By Jose Manuel Tesoro and Santha Oorjitham / Singapore
The scene could occur in California, or even in Japan. Few people would expect it to take place in strait-laced Singapore. But helping schoolteachers "cross-wire" their brains is all part of an ambitious plan to mold young Singaporeans into more innovative creatures. The government wants to help schools emphasize creative skills as much as curriculum mastery, and encourage independent learning before rote memorization. The push, the government believes, will help maintain Singapore's economic lead by increasing the quality of its intellectual capital. But one has to ask: Singapore has often been able to fashion marvels -- but is manufacturing minds altogether too ambitious?
The government's plan has three main components. The first was the January 1996 launch of the "Thinking Program." The project, which aims to develop eight core thinking skills such as memory and evaluation, is expected to expand to all secondary schools by 2000. This April, the government announced a $1.4 billion information technology upgrade for schools, which includes supplying one computer for every two students age nine and above. Just two months ago, the third phase was put into place: a patriotism-tinged National Education program, designed to inculcate in young Singaporeans confidence in their country.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has made it clear why the country is investing so much in retooling its education. "A nation's wealth in the 21st century will depend on the capacity of its people to learn," he told an international conference last month. "Their ability to seek out new technologies and ideas -- and to apply them -- will be the key source of economic growth."
Singapore is already streets ahead of other nations in education. All children receive a minimum of 10 years of education in one of some 360 schools. Though Singaporeans only begin learning science at age eight -- two years later than children in most other countries -- they soon catch up with and even overtake their peers, as shown in recent international surveys. In one survey that covered 26 countries, Singaporean nine-year-olds tied for first place in mathematics and placed seventh in science. In another study, local 13-year-olds did even better, taking first in math and science, besting schoolchildren from 41 nations.
Being Singapore, the country does not rest on its laurels. "We need 'thinking schools' and a 'learning nation,'" Education Minister Teo Chee Hean told pre-university students last month. The sense is that schools have not been able to cultivate that most unpredictable of mental qualities: imagination. In her time, 25-year-old teacher Tan Guek Quee recalls, "it was 'chalk and talk.'" These days, says Tan, "teachers are not just spoon-feeding, but laying the foundation for problem-solving and creative thinking."
Geylang Methodist Secondary School was one of the first to implement the Thinking Program. Here, 14-year-old students practice their deductive skills on the chemical process of osmosis. A special Thinking Program workbook asks them to consider what happens to a red blood cell soaked in three different solutions. The book takes them through the deductive process, thus exercising young minds in the art of reaching conclusions.
The Thinking Program covers curriculum subjects such as science, math, history, English and geography. But it is also designed to help students make real-life decisions and solve day-to-day problems, from dealing with parents to ordering at the local McDonald's. Cynthia Yeong, 45, an assistant manager at a Japanese company, observes that her daughter, 14-year-old Renee, is now "more analytical." Says the proud mother: "She asks more questions and is more confident." Renee says her creative writing has also blossomed. In her spare time, she designs cards and writes poetry.
Singapore does not necessarily want more poets, however. It puts a higher premium on producing more innovators, who will keep the economy humming. Education Minister Teo says that although the schools offer a broad range of courses, "we do encourage our students to do science and engineering. That's because we feel that it's important both for them to find good jobs as well as for the overall competitiveness of the economy." That position gives Singapore's campaign for creativity a peculiarly Singaporean spin: the upliftment of mind not only for its own sake, but for the country.
The National Education program is designed to help inculcate that nationalist sentiment. In May, Deputy Prime Minister B.-G. Lee Hsien Loong launched the plan, which would help students learn what amount to the four "C's": commitment, cohesion, community, and confidence in the country. Teachers and students visit institutions like the port, airport, military bases and utility plants, and participate in various community services.
So Singapore's push to augment imaginations is not as far-fetched as it seems. Author Catherine Lim, who used to work developing curriculums at the education ministry, puts it this way: "[The program] will probably be carefully managed creativity, with a special focus in strict keeping with the primarily economic focus of government." She adds, however: "It will be a very qualified kind of achievement, and detractors will say it's not the real thing." But it is quintessentially Singapore to produce exactly what it needs, even something elusive like brilliance.
