My wish for Singapore's 43rd Birthday

In celebrating Singapore's 43rd Birthday, I will like to discuss a concern brought up by Banyan Tree Holdings Executive Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping recently at the Global Leadership Congress that our schools focused too much on technical education and not enough on character development. While I beg to differ on this point, I do agree that schools can definitely do a lot more in the areas of character development to nurture the development of personality, which is the foundation of leadership.

Back to the metaphor of the compass and map, a good leader is someone who not only has a BIG vision, knows how to navigate using the map, but she must also have the moral courage that is guided by the compass. In this respect, teaming moral courage to live by those values and the technical competency to reach the vision, only then will she fulfill her mission.

I am of the view, since we work closely with schools, that schools do pay sufficient focus on academic results, or in Mr Ho's words; technical education. Many a times, we hear that teachers are finally rewarded or acknowledged for their delivery of results. As such, it is no wonder that technical education remains the main (not sole) emphasis of most schools, and their leaders.

From another perspective, it is also not easy to balance rewards and recognitions with the character development component. One can argue that development of characters and personalities take time and the benefits cannot be seen immediately. Just like, how do we reward my teachers then for how they have developed me while I was in school for nurturing me to be a good and responsible citizen now?

Of course, there can early signals that may indicate that one child will be a good and responsible citizen or even a good leader, while another will become a menace to society. I am not an expert in this area, but did Mas Selamat shows signs of a terrorist while at school and should his teachers be punished for what he has or intend to do now?

I believe you and I can see the flaws in the argument above but instead of focusing on the negatives, let us zoom in on the opportunities instead. First, I will like to categorically state that schools have done or have spent some efforts in character development of the child. No school leaders whom we have spoken to, have insisted that academic results were their only focus, or at least at face value. Many schools, if not all, would have programmes that aim to mould the right character in our students. Whether those programmes have been effective is something we need to examine. Also, whether the teachers have been given proper training to mould the child in the area of character development is another issue we need to study.

Finally, even if the schools choose to strike a balance between character and competence, do the parents share the same view? Or will the parents view academic results as the only yardstick that schools should deliver? And to take an extended view of that argument, do universities here give sufficient emphasis to character development in their enrollment criteria? Do future employers also look into the area of character development in their prospective employees?

I think the answers to the above are all "yes". Which brings to mind the African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child". Everyone in the community or the society at large has a role to play. Not just the educators, but parents, friends, uncles, aunties, employers, colleagues, politicians, government officials, and the list goes on. Each one of us has a role to play in 'raising the child'. And let us not see this child as your child, or my child, or somebody else's child, lets see this child, the next child that you come across as our child, the child of Singapore. And together we can all help to nurture this child, whether it is in the area of competence or character, lets put our efforts together to raise this child to the fullest of his or her potential. For only if this child can realise his or her potential, to become a leader in his or her own right, will we, as a nation have the realise our country's potential.

And my final request to all schools is that, let us not see student leadership as leadership development for the select few. Lets not narrow our definition of leadership to just leadership by title. For leadership is not a title, but action. Hence, lets define leadership as leadership by choice, for we can put a compass and a map into the hands of every child so that it can guide them towards their vision while living by the right values so as to fulfill their mission.