Monday, March 17, 2008

The shape of things to come...

I just came back from a 'recruitment' talk of sorts for the new Singapore's School of Science and Technology (SST), and came away from it impressed at the way things are going on in the education field. I mean the very idea that i propounded months or even years back, about anti-silo'ing and non-compartmentalising subject areas into vertical silos of sorts, is somehow or rather going to be a reality in all its glory (or otherwise) very soon. We are going to practicalise and operationalise the acquisition of these content knowledge in all its various forms, and see to it a more integrated and more importantly, a more 'applied' approach towards education. I mean why wait for our charges to go out to work to 'test' our products, why not 'test' them here and know, at the stage where they are acquiring the necessary skillsets and knowledge! It is only then that the teachers can be confident of the quality of their 'products', for lack of a better term!

But i do hope that when one embarks on such an experimental journey, do please remember that no doubt the tools in your rucksack would help you in one way or another, but it is also a double-edged sword to you too, it might alternatively too hold you back, slow you down, or worse, is too big a 'baggage' for you to carry it along when you just want to dive into the hole that the 'blue' pill offers (think Matrix...and you know what I mean! :) )

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