Sunday, December 14, 2008

Comparing education systems

Recently I heard a fascinating story from an old friend.

In an organization which shall remain unnamed, there were three team leaders, one US-educated, one Japan-educated, and one Singapore-educated--college, that is.

When faced with a project, the US graduate's team could usually define the problem and come up with a plan to tackle the problem.

The Japan graduate's team needed help most of the time in defining the problem and would spend more time formulating a plan, but would often come up with the best solution.

Alas, the Singapore graduate's team needed the most guidance and often could not perform either task well.

Thoughts?

2 comments:

Moe Lwin's Stuff said...

Yes, to a large degree, I agree with the essense of the story. I work in a school (non teaching staff) and see similar situations all the time. Its probably why that there is no renown Singaporean scientists

Anonymous said...

I like the imagery of a US grad dressed up in football gear tackling a problem, seems appropriate.