Han Dong's reflections

 This Denmark study trip highlighted the similarities and differences between the Singapore cultures and the Danish culture, and how these similarities and differences lead to significant difference in our mindset in approaching education. There is no right or wrong in education. After all, humans are complex and difficult to understand. However, the context of a society have to be considered in order to decide which kind of approaches to adopt for our education/classroom pedagogy. 


This study trip has reaffirmed my notion that education needs a whole nation approach. The previous generation gone through a certain type of education, and is hence educated to think in a certain way. If a large scale change in education is proposed, it is almost impossible for it to succeed if the mindset (or rather, willingness to change) of the society does not first change. However, mindsets are hard to change, so aren’t we stuck in a cycle where nothing can be done? While I don’t think a large scale change to education is required, I think that classroom teaching can be tweaked slightly to get the best of both worlds from Singapore and Danish education system. For example, one of the danish teachers talked about empowering students with responsibility. If a student misbehave, the teacher will remove that responsibility instead of “punishing” the student. This can be built on a foundation of trust (i.e trusting that students will carry out their responsibilities), which is something largely present in Denmark’s society.


In addition, this trip has made me reevaluate the purpose of performance oriented education in Singapore. Denmark seems to have a process-driven classroom while Singapore’s education has a focus on performance due our belief in meritocracy. This trip has highlighted that Singapore is a small country with no natural resources. We all know the usual arguments such as (i) Singapore is too structured, (ii) we are focussing too much on academic performance, (iii) Singapore is too focussed on efficiency, etc. However, if we do not have stability (due to structure), efficiency, high academic performance to put our country on the world map, what else do we have? How else are we going to attract investors, tourist, or companies? Denmark has the room and space to give freedom, in terms of flexibility, to its education system. Can Singapore afford to give the same freedom to its education system? This trip has made me rethink about the situation that Singapore is in. I often take Singapore’s peace and prosperity for granted. After all, I was born in a period of prosperity, and I will never understand the hardships of our forefathers. However, this trip has reminded me that when we argue against Singapore’s performance oriented style, we also have to consider our nation’s position. We work as one Singapore, and when we propose changes to be made to the education system, we also have to consider the impact of our proposed changes to the wider Singapore such as economic considerations.


In conclusion, this trip has prompted me to rethink my own beliefs of how education should be run. The context of a country must be considered before we adopt new strategies in our education system. We must remember that what we do in the education system will have long lasting impact in the next generation, and this impact will affect other ministries in Singapore.

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