mollymeek (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mollymeek) wrote,@ 2008-12-03 23:25:00 |
|
We seem, therefore we are
Send this to the ST Forum 10
Dear Molly,
Please help me post the folowing letter in your blog. Thanks. You've been a very kind kitten.
See Nao
I read with horror the numerous letters to the ST forum that criticize the local education system for cultivating rote learners. Rote learning, the writers of these letters argue, does not help people survive in the real world. On the contrary, rote learning is a critical survival skill. The only redeeming quality of those writers claiming that rote learning is bad is perhaps the fact that they have learned that rote learning is bad by rote learning.
As a matter of fact, the reality that we are faced with today is that we no longer live in the real world but in the hyperreal world. Rote learning is merely a manifestation of the ruling paradigm of hyperreality.
In hyperreality, the distinction between the possession of innate talents and the empirical proof of acquired abilities is meaningless. As such, the writers who disparagingly spoke of Singapore's status as an exam meritocracy instead of a talent meritocracy have simply proposed an absurd distinction.
Being a small island with no natural resources, Singapore has to be pragmatic in order to survive in the current hyperrealization movement. This means that there has to be an emphasis on meeting criteria and the creation of impression. Rote learning is a critical aspect of such a necessity. Rote learning essentially involves two steps:
1. Finding out how people define an ideal.
2. Giving what is in the definition of the ideal without being the ideal.
It is important to disregard outdated notions such as depth. Satisfy a set of criteria. Become world-class. Get a Number 1. There is no need to know Science if you know how to answer your Chemistry exam questions. There is no need to know how to write well. There is only a need to know how to score well for an essay test. What, after all, is the point of experimenting with writing styles when it is going to earn you a C grade? It is thus important to encourage rote learning.
The rote learning skills that students learn will equip them with the skills to shine in the hyperrealized world. In fact, it is Singapore's secret of success.
We don't have to be democratic. We just need to have certain markers of democracy. We have elections. We have a Speakers' Corner for people to speak and protest. We have the Internet for people to rant. Therefore it is a free country.
We don't have to have people living higher standards of living. We just need to create a situation in which the calculation of this phenomenon called economic growth ends with a positive number.
Our universities don't have to provide good education. They just have to satisfy conditions set by those people ranking universities so that they get high rankings.
Our buses and trains don't have to provide commuters with comfort. They just have to win awards that say that they give passengers a wonderful experience. They don't have to deal with commuters' experiences of crowds. They just need to produce numbers to show that trains have not even reached their maximum allowed capacity. Improvements to standards of public transport don't have to increase the satisfaction of commuters. The standards just have to be raised theoretically: instead of having a stated maximum capacity of 6 million people per bus, improve the standard by changing the maximum capacity to 4 million.
Workers don't have to do their work well. They just have to meet key performance indicators, which have nothing to do with whether they do their work well.
Whatever we do, the priority is to satisfy indicators of X. Whether we are X or not is secondary.
Imagine what would happen if our priorities are wrong? What would happen if we insist on being democratic instead of having markers of democracy? Chaos. What would happen if we try to improve people's lives instead of improving economic growth figures. Disaster. What would happen if our priorities were on individual human beings instead of on institutions? Apocalypse.
We need simulacra to succeed.
Singapore is the world-class city that it is today not because of its people's experiences but because it is able to satisfy what people think would define a world-class city. If we don't inculcate the proper values through our education system, Singapore will be doomed. We cannot tolerate irresponsible people with romanticized notions of rewarding talents. Singapore needs to be pragmatic to survive in the hyperreal world.
In the old world, I thought therefore I was. In the contemporary world, we seem therefore we are.
Lee See Nao (Mr.)
...................................
Dear See Nao,
Would you be flattered or offended if I were to say that you seem to have a natural flair for nonsense, but I can't find any empirical indicator to prove your ability?
But you might be right. Had Molly been a good rote learner with a good family, perhaps she wouldn't be the lowly bimbo that she now is.
Molly
Send this to the ST Forum 10
Dear Molly,
Please help me post the folowing letter in your blog. Thanks. You've been a very kind kitten.
See Nao
I read with horror the numerous letters to the ST forum that criticize the local education system for cultivating rote learners. Rote learning, the writers of these letters argue, does not help people survive in the real world. On the contrary, rote learning is a critical survival skill. The only redeeming quality of those writers claiming that rote learning is bad is perhaps the fact that they have learned that rote learning is bad by rote learning.
As a matter of fact, the reality that we are faced with today is that we no longer live in the real world but in the hyperreal world. Rote learning is merely a manifestation of the ruling paradigm of hyperreality.
In hyperreality, the distinction between the possession of innate talents and the empirical proof of acquired abilities is meaningless. As such, the writers who disparagingly spoke of Singapore's status as an exam meritocracy instead of a talent meritocracy have simply proposed an absurd distinction.
Being a small island with no natural resources, Singapore has to be pragmatic in order to survive in the current hyperrealization movement. This means that there has to be an emphasis on meeting criteria and the creation of impression. Rote learning is a critical aspect of such a necessity. Rote learning essentially involves two steps:
1. Finding out how people define an ideal.
2. Giving what is in the definition of the ideal without being the ideal.
It is important to disregard outdated notions such as depth. Satisfy a set of criteria. Become world-class. Get a Number 1. There is no need to know Science if you know how to answer your Chemistry exam questions. There is no need to know how to write well. There is only a need to know how to score well for an essay test. What, after all, is the point of experimenting with writing styles when it is going to earn you a C grade? It is thus important to encourage rote learning.
The rote learning skills that students learn will equip them with the skills to shine in the hyperrealized world. In fact, it is Singapore's secret of success.
We don't have to be democratic. We just need to have certain markers of democracy. We have elections. We have a Speakers' Corner for people to speak and protest. We have the Internet for people to rant. Therefore it is a free country.
We don't have to have people living higher standards of living. We just need to create a situation in which the calculation of this phenomenon called economic growth ends with a positive number.
Our universities don't have to provide good education. They just have to satisfy conditions set by those people ranking universities so that they get high rankings.
Our buses and trains don't have to provide commuters with comfort. They just have to win awards that say that they give passengers a wonderful experience. They don't have to deal with commuters' experiences of crowds. They just need to produce numbers to show that trains have not even reached their maximum allowed capacity. Improvements to standards of public transport don't have to increase the satisfaction of commuters. The standards just have to be raised theoretically: instead of having a stated maximum capacity of 6 million people per bus, improve the standard by changing the maximum capacity to 4 million.
Workers don't have to do their work well. They just have to meet key performance indicators, which have nothing to do with whether they do their work well.
Whatever we do, the priority is to satisfy indicators of X. Whether we are X or not is secondary.
Imagine what would happen if our priorities are wrong? What would happen if we insist on being democratic instead of having markers of democracy? Chaos. What would happen if we try to improve people's lives instead of improving economic growth figures. Disaster. What would happen if our priorities were on individual human beings instead of on institutions? Apocalypse.
We need simulacra to succeed.
Singapore is the world-class city that it is today not because of its people's experiences but because it is able to satisfy what people think would define a world-class city. If we don't inculcate the proper values through our education system, Singapore will be doomed. We cannot tolerate irresponsible people with romanticized notions of rewarding talents. Singapore needs to be pragmatic to survive in the hyperreal world.
In the old world, I thought therefore I was. In the contemporary world, we seem therefore we are.
Lee See Nao (Mr.)
...................................
Dear See Nao,
Would you be flattered or offended if I were to say that you seem to have a natural flair for nonsense, but I can't find any empirical indicator to prove your ability?
But you might be right. Had Molly been a good rote learner with a good family, perhaps she wouldn't be the lowly bimbo that she now is.
Molly
