Introduction
Hi, this is the first non-IT related blog entry where I would like to share my 1.5 years of experience studying in the school I’m currently in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. For those not familiar with the Singapore education, a polytechnic is somewhere you go to pre-University and after you take your O’levels which follows the British education system. Completing a full time Polytechnic course of 3 years will award you with a diploma certificate of the course you studied in. At the time of writing, I have just finished sitting for the last paper of Semester 2 Term 1, which marks the exact half way point of polytechnic education which is 3 years in total. I would just like to share my opinions on studying in Ngee Ann Polytechnic thus far. Things That I Liked Variety: Compared to a traditional Junior College in Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnics or Polytechnics in general offer more flexibility in terms of studying what you find interest in. Having experienced the full two years of Junior College education and Polytechnic education I find that they are not comparable. Even on topics that you might feel apathetic towards, breaking away from the traditional subjects like: math, science, languages etc. is a breath of fresh air. Although I might not particularly be the most interested in theory heavy modules like Information Security or Network Security, I do still appreciate the effort that the teachers have put into preparing the materials while showing enthusiasm and passion during lessons. Be it interesting or dull modules, the variety of modules that Ngee Ann Polytechnic offers in its IT course keeps the learning environment fun, fresh, and engaging. No Uniforms: A minor detail, but having worn a uniform for 2 years in preschool, 6 years in Primary School, 4 years in Secondary School, 2 years in Junior College, and another 2 years in the Army, totaling 16/23 years of my life, being able to come to class in your own comfortable clothes is a huge plus and morale booster to me. Things That I Disliked Attendance: Off all the flaws that I find with Ngee Ann’s education system, their attendance system rubs me the most. Ngee Ann has an attendance policy in place that states that if you have an attendance of less than 80% for any of the modules, you might be subjected to debarment. On one hand, I understand the purpose of an attendance system. It is to ensure that teens (in their rebellious phase) which makes up most of the student population in a Polytechnic, do not skip out on class so much so that they end up failing a module. From personal experience, when subjected to the side effects of puberty, one might lack coherent decision-making skills and err in judgement of their own scholastic capabilities. On more than one occasion within these 1.5 years, I have witnessed first hand what a combination of procrastination and underestimation can do to one’s grades. I acknowledge that without a doubt if there wasn’t an attendance system in place to “incentivize” students to “study”, there would be a correlated increase in the number of failures per semester. On the other hand, the attendance system greatly inhibits the freedom of choice that one could enjoy while studying. I will just be flat out honest about some of the modules in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, they are too easy, with little content. Modules such as Web Application Development, Games Production, Mobile Application Development, and some other theory/factual based modules such as Network Security, or Information Security all fall into this category. From my observation, during these classes, 90% of the class would be pre-occupied with something else: CCA works, other modules, assignments etc. with almost nobody listening during the lessons but are subjected to be there for attendance sake. These modules feed you titbits of information per week which can be easily assimilated within 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes even less. However, for the sake of fulfilling the role of a teacher, the contents being taught are drawn out to an unnecessary 4 hours per week, split between over-complicated explanations, more than enough redundant examples, and intermittent copy-pasting sprees. In my opinion, if the module has no need for any exchange is opinions, and the material being taught is not subjected to interpretation, there is no need for a pre-set lecture schedule. Instead, students should be encouraged to self-study and clarify any doubts or misconceptions they have on a case by case basis with the lecturer. What’s more is that the release of module related content is weekly based. To get the material for the next week, you would be required to go through 4 hours of excruciating (ok maybe not so drastic) boredom in class. To evaluate the amount of time used in this process, lets assume that the average module has 16 weeks’ worth of content to go through, 16*4 = 64 hours. Compared to the amount of time actually needed, 0.5*16 = 8 hours. If you slept 8 hours a day, that would leave you with 16 waking hours in a day. You could theoretically finish studying 2 Polytechnic semester modules in a day. However, with the current system in place, in my case, a total of 4 hours travel time per day multiplied by 2 days a week = 8 hours. (8*16= 128 hours) + (64 hours) = 192 hours JUST to successfully complete one module! That’s a whopping 192-8= 184 hours that could’ve been better spent somewhere else! Granted I do not travel to school for the sole purpose of studying one module per day, and other factors do come into play like making friends, doing assignments etc., there is still an unnecessary amount of time being wasted. While having said all these, I can already envision a higher authority from Ngee Ann telling me “if you are paying the school fees to study in our school, you have to play by our rules.”. The Appeal to Authority fallacy is something that is strangely commonplace with authority figures in Singapore (maybe because of tradition?), and something I am no stranger to. I do acknowledge that there are probably many factors into play that I have not considered or stated into why the attendance system is necessary, and also why the pacing of distribution of study materials is the way it is; manpower, changes in curriculum etc. While I do fully respect the institution that I am enrolled in, the relation between the issues with the attendance system and playing by the rules is null, and is guilty of proposing a strawman argument. Conclusion: In my opinion, the attendance system in Ngee Ann Polytechnic has much room for improvement. While it is successfully serving its intended purpose, it also steps into the bounds of being too restrictive. Finding a solution to this problem would require a much more in-depth consideration of all factors involved, which I do not have the insight into. I do have some suggestions that I think would be an improvement to the current system, but they are far from perfect, and would be a discussion for another time. Also a discussion for another time would be the things i dislike about Ngee Ann Polytechnic that Teachers and Students practice that break the rules. These are the main points regarding the education system that I like and dislike about my time so far in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
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AuthorZachary Tay, 23 years old. Current student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic! ArchivesCategories |