General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

A - Level H1 General Paper

Argumentative/Expository
Essay
And
Application Question
Statistics, Evidences and
Arguments

Last
Updated:
0

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

26.10.14

Education

Academics is all that matters / Over-emphasis on Academics

For / Pros

Against / Cons
Shadow Education
Parents spend US680million
each year according to 2012
Asian Development Bank
report on tuition on private
tuition for their children
Tuition prevalence is over
90% according to Asian
Development Bank Report
Singapore Context
Boosts self-esteem
Eagles award for
Achievement, Leadership and
Service
CCA leaders given bizarre
titles such as Chairman,
Directors, etc[Excessive
emphasis]

Singapore Context
Streaming
Gifted Education Programme
identified at age 9 form the
top 1% of cohort
Priority to Direct School
Admission exercise to top
secondary schools
PSLE, O levels, A levels
Necessary Evil
Objective Benchmark

Holistic educations
Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister
for Education urged teachers
at MOEs Workplan Seminar
2011 to demonstrate
commitment to develop a
student holistically
Co-curricular Activities (CCA)
Edusave Character Award
(ECHA)

Shadow Education
Tuition industry stood at
S$820 million in 2008,
TechInAsia

Civic responsibility
Edusave character award
1

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

[Monetary Reward
Overemphasis on values]
Community Involvement
Programme allow application
of moral education which
[Over-Emphasis- consist of
monotonous activities which
are compulsory]
SMU Ethics and Social
responsibility is core module
Students with special
needs
Pathlight School started in
2004 to provide blend of
academics and life-readiness
skills for children with autism
Specialised Schools
School of Sports, School of the
Arts (SOTA)

Relevance in Real Life

For / Pros
Development of skills
[Administration, Analysis,
Organising, processing]
Chinas nine-year compulsory
education system, installed in
1986, has boosted the
country's literacy rate to
around 92 percent (it was 67
percent as of 1980) and
prepared millions of eligible
young people for the rapidly
expanding workforce.

Against / Cons
Esoteric Subjects

Over-Qualification
1 in 5 graduates claimed they
were overqualified for their
jobs, however, among 33
European countries, it still
takes 4.8 months less for
graduates to enter the
workforce as to those who
had lower qualifications
[Source???]

Socialize into society

2

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

Guarantees a job
44.8% of those who earned
below $10 000USD felt that
education had relevance in
their jobs while 11.3% more of
those who earned between
$40 000-59 999USD felt that
education had the relevance.

Does not guarantee a job

Education has no link
Google, revealed that GPA is
given a lower weight in
assessing candidates as GPAs
and job success has shown
little correlation

Singapore Context
Socialize
To develop self and social
awareness as well as
relationship and responsibility
management
[Singapore Ministry of
Education]

Singapore Context

Employment rate
Employment rate of tertiary
educated citizens were 6%
higher for males, 24% higher
for females between the ages
20-24 compared to those
without tertiary education.
[2011 Manpower Research
and Singapore Department of
Statistics]
Employability for adults above
25 years of age was 10% for
never attending school, 62%
for being a high school
graduate and 91% for having
a bachelors degree in 2002
[Pacificweb.org]
Esoteric Subjects Soft
Skills
Math, develops skills such as
critical thinking, develop
problem solving skills,
increase capacity to think
analytically [Wildmath.org]
3

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

Esoteric Subjects Specialized jobs

Engineering, medicine, etc
Projects
GCEA Project work introduced
with the aim of allowing
collaboration, communication
Internship
SMU Compulsory 10-16
week internship

Promotes Inequality

For / Pros
Rich have more resources
At the most selective
universities, including
Oxbridge, less than 1% of the
intake are pupils on free
school meals, who make up
5.5% of the student intake in
the three years of data the
Sutton Trust examined.
Education entrench on
existing social structures
Education may entrench
existing social structures
because of elite private

Against / Cons
Ability to level out
inequality Education is the
best leveler out of all the
other tools a person has to his
abilities. Compared with caste
systems or social systems
that entrench people in their
social strata
Same gap for use of
resources
Parents whose annual income
was over $100,000 were 2.9
per cent more likely to hire
tutors for their children than

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

schools
Poorer children may be denied
access to better opportunities
than their rich counterparts
even if they had the same
abilities

those households that make

less than $40,000
[2007 study from the
Canadian Council on Learning
(CCL) ]

Singapore Context

Singapore Context

Effectiveness of Teaching Methods

1. Rote learning Vs Creative learning
2. Uncompetitive learning Vs Darwinian systems (competitive)
3. Balance of Rote and Creative learning

Rote + Competitive
China, rote learning, much
higher math and science
scores that the US. [The moor
2011]
U.S. 15-year-olds had an
average score of 487 in math
on a 1,000 point scale.
Shanghai students scored
600, Singapore, 562.

Creative + Non-Competitive
US students have proven to
be far more creative and
innovative as compared to
their China counterparts [The
moor 2011]
Only one mandatory test in
Finland when they are 16,
spends 30% less money on
education than the US, 93%
graduate from high school,
17.5% higher than the US
All teachers have a masters
degree in Finland, selected
from top 10% of graduates,
and have the same status as
doctors and lawyers
In international standardized
test, Finnish children came
close to the top in science,

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

reading and mathematics

[Refer to Important Random
Stats for more information on
Finland]

Singapore Context

Singapore Context

Aims of Education
Academic
Bilingualism
More than 150 major research
studies confirm the advantage
of bilingualism of social,
cultural and economic
advantages

Non-Academic

Singapore Context
Bilingualism
Bilingual Policy remains
priority as it allows citizens
the language competencies to
communicate and interact
with countries around the
world

Singapore Context
Co-curricular activities
Out of Classroom
experiences
A*Star, NUS, EDB, organise
programmes such as Science
Mentorship Programme and
Emerging Market Challenge

Destroys Creativity/Curiousity
True

Untrue

Singapore Context

Singapore Context

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

Stereotyping

True
Youths live up to the
expectations people place on
them (high expectations
reciprocate with
corresponding behavior)
[Glenn Lim, youth specialist
consultant and Singapore
Youth Award winner]

Untrue

Singapore Context

Singapore Context

Eugenics

Evidences
Robert Klark Graham
Collecting sperm from Nobel
laureates in science and
distributing it to intelligent
women
The bank had fathered more
than 217 kids
no, they are not all geniuses
no scientific sample and no
proof of nature's triumph over
nurture
Singapore Context
Graduate Mother Scheme
which favoured the children of
mothers with a university
degree in primary school
placement and registration
process over the lessereducated.
Social Development Unit
Lee Kuan Yew alleged that the
phenomenon of graduates

Criticisms
Eliciting accusations of racism
and elitism
Death Threats

Social Uproar

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

remaining single would result

in a projected loss of about
400 talented people per year

Digital Revolution

Beneficial/Possible
Online Courses - Vastness
Coursera a popular Moocs
(Massive Open Online
Courses)
400 courses in 7 languages
Partnered with 87 universities
such as Stanford, Yale
Interactive, grades, feedback,
lectures
Online Courses Proven
benefits
470,000 students have
benefitted, far more than
most universities can teach in
decades
Online Courses Price
Free, certificates costs only
between 30-100USD as
compared to Ivy league ones
which cost thousands (Better
for developing countries with
less wealthy citizens, China,
India opportunity to learn)
Singapore Context

Non-Beneficial/Not Possible
Online Courses
Ineffectiveness
90% never watch all lectures,
seldom do homework and
dont debate projects on
forum
No Hands on activities
Lab work, etc
No Human Interactive
[Importance of socialization]

Singapore Context

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

Source of Change
Change
Gender Equality
Boko Haram (terrorist group),
opposed Western education
and kidnapped 200 schoolgirls
as act to prevent females
from getting education
Political Change
H2 History Notes
LKY, Sukarno, Kartini,
Tjokroaminoto
Change in social status
Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux,
1st woman billionaire in
Singapore came as penniless
orphan
Model United Nations
(MUN)
Conferences to debate about
real world problems like in
Syria

To ensure world stays the same

Propaganda, Indoctrinate
Chinas Textbooks
Atrocities like Great Leap
Forward, Tiananmen square
massacre glossed over
Japan is Chinas largestaid
donor is left unknown by
many
Japans Textbook
Little mention of atrocities
such as the Nanking massacre
1937
Income Social Immobility
2011, Lee Kuan Yew, revealed
survey results, that more than
half of students in top
secondary schools such as RI
and HCI had graduate fathers
whereas neighbourhood
schools, highest percentage
was 13.1% in Chai Chee
Secondary [Straits Times
Growing worry of social
immobility]
Singapore Context

Singapore Context

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

10

General Paper - Statistics, Evidences and Arguments

11