continue to follow, not create. Evolution is reliant on the species’ development and environment, and it is absolutely unrealistic to think that the convenience of obtaining knowledge will enable us to realize and find out about the mysteries of the never-ending realm that we live. When we live in such a convenient society where everything can be accessed at our fingertips, laziness will undoubtedly lodge into our daily behaviour.

What saddens me the most is that people invent new technology not for its future progress, but for the convenience it provides that can enable it to dominate in the competitive industries. Now, what use is convenience for in this case? Obviously, the answer is right in front of our eyes. Money is the bane of our quest to obtain knowledge. Knowledge has become a source of money nowadays, not a source of joy and progress. If this continues, our human civilization will be destroyed while threats triumph and we could not care less but fix our gazes on the pursuit of money. We will implode.