Education - Tool or Master?

It's that time of the year again!
April-May and September-October - for those of who who have school-going children (and for those of you who have gone through the system yourselves), these months spell school exams. These are months of long schoolwork hours, sweat, tears and increased stress and tension all around.

Birthday celebration before school. Best way to start a school day!

As I write this blog on a Sunday, I have just spent the afternoon going through a grueling Science revision session with one of my sons. It started out with lots of scolding and it could have degenerated into a protracted scolding session but thankfully we found constructive ways to learn a lot of information in a very short time. 


Resisting the System
Marie and I have always tried to resist the pressures in the education system that are applied on the children (and the parents too!). When the boys started school, we congratulated ourselves that we didn't put them through private tuition.  We didn't drive them from enrichment class to enrichment class; certainly not on weekends. We wanted Sundays to be the Lord's rest day and not have the boys do any work. We said schooling was about the joy of learning, not about scoring marks.

Well, that was easy when the boys were younger. Once the first boy hit Primary 4, all that went out of the window; and progressively more so with the rest of the boys. The pressure to make sure our boys did well in school increased year on year the nearer they got to the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination). The fear that our children would not do well enough in the exams and derail their future prematurely with just one misstep drove us to do what we said we wouldn't. These days, I spend Saturdays waiting in McDonald's for one of the boys to finish Science tuition at a learning centre while I personally tutor another one of them. On Sundays, we rush back from church in time for Chinese Tuition. There was just no other day in the week to squeeze it in. 




Letter to the Forum Page

Recently my brother-in-law, whom I consider to be extremely brilliant and successful in his career, wrote to give feedback on our education system in one of our local newspaper discussion page. I think he managed to capture very succinctly the frustrations parents have with the education system.

First day in school!

I give a short quote from his letter  : "As a product of the system in the '80s and now a father of two children in lower primary, I fear that the system has become one of irrelevant, unrealistic standards.

And I come from the perspective of someone who excelled within the old system, yet always questioned the relevance of the education content to real-world settings. Sadly, the situation has gotten worse.

It is no longer a matter of excelling in class; to simply pass maths today, it is mandatory to have tuition to fill the gaps that teachers sometimes struggle to fill. If so many pupils require tuition, it means our education system has failed in its basic goal of imparting the correct skill sets."
(You can read the full letter here: TODAYonline | Voices | Standards are unrealistic)

What is a Christian Response?

I have often asked myself "What should my response be as a Christian, to the pressures of our local education system?" If Christians are called to be the aroma of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14) in this world that does not know God, then surely our knowing Him would help us have a different response. I wish I could show a greater degree of peace regarding my children's future. The Bible says nothing (even bad results!) can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:29).

As far as I can see, Christian parents are just as likely to send our children for tuition and enrichment classes as non-Christian parents. Nothing wrong with that but why do we do that? Is it to enhance our childrens' education or is it driven by anxiety and fear? If we do it for their education, do we do it to the extent that they have no time for play? Studies have shown repeatedly how crucial play is to a child's emotional well being. Yet we think it is ok to sacrifice that for one more hour of studies, hoping that will bring better results and an assurance of a better future (and when I say we, I also mean me).

The Lingering Effects of the System

Those school days when I still had hair!

This question is also important to me not just as a concerned parent but now that I am starting my Masters course pre-work, I can already feel some of my old 'ghosts' coming back to haunt me. 


I was not very fun as a kid. I was one of those who focused a lot of my energy on academic perfection. Doing well in exams was more or less the one main goal in my life. I sacrificed family holidays, leisure pursuits, disciplined myself to study every night and weekends. My wife, Marie had experienced firsthand my stress levels when I was taking exams as an adult some years back. She told me that it was no fun being with me during those times.


Having gone through the system, I find the lingering effects of the system in my life. There certainly is pride in there. I thought myself superior than others just because I scored better marks. I was unforgiving of myself for each mistake I made. As a working adult, I am more demanding and critical of people than I should be. I feel insecure when I do not perform well at work - I think people will not like me because I've made a mistake or let something slip.

Education - Tool or Master?

I believe the answer to the question of how Christians should respond differently is found in Matthew 22:15 - 22. In this passage, the religious leaders asked Jesus if they should pay taxes i.e. to obey human government and institutions. They were trying to trap Jesus to see if he would renounce tax paying, thereby calling for a revolt against human authority and government. Jesus' answer was sublime - “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 

So with regards to our education system, what DO we give to 'Caesar'?

Proud achievements!

As a tool, I think our education system is pretty sharp.  Our education system does a fairly good job to ensure that our children are suitably educated not just for our local setting but also the international arena. Some countries of the world and even some cities in the US may not be able to claim that. I believe we should, and also expect out children to, render a reasonable amount of hard work. For whatever ill effects the education system has had on me, the skills, discipline and knowledge that I have learnt through my schooling years are still of good value to me now as an adult. Where effort is put in, there are valuable rewards from our education system.


What we do not render to 'Caesar' and only to God is our whole lives and our goals. The Bible tells us to love our God with "all our heart and our soul and our minds". I think for me, it takes great effort to constantly check myself from crossing that line from seeing education as a tool to education being my Master. It is when we see education as a Master that we are driven by fear and guilt. The pressures to bow down to it are relentless.  Education can be a demanding and unforgiving task master in Singapore. It seems like it will only be pleased with nothing but perfect scores.


We have to reject the education system as our Master and turn to God instead who is loving, gracious and merciful. When I pray to God to help me study harder, get better results, in the name of doing 'good' work for God. Am I really saying that or am I actually asking God to help me meet the demands of my Education Master? God will not do that.

By Prayer and supplication ... and then Peace

A case in point - when I was studying for my 'O' levels exam, I listened to a sermon on Philippians 4: 6-7. The preacher said that we should honestly tell God whatever we wanted in our hearts. He may not give us what we want but He will give us peace. 


So I had been studying really hard and I thought I deserved the marks. So I asked God "Promise me that You will give me 8 A1s" - an A1 for every subject I was studying. I can still remember it as if it just happened. It was night time and I was in my room. Immediately I heard a clear voice say in my head "Why do you need that (i.e. 8 A1s) when you have Me?" That was it. God made it clear to me that He would not give me what I asked for because I was building my security in that instead of Him. Yet, those words from God gave me a peace. The funny thing was that from the 'O' levels onward, I've never gotten a perfect score for any of my exams. There would always be one subject where the result sort of went 'wonky' and I missed my expected marks. Each time I looked at the result slip, I would hear God remind me "You don't need that, you have Me." God has held true to this promise all these years.

Learning Grace and Mercy & Showing a better way
In asking us to continue to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus is asking us to continue to be part of and to engage the human systems in our societies. As Christians, we should continue to call out for changes to the system to better reflect the love and grace of God. We should try more to accommodate those who are not able to show 'A' grades despite their best efforts. God's heart goes out to those who are weak, poor, brokenhearted, undefended. Systems that honour God must behave in the same way as well.

I want to be just like my big brother!

If I am going to reflect more of God to my kids, I think I would say more frequently "It's OK, let's just try again." I would give them more hugs instead of scolding. I would help them more to learn and understand instead of expecting them to get it right on their own by studying harder and longer.


We get flustered, angry, agitated, anxious, fearful when we think the education system will take care of us. God asks us to engage the system but He never asks us to depend on the system to take care of us or our children. It is His desire to take care of us and He will do that infinitely better than any human system could ever do.

As I was writing this blog, the words from this worship song struck me. Surely we have every reason to be at peace when we trust in our God who is "More Than Amazing".


More Than Amazing by Lincoln Brewster:
You're the one who walked on water
And You calmed the raging seas
You command the highest mountains
To fall upon their knees ....

You are amazing
More than amazing
Forever our God
You're more than enough
You are amazing