WAR
THIS IS
NURTURE
By Farhan Shah
Education is
an incredibly
emotive
issue among
Singaporean
parents. In an
increasingly
competitive
society, the
typical parent
sees education
as not just a
stepping stone
but the golden ticket to a secure,
stable and lucrative future for
his or her child.
s
In the past, a teacher’s authority wa
m
sacrosanct. He ruled over the fiefdo
ing
that was the classroom without be
parents
questioned, and both students and
nged.
would get in line. Lately, that has cha
thority
All over Singapore, the teacher’s au
ationship
has deteriorated and today, the rel
t is
between educator, child and paren
becoming increasingly antagonistic.
We investigate this phenomenon.
The school has become not just a
zone
place of learning but a corporate
populated by jargon, meetings and
of
key performance indicators, on top
sector concepts
the teaching. Private
such as deliverables and customer
satisfaction have proliferated these
aim
academic institutes, and while the
introduction of
and objectives of the
y
these concepts were almost certainl
without any ill intents, the results
r
have been a mixed bag. Every othe
family members
week, your friends,
or the papers share tales, stories and
anecdotes of teachers burning out
and throwing in the towel due to the
amount of stress they face daily from
Since the local
the
their su pervisors and the parents of
school system
children they teach. Conversely, you
is intolerant
nts
read letters written by the same pare
of failure within
edly lackadaisical
berating the suppos
the youthful ranks, the parents are
lty.
attitude of the school’s teaching facu
say
placing a demanding, some would
absurd, amount of pressure on the
expected,
tal Tan says: “Teachers are now
teachers to groom their child’s men
justifiably so, to live
some might argue
faculties and prepare them for the
s of
up to the demands not only in term
rigours of the world.
terms
teaching and learning, but also in
r
of character development and othe
THE SCHOOL: A PLACE
omes.”
non-academic outc
IS
OF LEARNING AND KP
“Over the past few decades, the
relationship between parents and
teachers has evolved from one of
h
merely ‘teachers are there to teac
my children’ towards ‘teachers are
a
there to provide me and my child
fessor
service’,” says Associate Pro
itute
Jason Tan from the National Inst
of
of Education. “A growing number
the mindset
parents have adopted
that they are the customers and
the teachers, who are the service
r
providers, are there to meet thei
needs and wants.”
More importantly, these needs and
wants have evolved with the times
and the changes in the academic
e
landscape. Previously, it was mor
d
than sufficient for teachers to hea
r
to school, teach to the best of thei
e. Today, the
ability, and return hom
and
educational stakes have changed
ed,
demands on teachers have escalat
mainly due to the “growing number
of academic and non-academic
programmes offered by
schools to provide holistic
education”, Tan reasons.
16
Family & Life • Sep 2014
You must admit, teachers are
er
battling stacked odds that are nev
in their favour.
THE POWER STRUGGLE
preFiona Walker, CEO of a popular
, contends that
school in Singapore
tion
the easy accessibility of informa
e
on the Internet has made everyon
a
a so-called expert, thus making
n harder than it
teacher’s job eve
ents
already is. At the same time, par
lnowadays tend to be rather wel
educated and no longer place the
teacher on a pedestal.
the
“The explosion of the Internet and
dge
consequent easy access to knowle
hers’ previous role
has meant that teac
as the sole authority in classrooms
,”
has been considerably diminished
ce
says Tan. “The knowledge imbalan
teachers to project
that once enabled
their personal authority has been
considerably eroded, even as the
demands on them to respond to
have
students’ and parents’ feedback
escalated.”