Hey Guys!
I wanted to announce that I am working with Professor Kara McCray from the University of South Carolina on a research project about comparing 2 different education systems in the United States and Singapore.
I have almost finished my research paper and I will make sure to keep you guys updated on my pubication journey, but today I wanted to talk about comparing 2 developed countries instead of talking about 3rd world countries all the time.
I have been researching a lot about the United States and Singapore and working on this paper, but I also wanted to allow you guys to get a shorter and easier to read version here!
Countries that prioritize and develop policies about money, structure, and education can ensure a future for innovative thinkers and problem solvers. This is especially evident in developed countries, such as Singapore and the United States, which have access to resources and the means to invest in their education infrastructure. Singapore has a structured, organized, and centralized government. The country invests heavily in the education system. Professor Song Kong Lee states that in the 2015 national budget $12.1 billion was dedicated to education (New Zealand Centre for Political Research, 2017). Lee also states that since 2007, Singapore has been known to have the highest PISA test scores around the world and is classified as having one of the best education systems in the world (New Zealand Centre for Political Research, 2017). While the U.S may invest more money in its education system, its approach towards the curriculum structure and teacher preparation is weak, which differentiates the outcomes for both education systems. STEM subjects, particularly math and science, are extremely valuable because many developed and developing countries rely on new developments in research, science, and mathematics.
PISA will be the main method of comparison for the United States and Singapore. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international test administered for 15-year-old students in math, reading, and science. 81 countries participate in this international exam every three years. The purpose of this test is to test science, reading, and math comprehension for students, and the test tests the students ability to for problem solving, which are core principles in STEM education. The United States is also considered a developed country and invests just as much as Singapore in its education system, yet it underperforms not only Singapore but also the international average for PISA test scores. This raises questions about how national policies and curriculum structures impact student academic success, particularly in subjects that foster economic growth, such as STEM fields. To establish an effective curriculum, two aspects are crucial: the content and the methods
for delivery. Singapore employs extensive teacher preparation and requirements that differentiate it from other countries to maximize success with its students. Professor Sing Kong Lee states that Singapore’s education system is relatively small, with about 450,000 school-going students educated in a system with roughly 369 schools staffed by a teaching workforce of around 33,000 teachers (Lee, 2017). This means that for every teacher, there are around 13-14 students, which is considered a low teacher-to-student ratio. This ratio is lower than the international average. According to the Global Conference of Contemporary Issues in Education, the average class size at the lower secondary level is 23. There are countries like Finland, Iceland, and the UK with class sizes of 19 and lower, while Turkey, Korea, and China have class sizes of 28, 34, and even 54 (Koc and Celik, 2014). They argue that smaller classes provide a better teaching and learning environment (Koc and Celik, 2014). Singapore adopts this strategy, and its class average is significantly smaller than the national average, which demonstrates its priority to have its students have a strong student-teacher relationship.
Singapore not only prioritizes student-teacher relationships, but its requirements for teachers are also significantly stricter than those in the United States. Singapore not only prioritizes student-teacher relationships, but its requirements for teachers are also considerably more stringent than the U.S. teacher requirements. According to the Journal of Curriculum Studies, a nation’s educational success depends on the quality of its teachers (Ro, 2020). In the PISA test results, Japan, Singapore, and many other countries perform well above the international average, especially in the STEM areas. This is because the countries tend to have smaller student-teacher ratios, and teachers are also required to go through an extensive amount of training. Ro also states that teaching candidates are typically drawn from the top third of the student cohort. They receive comprehensive training in subject mastery, curriculum development, technology and student management and communication skills, with abundant opportunities for practice and reflection at the National Institute of Education (NIE), the nation’s sole institution for teacher education (Ro, 2020). Employed teachers are entitled to 100 hours of professional development per year (Ro, 2020). Additionally, the article states that individual teacher performance is assessed annually according to the professional standards encompassing various components of the job, such as teaching competence, pastoral care for students, service to the school, and professional learning. Based on the appraisal results, individual teachers receive additional compensation or support (Ro, 2020).
The Singapore Ministry of Education outlines Singapore’s teacher prerequisites and the objectives they must complete to teach successfully, but this document does not specify the duration of their training. According to the Singapore Ministry of Education, teachers first acquire their bachelor's degree and then complete the two-year-long diploma in education (DipED) (Ministry of Education, 2025). To obtain a DipEd, one would need at least 2 A-Level / H2 Level passes and 2 AO-Level / H1 Level passes, including General Paper or Knowledge and Inquiry, a Polytechnic diploma, an IB diploma, and any other equivalent and relevant qualifications (Ministry of Education, 2025).
Overall, Singapore has implemented various policies to maximize teacher development and foster strong student-teacher relationships, helping students progress in all subjects, not just STEM-based ones.
The United States STEM-based curriculum
In the previous sections, we established what a good curriculum is, and the standards and
specific policies Singapore employs to make sure that it is effective. According to the bae Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in the second quarter of 2025 (April, May, and June) (BEA, 2025). The United States understands the importance of education. K-12 schools spend $857.2 billion total ($17,277 per pupil) annually. Federal, state, and local governments provide $878.2 billion or $17,700 per pupil to fund K-12 public education, according to the Education Data. This amount is comparable to what Singapore spends on each student. As previously noted, however curriculum development is mostly dependent on two factors: curriculum content and delivery. The United States has longer school days than Singapore, but in the end, it has fewer days.
However, Singapore still teaches more content to the students than the United States does, according to Nelson (Nelson, 2020). According to the New York Times, the performance of
American teenagers in reading and math has been stagnant since 2000. Other recent studies revealed that two-thirds of American children were not proficient readers, and that the achievement gap in reading between high and low performers is widening (Learning Network, 2019). The study also mentions how students consistently underperform the average for standardized tests and claim the stress and pressure they must score well negatively impacts them (Learning Network 2019). However, the United States has a much shorter time span and less depth and breadth in its curriculum than Singapore. Therefore, it reduces students' ability to process new information and perform well on standardized tests.
For accelerated and efficient STEM learning, the curriculum should not provide students with as much freedom and should integrate STEM learning into aspects of everyday life. A paper from Griffith University outlines four ways to integrate STEM learning, particularly for K-12 grade levels. It states that the U.S teaches each of the four STEM disciplines with more emphasis going to one or two of the four (which is what is happening in most U.S. schools today). This may be referred to as Stem (Ro, 2020). This approach prioritizes certain aspects of STEM, slowly integrating with the students from a young age, which is considered an effective strategy. Overall, the United States spends a lot of money and time towards its education system, but due to the lack of classroom structure and the amount of content that is not learned by many students, it prohibits them from expanding their knowledge like Singapore’s students.
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