The Learning Marketplace

The following sections are included:

• DEDICATION
• ABOUT THE BOOK
• FOREWORD
• CONTENTS
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF TABLES

Since my formative years, I have experienced changes taking place in Singapore, first gradually and then gathering speed from the early 2000's. During the 1970's and 80's, I could count vehicles on the road as they drove by, buildings remained the same, and time and space were more balanced. Life was much more predictable and straight forward both at work and in my life. It was a period when sudden and extreme flash floods were uncommon. Languages that were heard and spoken around me were mainly Malay, Chinese dialects and Tamil representing the ethnic groups. The Programme for International Student Assessment did not exist. Then the World Economic Forum gave birth to its' first Global Competitiveness Report, and the National University of Singapore (NUS) was established. The Internet came into being and the world's first commercialised mobile phone was launched during the same period. Singapore's per capita gross domestic product was approximately US$12,000. China had commenced on her economic reforms, India was holding on to her socialist policies and finally the Iron Curtain collapsed…

Small nation states like Singapore with only a limited land mass and air space depend on their human and lifelong learning systems for continued success and sustainability. Some, who may not be familiar with Singapore's location, tend to view her as part of China or situated in the Chinese archipelago. This could be due in part to the fact that the Chinese comprise about 74 per cent of the resident population compared to the Malays at 13 per cent and Indians 9.2 per cent…

Finding answers to understanding how our brain works and the mind's cognitive processes has been the Holy Grail to neuroscientists, scholars, politicians, philosophers and educators for centuries. The discourses have cut across various disciplines of knowledge and practice, from anthropology to politics, psychology to education, economics to religion and neurosciences to the social sciences. In April 2013 the United States President Barack Obama had proposed an ambitious project to map the human brain using the Human Genome Project as a framework. The goal was to develop “a dynamic picture of the brain in action and better understand how we think and how we learn and how we remember.” This will have important implications on learning (what we learn, when, where and how) on the mind and in the way our experiences affect the mind, the way our brain structures develop and are affected by external stimuli, the way each of us perceive reality, and so on…

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children narrates a fictional tale of two newborn babies who, at the stroke of midnight and at the exact moment India gained its independence from British rule were switched by a midwife at a nursing home giving a poor Hindu baby a life of privilege in a Muslim family and the rich baby from a Muslim family a life of poverty. A real life case in Japan came to light recently of how a sixty-year old man born to wealthy parents grew up in poverty after mistakenly being given to another couple in a hospital six decades ago; while the infant who took his place went to live a privileged life of private tutoring, university and is today head of a successful real estate firm. The former had to study at night-school while working day shifts in a factory before finding steady employment as a driver with a transport company. He never married and today, helps take care of three men who are not his brothers, including one who suffered a stroke.

Mr Jim Rogers, an American businessman and investor moved his family to Singapore to take up permanent residency in 2007. One of his key motivations to move was so that his children would get the best education in the world, and be able to learn and speak Mandarin. Another reason was he saw Singapore as a springboard for his investments into China. In November 2012, his daughters now aged four and nine, delivered fluent recital of tradition Chinese folk tales and songs at the ‘Why Learn Chinese’ symposium at Hwa Chong Institution. How were they able to achieve this? He was reported in the local press interview as saying that they had been learning the language from birth and he considered it the “best investment”. He enrolled them at Nanyang Primary School which has a reputation for having a meticulous Chinese curriculum and his younger daughter at Nanyang Kindergarten where Mandarin is the lingua franca for two years…

For those who are connected to the Internet, learning in all its form and content is in real time. It is impacting everyone from every corner of the planet that it is able to reach. Nayan Chanda in his article in The Straits Times gave an analogy of how this is being played out…

This chapter attempts to offer an exploratory framework for analysing and understanding the archetypal characteristics that arise when comparisons are made between the East and West systems of learning and education. In the earlier chapters I had shared how our differences tend to be embodied in our genes and the environment where we were brought up and conditioned — how and what was taught and learnt, and the way we are treated in each of our respective societies are a result of cognitive, conative and socio-cultural factors. Globalisation and technology are affecting education and learning paradigms influenced by Western models of capitalism, democracy, meritocracy, individualism, human rights and liberty, competition, and others. There is much literature on Western philosophical thought and learning theories but much less from the East. Such materials from the West were largely developed by Western academics, scholars and others meant to spread ‘modernity’ based on their worldview through colonisation. Comparative studies of various education systems and the way societies, communities, organisations and individuals learn offer us opportunities to examine various models and assumptions that underpin both the East–West cultural traditions of learning and understanding which are currently lacking…

Existentially Singapore is a juxtaposition of contradictions and opportunity. It is a place where East and West learning systems interact constantly, redefining the self and society – that has evolved in just one generation! It is a place where change is experienced constantly in the hope of creating a place called home. It is also a place that is purposefully designed, organised and managed. It is difficult to ignore the influence of the West on Singapore despite its strong Asian–Confucian background, especially when the marketplace of learning drives behaviour. Singapore does offer hope and inspiration to others that by investing in education it is possible to uplift lives towards a better standard of living. The confluence of the East and West offers enriching dialogue between the Oriental and Occident societies, no doubt some may at times contribute to conflicting views. From the fields of education to business and politics, new exchanges and forms of learning offer ways for us to collaborate and learn from each other. This concluding chapter identifies briefly some selected theories that support discussion in the preceding chapters. It is meant to prompt further reflection, and improve our practice by examining the traditional modes of inquiry that have dominated Anglo–American discourses. While educators, policy makers, researchers and others would be aware of them, the theories are however contextualised to the narratives of this book, and are not intended to be exhaustive either. The section commences with discussions around the notions of theory and practice. This then leads us to question if communitarian values in the East are slowly being consumed by individualism of the West. Embracing modernity in various forms and the policies developed to enhance human capital propelled Singapore and East Asian Countries to economic prosperity. Globalisation and learning in all its manifestations coupled with the role of social movements that are influencing learning is discussed as well. Universities along with the entire education eco-system are affected by globalisation, having a profound impact (along with the inequalities) that we are experiencing. I have concluded as we started, on the future of small states like Singapore…

The following sections are included:

• Notes and Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Index