'I can't cope anymore': Japan-born teenager turned Singapore PR reflects on 10-year education journey in local schools

The Singapore education system is highly regarded internationally, ranking among the top in the world.

While many would kill for a spot in local schools, one Singapore permanent resident (PR) has decided to call it quits.

After 10 years of education in Singapore, Japan-born teenager Co Co has decided to transfer to an overseas school.

"I'm leaving because I can't cope anymore," she put bluntly in a YouTube video she uploaded on June 23.

The 16-year-old girl moved to Singapore when she was four years old. After completing her PSLE at a local primary school, she chose to study in School of the Arts (SOTA).

For the uninitiated, SOTA is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school with a six-year course, unlike the usual four-year course that mainstream secondary schools offer. 

But Co Co won't be completing her course as she has decided to pull out and study in an overseas school. 

However, she has no hard feelings toward her experiences studying as a local and gave her personal take of Singapore's education system. 

Why she is leaving SOTA 

While Co Co appreciates our local education system, she feels that it may hold her back from other learning opportunities. 

"I think I joined SOTA instead of the other mainstream schools for the same reason why I now feel like I want to leave," she admitted. 

While she feels that the local primary school curriculum is good, she felt that the traditional teaching style and lesson plans, which some feel are rigid, was only meaningful to a certain extent.

SOTA was different in the sense that intellectual discussions were regularly incorporated into classes and application of knowledge was done routinely, she said. 

Ultimately, SOTA is still a local school and there can only be so many differences. 

"[School] is stressful, to put it in short. School hours are extremely long," she said.

Facing constant back-to-back projects and assessments, Co Co realised that she was completing work merely for the sake of it. 

"It just started to become very daunting for me." 

It dawned on Co Co that if she kept going aiming to score good grades, she might miss out on the opportunity to discover herself and what she truly wants to do in life. 

"That was when it occured to me that I need to step into a new chapter of my life," she said. 

So, she applied to an overseas school she'd been eyeing and got in. 

But she does admit that if the school hadn't accepted her, she would have stayed at SOTA. 

"Singapore's local schools are great. If I had to choose a school in Singapore, I would choose Singapore's local schools, out of which, I would chose SOTA," she revealed. 

Diversity and respect

Co Co loves several aspects about our local education system and one big factor is the diversity. 

While one would think that international schools would be more likely to have this because they have a larger variety of foreign students, she shared that "real diversity" exists in local schools. 

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"Not only is there some extent of diversity in race, nationality and culture, in Singapore's local schools, there is also diversity in social status," she said, adding that this left a "big impact" on her. 

Despite this, she also felt that Singapore does a good job of "normalising the fact that everyone is different" and "accepting people for who they are and accommodating to their needs".

To cite an example, she brought up a touchy topic for her — the Japanese Occupation. 

Despite being Japanese, Co Co was not singled out during history lessons, neither was she treated differently for it. 

"In Singapore, I am seen as Co Co. I am seen as myself. And I'm not seen as the descendant of the people who had murdered Singaporean's ancestors," she said. 

"I just know that I absolutely cannot take for granted this forgiveness, this acceptance that I receive in Singapore." 

A well-planned curriculum

Besides improving her academically, Co Co felt that the local education system actually "honed [her] discipline". 

"I have pretty good time management skills and I take initiative for my work," she explained, illustrating the benefits reaped. 

She added that going through the local academic route helped mould her into a better student too. 

"I have a pretty strong academic foundation because my foundational school years were good, strict, tight and academically rigorous," Co Co elaborated. 

Apart from that, she also praised the addition of co-curricular activities (CCAs) in schools, saying how it encourages students to learn other skills outside of academia.

"Despite how everyone criticises the rigour of Singapore's educational curriculum, Singapore schools do focus on stretching student's extracurricular skills," she said, adding that her time in her CCA, netball, taught her the basics of teamwork.

Additionally, as Co Co comes from a very "chill" family where her parents did not pressure her to perform, she felt that Singapore's "rigorous curriculum" helped her to "maintain a balance" in her life. 

"It was just right for me," she admitted. 

10 years in Singapore's education system

Co Co immigrated to Singapore with her family when she was a child because of concerns arising from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, Japan. 

Apart from those concerns, her parents also wanted her to learn English.

Upon coming here, she had three education route options — a local school under the Ministry of Education (MOE), an international school or a Japanese school. 

In 2012, Co Co's first year in Singapore, her parents enrolled her into an international kindergarten. 

But as there were many other Japanese children there, Co Co didn't get many opportunities to practise English, which defeated one of the reasons of her moving to Singapore. 

So, in 2013, she started going to a local kindergarten instead. 

"That was when I was really exposed to English and Chinese," she recounted. 

After which, her parents enrolled her into a local primary school and she completed all six years of it, including the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). 

With her "decent" PSLE score, she moved on to SOTA. 

In the comments, several netizens praised Co Co's maturity and called her "eloquent" and "clear-minded". 

They also encouraged her decision to study overseas. 

Some also talked about their own experiences in the Singapore education system as well as how it has helped them. 

And one woman even shared that her own daughter struggled with her academics here but eventually pulled through and secured herself a spot in a good university. 

AsiaOne has reached out to Co Co for more details. 

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melissateo@asiaone.com