My Learning With Learning Journey - By Mohan

The learning journey conducted by Mr Lit was certainly an eye-opener for me as it made me realise the many differences between the schooling systems in Winchester College and Singapore. One such difference that Mr Lit highlighted to us is on the house systems that both the schooling systems adhere to.

From his sharing, it was certain that Winchester College seem to have a more committed house system as it will enable students to relate their patriotism towards their house and strive for a greater bonding amongst their house members. This is made possible as all the students there have to stay in the boarding school with their house mates. Accumulation of points to the house will be based on many criteria ranging from school activities to the activities in the boarding school. In Singapore, on the other hand, we seemed to only have such houses for the sake of doing so. To the extent that, we only get reminded about the houses when the school’s sports day come. Well, this is very different from that in Winchester. In fact, it was indeed surprising for me to hear from Mr Lit that the whole purpose and meaning why the house system was introduced in schools like Winchester College, was completely altered and modified in Singapore.

The other difference between the two schooling systems that Mr Lit mentioned was the teacher to student ratios in the schooling systems. It was indeed very shocking to hear that the largest class in Winchester College only had 15 students. This makes the teacher to student ratio to 15:1. Such a ratio indeed matters a lot for the teacher as it will allow the teacher to give better attention to each and every one in the class. This, in turn, will certainly benefit the students. However, this teacher to student ratio in Singapore is about 40:1. Now, with a class of 40 students, the attention and time span that a teacher will spend with every student in the class will certainly be affected and in fact, be reduced. As per what Mr Lit mentioned in his sharing session, our government have realised this now and have started taking some measures to improve the situation that still persists in Singapore with regards to the teacher to student ratio.

On the whole, I feel that there might be many differences between the schooling system in Winchester College and Singapore. However, I think each system has its own pros and cons. For example, like what Mr Lit mentioned in class, it is certainly evident that the Singapore education system holds strong beliefs in meritocracy and aims to give equal treatment to all its citizens. Such a belief or a goal is not followed in all education systems around the world. So, though I think there is certainly room for improvement in our system, I am definitely proud of our system that puts meritocracy as its main criteria in most things, which not all educational systems around the world give importance to.