My comments on Janelle Lee's letter

Firstly, I
admire Janelle Lee’s courage to speak up. Not many students dare to voice their
disapproval of the education system in Singapore. To a certain extent, what she
said is true. After all, the point of education is to gain knowledge, and one
way to do so, like Janelle Lee said, is to ask why. However, there are some
things that cannot be answered, and impossible to ask why.

Definitely,
it is true that one cannot just memorize their textbook to learn and gain
knowledge. One has to understand instead. By memorizing, it is impossible to
remember a particular piece of knowledge. However, by understanding, one can
grasp the basis of this piece of knowledge, which can be used not only to get
more A1s, but also to apply it to daily life. For example, if you learn
biology, say ecology by memorizing model answer’s, chance of you getting A is
very high. However, do you actually understand what you are learning? Have you
have appreciated the magnificent world of Biology, the flawless system of how
the food chain works? Instead, if you understand how the food chain works, you
can apply your knowledge for a wide variety of questions, just by
understanding. As you can see, memorizing is a very dead way of studying, and
makes the whole process a dull and uninteresting one.

Only by
asking why can one understand. However,
in the education system, if one lacks certain keywords, you can have all the
answers in the world, but never a correct answer. This, I feel is the major
problem. Yes, memorizing is not the way to study, and it is necessary to
understand. However, where the education system is flawed in Singapore is the
criteria to getting a full and complete answer. I feel that the education
system should award marks based on what level of understanding of a certain
topic. Also, there should be more application questions, to test the level of
understanding, instead of those that can be memorized.

Next is
about moral education. Janelle Lee mentioned that she learned civics and moral
from a textbook. She mentioned that this is not the way to teach moral
education as teachers are just doing it for the sake of doing it. However, I feel
that this is not the case. The civics and moral textbook is used as a guide on
how can one learn to become a better person. Also, teachers are often very
passionate and they do teach us moral values instead of doing it for the sake
of doing it. However, what Janelle Lee said about teachers using civics and moral
lessons to teach other subject, it is very true. Some teachers may be too
concern when it is very near the exam period. This is not the way as no matter
what, the moral education is the first priority. Therefore, I hope that rules
must be implemented to stop this from happening.

I feel that
it is impossible to have an ideal education system. This is because there are
always students who disrupt the teacher, students who are not up to standard
academically, and also half-hearted teachers. These entire elements will slow
down the rate at which the teachers teach. In the end, memorizing will still be
the ideal way to learn. In the world now, it is no more about understanding, as
not all things can be understood, and many students detest learning.

In
conclusion, I feel that Janelle Lee’s points all do make sense, but there are
no immediate solutions, and in order to change the mindset of people, it will
take a long time.