True measure of a student (by Sandra Davie, Senior Writer, The Strait Times )

15 December 10, The Strait Times

by Sandra Davie, Senior Writer

True measure of a student

SINGAPORE again proved to be an 'educational superstar', in the words of The New York Times, excelling in a new study of students' ability to apply knowledge to real-life problems.

Students here were among the top performers in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) conducted last year, whose results were announced last week. This tests a 15-year-old student's ability to apply skills and knowledge in mathematics, science and reading to real-life problems.

Singapore students came out fifth for reading, second in mathematics and fourth in science out of 65 countries and economies. Shanghai, like Singapore, also taking part for the first time, topped all three categories.

Singapore schools have, since the mid-1990s, participated in two other worldwide studies - the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study - and aced them.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) said it decided to participate in Pisa because it tests skills the ministry wants to inculcate in students here. Over the years, curriculum and assessment have been changed to go beyond knowledge acquisition, to instil process skills, problem solving and critical thinking.

Singapore's good performance shows that schools are on the right track. As an MOE official put it: 'It proves that our students are not just 'muggers'; they can apply what they have learnt in school to real life.'

Indeed, many students told The Straits Times in a report published on Monday that the test was easy, describing it as 'simple', 'basic' and 'no sweat'.

This was partly due to Singapore's accelerated curriculum, so that a 15-year-old student here typically learns things earlier than his overseas peers, especially in science and mathematics. Some students and teachers felt the difficulty level of the test was equivalent to lower secondary standards here, which the average 15-year-old Secondary 3 student would have found easy.

The Pisa test serves as a useful marker for Singapore, and is a reassuring endorsement of existing efforts to go beyond acquiring, to applying, knowledge.

But before Singapore's educators, parents and students start to believe in the hype that the Republic is indeed an educational superstar, it is timely to do a stock-take of the education system and look at areas which need improvement.

Beyond knowledge acquisition and application, what are the critical mindsets and skillsets today's teenager needs, to equip him or her for the future?

We could, for a start, look at what Singaporeans are weak at.

One common refrain from employers is that newly minted workers from Singapore's school system lack resourcefulness, out-of-the box thinking and the ability to challenge conventional wisdom.

What more can be done to address these shortcomings? Do they all relate to that vital ingredient called creativity, an old chestnut in the debate on educating the young for success in a knowledge economy?

Two years ago, the issue cropped up in an interview American journalist Fareed Zakaria conducted with then Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Mr Zakaria noted Singapore's success on international maths and science exams, but asked Mr Tharman why Singapore produced so few top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors, business executives and academics.

Mr Tharman noted that test scores did not correlate with success in life, and went on to observe that while 'America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority', Singapore was not able to do so well in areas such as 'creativity, a sense of adventure, ambition'.

To be fair to MOE, this has been flagged as a priority area, and schools are trying to spark creativity in students.

Perhaps MOE and schools should get Singapore students tested in areas like creativity and inventiveness, to get a baseline of where Singapore is now, and track its progress in this area.

There is, for example, the Torrance tests of creative thinking, which have been used to test students in many countries, including Britain and the United States.

Some experts believe schools have a vital role to play in nurturing - or at least not killing off - that creative spark. Creativity expert Ken Robinson from Britain often cites a longitudinal study on divergent thinking - the ability to connect seemingly disparate and unassociated ideas, fundamental to any creative process.

When the 1,500 children were tested at kindergarten, 98 per cent were ranked at the 'genius' level.

A study of the same group five years later ranked 32 per cent as geniuses at divergent thinking. Another five years on, only 10 per cent obtained that ranking.

Why? He points the finger at archaic school systems worldwide educating people as though the world were still in the middle of an industrial revolution.

He believed people are born with the capacity to think divergently, but lose that skill as they grow older, no thanks to learning structures and rules instilled in the classroom.

Singapore parents would empathise, as they observe how their own preschoolers, imbued with excited curiosity and wonder at everything, slowly grow up to become teenage 'muggers' fearful of losing marks for making mistakes in exams.

Singapore's performance in international tests from Timss to Pisa show our schools are adept at churning out good workers.

Singapore educators are now aiming higher - to nurture creative thinkers.

Perhaps it is time to aim beyond Pisa and shoot for Torrance to benchmark just where our students are now in creativity, and see how else we can get further.