Do you think today’s schools prepare the young for adult life?

Do you think today’s schools prepare the young for adult life?

In my opinion, I do not agree with the statement that schools today prepare the young for adult life.

Firstly, in order to understand why I think this way, we first have to understand the Singapore education system and its pitfalls. If one were to stop and ask any student on the street what school means to them, one would probably most frequently hear remediation classes, examinations, stress and getting good grades. As a student myself, I find that schools today are too result orientated and place achieving good results in the ‘O’ levels before anything else.

Remediation classes. Though they may benefit a student’s studies, it may not necessarily be beneficial when he grows up. By having such classes, we are actually brainwashing students into thinking that if they do not pay attention in classes, they will have a SECOND chance to catch up on what was taught. The word second is in bold as I would like to draw attention to the fact that in the working world, there are no such things as second chances. It is either a do or die issue. Imagine that you are put in charge of a million dollar project and it turns out to be a failure due to your insufficient preparation. A strict boss would be infuriated and ask you for your resignation letter. This clearly shows the harsh facts that there are no second chances in life.

There is more to life than good grades. I personally feel that schools are too result orientated and do not prepare students for such things. These things may range from having the correct attitude in handling whatever life throws at you, having a sense of responsibility, to being able to have successful relationships with other people.

Schools are also too “square” in the area of creativity. Although the government is now pushing for a more creative society, students who actually come up with new ideas are often discouraged by the fact that these ideas are sometimes refused by teachers who prefer to stick to old methods as these old methods give them a larger sense of security. In this case, I must ask, how are we going to have an expressive and creative society if it is not cultivated from young?

Society is ever-changing. Even if schools were to prepare students for adult life, the global situation may change when the student eventually enter the competitive world of adults. Teachings which may seem feasible in today’s society may become something thought of as old-fashioned ten years down the road.

Last but not least, I have to mention that not all students have the same aspirations when they grow up. Some wish to be businessmen, others musicians, artists, engineers. How is it possible to integrate this into our education systems? If you were to ask me, I would say that it would be quite impossible.

One may argue that these factors can be attained through co-curricular activities, but I have to ask again, is everyone given the same opportunity? I doubt so. These opportunities are more often than not, given to the “more capable” students. Does this mean that students who seem to be “less capable” do not deserve a chance to develop themselves in these areas? Does this mean that these students are fated to be “handicapped” later in life?

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that schools are currently insufficient in preparing our young for adult life. There are many aspects in life such as social skills, character development, one’s future aspirations and most importantly the aspect of change. As such, as schools do not cover these areas fully in the present curriculum, I feel that schools are inadequate to prepare the young for adult life.
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heh heh... got 22/30 for this... lol... annie tan is so much nicer than lily lim... and i always knew that there was sumthing fishy about jocelyn's sumurai essays... and finally shui luo shi chu.. haha.. she was accused of copying it from somewhere!!! haha... having a splitting headache now... since the time school ended... lack of oxygen... dying already... and pls note: look like the bigger brother of xiao bai is not zhen xiang da bai... thank you... anyway must restrain myself from coming online... and i dun think i have the mood to blog any longer.. well not as often.. cuz its open to the public... haha and mr koh revealed tt he read mine... ahH... but nothing to fear... theres nothing to hide.. lol...