A Conversation with Jennifer West 
by Andrew Kerr
May 2007
The CEISMC Gazette
Jennifer West is a mathematics teacher at Kell High School in Marietta, Georgia. Last summer, as a member of the Georgia Intern-Fellowships for Teachers program (GIFT), Jennifer visited Singapore (at the behest of Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engingeering [MSE]) to gain insight into the differences between American and Singaporean classrooms.
Q - It seems Georgia Tech's MSE has sent a lot of GIFT teachers to Asian countries. Why this emphasis on Asia?
A - The [Tech] faculty are doing their best to increase academic relations between universities in Asia and universities here. They had sent undergraduate students [to Singapore] before, but this was the first time they had sent a teacher. I was a pioneer of sorts over there.
Q - Generally speaking, what did you do in Singapore?
A - I had two purposes: one was to learn about materials science and the other was to do a comparison of sorts between the Singaporean schools and the U.S. schools.
On some days I would spend time at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in their nanotechnology department. Their research assistants and the graduate students would take me to their laboratories, to their clean rooms, to their research sites, and give me a brief introduction to materials science and to nanotechnology. That's something that they're really focusing on at NTU, and they want more students to know about it. The way that they're going to get that done is by having more teachers know about it so that we can pass along that information. They would let me participate in the lab tests and print out some of the data and just have fun in the lab-without getting into too much trouble!
On other days I would go to several schools.
Q - You flew over the North Pole to get there?
A - We did! In Chicago we were thinking that we were just going to fly west over the Pacific. But when we saw our flightpath on the inflight entertainment system, it indicated that we were heading due north! Sure enough, by the time the daylight had started to come again we looked out the window and we were right over the North Pole. We got some really cool pictures out the window of polar ice caps and the North Pole; it was really beautiful. A nice start to the trip!
Q - I've heard that Singapore is fastiduously clean, and that there's a lot of law and order.
A - Very much so. As we would say over here, "Big Brother is everywhere." The government is very serious about making sure that citizens and visitors to Singapore uphold their laws. They do this by strictly enforcing their laws with consistent consequences. As a result, the crime rate is incredibly low. I didn't have any problem walking around at any time of night. You would see women out walking by themselves at two or three in the morning without a problem at all. It was amazing.
Q - I remember the controversy back in the 1990's about the American kid getting caned in Singapore.
A - Yeah. The Michael Fay case. That's interesting to hear explained from a Singaporean's viewpoint. Most Singaporeans do not own cars due to the outrageous costs. The average car, after all the government-imposed taxes, could cost as much as $80,000 to $85,000 over there. So only the more well-to-do have cars. When they saw an American vandalize something that was worth so much money it was really considered to be a huge —just a complete lack of respect for other people. In Singapore they used to have government campaigns that would just encourage you to be nice to one another. They would have placards and posters all over the country that would encourage being nice and being courteous. So they took it as a complete sign of disrespect and as a punishable crime when that happened. This is just another example of how the Singaporean government keeps crime at such a low rate. All crimes are subject to a consistent punishment.
Q - For all the control that the Singaporean government seems to wield, do people ever cut loose and have fun?
A - Yeah, they do. They enjoy life a lot. Food is a big part of culture over there. They go out; they have a good time. I was there during the World Cup, so it was crazy and exciting. But one way that they make sure that they don't have too much fun is that they tax alcohol so heavily that they can't afford to buy much of it. We noticed that in going out, food prices were extremely low, and alcohol prices were extremely high! Often, one drink would cost more than the meal!
Q - What were the differences you saw between Singaporean and American classrooms?
A - Their schools are primary, secondary, and junior colleges. I believe our elementary grades are their primaries, the secondaries are middle school and the first year of high school, and junior college is like 10th through 12th grade. Similar to here, students go to schools that are close in proximity to their neighborhoods. If students wish to attend another school due to high academic standards, they must apply for admission. All students apply for admission to junior colleges.
The junior college that I went to is probably the most prestigious in Singapore. The name of it was Raffles Junior College; the Wall Street Journal called it "the Gateway to the Ivy League." The students had classes in theater-style settings and then went to their break out sessions with their teachers' assistants, so it was very much a college setting. The type of work they were doing is either an upper-level private high school setting or early college level. So that was probably the extreme in terms of advancement that I saw.
In most of the other schools that I saw, the more average schools, the facilities are fairly primitive. None of them have air conditioning; they're all open classroom type settings. The kids have fans going and can hear other kids in other classrooms, so it's a very hard to have focus in that classroom setting, just as a visitor. I don't know how the teachers do it over there. Some of the schools go the same hours every day, some schools finish at around one o' clock and the students will go home. Some students will come back for tutoring sessions after school—it really just depends on the school.
Q - Did you observe any differences in teaching over there?
A - They weren't enforcing a lot of thinking "outside the box" or problem-solving skills. It was very strict, to the book.
I'm a free spirit in the classroom. I joke a lot, I like to have fun, and I'm silly at times. They have a very high level of respect for their teachers. So when I tried to use my style of teaching with the kids, they didn't know what to think about that, because they hadn't seen a teacher get down on their level and talk to them as a peer so much.
On the flip side, as I was walking through the hallways, the teachers and the students were just incredibly respectful. The students would always say hello to me. If you asked them where the restroom was, they'd be more than happy to put their things down and walk you to the restroom. The kids were great, and really made me feel at home in their schools.
The teachers were all very receptive and incredibly welcoming, but they were a little hesitant when I first came. In the past, people had come to Singapore and just ripped their educational system apart. They were really afraid that that was what I was going to do.
I had to make them understand that that was not my intention. I was just curious to see where the commonalities were and the differences were. So that it could be a mutual learning experience, I gave a presentation on my school to about twenty or thirty faculty members, just so that they could ask me questions, so that they could turn it around.
Q - Were they surprised by anything you said during your presentation?
A - They couldn't believe how much we worked. They receive a lot more in terms of planning time than we do here, so they were just amazed that we had such long working days.
The other thing was that teachers in Singapore, because they're so highly regarded, are paid very well. So, a lot of the teachers at the school had cars—and to have a car in Singapore is really a feat. They were surprised to hear that teachers in the States aren't rewarded more in terms of salary.
Q - Is English commonly spoken in the streets?
A - English is not the national language there, but it's the unofficial language. All the schools are taught in English, and all of the business is conducted in English. The only time that the other languages are spoken is between friends-good friends, certainly never between a superior and a student. They have three main cultures over there. All the students take at least an English class every day but they also take what they call their mother tongue. And the students—most of their English is very, very good.
All the signs are in English, which made the transition for me an easy one for the summer. Made it a lot easier!
Q - What would be the one or two things you'd most like to see from Singapore's educational system transplanted to the United States? And what do you think Singapore would benefit most from from the United States?
A - Let's see. Something that I would bring over from their school system...
Really it has to do more with the sense of community than the educational practices over there. I think educational practices work over there, but wouldn't work here due to major cultural differences. The students over there are different from the students over here; they've been brought up differently with different beliefs, different morals, and different expectations.
But I think the sense of community is great. Every day they start their class out in the middle of a courtyard, outside, like an open arena. They have all their announcements there, so they're brought together as a group in the morning. The principal will come up on a Friday and announce all the good things that have happened and the bad things that have happened for the week. The week I was there one student had found a two dollar bill and turned it in, so he was recognized in front of all his peers. The kids were just really supportive and really excited and there was just a huge sense of community.
But on the flip side of that, discipline also is a communal thing. If anybody has done something negative during the week—fighting or bullying, anything like that—they will actually be punished in front of all of their peers. That did not happen the week that I was there, but the teachers say that that does happen regularly, at least once a month.
Q - What is a "punishment", exactly?
A - From what I understand, it's like a mild spanking.
Q - Similar to the caning?
A - I would imagine so. I don't know to what extent, as I didn't witness any of that. But that was just told to me on the side while I was over there. It's a real deterrant to be spanked or hit in front of your friends, not something that you want when you're ten years old, so that mindset goes with them throughout their high school and adult careers, and that's one of the reasons that crime is so low over there. So the whole communal thing I think I would definitely take.
Something I would send to them would be the big push in education these days of differentiation. The way that they group kids over there, the students stay with the same classmates all day long and transfer classes all day long with those same kids. I think the whole differentiation aspect that we've got going on over here right now is the way to go. Keep the kids together but then differentiate by various methods, either by learning style, or ability, or interest level. I think that's something they may benefit from. I'm not sure culturally if they would want to take that from us or not. But I personally think that differentiation is the way to go.
Q - What sort of level of technology are they using in their classrooms?
A - Raffles Junior College obviously has technology like crazy—they have a lot of funding for that school. But for the most part [the classrooms] will have an LCD projector and the teachers carry a laptop around (the teachers don't have their own classrooms, they travel from room to room for every single class). They may take their kids to the computer lab on occasion, but other than that it's really just a laptop and an LCD projector.
Q - Are computer as unaffordable as cars are over there?
A - No. Almost everybody's got a computer over there. They're very wired. The internet is a huge thing over there, all of the homes have computers, so in that aspect they're very similar to us.
Q - Do they censor their internet?
A - Yes. There were certain things that I would try to get to back in the states, even on CNN's website, that were censored. It wouldn't be something that we would consider to be questionable material at all. That wasn't real widespread, it wasn't real apparent, but they did censor a few things.
Q - Any other interesting insights people shared with you?
A - Everybody felt compelled to share their insights with you about Americans and [President] Bush and politics.
One of the social studies teachers that I observed told me flat out that he would never go to America because he didn't like Americans. I thought, "Wow, that's a very strong statement to say to somebody that is from that country." I was really surprised to hear an educator say such a strong statement.
Q - I don't think you can go anywhere in the world right now without there being strong words expressed about America one way or the other. It's hard for other countries to be "in the middle."
A - I think that's exactly right.
The social studies class was where we had the biggest debate. When I went there they were doing a group presentation on conflicts between countries, and this one poor group had to do the U.S. Iraq controversy in front of an American! So they were just horrified, as you could imagine! Talk about pressure!
Q - You didn't scream "LIES!" at random intervals to unsettle them?
A - We had about a 45 minute discussion where the kids asked me questions, and I talked to them about what was it like to be an American on September 11th, and the aftermath, and what it was like being told by your president that this was happening and that this was happening. The kids were extraordinarily interested, and some of them have actually stayed in touch during the summer and throughout the year because they were just so interested to finally learn something about the world from somebody other than their Singaporean teachers. The ironic part of this story is that the class really was a successful discussion, and the teacher was the same one that vowed never to visit the US because he disliked Americans. Hopefully I provided an insight that might one day persuade him to come visit after all!
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