A Liberal Education
I just returned from a talk at the Engineering faculty of the National University of Singapore (NUS) , on "A Liberal Education for Engineers".
Guess what the turnout was: a paltry five, including me, two professors and a French student. I wonder what that means about how important the local students view a broad education. In comparison, in a technical talk I attended last Friday (also during exam period), the theatre was almost full - I think about 40-50 people turned up. And Prof Hoole wasn't even a bad lecturer; apparently when he gave a technical talk sometime ago he had a far better turnout.
Oh well, some things you can't change too easily, can you?
I'm seeing plenty of value in a broad education (which is what the "liberal" here means - nothing radical, really), just by virtue of being in the workforce for less than a year. People don't fit nicely into equations, you know, and one thing you can be sure of: you'll have to work with people at some point. I think a broad education is vital in both ways - a science/engineering student should have exposure in the humanities and vice versa. If you start narrowly classifying yourself, then you gradually pin yourself down in terms of opportunities and options.
I used to think, very naively that the softer subjects can be gathered outside of the education curriculum. But I've been reminded today that the rigour in a proper course training cannot be underestimated. Afterall, if you get drilled to write an essay every week, you'll learn how to write coherently and cogently. Just like how you drill yourself to use an equation by solving problems. At least for me, I don't learn well when I do it myself.
So, what does this all mean? I don't know. But I think the Singapore education system seems to be steering in the right direction. At least the changes to the JC curriculum seems useful, although when I was interviewing the JC students two weeks ago, I had the impression that some of them were frustrated that they had to do an arts subject although they were in the science stream. That meant they couldn't do triple science at a higher level.
There isn't a perfect system, and educational policies have to be constantly modified to meet societal needs and trends. But at the end of it, I think a broader education accords one with a more varied set of skills, which means you'll be able to tackle more tasks later in life.
Now, at the end of the day, what constitutes an educated person?
I never thought of that question, but I was made to think about it today. We'll see.
Guess what the turnout was: a paltry five, including me, two professors and a French student. I wonder what that means about how important the local students view a broad education. In comparison, in a technical talk I attended last Friday (also during exam period), the theatre was almost full - I think about 40-50 people turned up. And Prof Hoole wasn't even a bad lecturer; apparently when he gave a technical talk sometime ago he had a far better turnout.
Oh well, some things you can't change too easily, can you?
I'm seeing plenty of value in a broad education (which is what the "liberal" here means - nothing radical, really), just by virtue of being in the workforce for less than a year. People don't fit nicely into equations, you know, and one thing you can be sure of: you'll have to work with people at some point. I think a broad education is vital in both ways - a science/engineering student should have exposure in the humanities and vice versa. If you start narrowly classifying yourself, then you gradually pin yourself down in terms of opportunities and options.
I used to think, very naively that the softer subjects can be gathered outside of the education curriculum. But I've been reminded today that the rigour in a proper course training cannot be underestimated. Afterall, if you get drilled to write an essay every week, you'll learn how to write coherently and cogently. Just like how you drill yourself to use an equation by solving problems. At least for me, I don't learn well when I do it myself.
So, what does this all mean? I don't know. But I think the Singapore education system seems to be steering in the right direction. At least the changes to the JC curriculum seems useful, although when I was interviewing the JC students two weeks ago, I had the impression that some of them were frustrated that they had to do an arts subject although they were in the science stream. That meant they couldn't do triple science at a higher level.
There isn't a perfect system, and educational policies have to be constantly modified to meet societal needs and trends. But at the end of it, I think a broader education accords one with a more varied set of skills, which means you'll be able to tackle more tasks later in life.
Now, at the end of the day, what constitutes an educated person?
I never thought of that question, but I was made to think about it today. We'll see.
posted by Female Fizzicist at 9:50 PM
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