We are lucky enough to have spent good time in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on this trip, and get a flavor of the culture in each place. Coming into this trip we knew that culture plays in a big role in education, but we had a pretty stereotypical and general view of southeast Asian culture. These three countries share the same peninsula, but there are great differences in religion, attitude, hospitality, wealth, and organization. Singapore is a small place and has a culture all its own. After seeing more of Asia, we can better see why Singapore is so special.
Singapore has a top-notch educational system, but it would be a mistake to just say that it's Asian culture and those Asian kids just work harder. We don't want to take anything from the great work that Singapore teachers do, the excellent organization of the schools, the design of the curriculum, the challenging textbooks, or their math problem solving method. There is, however, a different culture and attitude in Singapore that is certainly responsible for much of its success.
The country of Singapore is an island, about the same size as Houston. It's not blessed with oil reserves, fertile farmland, or much natural resources at all. The strongest resource in Singapore is its people. The nation understands that education is vital to its wealth and development. The Singaporean 2-dollar bill (which is used more often than our 2-dollar bill) has a picture of some kids at school with the caption "education." The 100-dollar bill is for youth. The government, of course, supports education beyond slogans and money. The back of the money is indicative of the attitude toward education that one can see all over Singapore.
We saw many things in Singapore that we expected from Asian schools. Students, as well as strangers that we met, have great respect for teachers. There is much more time spent on homework or supplemental instruction after school. Parents motivate their students, are involved in school, and spend lots of money on extra books or programs to make sure that their children do well in school. In the end, Singapore students exit school speaking English and some other language(usually Chinese) with a first-class education and a good work ethic prepared to work and succeed in a global workforce.
There are many things that Marie and I learned in Singapore that we can copy at home, but unfortunately culture is not of those. This great attitude toward education is evident in all parts of Singaporean society. We hope that in our role as teachers and sharing our story from Singapore we can affect some small change back home in Houston and the United States.
I feel like I want to do my next post on why math is important; thinking about Singapore gets me pumped up about school.
-Morgan
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Beaches, Cities, People, Food--so much to love!
The culture and people are so warm and friendly and the kids really want to talk to "farangs" or foreigners. Our students will love it and can explore and ancient and evolving way of life.
