9-year-old Stomper points out CCA, algebra and other 'useless' things we have to learn in school
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Co-curricular activities (CCA) are useless, said a nine-year-old Stomper.
The same goes for subjects such as algebra and history as they are hardly used in the real world, he added.
Stomper Yang, a student at a school in the North-East region of Singapore, plays badminton as his CCA.
He said: "I think CCA is useless.
"First of all, if you don't have any talents, why would you do sports? My parents forced me to join CCA. Has someone opened their brains and washed all their sense out? To me, it seems like yes.
"All the precious time - wasted. On CCA. My arch-enemy is super proud that he is on the school team. No point! Even my CCA teacher takes it pretty seriously.
"To be honest, I think we are wasting our time in school. Why? Most of the stuff they teach are things that everyone knows.
"In secondary school, we will learn some nonsense called 'algebra'. My dad told me that ever since he learnt it, he has never even used it.
"What is the whole point of history? In 99% of jobs, they are not even used!
"And anyway, what is the whole point of teachers if we have all sorts of AI models? I don't understand that."
For a balanced view, Stomp reached out to Stomper Ng, 28, who was involved in various CCAs during primary school, secondary school and university.
Ng said: "CCAs are good for character development in terms of exposure to different challenges and learnings.
"They are also a way of socialisation for students outside of their classrooms. Students interact with others from different streams and levels, which greatly impacts how they view, form and interacts with relationships growing up, since these are their formative years.
"CCAs allow students to explore their interests beyond academic requirements. They tend to focus more on niche areas of interests or provide students with opportunities outside of what a regular classroom would offer.
"Sometimes, these exposures cannot be found easily outside of a school system i.e. universities offer diving as a CCA - where else can you find a community of divers at a subsidised rate?"
However, Ng acknowledged that CCAs can be time-consuming and a financial burden.
He added: "While CCAs can open doors for students, such as through direct school admissions, grades still form the foundation of progression in Singapore's education system.
"Students might potentially end up neglecting studies or feel that the time spent in CCAs could have been better used revising. Some CCAs can also be expensive."
According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), CCAs are a key component of students' holistic education.
Participation in a CCA is strongly encouraged at the primary and post-secondary level, but it is compulsory for all secondary school students.
Do you agree with Stompers Yang and Ng? What CCAs are/were you part of?
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