Questions about purpose, life meaning, and life satisfaction drive central debates about what good education should look like in schools. This study compares adolescent purposes, life meaning, social support and life satisfaction in Singapore and Israel. Meaning in life refers to finding one’s significance; purpose uses this significance in ways beyond self. Key findings showed four purpose clusters for Singapore: no orientation, self-focused, other-focused, and both self- and other-focused. Israeli adolescents were in three purpose clusters without the no orientation group. Israeli adolescents had significantly higher life satisfaction, with no purpose orientation for 18% of Singapore’s students having significant negative impact on life satisfaction. Presence of meaning, parents’ support followed by teachers’ support were positive predictors of life satisfaction. Notably, Israeli students had more life meaning and parental support; Singapore’s adolescents had more teacher support but were searching for meaning. Implications for a more human experience of schooling are discussed.

中文翻译：

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新加坡和以色列青少年的青年目标、人生意义、社会支持和生活满意度

关于目的、生活意义和生活满意度的问题引发了关于学校中良好教育应该是什么样子的核心辩论。本研究比较了新加坡和以色列的青少年目的、生活意义、社会支持和生活满意度。人生意义是指找到自己的意义；目的以超越自我的方式使用这种意义。主要调查结果显示新加坡有四个目的集群：无导向、以自我为中心、以他人为中心以及以自我和他人为中心。以色列青少年分为三个目的群体，没有无定向小组。以色列青少年的生活满意度显着更高，18% 的新加坡学生没有目标导向对生活满意度有显着的负面影响。意义的存在，父母支持其次是教师支持是生活满意度的积极预测因素。值得注意的是，以色列学生有更多的生活意义和父母的支持；新加坡的青少年有更多的教师支持，但正在寻找意义。讨论了对更人性化的学校教育体验的影响。