Albert Einstein Quotes on Education

Albert Einstein Quotes on Education
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover
what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose
to discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing.
Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity
to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm
of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the
community to which your later work belongs.
Humiliation and mental oppression by ignorant and selfish teachers wreak
havoc in the youthful mind that can never be undone and often exert a
baleful influence in later life.
The aim (of education) must be the training of independently acting
and thinking individuals who, however, can see in the service to the
community their highest life achievement.
Teaching should be such that what is offered is
perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.

Bertrand Russell on Education and Discipline

The submissive lose initiative, both in thought and action; moreover, the anger generated by the feeling of being thwarted tends to find an outlet in bullying those who are weaker. That is why tyrannical institutions are self-perpetuating: what a man has suffered from his father he inflicts upon his son, and the humiliations which he remembers having endured at his public school he passes on to Ònatives" when he becomes an empire-builder. Thus an unduly authoritative education turns the pupils into timid tyrants, incapable of either claiming or tolerating originality in word or deed. The effect upon the educators is even worse: they tend to become sadistic disciplinarians, glad to inspire terror, and content to inspire nothing else. As these men represent knowledge, the pupils acquire a horror of knowledge, which, among the English upper-class, is supposed to be part of human nature, but is really part of the well-grounded hatred of the authoritarian pedagogue.

Rebels, on the other hand,, though they may be necessary, can hardly be just to what exists. Moreover, there are many ways of rebelling, and only a small minority of these are wise. Galileo was a rebel and was wise; believers in the flat-earth theory are equally rebels, but are foolish. There is a great danger in the tendency to suppose that opposition to authority is essentially meritorious and that unconventional opinions are bound to be correct: no useful purpose is served by smashing lamp-posts or maintaining Shakespeare to be no poet. Yet this excessive rebelliousness is often the effect that too much authority has on spirited pupils. And when rebels become educators, they sometimes encourage defiance in their pupils, for whom at the same time they are trying to produce a perfect environment, although these two aims are scarcely compatible.

What is wanted is neither submissiveness nor rebellion, but good nature, and general friendliness both to people and to new ideas. These qualities are due in part to physical causes, to which old-fashioned educators paid too little attention; but they are due still more to freedom from the feeling of baffled impotence which arises when vital impulses are thwarted. If the young are to grow into friendly adults, it is necessary, in most cases, that they should feel their environment friendly. This requires that there should be a certain sympathy with the child's important desires, and not merely an attempt to use him for some abstract end such the greatness of one's country. And, in teaching, every attempt should be made to cause the pupil to feel that it is worth his while to know what is being taught-at least when this is true. When the pupil co-operates willingly, he learns twice as fast and with half the fatigue. All these are valid reasons for a very great degree of freedom.

MOE Lacking Moral Education & Character Development - 百年樹仁

All the debates and media reports about Mother Tongue weightage, streaming, ranking, international awards winning, etc by MOE schools. Moral education and character developments seem lacking which is much needed with the increased undergrad suicide rate and other social ills including the rugby match gang fight between ACS and Saint Andrew School last month. Since January-April this year alone, five undergrads took their lives, jumping from HDB flats. Not sure if family and relationship issues the only root causes as reported by the Shin Min Daily. Three from NTU, one from NUS and one from Temasek Poly. The MOE eudcation system is overly focused on performance ranking, academic achievement and the acquisition of skills to prepare students for the rat race and paper chase. The root causes of all these social ills - early streaming, ranking and branding of our schools.

Mother Tongue Change Weightage in PSLE Exam

I refer to comment by Mr Chen Shi Ping Zaobao reader dated 24th April, 2010.
MOE 2009 PSLE results, % pupils who "A" & "A*":
English 43.9
Chinese 81.1
Maths. 43.3
Science. 42.6
Assuming the above data is accurate, Chinese language is our pupils
best performing subject, why then the need to change as proposed by Dr Ng Eng Hen on
Chinese Language PSLE score weightage?
More puzzling, despite with a 81.1 percent, significantly higher than the
other three subjects, why so many kids these days " hated" to learn Chinese and great discussion going on with challenges in the learning of Mandarin.
I thought Singapore pupils scored among top in the world ranking (Singapore ranked 4th among 45 education systems”- Progress in International Reading Literacy Study -PIRLS, 2006)reported in Maths and Science - why aren't they performing better in Chinese Language. Guess, it's all about marking standard setting
and statistical moderation to create a more presentable "big picture".
Unknowingly, the MOE is confusing the public here - damage will be done to a generation of Singaporeans. Education minister needs to clarify the statistic and the new policy on reduced PSLE weightage on Mother Tongue.

Bound to Live by the Light that I have - Proverbs/ 箴 言 31 : 8-9

Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who
are perishing. Yes speak up for the poor and the helpless, and see that they get justice."
箴 言
31:8 你 当 为 哑 吧 （ 或 作 不 能 自 辨 的 ） 开 口 ， 为 一 切 孤 独 的 伸 冤 。
31:9 你 当 开 口 按 公 义 判 断 ， 为 困 苦 和 穷 乏 的 辨 屈 。

Workers' Party North Eastern Area House Visit 6th May

改变华文小六会考比重: 井底蛙的竞争

具有争议性的小六会考报告, 我针对陳思平读者在2010年4月24日的早报上的评论：2009年教育部小六会考成绩, A 和 A*的百份率比例

英文 43.9

数学 43.3

科学 42.6

华文 81.1

假设以上的数据是准确的，那么华文其实是我们学生众多学科中成绩最好的一门。那为什么有必要像黄永宏部長所建议改变华文在小六会考的比重呢？更令人不解的是，尽管有81.1% 的小学生的华文取得了A 和 A*的百份率， 明显高出其他三门学科，可为什么现在却有这么多的学子讨厌学习华文，以及社会有关华文太难学的热烈讨论。我想华文成绩好数据的原因是因为教育部通过设置批改标准与统计学修正给我们的一个幻觉。我想新加坡学生能在世界数学和科学成绩排名中名列前茅，为什么我们学习华文出了这么多问题呢？不知不觉的教育部是在加深对下一代新加坡人学华语根基的损害。让我们的华文水平每况愈下！真正的祸根是出自以多年來教育部的教育体制: 分流，学分和精英制度，我们的教育制度需要的不是淘汰，适者生存。我擔心教育部多年來的错误嚴重的话是否会造成我們下一代中华文化的滅絕。拒绝分流！

Parents and pupils are worried and struggling

to cope with our highly stressed school system that's

arised due to MOE aggressive streaming at too young an age

of our pupils, branding and ranking of schools - due to elitism in

MOE education system. Elitism in the education system triggers competition at all levels, among pupils, classes, teachers, principals, schools and parents. This quest to be the best inevitably results in an over emphasis on ranking. Instead of teaching and learning, schools are focused on comparing and competing. Aggressive streaming done at too young an age kill alot of late developers and potential talents. Everyone wants only top results. Many in this society only narrowly focus on getting these results at the expense of learning. This is competition in a well. In Mandarin, it's :井底蛙的竞争.