Exam Obsession Churns Out Rote-Learners

[HakkaThaileen]

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_308737.html

Unfortunately, the rote-learners are now making big investment decision for the country and have lost miserably lately..

 

[Einfield]

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_308737.html

Unfortunately, the rote-learners are now making big decision for the country.

That is why we often hear respond from decision makers like:

Let's Move on (I screw up but let's forget it)
We are monitoring the situation (I have no idea what is going on, so lets buy some time and also sound like we are doing something)

 

[madmansg]

rote learners are the worst investors as they follow the herd over the cliff.

 

[The_Latest_H]

I got out of the system before I became a robot myself. Says it all really.

 

[singveld]

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_308737.html

Unfortunately, the rote-learners are now making big investment decision for the country and have lost miserably lately..

that is why if einstein be born in singapore
he will be clearing dishes from hawker centre
if bill gates born in singapore
he will be selling illegal dvd in heartland

 

[madmansg]

that is why if einstein be born in singapore
he will be clearing dishes from hawker centre
if bill gates born in singapore
he will be selling illegal dvd in heartland
Reply With Quote
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safe to say they will awol from NS , run to malaysia or thailiand or futher. NS is killing Sg.

 

[singveld]

safe to say they will awol from NS , run to malaysia or thailiand or futher. NS is killing Sg.

if i want to awol from NS, i rather go to USA.

yeah, if i was 18 again, i join JW, and then fly to USA and get asylum with JW over there.

after getting USA citizenship, get out of JW.

what about this plan??? too bad, i was too young to think. have to finish 2.5 yrs in pes A.

 

[etherc]

That's right Germany lost Einstein because of NS. Good thing he gave up his citizenship and left, if he had been soldiering perhaps his mind would not be as expansive. The command structure would also probably inculcate in him unquestioning obedience to authority and this could have crippled him in his quest of turning Newtonian physics on its head.

 

[samurai1110]

Yeah! Without rote-learning we will be the ones creating all those mini-bonds, etc and selling them to the rest of the world. Instead we are the suckers.

 

[The_Latest_H]

That's right Germany lost Einstein because of NS. Good thing he gave up his citizenship and left, if he had been soldiering perhaps his mind would not be as expansive. The command structure would also probably inculcate in him unquestioning obedience to authority and this could have crippled him in his quest of turning Newtonian physics on its head.

Ahhh...I think you're wrong there. Einstein invented his Relativity theory more than 30 years before he moved to US before 1939. And he moved from Germany because of Nazism and Jewish persecution in his home country. And because of his fame, his US citizenship was relatively fast once he migrated.

 

[makapaaa]

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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MS JESSICA Walker's descriptions of the compulsive exam-study efforts of Singaporean youth in her letter, 'Appalled by 'obsessive' study habits' (Nov 26), question the very validity of our examination-based education system.
This issue was addressed in a 2006 Newsweek interview with then Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, where he pointed out that although both Singapore and America are meritocracies, America is a 'talent meritocracy' while Singapore is an 'exam meritocracy'. America rewards those with talent while Singapore rewards those who do well in examinations.
The implications of this difference are huge. While Singapore is No. 1 in the global mathematics and science rankings for school children, very few Singaporeans grow up to be top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors or academics. On the other hand, US children fare worse in tests but do better later on in life.
Singapore's obsession with examinations churns out rote-learners who score excellently in examinations but who lack the initiative, creativity, passion and courage needed to succeed in the real world.
However, reforms towards a 'talent meritocracy' need to be made in society at large. As long as employers judge a person's worth by his paper qualifications, students here will continue to emphasise more on examination excellence than other aspects of personal development.
Nowhere is reform more needed than in the government sector, where the pay scale for a fresh graduate is still pegged to the class of honours achieved in university. This discourages learning that will not improve grade point average.
I suggest paying all graduates with an honours degree the same starting salary, and basing pay increments on on-the-job performance. We can also lower differentials in starting wages among those with different levels of academic qualification.
These moves reward talents who can do a job efficiently and well - and it is such people that the country really needs.
Jonathan Kwok

 

[etherc]

Einstein left Germany TWICE. The first time was in his teens 16-17 to escape conscription. In 1901 he got Swiss citizenship.In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich in SWITZERLAND. 1914 he returned as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin.He became a German citizen AGAIN and left in 1933 for US because of persecution. He wrote most of his papers in SWITZERLAND while he was working at the SWISS patent office.

Classic example of a rote learner.....Schisse!

 

[The_Latest_H]

Einstein left Germany TWICE. The first time was in his teens 16-17 to escape conscription. In 1901 he got Swiss citizenship.In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich in SWITZERLAND. 1914 he returned as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin.He became a German citizen AGAIN and left in 1933 for US because of persecution. He wrote most of his papers in SWITZERLAND while he was working at the SWISS patent office.

Classic example of a rote learner.....Schisse!

I'm perfectly willing to say that sometimes as one gets older, one must continue to read up on material. As such, I do not take offence in such examples such as this.

 

[2lanu]

Why is topic like this repeat and keep repeating with no change to it?

This Exam Obsession system has its good and bad. By supporting this system, the white scum had to sacrifice "someone" to make it look good. If you are that "someone" that will be sacrifical lamb, just move on to seek better life elsewhere.

 

[samurai1110]

Ahhh...I think you're wrong there. Einstein invented his Relativity theory more than 30 years before he moved to US before 1939. And he moved from Germany because of Nazism and Jewish persecution in his home country. And because of his fame, his US citizenship was relatively fast once he migrated.

U must be one of those rote-learners. Comes to history, what had happened u guys are really great! But talk about being sensitive, creative, innovative, adventurous & decisive u guys are zero up there.:(

 

[2lanu]

Einstein left Germany TWICE. The first time was in his teens 16-17 to escape conscription.

Over here we have pianist that ran off to UK and come back as a Master Pianist. MINDEAF upon knowing, only fined him $5K nia.:oIo:

 

[The_Latest_H]

U must be one of those rote-learners. Comes to history, what had happened u guys are really great! But talk about being sensitive, creative, innovative, adventurous & decisive u guys are zero up there.:(

I'm not a historian, neither am I a trained one. I just watch more of history in all those shows on Discovery Channel, History Channel and the like. But as I said, I don't claim to be a historian.

And as such, I never said I was infallible.

For the record, I'm training to be an economist. And economics do call for some sort of creativity when it comes to analysing economical policies, creating better ones, and calling out flawed ones.

 

[diversifyx2]

welcome your comment

 

[myfoot123]

It is frightening to see so many scholars in Singapore. We do not know what is in their mind that may cause great harm in future. Many of them have no prior working experience and most did not fly out from their nest in public sector. I see no reason why we should be taxed to feed all these expensive morons.

 

[madmansg]

Einstein left Germany TWICE. The first time was in his teens 16-17 to escape conscription. In 1901 he got Swiss citizenship.In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich in SWITZERLAND. 1914 he returned as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin.He became a German citizen AGAIN and left in 1933 for US because of persecution. He wrote most of his papers in SWITZERLAND while he was working at the SWISS patent office.

Classic example of a rote learner.....Schisse!

Good research. Last night when I was visiting heaven , Einsterin told me to pass the message that latest theory now he working on is NS IS KILLING SG.