Driving lessons VI: Turn at the mango

During one of my recent driving lessons learning how to do a three-point, directional change, the instructor ask me to turn the steering wheel at the mango.

What mango??

You see, there’s a mango tree in the training circuit where we learn directional change. It’s mango season now, so there’s plenty of fallen mangoes at the base of the tree. So they would line up a bunch of mangoes in a row to create a sighting point for us learners to know when to steer.

But but… what if it’s not mango season? What if there’s no fallen mangos? Worse: When we head out on public roads, there’s no mangoes to align the car to? What should we do?

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how Singapore does education. We’re so good at hacks just to get the grade, that we forget the big picture. We learn to turn in circuit, but forget that that doesn’t build the real-world skill of turning out in public roads and car parks. They’ll say otherwise in theory, but in practice, the school is only incentivized to help you pass and get your license.

You’re on your own after that.

So much of education in Singapore—and the world—is like that. Trainers teach you to about the mango, but fail at help us bear fruit in real skills and instinct (pun intended).

It’s a big reason why we’re planning to move, to design a different education for our child.

A really good reason.