my exact sentiments

apparently this was published while i was away. found it through fearfully opinionated.

i have to agree with the author - the joy in learning is lost,, and it is crazy that our students are relying on tuition. i once had a discussion with this person who specialise in cooking a certain staple, and he/she suggested that it is a result of our people believing that everything is possible, if they try hard.

i can't really say for other subjects, but for geography, i don't think that is the problem. i respect the fact that our curriculum strives to give our students a world view. but why overload them with concepts that they can't relate to at their maturity, issues they have never heard of, only to test very specific sub-sub-sub topics ( i emphasise the 3 subs).

things like "development", "geography of food". frankly, i think i'll hate geography if i had to study when i was in secondary school. it's something that is not easy to relate to at a secondary school level.

cut our students some slack. there is no point raising the standard excessively high so that it looks good, when in reality, it is murdering our students' interest in humanities. even if we manage to arouse the interest of some, it is a bitch to study for. let's face it - we don't need so much content, when in exams, we ask very specific questions. you can't expect our kids to know every single thing so in depth and so well right?

i don't seek for future generation to specialise in humanities. but let's face it - it is important to have an interest and sufficient idea of humanities for all fields. that's what separates an engineer from a computer.