Want the education system fixed? Then stop sending your children for tuition and let them fail
By Jeremy Au Yong, The Straits Times, 30 Sep 2013
We live in troubled times.
The proliferation and wanton use of tuition in Singapore has recently come in for scrutiny again after the issue was debated in Parliament.
And when the Government dropped a bomb - it did not acknowledge the magnitude of the tuition problem - parents everywhere were crying bloody murder.
Any parent will tell you that tuition has become a non-optional part of getting an education in Singapore. School alone is no longer enough.
Children learn hardly anything in school these days. Just ask one a simple general knowledge question such as "What does the fox say?" and see what you get.
Classes are too big and the syllabus too unrealistic, parents say, such that it is impossible for teachers to possibly get through the whole thing. So teachers rush through it, leaving students dazed, confused and longing for the warmth and comfort of tuition.
"Mum, can I please, please get more tuition for my birthday? I know it's expensive, but I need it," is a common lament of the Singapore student.
Okay, maybe it is not, but children often don't know what is good for them. The point is, they need tuition, a lot of it.
It wasn't always like this. I remember when I was in school, I would come home from a hard day at class, do my homework and then sleep. There was hardly any time for tuition.
Now, I'm not trying to brag, but back then, even without tuition, my grades were not terribly embarrassing.
Sure, they weren't exactly top notch, but at least my parents knew that I could make it through to graduation. That is more than I can say now for the children who decided to forgo tuition.
Something has changed in the decades since. The balance has shifted towards tuition.
Now children have to suffer through extra classes and adults like us can only look on with a feeling of pity, helplessness and, let's face it, a bit of relief that we don't have to go through school again.
And that is why so many are upset that the Government is saying that the education system here was designed without tuition in mind.
If anything, to parents, it feels like the education system was designed by tuition centres.
But, parents, the thing is, you can do something about it.
You are not completely helpless in this situation. You have the power to be a force for change.
Nobody is actually forcing you at gunpoint to send your child for tuition. I know that sounds irresponsible, but if everybody just plain stopped going and whole classes of kids started failing, action would be taken to fix it.
The problem really is that the children of Singapore aren't failing enough.
Consider this stunning tale from Liberia, a country where tuition is not prevalent. Last month, it emerged that all 25,000 students who took the entrance exam for the University of Liberia failed.
Consider this stunning tale from Liberia, a country where tuition is not prevalent. Last month, it emerged that all 25,000 students who took the entrance exam for the University of Liberia failed.
Next thing you knew, the education minister was calling for a meeting with the university. I'm not sure what came of it, but the point is action was taken at a very high level.
And if we are going to hope for some similar action here, we need to similarly show some results, or lack of results.
Complaining and calling on the authorities to fix the education system aren't going to work when leaders continue to see Singapore students near the top of world standings when it comes to maths and reading scores.
Of course, we are not going to achieve anything if only a handful of parents decide to take a stand and stop sending their kids to tuition.
No, everyone must do it.
And to achieve that, I am taking a leaf out of the UN playbook.
I am proposing that all parents in Singapore sign on to a binding convention. I am calling it the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Attendance, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Strategic Tuition.
The full text of the convention treaty is below:
Each family party to this convention undertakes never under any circumstances:
(a) To develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain enrichment/tuition class materials or transfer, directly or indirectly, the said materials to anyone;
(b) To send any offspring for tuition or any additional classes that are not already part of the existing school system;
(c) To assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a family under this convention.Of course, you have to beware of rogue parents who refuse to be party to the convention, perhaps due to some civil war at home in which only one parent wants to be a responsible global citizen.
That may be unavoidable, but if the majority of us behave ethically, we can all hope for a day when our children can live happily, stress-free, knowing that the threat of tuition wars is no more.
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