What’s the use of having CCAs in school? MOE believes
in students getting a holistic and well rounded education, but many
like myself think otherwise.
In primary schools, having CCAs after school is fun. I
agree. But what about secondary school students who have more than
enough workload, not to mention attending CCAs? Another thing about
CCA is that a student might not be assigned to a group that he/she
does not like. An example would be uniformed groups. Deemed as the
“rubbish bin”, students with no talent in other fields are dumped
into those groups that neither provide them chances to win
competitions (except for those more or less retarded games day),
nor give them the chance to grow as a person. Yes yes, physical
training…campcraft and the rest for the respective groups. But what
the fuck? Can’t physical training be achieved by the NAPFA
assessment? Most students would definitely want to excel in the
NAPFA just for the sake of “face”, or to show off. If MOE is unable
to save all, at least save some. Not every single person is as
ambitious or a high-flyer as his/her peers, right?
But, that’s beside the point. What I am trying to say
here is that CCA is a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. This is especially so
when time is of the essence for the young growing adolescents. I
can say confidently that at least 95% of students do not take pride
in CCA trainings as compared to students elsewhere. However, many
students would go for the trainings reluctantly just for the sake
of getting nice testimonials, which is indeed important in the
context of Singapore’s working world.
This resentment towards CCA is further worsened by the
compulsory nature, especially when it is carried out in mainstream
schools as points can be deducted from their “O” level scores. It
is appears to me personally that this compulsory nature is just to
console the higher ups of MOE themselves into thinking that “I did
all I could to give the students the best education”. Some even
consider it as a violation of personal liberties such as the right
of choosing what they want and not want.
If they had really wanted talents to be nurtured, why
not make it a non-compulsory thing? In order for a person to excel
in a field, I strongly believe that both the heart and body has to
be involved. The person has to like what he is doing in order to
expect the commitment required to develop his talent and abilities
to the fullest.
All in all, such attempts would be futile. Singapore
has a naturally small population and therefore a smaller talent
pool. What they are doing right now is as good as wishing an
ostrich could fly by forcibly “nurturing” talents.
Kindly share your thoughts and opinions here.
