Concluding Thoughts-by KRC writer Koh Choon Hwee
I would like to preface my concluding thoughts by first saying that some of these uncomfortable comments were made, really, by kind, genuine staff members who were just trying to rationalize the whole backlash for themselves, trying to offer me some comfort (by showing how I wasn’t at fault but Keira was) and who were also responding to immense work pressures of their own. They are dedicated staff members who have painstakingly built up a wonderful academic program over the past decade, a program many, including myself, have benefited from.
At least this is how I rationalize their actions to myself. I sincerely think that they were caught off-guard and did not know how to deal; further, the administration has put much faith in the USP students because there is this deep-seated belief that the USP students are intelligent enough and don’t need supervision. I sincerely think that their reactions have to be understood in a larger social context that is transforming the way Singapore and Singaporeans treat and view education.
As clichéd as it may sound, we have to reintroduce, or at least placed renewed emphasis on, the aspect of affective education and values inculcation. A residential college should not be purely about academic achievements, and I have learned from my semester-long stay at Tembusu College that it doesn’t have to be. My limited encounters with Professor Connor Graham encapsulated for me what a wholesome and holistic residential college experience should be like, and he has unconsciously provided me with guidance on so many occasions, mostly through example and his own actions.
Yet, professors like Prof Graham who are genuinely invested in their students and their holistic development are a rarity. As education becomes increasingly commodified, student performance becomes the standard by which an educational program is measured by. These academic programs behave like mini-corporations, engaging in aggressive publicity campaigns, vying with other programs for a “better” crop of incoming students. Students are seen less as humans but as products, to be showcased on pamphlets alongside a list of their achievements. They are to be featured in newspapers, serving as advertisement for a particular academic program.
A lot of energies are spent in building up not only a brand name, a community, but also a strong identity – all as a way to better position and ‘sell’ one’s academic program. However, the fostering of a strong identity has its drawbacks too, when students unthinkingly internalize the exclusivity of that identity and become intolerant to those who question its boundaries – as we saw in this case.
Nevertheless, we have to view this case and the actions of the USP administration (or even the Yale-NUS College or the SUTD, as a fellow KRC writer pointed out) in the larger societal context — after all, they are only responding to what our society values, and so far our society seems to value only measurable achievements. This USP backlash is, I sincerely feel, indicative of a larger malaise that afflicts our society and one that has to be taken seriously by educators and policy makers.
So much of this country’s resources are being invested in nurturing the brightest, most intelligent and high-achieving students. Academic programs like the USP is catered precisely for this demography. Yet, as the cost of living in Singapore increases, accessibility to such educational resources comes inevitably with a price tag. At such a juncture then, can we count on those who have benefitted most from the system to speak up for those who are struggling within the system? Can we count on those who are running the system, who were promoted to positions of administrative leadership, to make hard decisions?
In rapidly building the strong foundations and hardware for our education industry, have we, as a society, forgotten crucial aspects about character-building and values inculcation?
I would like to remind readers here, however, that it was only a minority of USP students who had engaged in making vicious comments, and there remain wonderful aspects of the USP, from which I have immensely benefited. I have since left the program, but I have and will continue to give back to the community.
I have confidence that the USP will be able to reinvent itself to remain relevant in tertiary education. I know that they are beginning to look into these areas that I have raised in this article, as a USP professor had requested to have lunch earlier this month with me, in order to seek my perspective on what should be done regarding the USP Facebook group and the USP house system. I believe that the USP can aspire to greater heights and that the residential colleges will become a truly safe space for learning and living.
*I would like to thank those few who had spoken up on behalf of Keira, or who had tried in their own ways to calm the furore on the USP Facebook group. There were some whom I knew personally, but many others whom I don’t.
A note to the USP staff – I understand that much goodwill may not be left after the publication of these articles, and you may not be able to understand how I can simultaneously hold all the views expressed in these articles and yet still respect the work that you do/ have done over the past decade. As I had written in a testimonial for one of the USP directors, at his/her request, “We have had our disagreements, and will most probably continue to have them – yet it is a testimony to [his/her] maturity and magnanimity that despite my various hot-headed replies, angsty reactions and fiery ripostes, [he/she] has persevered in maintaining open lines of communication between us.”
I dare not ask for your magnanimity again, at least not towards my lone self. What I do ask for is that you take this feedback seriously — I have said all this and more in private, through what they call “appropriate internal channels”. Nothing was done.
I hope that one day we can muse at all this over tea or something, but till then let the struggles of daos and dharmas play themselves out.
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