Friday July 13 Visit to Ku Chuan Presbyterian School

Friday, July 13, 2007
Our last business day in Singapore was spent observing at Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School (KCPSS). KCPSS is a middle tier school, consisting of 7 – 10th grade Express and Normal Academic students. Interestingly, although the school has a religious affiliation, only about 30% of the students are Christian, with the remainder being predominantly Buddhist and Taoist and some Muslims. It is interesting that the mission schools in Singapore are supported by the government and overseen by the Ministry of Education. There is obviously no separation of church and state. In fact, schools we visited had posters describing religious tolerance displayed in the classrooms.


After watching ta video of the history and mission of the school, we were led to the science special project area where a group of students had been raising fish, rabbits, hamsters and tortoises. The students had also researched the best ways to keep birds and mosquitoes from accessing their outdoor project area, and have therefore hung CDs from the building (to keep the birds away) and grown plants which smell like Citronella. The students involved in the project were eager to share their knowledge with us. The school began this project because they found that students who had trouble expressing themselves tended to open up when they cared for pets.

We were then led to a Sec 3 (9th grade) A-Maths (Advanced maths) class which was factoring quadratic equations and reviewing test-taking strategies. Students in secondary school have the choice of taking one math class per day, E-Maths (Express maths), which everybody takes, or taking both E-Maths and A-Maths. Those students who have shown proficiency in math and who choose to do so take two periods of math each day. The A-Maths class seemed to be expected to work at an incredible pace. The teacher’s emphasis on test preparation and efficient methods of quickly answering the various categorical problems students were likely to face on their Grade 10 exam (upcoming in October 2007) was noteworthy due to the length of time in the class dedicated to the demonstration (30 minutes), the teacher’s explanation for the use of the strategy (building student strategic competence?) , demonstration of a series of progressively more difficult applications of the strategy, and an immediate student practice session using worksheets printed in the school’s photocopy center. A scan of students at their desks revealed a wide variety of erasers, white-out tape dispensers (both used to “un-do” mistakes immediately), and scientific calculators – some with graphing functionality.
As we circulated through the school, we each remarked on the strong “student-centered” quality of the school, including its open multi-use spaces for both structured and unstructured student interaction, the posting of student work and academic recognitions in public spaces, and the informal interactions between teachers and students. A strong commitment to student experimentation was evident in the spacious laboratories and adjoining materials storage room supervised by support staff, who also prepare the materials and supplies for experiments and wash the used supplies.


After observing the A-Maths class we had tea in the library and spoke with several staff members. Tony Low, the principal, informed us that the biggest problem he sees in his school is what he calls “lack of motivation.” When asked to define “lack of motivation”, Mr. Low said that many of the secondary students have no goals for the future. He would like for all secondary students to have a career plan in mind in order to focus their efforts. If a student does not look to the future, the school has a career counselor work with the student to help give the student ideas of what fields are available. Mr. Low indicated that many students change their mind about their career choice as they mature, but that it is best for them to have an idea at all times so that they are motivated. When we had a chance to meet with students and carry on informal conversation, about half of them seemed to have a career path in mind. I sincerely doubt that one-half of American students in 7-10 grades have a career path formulated.
Two girls I spoke with (Sec 4 – 10th grade) are nervously preparing for their O level tests which will determine their educational path following secondary school. They hope to score well which will allow them to attend junior college. They shared a common ultimate goal: to attend medical school. Both of them receive “tuition” (private tutoring) once a week for three hours in maths, and have been receiving such tuition for several years. I asked them if they considered themselves strong math students. Both of them seemed a bit embarrassed, and laughed a little bit while shaking their heads.
Tony Low is an extremely impressive principal. He informed us that he occasionally canes students for severe behavioral infractions. These canings are generally done in the school office, although occasionally they are done in the classroom if the infraction occurred there. Every effort is made, after the caning, to be sure that the caned student feels welcome again in the school/classroom since he/she has paid the price for the wrongdoing. Mr. Low has high expectations while seeming to care about the well-being of his students. He was keenly aware of the rather recent phenomenon of computer gaming addiction among pre-teens and teenagers. He led several of us to a school computer lab containing desktop PC’s loaded with approved gaming software. Mr. Low explained that students could earn specified access to this resource based on good classroom performance. He outlined the school’s strategy of parent education, counselor availability and controlled access to approved games as a three-part strategy to address the problem in the students.
During the extended discussion with administrators and teaching staff at KCPSS, we learned that the school is moving forward with ambitious plans to replace the computer lab with a wireless environment to accommodate the large number of students who have their own computers. This was seen as a great asset to classroom instruction and student learning. At this time, the school’s computer labs are open to students each afternoon during the week. In at least one aspect of schooling, KCPSS was similar to many U.S. secondary schools- its challenge to engage faculty members as active participants in a professional learning community (PLF) , including openness to classroom visitation, colleague feedback, and instructional improvement through reflections on student work and lesson delivery. In contrast to the strong evidence of PLF in the primary schools we visited earlier in the week, KCPSS teachers and administrators admitted that they have considerable work still to do in this area of school development.
To sum up our observations of education in Singapore vs. education in the U.S., it seems fitting to say that in Singapore, education is considered an investment, while in the US, education is considered an expense. As several Singapore educators mentioned during the week, “In Singapore, our people are our only natural resource. We must develop them.”


Tricia and Mike