Focus on education, not examinations

After reading about the classes during school holidays, I wrote a letter Straits Times forum but it was not published.

"I read with interest the recent articles and letters on June vacation classes. I must say that I agree with Mr Calvin Ng, who suggested that schools may want to consider making these classes optional. What struck me most about these articles is that the focus of school seems to be making sure students do well in their examinations, rather than to provide an education.

Doing well in examinations only means that a child has acquired some technical skills that may be necessary to survive when he gets older. Yet to survive in life, one cannot just be able to do calculus or understand molecular structures or recite the modern history of Europe. A child will need to learn social skills to deal with the people that we must live with, and the moral values that form the basis of relationships within a society.

Rather than being cooped up in a classroom, a child needs to interact with people outside his fellow classmates to learn a wider set of social skills. He needs to go out and experience nature to see its beauty and realise for himself the need to conserve and preserve. He needs to open his eyes to the wonders and horrors of mankind's doing to see for himself the road set before him.

If a child's calling is not to do well in maths or history, why should we force it upon him? Isn't it more important to find out what he excels in, and develop it to help him move a step closer towards surviving in life? If schools are really interested in providing an education, they should look at providing programmes that develop their students' potential, rather than just help them score well for examinations."