School holiday? What holiday?

The full story at The Straits Times.

Basically, it seems that schools are getting more and more kiasu about making sure students do well for their exams. Besides PSLE seminars, now we have schools holding classes... when it is supposed to be the school vacations!

Is there really so much to learn in school? Whatever happened to following a fixed syllabus? Whatever happened to lesson plans? If there is so much to teach that teachers cannot finish teaching the syllabus within allocated school terms, then shouldn't we be reviewing the syllabus to cut it down? After all, we don't use integration and differentiation in our everyday life. You don't need to know how to calculate inverse tangents in order to get on the bus. And we obviously don't need to know the exact molecular composition of each and every protein that we eat.

School vacations/holidays are not just great breaks from the fixed classroom environment, it allows the child a chance to learn about things outside his usual circle, which is now mostly confined to the school since they spend so much time in it. A overseas trip can teach a child so much more about history, other cultures and even basic manners, that he won't be able to pick up in school. A simple fishing trip can teach patience. Even cycling along East Coast Park can open his/her eyes to the importance of maritime trade to Singapore as he/she sees the amount of merchant shipping passing through the Singapore Strait.

We don't need to teach our kids to be exam smart. They don't need to score As. They need to learn skills that will be useful to them in life, to help them succeed in what they want to do, not what we want them to do.

Other blogs talking about this:
keanandgreen
Chengxin rules the city
Command and Conquer - Take Control

Forum discussion on SGClub