Hi guys, the exams are all around the corner now, and thus I would like to talk about this very topic, known as mugging. Mugging refers to the process whereby one studies and tries to cram knowledge into their head in as little time as possible.
I believe that almost everyone around us mug when it is close to the exam period, so as to be able to score as much as possible in the exam itself. However, the question is, is mugging really effective in the long run? In my opinion, I feel that mugging is not effective in the long run. Firstly, mugging is used when there is little time left and people just wants to use this to cram that knowledge into their head, just as to score for their exams. This thus means that this knowledge will soon be forgotten after the exam. For example, in the Chinese Test we have termly, we are supposed to memorise 20 “Cheng Yu”, however, after the test, if one tries to ask around about these “Cheng Yu” there would be close to not a single person remembering about them. Next, mugging is just used to prepare for tests and nothing else.
However, all these faults cannot be attributed to the need of mugging instead of choosing to study wholeheartedly. There are many reasons behind this. Firstly, it is about the lack of time. Our schedules are packed with competition trainings, CCAs, homework, even when there are tests, this activities continue. This then gives use very little time left to study, and thus we are then forced to mug. This cycle then repeats itself almost close to every term. Next, it is also about the system. In tests, we basically just need to cram every single knowledge into our head, and then be able to regurgitate them back out during the tests in order to score well. This then is another reason as to why students mug instead of studying wholeheartedly, as it allows them to memorise better and thus score well for tests. Tests are also used to identify a student’s ability, and without their test marks, they are unable to choose to opt for their various programmes in the future.
Since these are the conditions, we thus may choose to mug should we be very busy, however if the situation allows it, we should always try our best to study instead, and to be able to absorb this knowledge and be able to use them in the long run.
~Gordon Koh
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Mugging
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Dear Gordon,
ReplyDeleteYes, in this dog-eat-dog world, our education system has sadly but surely moved on to one which is overly results-oriented. The more A1s one has, the more respected he is. Sadly, the character aspect amongst all others has been lost through this striving to achieve fantastic results to please oneself, one's family and one's friends.
For the Chinese idioms we were supposed to memorise, I tested my friends on some of the idioms we learnt in Secondary 1; they forgot more than 80% of the idioms! That is what the education system is turning us students into: photocopying machines (to regurgitate what we learn in the tests), memory disks (to remember all we have learnt) and, simply put, robots.
I sincerely believe that Mr Heng the new Education Minister should do something to the current education system which emphasises too much on academics and casting moral education into the shadows of their negligence.
Regards,
Nathan (:
Dear Gordon,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Nathan whole-heartedly. The competition in schools all around the world is heating up - make that blazing - into a fiery inferno. The habit of mugging starts even from a young age. In Singapore, preparation for the Primary School Leaving Exams heats up as early as five months before the exam itself. I have a cousin younger than me by two years. When I sat for the PSLE, I did not have to "mug" so much, and still got 265 out of 300. Even though the difference is only two years, I can already see the negative effects mugging has on my cousin. She has completely lost touch with her friends outside of school. She has to skip going to church because she has ten practice papers to do every weekend, and this is not an exaggeration. Already she hates revising for tests, and yet she has to keep up, as her teachers forwarn the horrors of the PSLE.
The PSLE is not that scary, in actual fact. As long as one remembers the key points, it is not necessary to keep doing past-year papers. The PSLE, originally meant to test MERIT and ABILITY, has become a test of MEMORY: to see who can memorise and regurgitate the best. Even America, with the messy system of education Singaporeans mock, has produced more innovators and creative thinkers than Singapore has with its orderly, mechanical system - even after accounting for the population size.
I agree with Nathan when he says Mr Heng, the new Education Minister, should do something to the system to encourage "the bright young minds of tomorrow" to think more innovatively. Otherwise, the future generations of Singaporeans will just be sheep thinkers, unable to lead, only able to follow.
Regards,
Daniel Tan Chee Hian
2i107
Hi Gordon, Nathan and Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThis is KX (2I125). Nathan, I agree with you that we are turning more and more like photocopy machines. We are humans, and should not be treated like photocopy machines. Humans create, photocopy machines duplicate. However, I do not think we are memory disks, as we have much worse memory than memory disks. As you mentioned, many people already forgot the "Cheng Yus" we learnt last year.
If we really have to memorise things, I feel we should be remembering the good times we spend with our friends and family. It should not be used to cram information of our subjects which does not stay there for long. It should be used for happy memories which stay there for a long time.
Regards,
KX (2I125)
Dear Gordon,
ReplyDeleteI am sure you have heard of "记得快，忘得快" this chinese proverb. It is very true. However, whether we "mug" or study wholeheartedly, I think the results would still be the same. If I asked any of my classmates to recall the statistics they memorized for their IH End of year exams, I am sure they would not remember even a single one.
Yes, tests are all for a certain period of time. After the test, all the study that came along with the test, disappears completely. I feel that, in this case, there is something wrong with the education system. What for learn something and study so hard for a test when in the end we will forget it a month later?
There was a student from Nan Chiau High School who wrote to the Education Minister, to complain on how everything is now based on memorization. As such, the ministry has set up a community of students dedicated to solve this problem, and I feel this could be one of the first steps to correct this problem. I hope they could come up with feasible suggestions to end Singaporean students competing only their memorizing abilities and not their true proficiency in the subject.
Wen Hong