‘Schools prepare us for exams, not adulthood’: Singaporeans share what they wish they had learned
The Singaporean felt that schools place too much importance on grades and exam results. They said students also need to know how to deal with the realities of adult life.
In Singapore, the education system is often lauded for equipping students with the skills necessary to excel in their professional careers. However, a recent Reddit post sparked a discussion about what skills students wish they had been taught before leaving school. The original poster expressed concern that while schools focus on grades and exam results, they often fail to prepare students for the challenges of adult life.
According to the post, students are taught how to score well on exams but not how to manage money, navigate workplace stress, build healthy relationships, cope with failure, negotiate salaries, understand CPF and taxes, or even determine what truly makes them happy. The poster questioned whether too much emphasis is placed on exam preparation rather than on preparing students for adulthood.
This prompted a range of responses from other netizens. Some wished that the education system taught how to build healthy relationships and express emotions effectively, attributing this gap to poor parenting. Others believed that teaching students to think critically about complex problems, rather than merely finding solutions, would be beneficial. They argued that many real-life problems lack straightforward answers and require a nuanced approach.
Embracing failure and viewing it as an opportunity to learn and try again was another skill people felt should be emphasized. Financial literacy also emerged as a crucial area of education, with many expressing frustration that schools do not focus on teaching students how to manage their finances effectively. One user pointed out that basic math skills learned in school are often far less useful than financial skills in the workforce.
A common consensus among the comments was that schools have limited time and resources, and cannot be expected to cover every aspect of adult life. However, the discussion highlighted the numerous life skills that people often learn the hard way after leaving school, such as financial management, dealing with failure, navigating relationships, and approaching complex problems with critical thinking.
Written by urgent.news from The Independent Singapore's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
