Last week, the topic we had for our Secondary 2 panel discussion was about Non-Core Subjects in Hwa Chong. As we were talking about these subjects, we soon started to talk about sports(being a non-core subject). Then, Dr. Hon talked about competency, and asked various people to define what competency was. Some people said that competency was the ability to do well as compared to others. Others expressed that it was simply about reaching a certain set target(e.g. A*). However, I do have my own view about the definition of competency.
I feel that competency is the ability for someone to be able to do something well. Now, I will be asked to define 'well'. Personally, I feel that doing something 'well' is not to do something better than the others. For example, I feel that as long is someone is able to speak English fluently(rare pauses, grammar mistakes etc.) they are competent in it. It does not matter how many people there are in the world who can also speak as well or better than him. As long as he can do his job properly, without hiccups, he is competent.
My definition of doing 'well' is NOT being able to do better than others. Talk about transporting heavy loads. If I am the world champion, does that mean that I am competent? It depends on what you are talking about. If your job involves moving heavy sacks of rice, then I am competent and the man for the job. If you are talking about moving an aeroplane, then I am sure that I am not competent, and neither will anyone else. That is because nobody is able to do the job well at all. So what if I am a world champion. I am still unable to move the aeroplane, and thus putting me up to the jox`b will be totally useless.
There was a person who mentioned that competence is a measure of interest and talent of a person. However, I do not agree so. So what if the person may have an interest in the field, he might not perform well, if he does not have talent. Also, if a person has talent, but no interest, he will not be competent either. The criteria however, are not just limited to the talents and interest. There are many other factors too, like the amount the person's talent can be developed.
toondoo
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Personally, I feel that that particular panel discussion went completely off topic from about non-core subjects to what exactly is competence about.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, I think that competence is not something that we can actually define exactly at all. It is more of a general term that refers to being good and capable in the area which we are talking about, but how to define exactly still depends on EACH and EVERY individual part of that something we are trying to define being competent in.
Hi Jason,
ReplyDeleteActually I felt that the example you gave wasn't exactly very good, but the rest of your essay was quite insightful.
Dr Hon specifically mentioned sports as an example. I think that to be confident at sports, one must possess the physical ability requirements of that sport, as well as have mastered a few skills which make him better than a regular player. The regular player refers to one who has been consistently playing that sport but has not received professional training. Because he is above average (not overall average, but average in the sport), he is competent. Thus it IS possible to have all Hwa Chong boys to be competent in a sport.