Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
The thin line between education and propaganda
Reading what Law Minister K Shanmugam is proposing for our education system, the alarm bells went off in my head. He’s proposing to educate Singapore students about politics, and while he has added a disclaimer that he is not in favour of championing a political system over another, it seems to me that ultimately, the aim is to influence students to think that the liberal democracy practised in Europe and America is not applicable to a city-state such as Singapore.
Part of Shanmugam’s remarks can be found here: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_467653.html. For the full story, you’ll need to buy a copy of the Straits Times.
Please leave political education out of the mainstream education system. The reason why I say this is simply because no matter how well meant the intentions are, I believe that it will turn into political propaganda, and putting politics into the classroom is very dangerous. I’m sure the PAP leaders know this very well from Singapore’s experience with communism and Chinese schools a few decades ago. I firmly believe that sensitive topics such as politics and religion should be left out of the mainstream education system.
And besides, engaging in political education is a double edged sword. The PAP seems to be getting unsettled and nervous at how younger and better educated Singaporeans are embracing the liberal democratic style of governance in other countries. The way to tackle this is not political education, but rather to understand the reasons behind such a trend and address those reasons. Otherwise, the PAP is risking a backlash of magnitude that is unpredictable, especially if people perceive the education effort to be propaganda and increase their resistance to the political status quo.
Political education in schools is not the magic bullet to resolving dissatisfaction by younger Singaporeans with the current style of governance. This approach is fraught with huge political risks and openly hands other political parties a loaded gun to shoot the PAP with, especially when it’s so poorly disguised.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Aaron Ng on 17/12/2009 at 12:22 pm, and is filed under Perspective. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 8 months ago
You’re assuming that the directives that are mooted by the ministry of education will be carried out to the T by teachers. The is usually not the case. (in JCs anyway…)
If they’re thinking of implementing it at a Secondary School level, they’re already doing the same thing in Social Studies. The students are on to them though and they don’t tend to accept (wholesale) the things that are taught to them in SS anyway. There’s a level of cynicism in kids nowadays that’s a bit hard to reverse, even with national propaganda.
The dam’s been breached and there’s little that the government can do about it through the education system that isn’t already being done (poorly I might add). So I think there’s no need to panic (yet).
Just a little $0.02 from an educator.
about 8 months ago
Just to add on; I’m a student and from what I know, in my very limited narrow radius of school experience, Social Studies lessons elicit two sorts of responses.
Firstly, if the teacher is Orthodox and follows everything to a T, the rare few might actually believe everything, but most students will end up falling asleep, learning only for exams, or rebelling intellectually against the teacher and questioning propaganda. Usually also paves the way for passivity and general the-government-sucks sort of sentiments. On the other hand, if the teacher can guide the students to arrive at their own version of truth, REAL education is achieved because the students arrive at conclusions themselves.
about 8 months ago
Your title strikes me like a hammer, but to add on, you should read this, scroll, it is messy, but since reading it, blogosphepre to me has not been the same, thx
http://dotseng.wordpress.com/
Btw, believe it or not, I found this link in a site selling dolls!
about 8 months ago
The 5 or 6 articles written by Darkness 2009 are poignant and thought provoking. Juxtaposed against this article where education is pitted against propaganda it stirs up a hornet nest.
When wayang first entered the blog scene. Many were surprised that they linked up with the brotherhood press. Including myself. But never in my wildest dreams did I ever suspect wayang was a covert site run by a bunch of cyber operatives. It never occurred to me. I just thought they were a tad over the top.
Throughout this period, Darkness payed out rope. He must have known this was a big fish at the end of a shank. Its like fishing. You have to seed out and reel in the line to keep the tension just right. There is no time to even rest. And all the while, he was alone, just Darkness and the big fish in a small boat.
Wayang could have won. They could have broken free from the shank many a time. But they were baited again and again. And each time like blue Marlins who catch a faint smell of fish slime only to follow it instinctively into a trap, they fell for the trickery. And when the ddos thingy came up, that was the perfect moment to strike. That was when the big fish surfaced and I can only wonder what went through Darkness mind, he struck with his harpoon. He thrusted it and drove it in with all his hopes, malignancy and all the power he could muster.
May not believe this Darkness, but you have done your part. There is nothing else to do. Now nature must take its course. Do not think about winning or for that matter losing. Leave it all to the internet and rest my friend.
Rest.
about 8 months ago
I register your cynicism but I actually see this as a positive step in our political evolution.
Well, I cant say for certain what the curriculum would end up looking like but I sincerely believe that including basic courses on general understanding of politics and political systems would greatly benefit students not only in terms of their future engagement with political decisions but in general prepare them better to understand current world issues, etc;
Ideally the course should address “how the singapore political system works” and general understanding of the main schools of political thought – Communism, Democracy, Liberals vs Realists, Socialism, etc; Most advanced democracy have mandatory basic political science classes as part of their educational system, dont see why we shouldnt.
At the end of the day the informed voter is the responsible voter. They have my thumbs up on this
about 8 months ago
Hi everyone, thanks for the considered replies. I know that I’m somewhat skeptical of good, critical education in politics outside of university, but for the record, if this can be done well, I will stand corrected.