Is the education rat race stopping students from spreading out their studies?

Students should be able to study at their own pace without any fear or stigma, Junior College vice-principal Roderick Vassallo believes, saying he feared the negative reaction to the four-year course option offered by the sixth form might have discouraged some from signing up.

Just one student applied to stretch their Junior College studies over four years. In summer, the sixth form unveiled a revamped ‘flexi’ option aimed at those who might require more time to complete their post-secondary education.

Acknowledging the college never envisaged a large number of students applying for the four-year course, Vassallo said there could have been an element of stigma that might have stopped some from opting for the longer course.

“I think we need to seriously consider changing, first and foremost, the education system’s pace,” Vassallo said.

“We – parents, teachers, institutions and our system – have a fixation with homework and extra work. Another fixation we have is exams. It’s absurd to think of an exam as this one moment in time when you are successful and good and that this moment in time is telling the world out there what you have acquired in all your education.”

Such a...