THE ADMIRAL AND HIS EDUCATION SYSTEM

The Rhetoric

“I think we’re fortunate to live in a country where children are focused on their studies and exams, and not on their parents dying. I have no doubt that if we live a war-torn country…children will be more worried about their parents dying everyday rather than about schools.”
– Education Minister Rear Admiral (NS) Teo Chee Hean replying to a survey which showed that more children in Singapore feared failing exams than their parents dying, Straits Times, May 22, 2002

The Reality

“An SPH survey reveals that every third child surveyed has thought that life is not worth living.”
– Straits Times, Nov 21, 2000