I live and work in Singapore and I don't really envy anyone the education system here. It's brutal. It's just exam after exam after exam, in preparation for an adulthood that is just work, work, work. And I know it's not even half as tough as the Chinese system, either. Singaporeans are lucky in that respect: this is like Asia Lite. I think the culture shock may have hit me harder because I came here direct from living in Sweden, where the work-life balance is incredibly laid-back and I had five weeks of paid annual leave
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Japan is highly intelligent and a strong work ethic but there's also something worrying when one of your main social norms is "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."
I grew up in the States until halfway through the 5th grade, when my family packed up and moved to Singapore. Honestly, I'm glad we did, because I really can't imagine having gotten the same level of education here in Texas as I did in Singapore (up to Secondary 4, then I went overseas). Yeah, it's kind of a brutal system and there's a lot of pressure put on you to do well during the PSLEs, O Levels, A Levels. And a lot of it is so focused on specific courses like sciences/math or getting into a JC and not a Poly or an (GASP THE HORROR) ITE.
But honestly? I feel like I got a first class education, even though my secondary school wasn't the top (okay, it was like top 20). I wouldn't have come close to that had I stayed in Galveston.
Now, if you want to talk about working in Singapore, hell to the no. That is a total rat race and I don't want any of it.
What do you mean you need people in the arts? That's nonsense. Arts is some namby-pamby nonsense for trust fund kiddies. Everyone should be an engineer. EVERYONE. With maybe a few doctors thrown in. That's the way of the future.
yeah a friend of mine taught in south korea (elementary i think?) for awhile and said the education system was grueling...the kids would be up at all hours of the night studying and had little to no free time because of exams/pressure to get into the best school.
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Japan is highly intelligent and a strong work ethic but there's also something worrying when one of your main social norms is "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."
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But honestly? I feel like I got a first class education, even though my secondary school wasn't the top (okay, it was like top 20). I wouldn't have come close to that had I stayed in Galveston.
Now, if you want to talk about working in Singapore, hell to the no. That is a total rat race and I don't want any of it.
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(...I hope the sarcasm is self-evident.)
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