Written By: Kano Umezaki
Singapore’s centralized education system is known for yielding high test results, but it often fails to give support to its most vulnerable, low-income students. Shuling Yong’s “Unteachable” documents Meixi Ng’s four-year journey teaching students who are defectively marked as “unteachable” despite their eagerness to learn and dream.
The film opens with Shuqun secondary student, Damian, feeling perplexed by a series of equations the teacher draws on the board. Upon asking for help on a problem, the teacher ignores him and moves on to the next student. Immediately, we see that students aren’t centered within the orthodoxy of the Singaporean classroom. Instead, classes are top-down, where teachers enforce authoritative standards. Assessments are summative, knowledge is procedural and the process of learning is narrowed to a career, which in sum, strips students of the agency to pursue their long-held dreams. For many NT students, the austerity of school turns learning into a dragged-out, dull obligation. Some are seen walking in class late without accounting for their absence or copying off each other’s classwork. Even Damian’s daily morning routine of eating the same bread adds to the lifeless monotony students adhere to when given an academic system that’s already full of closed doors.
To challenge these hierarchical in-class relations, Meixi introduces the Tutorial Relationship (TR) method of learning. Rather than streamlining knowledge from the teacher to student, TR is a pedagogy that aims to have students learn from teaching each other. “Teachers don’t have to be the sole bearer of knowledge in the classroom; students can become great tutors too,” Yong says. “Part of why Meixi’s work was so great was its focus on building strong teacher-to-student and student-to-student relationships.” Meixi hopes to re-image the class so students are centered in their learning experience. The re-defining of the classroom pedagogy towards a more non-hierarchical approach signals a possibility in educational change. Although education in Singapore has been rigidly structured, Meixi reminds us that it doesn’t have to continue being that way. The class can and should be a supportive system where everyone fosters the ability to share what they’ve lived or learned. Through centering TR pedagogy, Meixi helps dismantle the hierarchy of the classroom by inscribing students with the autonomy to self-define and navigate what education means for themselves. Although NT students are shown struggling to adapt to a new pedagogical approach to learning, Meixi’s attentive care and tenderness towards the students eventually helps them shine.
However, not all teachers of Shuqun secondary school were on-board, as the TR pedagogy challenges orthodox, hierarchical methods of teaching. Yong documents several scenes of teachers discussing what is best for their students; these discussions often failing to find a shared, common ground as to what the purpose of learning should be. “Unteachable” speaks to more than a uniquely Singaporean problem; it also speaks to a greater, global problem witnessed by students whose dreams have been abandoned by systems that weren’t made to include them.
Grades and tests provide an underlying tension for students in the film. In particular, we witness Damian –– a central subject of the documentary –– go through the demanding stress of the Singaporean education system. Near the beginning of the documentary, he shares that he cried looking at his failed Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results –– a national exam taken by all students at the end of their sixth year in primary school. “I am disappointed in myself and I have disappointed my parents,” he wistfully says in the film. Despite being labeled inferior and “unteachable” through his National (Technical) (NT) student status, Damian is still driven to learn alongside his peers. His eagerness in the classroom, coupled with his earnest, humorous personality, helps keep the film playful and sincere. One can’t help but be effortlessly drawn to his growth, as well as the lessons he learns along the way. “He comes from a humble background, a non-traditional family structure, and has overcome some challenging times in his life,” says Yong. “We thought that audiences would relate to him and have an affinity for him and his story, just like we did.” Through centering Damian’s growth, as well as the growth of other NT students, Yong falsifies the conservative notion that a student’s value should be ascribed to their given grades.
Producer Lisa Teh also played a pivotal role in the creation of Unteachable. “Making ‘Unteachable’ was a 7-year labour of love. Post-production took about 1.5 years in total,” shares Teh. “We didn’t have enough funds for the team to work on the film, so we were all doing day jobs while working nights and weekends on ‘Unteachable.’” The years of footage allow us to witness personal journeys rather than distilled points in people’s lives. We not only see students share their dreams of becoming a singer or a chef, we also witness them grow into, out of, their respective hopes. Five years of filming also means seeping through a copious amount of footage. “Kudos to our editor, Mirabelle Ang, who had to sieve through 120 hours of footage. She played a key role in shaping the final story in the edit, and her experience as a former school teacher in Singapore helped with putting the themes of the film in context,” praises Teh. “In addition, Mirabelle, Shuling and I were in three different countries and time zones working remotely together while apart (strangely similar to how the world is functioning now in covid times). In fact, I think we were all together in the ‘editing room’ only once throughout the entire post-production period.” Despite there being huge gaps of time imposed throughout, “Unteachable” effortlessly seams its footage together. It’s a film that has mastered the art of brevity.
The documentary ends with a positive foretelling, as it’s revealed that the Singapore Ministry of Education will abolish the Normal and Express streams by 2024. “Unteachable” signals a possibility for change in Singapore’s streamlined education system, and it also reminds its audience that learning is an active response to a hope –– that learning should be led with a labor of love.
“Unteachable” makes its international premiere at the 43rd Asian American International Film Festival. Ticket and screening information can be found here.