The United States is thought to be the precursor of the modern education practices and methods employed by the world. The country proposed research and methodologies and provided the world with the modern research university as well. The country was a hub of Ivy League universities which only accepted and promoted students with exceptional grades and had added to the world’s assets of intellectuals and leaders. These institutions have provided immense research in the various fields of life and have added inventions and various discoveries to the world. However, on the one hand, where the American education and its impacts have been felt worldwide, back at home the results are quite different. Higher education is failing back in America while in other parts of the world; it is expanding and improving. Comparing it with Singapore, it is questionable as to why the standard of higher education is improving in a country like Singapore whereas it is getting worse in the United States. There are various reasons responsible for this development such as following the educational guidelines with care, employing latest teaching strategies and helping students through higher education with economic help and easing their debt. On the other hand, the tumbling American university education is regarded as being over-expensive, quality of graduates declining and the general dissatisfaction of results is coupled with a lesser number of graduates per year.
Talking of Singapore, it was a country that achieved independence in the year 1965. On the other hand, the United States of America came onto the world map in 1776. It is true that even at that time; America had universities and colleges which are even ranked as some of the world’s best today (Matthews). However, being a small island-city-state that lies in Southeast Asia, Singapore at the time had about two million, illiterate and unskilled out of the total population (OECD). It was then that the government invested in the education sector and pooled in large amounts for funding the higher education sector since the success of the small island state depended on the success of the children, especially in secondary education. The 1970s were successful in this respect as the country was heading toward improving the literacy rate.
On the other hand, America as a country was emerging due to the fact that British colonies had a strong literacy rate because of the Enlightenment and the general literate population which was amongst the people. Boston, for one colony, had almost a 100% literacy rate by the end of the 18th century. At that time, so long ago, the ability of the people to read and write was rendered huge as there was a larger aristocracy that turned to university education at a time before mechanization and industrial society. Therefore, holding a general comparison between the two, it is clear that America came into existence long before Singapore, and the country had a chance to develop and emerge thus serve as a model for the rest of the world.
However, today the success of the small island state in a corner of the world can be determined by its capacity to turn into a country having a higher per capita GDP than America. This success is the boosted education system and the level of education that supersedes its surrounding areas, and the country leaped to the heights of success in a small period of time. Its two strongholds appeared to be the two research universities which have jumped to success from Fourth Division to the Champions League within a decade (Matthews).
The attitude shown by the Singaporean government was serious and resilient, and the aim of the government was to take the educational level in middle and secondary schools to a higher level and ascertain a good standard. Therefore in 2009, Singapore took part in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, where the Singaporean students ranked fifth in reading, second in math and fourth in science (OECD). The worldwide results and competition showed that the country’s intellect was growing in terms of the literary excellence
Also, Singapore became the first Asian country which made it to the top 10 Universities 12 ranking. This is a ranking which judges the countries’ academic success on the basis of the investment they have made, the gender balancing in the academies, the international connection they have with foreign universities and the research output they provide to the rest of the world. In spite of the inability of the country being a small state, there are still enormous aid and benefits provided to the country’s universities (OECD). Improvement in the education sector results from research and funding to universities. In 1991, there was a five-year plan implemented to improve the domains of science, technology and innovative means of academics. At first, they loaned S$2 billion (OECD). The second term in 1996 was funded with S$4 billion. In the third term, the country saw another increment given to the academic research system when it rolled out S$6 billion, in the year 2001. In 2006, the country doubled this amount roughly to S$13.9 billion. The previous years’ term ended from 2011-2015 where the investment went around S$16.1 billion.
Another reason why the country and its students are progressive is because they kept English as the main language apart from the mother tongue, strictly implementing it for educational purposes (Matthews). When judged from this level, Singaporean students were able to be compared to those in the USA or the UK, which helped them make a stand in the world.
Not only that, the system in higher education is improving and of good quality because the school system of Singapore is very refined. According to a 2009 survey and a recent survey of the OECD Singaporean children are competing well with the school children of the West and they are actually getting better by the passing years (N.a). Overall, the children of Singapore ranked fourth in the literacy in 2006.
There are also various other reasons that outline the improving conditions of the higher education in the country. Learning is considered a vision for the students and the teachers and the country’s teachers and professors are kept in mind when the country considers how to improve the educational quality. Teachers are given chances to improve their career are provided the incentives that would cause them to work harder for emphasizing on the learning abilities of the children. Changing the system of schools and the management system of the school is another important step. “Apart from the centralized and controlled top-down system of governing and monitoring schools, schools are divided into geographical clusters or regions” (N.a). They are also made autonomous and provided more authority. Cluster superintendents, who also happened to be former prime ministers and educators who mentored the other teachers and educators, meanwhile helping them run the schools and incorporate innovation in their work (N.a). When schools are given more autonomy, leaders, and experienced teachers expend more time and energy into thinking of newer methods to improve the learning abilities of students.
An important feature of the Singaporean education system is that from class 5 onwards, students are allowed to progress and learn at their own pace. This is called streaming. In 2008, several schools replaced it with subject based banding (N.a). The country has a clear vision of where it wants its standing in the world; currently, it wants to become a scientific hub in the world.
This aim makes the country understand the demand for supply and demand of education which renders it successful in understanding where the ability of the students lies greater and where it needs to be worked upon. Placing more focus on math, science and technical skills the country tends to make a shifted focus on developing the skills that act as the prominent learning abilities which determine success in higher education, as well as in life.
On the other hand, American higher education is deemed ideal where millions of students migrate to the country in order to attain the best of education. However, students in American universities are prone to other issues such as the debt they have acquired due to the high fees at universities and the time they need to spend working in order to pay for that debt (The Economist). Between the years 2001 and 2010, the cumulative cost of university education rose from the average 28% to 38% which increased the debt per student rise to twice its amount in the past 15 years. About two-thirds of the university or college graduates take loans and while they graduate, they are still steeped in debt which is a liability to be paid after graduation. With an increased amount of debt, the risk of graduating is increased more than ever (The Economist). The chances that an American student will complete their four-year degree in the time span of six years is about 57% and comparing this with countries like Britain and Australia; these countries have much better rates of students graduating (The Economist).The dropout rate in America is high too, which means that higher education is more of a burden and liability than a learning opportunity for most of the graduates, especially those who are not every keen at studying or are not interested in the courses they have chosen.
Moreover, the universities in America cannot look to the State to help them and resolve their financial matters. The rising tuition fee has raised concerns among the government, and they have backed out from funding universities (N.a.).
If education is considered a means of commerce and nothing is done to improve the courses and the overall education scenario, then there is little progress that will be made in the case of helping universities improve their educational situation (N.a.). When, instead of the experienced and qualified professors, contract based teachers are going to step up and teach students then there will be a lack of expert knowledge going out to the students, and then students will not be able to question or acknowledge with the learning as well as they could under excellent guidance. This does not happen in Singapore because they have a qualified team looking over the students (N.a.). The same goes for the public colleges or smaller community colleges which are usually overcrowded, and the teachers are underpaid and less interested in conveying knowledge that they might eagerly do if they are paid handsome salaries. Earlier, public universities remained the right hand for success for the American society because they could be afforded by everyone and more students of different racial and national backgrounds joined them which led to diversity and a better output from students (N.a.). Promoting elitism by increasing the funds and fee on private institutions and decreasing the focus on the public institutions is damaging for the purpose of education and learning. America also has an issue with reading, math and science skills which is the reason why many young people opt for humanities and liberal arts as they consider them easier (N.a.). On the other hand, Singapore places its focus on the harder and progressive subjects such as math, technical and innovative.
Although there are huge differences between the two countries, in terms of size, GDP, and population, Singapore is successful in higher education today because it is focused on providing and promoting quality education even on a small scale. American universities and colleges are victims to a high fee, student debt, and elitism which is suppressing educational achievement. If these issues are solved, the country can redeem its former educational merit and pride.
Works Cited
Matthews, David. No sleep for Singapore’s universities. Times Higher Education. 2013. Web. 2
May 2016.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/no-sleep-for-singapores-universities/2009064.article
N.a. How the world’s best-performing schools systems come out on top. Pdf. 2007. Web. 2 May,
2016.
http://www.smhc-cpre.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/how-the-worlds-best-performing-school-systems-come-out-on-top-sept-072.pdf
N.a. Strong performers and Successful reformers in education. OECD. 163-169. 2011. Print.
OECD. Measuring Innovation in education. Singapore country note. Pdf. 2014. Web. 2
May 2016.
https://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/Measuring-Innovation-in-Education-Singapore.pdf
The Economist. Higher education; not what it used to be. 2012. Web. 2 May 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21567373-american-universities-represent-declining-value-money-their-students-not-what-it
