I thought it only apt that watching the very successful and beautifully executed dancers from the first ever Singapore Night Festival would inspire me to write about something pretty close to my heart – the state of education in Singapore, as related to Art. Perhaps I should define it as Art in the sense of Design and the Fine Arts, and not really the Arts in terms of humanities, social sciences, or anything “non-science”. Non-science is NOT nonsense, regardless of what other very pragmatic Singaporeans may tell you!

I speak from the perspective of one who has been “loved” by the system, if only because I made the minimum criteria for entering the Art Elective Programme (AEP). Apart from your aptitude in art (which I hope I have), obviously you need some sort of minimum academic standards because the schools that offer AEP are few and far between, make that only four of the high schools in Singapore during my time – CHIJ Toa Payoh, Nanyang Girls’ High, Victoria School and The Chinese High School. It seems like TCHS has been taken off the list now. At the JC level, we have National Junior College, Nanyang Junior College and the new addition Hwa Chong Institution.

AEP was my double safety net, apart from the EESIS, in terms of coverage of school fees because during our time, those who kept on the programme were waived. I guess the current business student in me wonders what exactly does the government gain from sponsoring all of my peers. For one, the dropout rate was extraordinarily high.

I would say that apart from the truly talented with the midas touch, the AEP is a grueling program. No one promised it would be easy. Yes, some struggle more than the others, but at the end of the day, talent or not, hard work really is required to make it through the course. I am tired of people taking us for granted and going “oh just close your eyes and whip (something) out”. It might be easier for us, but it surely isn’t easy juggling all our subjects, a life, and this subject that might as well be two, in terms of workload. We spent so much extra time in this one subject, they counted it as an additional ECA (By the use of this ancient term, I am totally giving my age away here). So yes, I danced and drew my life away in High School, studying only so I wouldn’t be pulled out of my favourite classes/activities. I shudder when I think about how dancers who didn’t make the grade requirement were pulled out in their senior year, after all the sweat and tears going into rehearsals on public holidays, school holidays, all the way past midnight. I don’t think people appreciate what goes behind the scenes of a performance, but that’s not the point here.

My point is that after all the foundation and training we were put through, by the time we were all streamed into junior colleges, and by the time it was time to make the transit from JC to University, I could probably count the number of people from what was once a class of about 40, halved by the time it was Secondary 2, to a single digit number, something countable on one hand. If that is not tragic, I don’t know what is.

Then, to make things interesting, you have many students coming in with a passion for design, or art, and no formal training whatsoever, wanting to enter our Design schools in polytechnics. Why are they not given the chance to get the formal training earlier? Why do those who have the formal training then just slip through the cracks…. Where is the follow up?

Let me speak your language, seems like a complete waste of resources to me, and an inefficient way to build the aspirational “artistic” environment that Singapore wants to create. You lose the people you train, and have to retrain the new people who enter this system.

Sometimes, I feel schizophrenic.. if only because I am comfortable in many systems, many schools, and I’ve learnt to switch between the various subcultures and interaction with the wonderful people from around with ease, but I would like to find somewhere to belong. I’ve been through all kinds of institutions from the insanely strict (right down to measuring the length of your hair from your ear lobes), to the completely relaxed (go to school with no shoes if you wish).

I seriously worry for the up and coming School of the Arts. Does anyone truly know what they want to do at age 12? And what happens to them after they graduate? Is there some sort of loose career path that they can visualize, because we sure didn’t’ have that luxury. No, not all of us would like to choose the easy way out and go the NIE route. Sorry to be harsh, but teaching is not the top passion for many of our official “teachers”, and to deny that would be to demonstrate some kind of an ostrich mentality.

I don’t know about you, but mediocrity ought to be outlawed. First, you single kids out and tell them their different/special, then allow them to slip back into the mundane. What about the Music Elective Program? The Language Elective Program? Where do all these kids end up? In some place where their talents are hidden?

You gave us the background, and then just let us fly away, reabsorbed back into the system.

Your thoughts?

Tags: art, AEP, Singapore, Art Elective Program, Singapore Night Festival, school, education, arts, teaching