Curriculum and Adolescent Development: A Singapore Perspective.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper presents a perspective from Singapore on the secondary school curriculum and adolescent development. Topics discussed include (1) curricular considerations related to socioeconomic factors in Singapore society, such as rapid industrializaton, problematic procreation and marriage trends, latchkey children, and youth gangs; (2) curriculum and the socio-emotional development of the adolescent, focusing on family life education, programs for moral education, and religious studies; (3) curriculum and the intellectual development of the adolescent, including material on the intellectual development of adolescents, Singapore's new education system for secondary schools which was introduced in 1982 with the primary aim of reducing attrition rates in the school system, as well as the program for vocational education; and (4) curriculum and the physical development of the adolescent, focusing on the need to counter the debilitating influences of an affluent lifestyle and a new physical education program incorporated into the overall curriculum. (RH)