This is a great article about Michael Phelps from the New York Times which really hit home as the world watches enthralled by this god that walks swims among us.
One of the criticisms about the Singapore education system is the streaming process as well as the cookie-cutter pigeonholing process.
I wonder if someone like Michael Phelps would have succeeded in Singapore, a place where we so quickly push people who don’t do well in academics into a lower stream, implicitly stigmatizing them as failures based on only one marker.
But that’s only one part of the story. I think one of Singapore’s current failings is our lack of a way to help more of our youth maximize their potential beyond the standard academic fare.
Anyway, the article ends nicely.
More to the point, I think, is the moral of her story, which offers hope for parents of any child with a challenge like A.D.H.D.: Too many adults looked at Ms. Phelps’s boy and saw what he couldn’t do. This week, the world will be tuned to the Beijing Olympics to see what he can do.
Priss | 12-Aug-08 at 11:56 am | Permalink
If you could swim like Michael Phelps, you would enrolled into Singapore Sports School, regardless of your grades.
The top JCs in Singapore would send you invitations before you even sit for your O levels to invite you to their schools.
I know because I’ve known many national sports people, not even ‘world class’ standards… but they get the best of the best treatment
iantimothy | 12-Aug-08 at 12:13 pm | Permalink
True true.
But say you ‘failed’ in one area? Then what? I guess that’s the main point. Phelps had a ‘problem’ before he found his thing in swimming.
otr tyre | 12-Aug-08 at 2:05 pm | Permalink
I believe each born with talent. Academically proven is important for our life but human talent does not judge on Academic alone. That is my view point.
Singapore Kopitiam | 15-Aug-08 at 4:54 am | Permalink
Singapore Kopitiam has replaced the now defunct “Sammyboy.com’s Alfresco Coffee Shop” at Delphiforums.
Singapore Kopitiam can be reached at:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages/
The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Of Post National Day Cheers from FTs | 17-Aug-08 at 1:16 pm | Permalink
[...] Ian On The Red Dot had questioned if Michael Phelp, the child with ADHD would not have been the legend he is today if he were born in Singapore. My answer is no. [...]