Learn to learn

It has been exactly 1 month since I first touched down in the states. Everything is different here. From the climate to its culture. And the only way to survive is to adapt to it as quick as possible. I guess I came here with the wrong mindset. Thinking that its gonna be much easier. After all that is the impression I got from people who went on exchange. As a result I kinda suffered a little in the initial phase. Finding it hard to keep up with lessons. Thankfully I manage to adapt quickly and everything is going rather smooth now.

 Looking back, I realized how much I've changed. I've learnt to be more independent with learning as information are no longer spoon fed to us. You learn as much as you want to learn here. So if you don't bother to find out, you will never learn. There are no such things as notes here. Lessons are written on boards and your note is as much as you copy down. It has made me realized how pampered we are in Singapore's education system. Where knowledge are given to us regardless if we seek it or not. Every module has a set of notes that we can purchase. Many a times after doing class assignments here, I realized that the coverage of topics in class isn't sufficient to solve many questions. As a result it would be necessary to do some self-studying.

My view on the Singaporean education is that it has higher rates of success in terms of producing graduates that meets the industries requirements. However it will not produce exceptional graduates that can create change within the industries. Not saying that it doesn't, just that it is less likely. We kind of lose the skill to seek knowledge. A skill which in my opinion is very important trait if you want to be in the forefront of research and development.

Overall the Singapore education system is a well implemented system. However it is too sheltered. I feel that if we want to excel some form of change must occur. It need to develop a culture that promotes independent learning. Where students take charge of their learning. At the same creating an environment that makes students thirst for knowledge. Like the saying goes, you can bring the horse to the water but you can't make it drink. In this case the horse being the student and water being knowledge.

So how can this concept be applied to the education system? The education system will first of all need a pool of resource where students can approach to seek knowledge; which I feel is already available in the Singapore system. Information will no longer be given on a full scale instead only on the fundamentals. Lastly to create an environment that creates thirst for knowledge.

Easy as it may seem, I believe to implement such a system we are still a long way to go. Nonetheless I would see such an improvement in the system.