Non-academic Attributes Required to Thrive in Today’s World
Text: Kwok Jia-Xin
The Singapore education system needs more focus on skills outside the academic arena, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said during the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum at the National University of Singapore.
Speaking at the event held on Aug. 30, Heng emphasised the importance of social skills and digital literacy, attributes not traditionally associated with the Singapore education system.
“Our schools have been good at academic content and teaching knowledge,” Heng said. “But going forward, we need to put emphasis on being alive to people. Whatever great idea you have, it’s about serving human needs.”
In his address titled “The Future of Jobs,” Heng also said that being able to relate to others, especially foreigners, would help Singaporeans thrive in today’s cosmopolitan world.
Aimed at exposing undergraduates to political discourse, the annual forum features a ministerial level speaker who discusses pertinent issues in a Singaporean context.
The minister also said that Singaporeans today would suffer from “information overload,” referring to citizens consuming more information than they can possibly process.
“What we need are more literacy skills, including digital literacy,” Heng said to the 280-strong audience consisting of NUS students, faculty and government staff. “Knowing how to search for information, being discerning about what you read, and being able to process in a way that converts the reading into coherent knowledge.”
Heng said developing such non-academic strengths would help Singaporeans stand out. “The demands of jobs are going to be far more today than in the past,” he explained.
Heng also said that besides academic knowledge, Singaporeans should develop qualities that employers would favour, such as trustworthiness and curiosity, enabling them to “command a premium in the job market.”
The ensuing question-and-answer session saw Heng debating with students about a wide range of issues. In the hour-long session, the minister talked about moral education and sports in schools, discussed the benefits of bilingualism and explained the importance of being a lifelong learner.
“When you leave university, there are no longer textbook answers. There are decisions you need to make that will make a great impact,” Heng said. “Unless we keep learning and keep getting better at what we do, we will never be able to do it well.”
The organisers of the event said they felt that the forum had gone well. “Except for a delay in timing, we were satisfied,” said Ow Yau Loong, vice president (projects) of the NUS Students' Political Association.
Not all, however, were satisfied with the event. “I got the idea that the government is very obsessed with jobs,” said Tan Wei Yuan, a recent sociology graduate who now works as a teacher. “The minister wants to get the economy running, but somewhere in that I feel the point of education is lost.”
Tags: breaking news
The Singapore education system needs more focus on skills outside the academic arena, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said during the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum at the National University of Singapore.
Speaking at the event held on Aug. 30, Heng emphasised the importance of social skills and digital literacy, attributes not traditionally associated with the Singapore education system.
“Our schools have been good at academic content and teaching knowledge,” Heng said. “But going forward, we need to put emphasis on being alive to people. Whatever great idea you have, it’s about serving human needs.”
In his address titled “The Future of Jobs,” Heng also said that being able to relate to others, especially foreigners, would help Singaporeans thrive in today’s cosmopolitan world.
Aimed at exposing undergraduates to political discourse, the annual forum features a ministerial level speaker who discusses pertinent issues in a Singaporean context.
The minister also said that Singaporeans today would suffer from “information overload,” referring to citizens consuming more information than they can possibly process.
“What we need are more literacy skills, including digital literacy,” Heng said to the 280-strong audience consisting of NUS students, faculty and government staff. “Knowing how to search for information, being discerning about what you read, and being able to process in a way that converts the reading into coherent knowledge.”
Heng said developing such non-academic strengths would help Singaporeans stand out. “The demands of jobs are going to be far more today than in the past,” he explained.
Heng also said that besides academic knowledge, Singaporeans should develop qualities that employers would favour, such as trustworthiness and curiosity, enabling them to “command a premium in the job market.”
The ensuing question-and-answer session saw Heng debating with students about a wide range of issues. In the hour-long session, the minister talked about moral education and sports in schools, discussed the benefits of bilingualism and explained the importance of being a lifelong learner.
“When you leave university, there are no longer textbook answers. There are decisions you need to make that will make a great impact,” Heng said. “Unless we keep learning and keep getting better at what we do, we will never be able to do it well.”
The organisers of the event said they felt that the forum had gone well. “Except for a delay in timing, we were satisfied,” said Ow Yau Loong, vice president (projects) of the NUS Students' Political Association.
Not all, however, were satisfied with the event. “I got the idea that the government is very obsessed with jobs,” said Tan Wei Yuan, a recent sociology graduate who now works as a teacher. “The minister wants to get the economy running, but somewhere in that I feel the point of education is lost.”
Tags: breaking news