Direct School Admission (DSA) Scheme Essay
Added on 2020-03-16
6 Pages1319 Words73 Views
Running head: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY 1The DSA SchemeName of StudentName of Institution
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY 2The DSA SchemeGifted students are common in many schools and academic institutions globally. Those with talents and abilities may need programs that offer challenges to push them into their true potentials. Different countries have varied approaches to this issue and take measures that are appropriate to their setting. In Singapore, the Direct School Admission (DSA) plays an importantrole in identifying and nurturing pupils with special talents and abilities. Its efficacy can be seen in the global education rankings where it is the top performer. The current DSA program should be further revised to be reserved only for non-academic talent in order in order to build the sporting talent and rankings of the country as well as to nurture the national sports industry. Definition of the expanded DSA schemeThe expanded DSA scheme states that from 2018, schools are supposed to preserve a certain percentage of allocations for their non-Integrated Program for students with abilities that lie beyond traditional academic exams. This allocation has been set at 20% and is intended to nurture talents in sports and the arts. It also allows students to apply based on academic strengthsand talents (Davie 2016). The students who qualify will be able to access schools that will nurture and develop their talents. Students applying for the DSA under these specifications will not be required to sit for the general academic exams, such as the Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE). The admission caps have been lifted in terms of the different categories such as niche programs, autonomous and independent schools. Issues surrounding the current expanded DSA schemeThe educational issues on the expanded DSA is that it may eventually end compromising the quality of the PSLE as more students will focus on preparing for the DSA as a form of parallel alternative (Davies 2016). This has seen the proliferation of courses that are set to prepare the students for the DSA, despite not having natural ability. The economic issue is that it
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY 3benefits those wealthy in society and disenfranchises the poor. Many of those who applied during the last five years had parents who resided in private housing and this shows the economic disparity (Seow 2016). The social impact of DSA is that it puts excessive stress on children who have to sacrifice their childhood in order to outperform their peers (Seow 2016). This leads to some being affected by mental illness. Arguments against upholding the current DSA schemeThe current DSA allows for applications from both academic and non-academic talents and abilities. Going by the global rankings on education, Singapore has been shown to top in Mathematics and Sciences on exams taken for students under 15 years of age (Coughlan 2016). This shows that the traditional and Gifted Education Programs are working and beneficial. Instead of improving on these outcomes, putting emphasis on building the sports and arts considerations should be given more prominence. This requires limiting the DSA to non-academic talent. This would help enrich the schools that have academic programs by nurturing sports and arts within their student populations. The emphasis on non-academic programs will help to nurture talent that will develop talent for the sporting and arts industry. Singapore has hosted a number of high profile sporting events such as the World Rugby Sevens and the Singapore Grand Prix (Loh 2016). The investment in physical infrastructure should be accompanied by the corresponding investment in human capacity. In order to provide talent who can compete at international events and manage such events hosted domestically will require talent development through the schools. The DSA can be used to tap and nurture this talent. Lo (2016) states that this will also spur the development of universities such as the Edinburgh-Nappier University that offer sports degrees as they will have enough students from niche schools.
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