Fwd: From DGE's Desk (Aug) - A Higher Calling

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From: "Chang CHENG LIANG (SCHOOLS)" <chang_cheng_liang@schools.gov.sg>
Date: 30 August 2023 at 2:40:21 PM SGT
To: Cheng Liang Chang <chang_cheng_liang@moe.edu.sg>, CHANGCHENGLIANG@gmail.com
Subject: FW: From DGE's Desk (Aug) - A Higher Calling



 

 

From: MOE_DGE@moe.gov.sg <MOE_DGE@moe.gov.sg>
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 2:08 PM
To: MOE-HQ_All@moe.gov.sg; ALL_CES <ALL_CES@schools.gov.sg>; all_icon@moe.edu.sg; MOE-IS_SIS_SS@moe.gov.sg; MOE-Officers_Secondment@moe.gov.sg; SEAB-All@seab.gov.sg
Subject: From DGE's Desk (Aug) - A Higher Calling

 

Message Classification: Restricted

 

(Sent to all staff in MOE HQ, government and aided schools, SEAB, seconded staff outside MOE, generic email accounts of Independent Schools (IS).

IS - please distribute to all your staff)

 

Dear friends

 

        Happy Teachers' Day to all of you!

 

It is you who raise up our students.

 

Some of you teach students directly. Some of you support our students' holistic development or lead school programmes. And still others are in MOE HQ designing and putting in place infrastructure, resources, systems, curriculum and policies for the whole education system. You deserve a very warm pat on the back. You have been fleet-footed in adapting to the changing pandemic conditions and in restoring the full suite of student programmes. At the same time, you have been implementing the long-term initiatives. The work has been challenging. For some of you – it's been very, very tough. It's been frustrating when well-laid plans have had to change. I want to acknowledge that what had been asked of you was a lot, including supporting the Presidential Elections on 1 Sep. It threw you off your stride at first. Then somehow you still managed to keep calm, and carry on with your professional pride and "uber" sense of responsibility. So – thank you from the bottom of my heart. You humble me with your mission-first attitude, resilience and dedication.

 

 

Quality of Teachers Matter Most

 

Your commitment to our students and craft, bodes well for our nation's future. Our first Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew spoke to teachers at an MOE rally in 1959:

 

"But a more decisive factor in determining the attitude and outlook of the student is the teacher himself. If the teacher is selfish and mercenary, preoccupied with his own personal advancement, wanting only to get as much as he can from society, and to give as little as possible in return, then it is unlikely that he will inspire his pupil to high endeavour in pursuit of ideals beyond the bounds of petty self-interest. To impart the drive born out of the desire to advance the common good, the teacher must himself have these ideals."

 

Mr Lee went on to espouse in 1966 at the opening of the Education and Nation-building seminar, the criticality of the quality of teachers to our nation:

 

"For finally, just as a country is as good as its citizens, so its citizens are, really, only as good as their teachers."

 

No pressure! But it's true – evidence borne out of metastudies show that the quality of teachers/teaching is the main determinant of student learning outcomes. And we are not merely talking about academic learning outcomes. That's only one part of our responsibility.

 

Role of Teachers

 

        As early as the 1970s, Mr Lee recognised the key role teachers play in identifying and affirming the range of gifts that our students have, and how our students can be prepared for the future:

 

"Our young have to be nurtured, encouraged, restrained and taught to prepare them to meet the future. Each child has his or her own gifts. These gifts may not be in academic matters. Parents must carefully judge what their children's limits are. Their teachers can usually help them decide this."

(Speech advising parents at fund-raising variety show, 1973)

 

        Even as early as 1980, Mr Lee urged education institutions to see their role as developing independent learners….

 

"My test of an educated person is a simple one. Has he been schooled to a point where on his own he continues to probe, to learn, to read, and to solve problems for himself? Has he got an inquiry frame of mind? Does he know where to look for knowledge and data? If he does not know where to get the data, or does not understand books he found on the subject, does he know who he can approach to help him understand the subject? In short: Is he continuing to learn, or did his learning stop …?

(Singapore Conference Hall, 1980)

……with curious minds and a life-long habit of learning….

 

"The idea of a cultivated mind, of a person creatively working his own intellect, is something which we have lost… At the end of that (education) process, you must leave the boy and the girl with something to start a life-long cultivation of mental and cultural habits. The person who can pick from where he left off in school and who can continue his interests in life, is the person you must educate."

(Education and Nation-building seminar, 1966)

 

Teaching is a Calling, a Giving Profession

 

        Teaching is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Only the lion-hearted can thrive in this profession, because teaching is continuously giving. To Mr Lee Kuan Yew, teaching is:

 

"…a proud and dedicated profession. Teaching is not a job. It is not a vocation. The capacity to transmit knowledge and skills demands dedication of a very high order, for nowhere else is the giving so great in return for what you get for what you give."

(Education and Nation-building seminar, 1966)

 

Mr Lee himself, acknowledged that teachers had a great impact on him.

 

"…people that I remember most in my life were the people who made the greatest impact on me as a student. Not that they were the best-equipped, qualified teachers in their line, but because they really gave of themselves and took a personal and particular interest in all their pupils and in me personally, which was the part, which I remembered."

 

(Opening of the 3^rd Asian Teachers' Seminar, 1966)

 

 

Charge for Educators: One People, One Nation, One Singapore

 

And finally, the charge is laid out for all of us in education, to forge a united multi-cultural nation - a people that puts the community before themselves and their families - and to feel together. This is the clarion call to us from our founding Prime Minister. Let's take heed:

 

"Therefore, there is the necessity for preserving for each child that cultural ballast and appreciation of his origin and his background in order to give him that confidence to face the problems of his society. He must know from whence he came and how it is that he is where he is before he is able to meet the problems and make the decisions which he must make to adjust himself and his family in the society in which he has decided to make a home."

(Education and Nation-building Seminar, 1966)

 

"But whatever it is, ultimately the result that we want – and I am sure you must want this – is to produce a community that feels together… You know, on certain things it responds together: this is my country, this is my flag; this is my President; this is my future. I am going to protect it."

(Meeting with Principals of Schools, 1966)

 

"In our youth of today are the leaders and citizens of tomorrow. It is for you to teach them and make them the homogenous and united people of tomorrow. As the Government, it is our duty to create the conditions and give you the means to fulfil your tasks. That we shall do. But the achievement of these noble ideals of unity of a people depends upon you."

(MOE rally for teachers, 1959)

 

        This Teachers' Day, may Mr Lee's weighty evergreen words from decades ago, renew our convictions about what we do as educators. May they give us fresh wind for our sails, renewed energy for our craft, unerring focus on what matters in our worthwhile work.

 

       

Serving with you,

Wei Li 

 

 

Ms Liew Wei Li

Director-General of Education • Tel: +65 6879 6011

Ministry of Education • 1 North Buona Vista Drive, Singapore 138675 • http://www.moe.gov.sg

Integrity the Foundation • People our Focus • Learning our Passion • Excellence our Pursuit

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