Singapore Education - How to Cope with it?

It was not easy to pull my roots from my country of origin. It was a fabulous city with arguably, the best and the most industrious workforce in the world. I have so much to thank Singapore for, particularly, now as I look at my Chinese counterparts, who have to go through ESL classes, I am definitely at a clear advantage. I had very good training in Maths and in Accounting. I must say I enjoyed my days as a student, right up to the time I graduated from university.

I was blessed to land myself a much coveted bank trainee job in the largest banking group in Singapore, immediately upon graduation. I worked in the heart of Shenton Way, the most expensive part of the business district. It was like walking down the lane of glamour every day I went to work.I really enjoyed those days. Oh yes, to add more flavor to it all, I had my fair share of "office romance" where I ended up marrying the person I dated at my first job.

Then reality struck, Singapore has since grown at a phenomenal rate. With growth, the pace of life got faster. People were buying more luxurious cars, more branded stuff, more expensive houses. As a nation, its GDP growth was something that the government should be really proud of. The education system too, became more complicated and competitive. There were more variations to the way children were being streamed and the way schools were being ranked. I guess the biggest victim of a nation's growth is ironically the children, whom the advancement should benefit ultimately.

I have my children during this huge phase of growth. The things my children (one from HCI and the other from RGS) learnt in school were way ahead of what children from other nations were learning. This is very good for the children and put them in really good stead to compete on the world arena. Singapore has to move in this direction. It is not wrong for the government to steer the education in this direction. In order for Singapore to make its mark, it has to effectively use its only valuable resources which are the brains and attitudes of its people. They have to start from the schools.

The only problem with this is the stress it can create on parents and teachers overall. I realized that I was almost going crazy trying to cope both as a high-flyng banker and a dedicated mum. So, it was through much deliberation and prayers, I embarked on the journey to Canada. 

Coming to Toronto, was a risky move but thankfully, things have turned out to be very good for the children. We are benefiting from the move.

I am doing relatively well because of the advantage that Singapore system has prepared me for. It is now for me to give back to Singapore. Many parents have the same dilemma. They want to keep their jobs yet they have to effectively help their children with their studies, which is no mean feat. We are after all human. The best thing we can do about the situation is to outsource. So, many parents ended up spending tons of money on tuition. But is the tuition dollar really well spent? Do your children pick up any values from the tuition classes?

If parents can spend the amount of tuition dollars, they might as well save them up and invest in an education in Canada, a very safe country, where there are many top to mid-range high schools, colleges and universities. This in itself, requires a whole blog post, which I will leave it for another time.