This is why he is Deputy Prime Minister
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 10:52AM In one sure stroke, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean deflected a question, equated the country with his party, and patted himself on the back for formulating a policy that doesn't address the issue and is rife with conflicts of interest.
Responding to a student who asked if Singapore would adopt a new political attitude or stick to its Asian values stance, he said: 'We need to be more self-confident.'
He related how when he became education minister in 1997, he was surprised to find that teachers lacked confidence in themselves, even though they were doing a great job.
'Everybody was telling them that they were doing the wrong things,' he said. 'I said: How can this be? People are coming to learn from us, see how we teach, why we are successful. Yet our teachers don't have self-confidence.'
It led to Mr Teo resolving to set up a unit at the National Institute of Education for teachers to study why Singapore's education system works and how it can be improved further.
It's not shocking that DPM Teo chose to deflect the question; most accounts of his interactions with students, especially during his tenure as Education Minister, have been exercises in self-aggrandisement. And his pride for the system he helped create is manifestly clear. In this case, what he did not say is just as important, perhaps more important, than what he did say.
What DPM Teo omitted was where the education system is successful and where it is lacking. The system provides very good foundations in math and even the US wants to learn what we're doing right. This is indisputable, and an achievement we should be proud of.
What he neglected to mention is the system's grades-at-all-costs mentality, where we focus on the end goal of paper qualifications rather than a holistic education, where social studies matter as much as math, or music and art as much as science. This in turn stresses the students and teachers, who then focuses on the narrow target of academic achievement in place of prizing knowledge and mental development and engagement.
You would think the link is obvious if he listened to those who grind away within the system. But more disturbingly, he created an unit to assess why the system was so successful and look for improvements and housed it within the institute that had every incentive to report that the system works brilliantly to safeguard its own interests. And DPM Teo, as the then-Education Minister, also needed a sterling report card to protect his own interests.
This is a curious mix of arrogance, ignorance of conflict of interest, and a stubborn, unrelenting belief that the system works. This is his reality, as much as it is the reality of his PAP colleagues, symbolic of a systemic failure that bubbles beneath the calm, over-achieving veneer of the Singapore Story.
Update: Even Mr Wang couldn't resist snapping back at the DPM.
Teo's response was, of course, totally irrelevant. Teo might as well have said: "Oh, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Birds have wings and dogs can pee. I hereby refuse to answer your question."
That response would, at least, have been honest. And confident. Although still stupid.
Reader Comments (5)
Teo Chee Hean may not have deflected the question on purpose. He has been consistently doing it, so you cannot rule out the possibility of any learning or hearing disability. We mush show compassion to out fellow human beings and not belittle them, no matter how stupid they may sound.
Thank you and I congratulate you for a very insightful article
You rather he say, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH"?
@Kelvin: That would've been far more entertaining than a litany of his "achievements".
He appeared unsured of himself and where he was.
And where he is now.
He is kind of unaware of his surroundings,
the happenings around him
and the sentiments of the people.
Not senile and not astute.