kahunababy
Member
Taken from http://wildaboutmath.com/2011/08/13/taking-a-deep-hard-look-at-singapore-mathematics/
The “Made in Singapore” tag literally applies to me-born here, bred here, educated here. To a certain extent, I was blessed to have studied mathematics in this little country, as its curriculum was exceptionally rigorous and thorough. That said, is Singapore maths really that awesome and perfect? Absolutely not .In fact its pretty flawed. Being someone who “survived” this journey (which was generally manageable, but not quite pleasant at times), perhaps I might be in a better position to put things into perspective.
Mention Singapore Maths to educators around the world, and thoughts normally conjured up would be those of novel primary school textbooks and bar model solving methodologies unique to the Singaporean context. Or the impeccable Cambridge ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examination standards imported from the UK a long time ago. Marvelled from the outside, it is an incredible system which enables the learner to cultivate a high level of mathematical competency through various stages of carefully structured teaching programs. But there within resides serious problems. The extremely competitive nature of academic education here places a strong premium on getting stellar report cards and grades, so much so that a kid goes to school merely to learn how to excel in tests and advance to the next level, rather than learning to better oneself.
So while a typical Singaporean student is able to evaluate an integral efficiently or deftly reduce a system of linear equations, he is merely reproducing the operations taught to him in a mechanical fashion- put it simply, he does things without knowing why. Truth be told, most students behave in a similar manner ie they swallow what is taught wholesale without even attempting to digest the knowledge. Yet they can’t be blamed for being far less curious and inquisitive. The mainstream style of instruction utilised in Singapore maths heavily emphasizes memorisation and rote learning- very robotic strategies which have been proven to deliver consistently good results for many batches of students in national assessments. Couple it with the “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” mentality of the education authorities, this is what happens.
Another obscene culture deeply embedded within Singaporean maths education is that commonly called “question spotting”. It is subtly acknowledged (and if I may add, encouraged) within the local teaching community to set specific types of questions such that their essence can be easily recycled and referenced in test scripts year after year. Over a prolonged build-up period, with access to a collection of past year papers, it becomes reasonably easy for the student to predict the flavour of an upcoming maths exam and make revision plans accordingly. It is really all about being “exam smart”, nothing more. You don’t need genuine math ability to score a distinction here in the Lion City, period.
This is further exacerbated by the fact that major math syllabus reductions for both secondary schools and junior colleges (JCs) were introduced during recent years, most prominent of which was the installation of the simpler, far more hollow Higher 1/Higher 2 (aka H1/H2) maths courses in 2007 for the JCs. In comparison to the older C/Further maths syllabuses taught during my days, I reckon a cut of at least 40% was made; even so, this is a very conservative estimate. The graphic calculator was brought in on the grounds of revolutionising lessons given the dawn of the new IT age, but from my observations, it has become more of a liability rather than an advantage, because many kids are so reliant on it they can’t even graph basic functions by hand when I intentionally forbade use of the handheld gadget. Note that this is only one of many more embarrassing revelations which I shall not discuss here. So much for Singapore coming out tops in international maths proficiency rankings. Less lesson content, more high tech toys equals..……you fill in the blanks.
Ending this, allow me to ask you (the reader) a simple question-can you name an influential mathematician who hails from Singapore? If our maths is so damn great, why are you still scratching your head helplessly and unable to give a response?
Frederick Koh is a teacher residing in Singapore who specialises in teaching the A level H2 maths curriculum. He has accumulated more than a decade of tutoring experience and loves to share his passion for mathematics on his personal site https://www.whitegroupmaths.com
The “Made in Singapore” tag literally applies to me-born here, bred here, educated here. To a certain extent, I was blessed to have studied mathematics in this little country, as its curriculum was exceptionally rigorous and thorough. That said, is Singapore maths really that awesome and perfect? Absolutely not .In fact its pretty flawed. Being someone who “survived” this journey (which was generally manageable, but not quite pleasant at times), perhaps I might be in a better position to put things into perspective.
Mention Singapore Maths to educators around the world, and thoughts normally conjured up would be those of novel primary school textbooks and bar model solving methodologies unique to the Singaporean context. Or the impeccable Cambridge ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examination standards imported from the UK a long time ago. Marvelled from the outside, it is an incredible system which enables the learner to cultivate a high level of mathematical competency through various stages of carefully structured teaching programs. But there within resides serious problems. The extremely competitive nature of academic education here places a strong premium on getting stellar report cards and grades, so much so that a kid goes to school merely to learn how to excel in tests and advance to the next level, rather than learning to better oneself.
So while a typical Singaporean student is able to evaluate an integral efficiently or deftly reduce a system of linear equations, he is merely reproducing the operations taught to him in a mechanical fashion- put it simply, he does things without knowing why. Truth be told, most students behave in a similar manner ie they swallow what is taught wholesale without even attempting to digest the knowledge. Yet they can’t be blamed for being far less curious and inquisitive. The mainstream style of instruction utilised in Singapore maths heavily emphasizes memorisation and rote learning- very robotic strategies which have been proven to deliver consistently good results for many batches of students in national assessments. Couple it with the “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” mentality of the education authorities, this is what happens.
Another obscene culture deeply embedded within Singaporean maths education is that commonly called “question spotting”. It is subtly acknowledged (and if I may add, encouraged) within the local teaching community to set specific types of questions such that their essence can be easily recycled and referenced in test scripts year after year. Over a prolonged build-up period, with access to a collection of past year papers, it becomes reasonably easy for the student to predict the flavour of an upcoming maths exam and make revision plans accordingly. It is really all about being “exam smart”, nothing more. You don’t need genuine math ability to score a distinction here in the Lion City, period.
This is further exacerbated by the fact that major math syllabus reductions for both secondary schools and junior colleges (JCs) were introduced during recent years, most prominent of which was the installation of the simpler, far more hollow Higher 1/Higher 2 (aka H1/H2) maths courses in 2007 for the JCs. In comparison to the older C/Further maths syllabuses taught during my days, I reckon a cut of at least 40% was made; even so, this is a very conservative estimate. The graphic calculator was brought in on the grounds of revolutionising lessons given the dawn of the new IT age, but from my observations, it has become more of a liability rather than an advantage, because many kids are so reliant on it they can’t even graph basic functions by hand when I intentionally forbade use of the handheld gadget. Note that this is only one of many more embarrassing revelations which I shall not discuss here. So much for Singapore coming out tops in international maths proficiency rankings. Less lesson content, more high tech toys equals..……you fill in the blanks.
Ending this, allow me to ask you (the reader) a simple question-can you name an influential mathematician who hails from Singapore? If our maths is so damn great, why are you still scratching your head helplessly and unable to give a response?
Frederick Koh is a teacher residing in Singapore who specialises in teaching the A level H2 maths curriculum. He has accumulated more than a decade of tutoring experience and loves to share his passion for mathematics on his personal site https://www.whitegroupmaths.com