I wrote this post about a year ago on my now-defunct blog. Reposting it here as it is relevant to my current topic. Last post I focused mainly on the JC system, now let's see what the little tots are up to. You don't feel good about yourself and then get your self esteem wrecked in JC right? It's a long drawn process.
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All that talk about not letting children play in school in the Straits Times today struck a chord. Not just from my long almost-forgotten (and hopefully never remembered) experiences, but from what I observed as a relief teacher in a premier primary school last year.
I dare admit, I experience a great culture shock when I entered the primary school. A greater culture shock than when I first came to America. Primary school was an artificial environment where children are treated merely as puppies. Sit! (and read your long drawn high flown novel). Quiet! Listen to me, listen to us, you have no voice of your own. Sounds like dog training to me.
Silent reading wasn't an entirely alien concept to me, having survived two Chinese primary schools, one of which was more like boot camp than education. But the way it was carried out - that children could only sit and read whatever boring book their well-intentioned parents picked out for them, without making even the slightest whisper to their classmate - was so didatic and authoritarian.
Then was the walk to class. Walking to class wasn't just standing up, picking up your bag, and move your legs at the speed you are familiar with. It was more a ritual than a natural action. First, the teacher would order the class to stand up, where the students were already in their prescribed position in the queue. Then was the walk, where again, students aren't allowed to open their mouths. The queue order was to be strictly followed. No one could walk faster than the teacher, the shepard.
The shepards weren't at liberty to deal with their sheep either. As a relief teacher who stood in for a day, normally I wasn't given materials to cover in class. I was instructed that the girls are only allowed to do their homework or revision. Reading is acceptable. Drawing is not. And I could not bring my classes to the library unless it's their prescribed library periods! Then what's the fancy library for?
So, to summarize, students are merely sheep that are to be sheparded around by teachers. They are to be seen but not heard. A sense of inferiority must be instilled in them, so they won't have the guts to talk back to the shepards. The shepards have absolute control of the sheep, right down to their final destiny (hauling up to the principal? suspension?). The shepard's opinion is the only one that matters, after all, sheep have no minds of their own!
I'm not exaggerating. My students sentences normally start with "Teacher says...", and not "I think..." I couldn't flip around the carefully-drawn duty rosters. If Mary was due to clean the blackboard for the day, I couldn't ask Jane to do so, even if Jane was sitting in the front row and Mary right at the back. If I ask Jane to do so, Mary will come and tell me, "Teacher says it's my turn today. She can't do it," pointing to the parchment on the notice board.
Independent thought is seen as rebellion, against the order of nature in this artificial world. Creativity? Children are not allowed to draw! Risk takers? The whip puts you back in your place if you dare to even step slightly out of line. Children are meant to be moulded to the model prescribed by the higher authorities.
And the worst thing is, I realize, is that this model of discipline and education is taken from traditional Chinese culture. Opposing it, according to some factions, is tantamount to rejecting our heritage. Our heritage? Whose heritage is it?
How can Singapore train a creative workforce if the population's creative juices are completely squeezed out at the age of seven?
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Part 3: Personal experiences, and coming to America.
