The Education of a Nation.

Every little thing about a school is a messenger. The messages that each aspect carries is that of the priorities and nature of the nation in which the school stands. Overseas readers might be surprised at the messages that Singaporean schools embody.

Firstly, I would like you to think on this question: what is a wall in a classroom? What should such a wall be used for? Well, one wall of a classroom will have a blackboard or whiteboard on it. Other walls might have windows. At least one wall may have a noticeboard. But what should you do with spare space that has no other function than to hold up the roof? I invite you to consider the wildest ideas that might come to mind. Have a guess what a wall might be used for, in Singapore.

Recently, I came upon a wall in a classroom that had been rather interestingly decorated. It had been converted into a mural. This mural was at the back of the classroom and was rather large. It would be seen everytime any student entered the classroom. It would be seen throughout the day, by the teacher, who would be constantly reminded of it. What do you think the mural was about? Have a think.

The mural was about money. This school had put a permanent shrine to money up on the wall of a secondary school classroom. It was a secondary one classroom and so this would be the first year of senior school, for all those impressionable kids who would sit in front of this altar to money behind them.

The mural consisted of two children in a playground on a "see-saw". They were a boy and a girl. Interestingly, the see-saw was perfectly level. It was neither up nor down. The left hand side of the see-saw was marked: "Debit", the right hand side of the see-saw was marked, "Credit". Floating in the air above the boy to the left were the words: "Assets, Expenses, Drawings". Floating above the girl to the right, were the words: "Liabilities, Revenue, Capital". The playground was a representation of the world of finance.

Now, the school could have instructed anything in the world to be painted on that wall. Anything from human history, art, science, nature or culture could have been placed on that wall for the kids to consider, all year long. Yet, what they chose to put there was a shrine to money.

We all know that money is important in the adult world - but is it the most important thing in the world? Is it the sole thing that should be chosen to put on the wall of a school classroom? Is it right and proper that children should be inculcated with an obsession with and veneration for money at such a vulnerable age? What kind of children are they likely to become, if they are not so subtly brainwashed in this manner, to think highly and often of money? Are they going to be shallow people or deep ones? Will they live meaningful lives or trivial ones? Will they make a contribution to society or take something out of it? Will they be happy or sad? Will they live well, or poorly? Will they know the importance of love, friendship, honesty, integrity, goodness and truth? Or will they think that these stand in the way of Money?

I think the answer to all of these questions will be negative, where the children who lived all year long in the shadow of Money are concerned. The influence on their outlook and values can only be narrowing in scope.

We are repeatedly told, in Singapore, that state education is not just about education per se, but about "national education" - by which it means conforming to the requirements of the society and adopting its mindset. One of those requirements, from this example, appears to be to set Money up as one's God and to submit one's life and will to its pursuit.

Any society that makes Money its sole aim is a society that cannot be stable, permanent or fruitful. For Money, alone, does not confer any quality on its people, apart from greed. A society that aims to be rich in non-monetary terms (that is, in all the terms that make life worth living and enjoyable), needs to instil in its children a love not of money, but of life, itself, in all its variety and splendour. A society should aim to cultivate the depth of its people (in the sense of inner richness) - and not just the size of their avarice. Any society that aims to enrich itself in this more meaningful way, will become a society respected through the ages (just think of the Ancient Greeks of Athens). Any society that aims, instead, for Money, alone, as its aim, will be forgotten and reviled, as soon as the last skyscraper falls (which they will, of course, in time). So, which is Singapore: a society to be respected through the ages - or one to be forgotten, in time, as no more than a shallow hiatus in a deeper nothingness?

That mural, perhaps, provides us the answer.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)