A Letter to the Straits Times Forum ... Hear ! Hear ! ....
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Originally posted by eagle:
Have you ever tried studying any of your subjects in any other language other than English? Say for example, in Chinese? Most likely no right? And do you know all the basic technical maths terms in chinese?
And how does that relate?
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Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:
And how does that relate?
So why do you think they have to take foundation mathematics (obviously in English) even though they are picked from among the best of their cohort? Their education there is conducted in Chinese, not English. To them, when they come to singapore, English is their foreign language.
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Originally posted by eagle:
As mentioned above, try doing a student exchange in China or any other foreign language countries while in NUS, and you will see how hard it is to pick up technical terms in foreign languages.
With regards to 3As and 4As students, there are many whom I know got great scholarships. There are also 3As and 4As students who falter and fall out of university. Yet there are Bs students who excel, or as in the case of my friend, quitted NUS in the first sem, went out wrote a software that sells and is now a millionaire, albeit residing in Australia. Hence, it is never possible to judge based on A level results.
The point here is, former results do count. Whose problem is it if the student is not himself actively looking for sponsorship? Do know how how many interviews I have failed before landing one scholarship?
Regarding local students, I'm sure you also understand that local students receive tuition grants without any bond from the government, whereas PRs will have to serve a 3 year bond. In addition, international students pay the full price. Where else in the world can you have uni sch fees of 6k a year?
And have you speaked with the PRC scholars on how they feel about the bond? There are stories on how when they go back to China, everything feels different, they look and sound different from the locals there after their many years here, and it is hard for them to get a foothold in China after their bond is finished. Also, being away for a long time from your homeland is never easy.
Sure, Singapore is too elitist. Although I believe I can compete with these foreign students easily, I don't foresee myself doing that in the future, but rather, managing and controlling these "talents".
I am not definitely sure about this (enquiries from friends and cousins at Cornell, Columbia and U Penn turned up negative) ... but why is it that ivy league universities can judge their student intakes (and consequently scholarship students) on all round competence in English (and math too) ... but we'd grant foreign "scholars" the leeway of English and Math deficiencies ? .... a uniquely Singaporean situation ? ... Do the ivy league universities grant full scholarships to students with undemonstrated competence in english and math (in english, no less)? I feel that we are bending over backwards and spreading our ass cheeks to accomodate these foreign scholars, and that locals with great credentials, based on pre-entry results, or undergraduate performance are getting short changed ...... it's not about who is more qualified for these scholarships, or who'd do well in the universities, .... but rather, who deserves it more ....
You are on a local scholarship ? ... Good for you, that makes you an ... elite ? ...
... me ? ... I am a "farmer" ... maybe that's why I am understandably more troubled about this than you are ... I never quite made it up to the top rungs after each rounds of stratification in the Singapore educational system. The likes of us progress along a different track, without the "Scholar" appendage on our parchment,( and maybe, a fast tracked career path too ? ) we compete out there in society with master graduates from Burma and Bangladesh willing to work for half our pay, with no CPF, no two weeks of enforced abscence yearly, no annuities to fund, no families to support on local cost structures .... yadda yadda ....you know, once upon a time, I could understand, even support the elitist darwanism of our educational system, that we must nurture and protect our best and brightest, and recruit the best and brightest from around the world to our shores .... but I realized that the one mark of an advanced and gracious society, one that you would be glad to sink your roots into, for generations to come, is not how successful the elites are, but how well the lower rungs of society, the less fortunate ones, the ones that are less endowed cerebrally, are doing ... I think we are falling way behind on this score .... my father, an ITE lecturer, once came home very much depressed because one of this new students couldn't perform fraction sums, (1/4 + 1/4 confounded him) ... this chap is a residue of our streaming system, isn't it sad that he was able to slip through the cracks all the way till he was 18 ? .... maybe each foreign elite we bring in would be able to up our GDP by a billion or two a year, but to me, each cases like the above chap makes us poorer as a nation, this chap was written off by the system ... regardless of how well the chaps in the stratosphere are doing, I think we have not arrived at all ....
so you see, our society, and this issue, looks very different to us through our lenses, than yours ....
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Originally posted by eagle:
So why do you think they have to take foundation mathematics (obviously in English) even though they are picked from among the best of their cohort? Their education there is conducted in Chinese, not English. To them, when they come to singapore, English is their foreign language.
English part - understood. However, Foundation Mathematics is not. Whether or not in English or Chinese. I don't recall any of foreign friends needing to take any other modules except English.
It's a requirement to pass some subjects (whatever they are, subjected to your course discretion) before you are admitted here, irregardless of what language you are taught in.
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Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:
English part - understood. However, Foundation Mathematics is not. Whether or not in English or Chinese. I don't recall any of foreign friends needing to take any other modules except English.
It's a requirement to pass some subjects (whatever they are, subjected to your course discretion) before you are admitted here, irregardless of what language you are taught in.
Let's say you have just learned German for 2 years in lower sec. Then they suddenly pull you to germany to study maths in German. Do you think you will need foundation maths in German? Just an example like this.
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Originally posted by eagle:
Let's say you have just learned German for 2 years in lower sec. Then they suddenly pull you to germany to study maths in German. Do you think you will need foundation maths in German? Just an example like this.
Wait wait. If you just learn the language, of course you will still need to learn Maths in German. That would makes sense since Maths isn't in the equation. But if it's already part of your curriculum, I don't see a need to. After translating it back from one language to another, the logic flow is about the same.
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Originally posted by Fatum:
I am not definitely sure about this (enquiries from friends and cousins at Cornell, Columbia and U Penn turned up negative) ... but why is it that ivy league universities can judge their student intakes (and consequently scholarship students) on all round competence in English (and math too) ... but we'd grant foreign "scholars" the leeway of English and Math deficiencies ? .... a uniquely Singaporean situation ? ... Do the ivy league universities grant full scholarships to students with undemonstrated competence in english and math (in english, no less)? I feel that we are bending over backwards and spreading our ass cheeks to accomodate these foreign scholars, and that locals with great credentials, based on pre-entry results, or undergraduate performance are getting short changed ...... it's not about who is more qualified for these scholarships, or who'd do well in the universities, .... but rather, who deserves it more ....
You are on a local scholarship ? ... Good for you, that makes you an ... elite ? ...
...
me ? ... I am a "farmer" ... maybe that's why I am understandably
more troubled about this than you are ... I never quite made it up
to the top rungs after each rounds of stratification in the
Singapore educational system. The likes of us progress along a
different track, without the "Scholar" appendage on our parchment,(
and maybe, a fast tracked career path too ? ) we compete out there
in society with master graduates from Burma and Bangladesh willing
to work for half our pay, with no CPF, no two weeks of enforced
abscence yearly, no annuities to fund, no families to support on
local cost structures .... yadda yadda ....you know, once upon a time, I could understand, even support the elitist darwanism of our educational system, that we must nurture and protect our best and brightest, and recruit the best and brightest from around the world to our shores .... but I realized that the one mark of an advanced and gracious society, one that you would be glad to sink your roots into, for generations to come, is not how successful the elites are, but how well the lower rungs of society, the less fortunate ones, the ones that are less endowed cerebrally, are doing ... I think we are falling way behind on this score .... my father, an ITE lecturer, once came home very much depressed because one of this new students couldn't perform fraction sums, (1/4 + 1/4 confounded him) ... this chap is a residue of our streaming system, isn't it sad that he was able to slip through the cracks all the way till he was 18 ? .... maybe each foreign elite we bring in would be able to up our GDP by a billion or two a year, but to me, each cases like the above chap makes us poorer as a nation, this chap was written off by the system ... regardless of how well the chaps in the stratosphere are doing, I think we have not arrived at all ....
so you see, our society, and this issue, looks very different to us through our lenses, than yours ....
Don't you see many PRCs scholars getting As for GP? How deficient is their English in that sense? From what I know, Cornell do not interview you face to face to see how well your spoken English is, but rather, from what you have written to them.
Scholarship? I applied while in uni; I did not get before entering. As for my application, I will have to tell you that I planned for one year before my application to ensure higher chances of success. I did a statistical analysis of previous recipients before deciding I should apply in my 2nd year, and I even mentioned this during my interview when they questioned me on why I didn't apply a year earlier. Similarly, many government scholars recipients from JC have planned a long time ago, with some even during sec sch. I failed to plan at that time, and I made sure I planned well this time round. Planning includes taking parts in other enrichment activities other than doing well in sch work; results are still not everything. There are walking examples of NUS students with CAP around 4.0 (some maybe less) who received local scholarships too. No, they are not perfect As students.
So before questioning about students who scored rather well and not receiving any help, think whether these students have planned beforehand, have researched on the necessary data and information before making their applications.
On the basis of elitism in education, please list out which country in which people who have no talent and do not do well in studies are not written off by the system. The world is cruel, it is a merit based global village. Unless you want to change the system to one of Communist or Marxist, there's no way such people will not be written off.
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I didn't read all the posts, but just wanna add that, it's not only the scholarships. Even for foreign students studying at the tertiary institutions who aren't scholars, the majority of them are given tuition subsidies, which means they pay the same or close to the same fees as locals. They're not bonded when they graduated, can go back to kampong after that.
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Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:
Wait wait. If you just learn the language, of course you will still need to learn Maths in German. That would makes sense since Maths isn't in the equation. But if it's already part of your curriculum, I don't see a need to. After translating it back from one language to another, the logic flow is about the same.
No, there are just too many things to learn in a language. Just like for us, do you think we learned how to say differentiation in Mandarin even though there are Mandarin lessons? Or how would you say the inverse of a function? Or expand the Binomial term?
In most languages, we use almost the same few words everytime to convey our intentions when speaking. Technical terms are seldom used. Thus, in that sense, the first thing when people learn foreign languages is that they will learn these common words. I learned both German and Japanese in NUS as a foreign language, and I know this because these are courses preparing the students for student exchange in German or Japan. There's little emphasis on technical terms until the 4th course, of which the number of terms learned are still grossly insufficient. Only by taking a module on basic economics over in Germany do I know the technical terms of the subject. These terms, however, are extremely normal to people whose first language is German.
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Originally posted by Wanda:
I didn't read all the posts, but just wanna add that, it's not only the scholarships. Even for foreign students studying at the tertiary institutions who aren't scholars, the majority of them are given tuition subsidies, which means they pay the same or close to the same fees as locals. They're not bonded when they graduated, can go back to kampong after that.
I don't know which country or which university you are referring to, but from what I know about NUS and NTU, even PRs need to serve a 3 year bond to work only in Singapore and no other countries if they take up the tuition grant. Only local students do not need to serve the 3 year bond.
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Originally posted by eagle:
Don't you see many PRCs scholars getting As for GP? How deficient is their English in that sense? From what I know, Cornell do not interview you face to face to see how well your spoken English is, but rather, from what you have written to them.
Scholarship? I applied while in uni; I did not get before entering. As for my application, I will have to tell you that I planned for one year before my application to ensure higher chances of success. I did a statistical analysis of previous recipients before deciding I should apply in my 2nd year, and I even mentioned this during my interview when they questioned me on why I didn't apply a year earlier. Similarly, many government scholars recipients from JC have planned a long time ago, with some even during sec sch. I failed to plan at that time, and I made sure I planned well this time round. Planning includes taking parts in other enrichment activities other than doing well in sch work; results are still not everything. There are walking examples of NUS students with CAP around 4.0 (some maybe less) who received local scholarships too. No, they are not perfect As students.
So before questioning about students who scored rather well and not receiving any help, think whether these students have planned beforehand, have researched on the necessary data and information before making their applications.
On the basis of elitism in education, please list out which country in which people who have no talent and do not do well in studies are not written off by the system. The world is cruel, it is a merit based global village. Unless you want to change the system to one of Communist or Marxist, there's no way such people will not be written off.
So their English is good ? ... or not ? ... before or after the one year's enrichment ? ... I'm getting confused here .... my point was, if schools like cornell can attract perfectly capable students straight from overseas without the neccessity of foundation classes in math and english, why can't we ? .... is it a tacit acknowledgement that we are attracting the second tier of foreign talents, or that we are bending way over backwards to compete against these privately funded schools ? ... to even ignore the niggling question of whether a smart foreigner is more important than a dumber Singaporean, why is the school hedging their bets on foreign students with yet to be demonstrated competence in English (and math ? ) with public fund that could have gone to subsidizing another capable local student, with demonstrated competence in math (in english ! ) ... and english ? ...
On the subject of elitism; the example that I pointed out was to illustrated the bigger phenomenon of "elitism" in Singapore ... there will always be people falling by the way side, for sure, no matter how egalitarian the education system, how good our social welfare, some would always fall through the cracks and fail ... but what I see is this over-riding fascination with nurturing and taking care of the best and brightest, at the expense of the hoi polloi ... and this issue is another manifestation of this trend ... I really wondered, after the recent "1000 quitters" statement from our living God ... that If I leave (how ironic, that I'm actually an ex-quitter ! ), would my departure be counted as a numerical loss for the country ?, and not just as another digit to be made up by another smarter, lower paid, foreign talent ? ... Am I, the Singaporean non-scholar, the non-elite, valued ? ... it really boils back down to our fundamental question again; is a smart foreign elite more valuable and important, than a dumber Singaporean ? ....
A company can be run on economic considerations alone, the economics of the bottomline can be it's sole consideration ....... But a country cannot, should not, must not be so ...... but where are we now, really ? ....
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Originally posted by Fatum:
So their English is good ? ... or not ? ... before or after the one year's enrichment ? ... I'm getting confused here .... my point was, if schools like cornell can attract perfectly capable students straight from overseas without the neccessity of foundation classes in math and english, why can't we ? .... is it a tacit acknowledgement that we are attracting the second tier of foreign talents, or that we are bending way over backwards to compete against these privately funded schools ? ... to even ignore the niggling question of whether a smart foreigner is more important than a dumber Singaporean, why is the school hedging their bets on foreign students with yet to be demonstrated competence in English (and math ? ) with public fund that could have gone to subsidizing another capable local student, with demonstrated competence in math (in english ! ) ... and english ? ...
On the subject of elitism; the example that I pointed out was to illustrated the bigger phenomenon of "elitism" in Singapore ... there will always be people falling by the way side, for sure, no matter how egalitarian the education system, how good our social welfare, some would always fall through the cracks and fail ... but what I see is this over-riding fascination with nurturing and taking care of the best and brightest, at the expense of the hoi polloi ... and this issue is another manifestation of this trend ... I really wondered, after the recent "1000 quitters" statement from our living God ... that If I leave (how ironic, that I'm actually an ex-quitter ! ), would my departure be counted as a numerical loss for the country ?, and not just as another digit to be made up by another smarter, lower paid, foreign talent ? ... Am I, the Singaporean non-scholar, the non-elite, valued ? ... it really boils back down to our fundamental question again; is a smart foreign elite more valuable and important, than a dumber Singaporean ? ....
A company can be run on economic considerations alone, the economics of the bottomline can be it's sole consideration ....... But a country cannot, should not, must not be so ...... but where are we now, really ? ....
You are talking about Cornell University entrants with good SAT and TOEFL scores while I'm talking about foreign students coming since secondary 3 -.- Those two tests above can already prove to Cornell the English capability of the overseas applicants.
With regards to this question: Am I, the Singaporean non-scholar, the non-elite, valued? Yes you are as valuable. But that's to me, and probably most people at the lower end of the society. I can't say the same for the government, and especially for the person who pushed forward the Graduate's Mother policy
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Pay Obama $550k to be our President, it is cheaper, more talented,younger and give him pink I.C
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Originally posted by eagle:
You are talking about Cornell University entrants with good SAT and TOEFL scores while I'm talking about foreign students coming since secondary 3 -.- Those two tests above can already prove to Cornell the English capability of the overseas applicants.
With regards to this question: Am I, the Singaporean non-scholar, the non-elite, valued? Yes you are as valuable. But that's to me, and probably most people at the lower end of the society. I can't say the same for the government, and especially for the person who pushed forward the Graduate's Mother policy
of course ... what I wonder, is that why can't we do the same, catch them later, spend less to it too, instead of bending over backwards .... all back to our fundamental question neh ? ... nevermind .... stuck record ...
and yes, the graduate mother's idea ... chap must have read some stuff on nazi eugenics ...
I do have a proposal for our current scholarship scheme though (I don't even imagine for a second us yakking here would change anything of course, nevermind, that'll come through the ballot box in 2011) .... that for bond breakers (and from anecdotal evidence, there are plenty of such chaps) ... NTU, NUS and SMU publish a list of bond breakers and tell of the circumstances of their bonds to potential employers when they come calling for official transcripts and references ... I think it's fair justice .... and if EDB is willing to publicize Singaporean bond breakers who took the taxpayer's money and chabot overseas, why shouldn't it be so for foreign talent bond breakers ? .....
Relations who work at NTU research tell me that the number of foreign PhD and scholar bond breakers is so high it's not even funny, or news anymore .... is there an implicit acceptance of a certain percentage of such bond breakers ? an "attrition rate" ? .... these people are truly making a mockery of our country, even if the powers-that-be persists to think that a smart foreign elite is more valuable than a dumber Singaporean, at the very least, they owe it to the people to force an accountability on the scholar's part ..... publicize their names! ... write down "bond breaker" in their transcripts and references ! ... take them to court overseas ! ... sue them for the money ! .... the powers-that-be owes us that much at least ....
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I for one, as some have mentioned, found my 'roots' here. If by any chance/opportunity/offer that allows me to get out of here, I'll definitely take it up.
I don't want to live in a place that would prolly kill themselves in a few years.
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I wonder whether a "Deng Xiao Ping" will appear and come and save Singapore.
Even if he is from PAP, if he can reform Singapore, I will support him.
When will the post "Lee Kuan Yew era" come?
I will be waiting for this day.
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People compare countries and standards of living and whatever.
I see it as how the government balances different aspects and factors (taxes, welfare etc etc.) to suit/cope with citizens in that country.
And it ain't happening in this country, what may seem like a balance, would only be beneficial to the government.
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Originally posted by HyuugaNeji:
If i am not wrong, those china scholars need a minimum cap of 3.5. Otherwise, their contracts may be terminated.
3.5 is not hard. I daresay more den half of my Sgporean frens get 3.5 and above. -
Originally posted by eagle:
I don't know which country or which university you are referring to, but from what I know about NUS and NTU, even PRs need to serve a 3 year bond to work only in Singapore and no other countries if they take up the tuition grant. Only local students do not need to serve the 3 year bond.
It's obvious that you do not know that the polys and arts diploma-awarding, etc. institutions in Sg are classified as tertiary education.
So now u know.
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Generally, yeah, government should do more to take care their citizens more than foreigners.
The balance is not there. The government seems too extreme in gathering foreign talents to sg. But however, it also will be seems too extreme for citizens to vote out the government because of these issue only.
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i am not entirely sure how the system for FT work, but to me i always think if they r so talented as they n old Lee claim they r, den stay in ur own bloody country n make ur mark there! y come to this country u like to call "small red dot"? show ur worth in ur own country! the way i c it, they r not as gd as the elites in their country, thats y they come here n make a nuisance of themselves. talents my foot!
everywhere i go, they r everywhere. my office, the bus stop, shopping malls, my void deck, on trains n buses, on the roads, hell even the auntie taking ur order at coffee shops is a foreigner! n i expect to c them in my school as well. the more i interact wif them, the more i feel they aint the FT they claim to b. only old Lee c them as talent. the "importing" is jus happening too fast. year ago how many foreigners can u find on the streets except construction sites? i believe we r competing as well with other countries if not better during that time.
we served our nation wif our sweat n blood, we wasted 2 weeks every year to defend the foreigners. we gave taxes aft taxes so that these FTs can get subsidies. wat have they contributed to the country that made them deserve the reliefs? oh ya! they gave more taxes so that the governement can have 20% increase in pay every yr n say help needy. bravo.
i jus love the FOREIGNERS. dont u?
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Originally posted by Wanda:
It's obvious that you do not know that the polys and arts diploma-awarding, etc. institutions in Sg are classified as tertiary education.
So now u know.
I lazy to search for other polys, but I guess it should be the same for every poly since it comes from the government
"Non-Singaporean Students (Include Singapore PR and Foreign student)
In exchange for government subsidy received under tuition grant scheme, all non- Singaporean students are required to sign a tuitiongrant agreement in which they will be contractually obliged to work in Singapore for a minimum period of three years upon graduation."Quite obvious that you don't read the terms and conditions before signing contracts?
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I guess there is some discrepancies here. If you take the Linear Algebra I module in NUS, you will see more PRCs than locals and usually they are the one who scores A+ for that module. That is the reason why I have to avoid taking math module at all cost because of the competition.
I heard there is a rumour in one of the math module in NUS last semester. After the mid-term test and the results of mid term were released, many people scored above 80%. So the rumour: There was a group of PRC students complaining to the lecturer that the mid-term was too easy. So the lecturer set killer questions (60% of the final year exams were not doable if you simply understood the topics; you had to think deeper) and if you did not attempt these questions, the higher you can get was probably B. Guess what? many PRC scholars get A and A+ for that module. How can we conclude that PRC scholars need training in maths. they have been trained enough in their home countries. what they need is that how to present the answer in English and to understand the questions properly.
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Australia adds visas for skilled workers! Will the brain drain get even worse for Singapore?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore state owned and controlled newspaper, the Straits Times, just as all the other news media being equally owned and controlled by the state has a story on Feb 18, 2008 headed "Australia adds visas for skilled workers".
Is this not going to exasperate the already dire skilled manpower situation in Singapore when Singapore is presently losing its qualified people permanently emigrating to the west at intolerably high levels?
According to this report, Australia is going to add another 6,000 skilled worker visas every year increasing the total to 108,500. With Australia already being the main destination for several thousands of Singaporean migrants, this additional increase in work visas can only mean even more Singaporeans leaving.
And the people leaving would be the very ones that Singapore needs most; aircraft technicians from Singapore airlines, cargo handlers, aircraft checkers, air traffic marshals and other aviation staff; which means a heavy loss to Singapore Airlines, a leader in the skies.
And these workers being lost are the very type that Singapore needs the most, highly skilled and experienced staff often irreplaceable at any price, with their training and vast experience.
The same with the merchant marine and the marine industry. Container men, container traffic specialists, crane operators of all sorts, skilled welders and mechanics, diesel mechanics, all sorts of highly skilled people are being lost every day from Singapore heading to Australia; badly affecting the Singapore shipping trade.
Not just in aviation and shipping. All the other trades, skilled air-conditioning technicians, motor mechanics, diesel mechanics, and skilled workers in every possible trade you can think of, all making a bee line to the Australian High Commission filling out papers and standing in line for the first Singapore Airlines or Qantas flight to Sydney?
The brain drain from Singapore has reached such incredibly high levels that an Australian in Brisbane was reported to have asked someone inquiring whether there was a revolution or some other catastrophe in Singapore that is causing such high levels of flight from the country!
And mind you, all this emigration at such high levels is from a small country, Singapore, 16 miles north to south and 26 miles east to west with a population no more than 3 million and shrinking. What is more, Singaporeans are at the same time, refusing to have any babies to such an extent that the population is unable to replace itself. The situation had become so grave and if no action was taken, there will only be the trishaw riders and hawkers left in Singapore.
So in order to remedy this intolerable situation in labor shortage, the government finds itself helpless other than to bring in hundreds of thousands of people from Communist China, some from India and the Philippines and Burma to somehow replace the loss. But the question is whether such immigrants from these countries are qualified and skilled as those Singaporeans who have left and as we speak leaving? The answer has to be a resounding "no".
No matter what one says of Singaporeans, one cannot deny that they are one of the most skilled qualified and disciplined workers anywhere in the world. And what is more, they have an excellent knowledge of English making them the most sought after among immigrants in any part of the world. Singaporeans themselves have shown how good they are succeeding in their careers and businesses anywhere and capable of competing with anyone.
I am myself a living example. Educated in Singapore and in England, I not only passed the English Bar Exams, the Singapore Bar and the California Bar which is reputed to be the most difficult among the Bar Examinations throughout the United States. Not only that I practice law in the local courts and compete with Americans and people from anywhere in the world who happens to be here. Why, because I have had an excellent education in Singapore and that makes me able to compete and survive in any part of this planet. California benefits from my education which I received in Singapore just as the thousands of Singaporeans benefit Australia from the education they received in Singapore. The net loser in this equation is Singapore.
Has the Singapore government ever asked why Singaporeans are so eager to escape from Singapore?
I have no in depth knowledge of Australia but I understand the general conditions there. In Australia human beings are treated as humans. If you unemployed, the government permits you to survive with human dignity, with reasonable assistance for you and your children until you find something else. Not like in Singapore where thy throw $200.00 at you and some rice and cooking oil expecting you to somehow fend for yourself. In such undignified inhumane circumstances, the children of poor people in Singapore lose their self respect, their hopes and aspirations and eventually turn out no better than their destitute parents. In Singapore being poor is a sin and and shameful; in Australia being poor is just a temporary setback from which everyone expects you to come back, full steam ahead and kicking.
In Australia, children are allowed to be children, which means they can play, something which children are expected to do. In Singapore, children, the moment they are born are turned into adults, with time tables, appointments, school assignments, tuition classes, music classes, language classes so much so that they are constantly looking at their calendars for their next appointment!
This sort of life creates a robot with only one motivation and drive, the drive to do better, to make more money, to say the right things, to speak correct political speech, to please the master and to survive as best you can; preferably not being seen or heard; because in Singapore if you stand out like a nail, you will be hammered in to conform to society. In Australia on the other hand, you are welcome to be anyone you want; and you can think you are the Pope and no will care two hoots.
In Australia there are retirement pensions, state funded medical care and other social programs where people can live everyday as human beings knowing that there is the rule of law, and their rights will be protected. In Singapore you have a Lee Kuan Yew who thinks he knows everything and will send anyone to jail who thinks otherwise.
Even though I grew up in Singapore I was lucky to have a father who was way ahead of the Singapore government in thinking. As a boy I was told I could achieve anything I wanted. And being a 6 year old boy, I really believed it. All that was required was the desire to want it, my father said. The achievement itself will automatically follow. And this philosophy stayed with me throughout my life. I always believed that I could achieve anything that I want. My father used to say that fear only holds one back. That there was no need to fear and if it is the oceans you want to cross, then cross it without hesitation.
And it is this kind of courage that was instilled in me, that every Australian or New Zealand father instills in their boys. That is why Edmund Hilary, the bee keeper and mountaineer, champion of Mount Everest, is a New Zealander; that is why Peter Snell, the 800 meters Olympic champion is a New Zealander; that is why hundreds of Tour de France cyclists are New Zealanders; that is why New Zealand won the yacht race America cup; that is why New Zealanders are the best world yachtsmen. And the All Blacks the best rugby team in the world are New Zealanders.
Why, because in New Zealand, boys grow up as boys, they fight, they play and they enjoy an adventure. And mind you, New Zealand has a population of 3 million too, just like Singapore. Not like the Singapore 10 year old boy who has to look at his calendar for the next tuition class; who will fall swoon and die bending over backwards if you just gave him a slap!
Singapore parents are aware of how Australia and New Zealand is, just as I am. So they prefer their children to grow up as children in Australia and New Zealand and they leave Singapore, where Lee Kuan Yew struts around like a prize rooster, beating up on anyone who even utters a whimper of complaint.
So I don’t expect the manpower problems in Singapore to get any better. It will only get progressively worse. Worse because the new entrants to fill the jobs left by Singaporeans, the immigrants from Communist China, India and the Philippines have neither the English, nor the skills or the experience of Singaporeans who left.
And as long as Lee Kuan Yew thinks he knows best and continues to run the country in the present tyrannically hopeless manner, Singapore can only continue to decline even further meaning even more Singaporeans will begin packing and leaving.
This unfortunately is the bitter truth.Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/02/australia-adds-visas-for-skilled.html
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Originally posted by ultranova3:
I guess there is some discrepancies here. If you take the Linear Algebra I module in NUS, you will see more PRCs than locals and usually they are the one who scores A+ for that module. That is the reason why I have to avoid taking math module at all cost because of the competition.
I heard there is a rumour in one of the math module in NUS last semester. After the mid-term test and the results of mid term were released, many people scored above 80%. So the rumour: There was a group of PRC students complaining to the lecturer that the mid-term was too easy. So the lecturer set killer questions (60% of the final year exams were not doable if you simply understood the topics; you had to think deeper) and if you did not attempt these questions, the higher you can get was probably B. Guess what? many PRC scholars get A and A+ for that module. How can we conclude that PRC scholars need training in maths. they have been trained enough in their home countries. what they need is that how to present the answer in English and to understand the questions properly.
omigod, linear algebra ! ... >.< ! .... thinking of those classes still makes me cringe ...
of course they don't need any further training in math (that's why I asked above, if anyone has met a chinese chap who sucks at maths before) ... But really, I say again, the big question here isn't really about whether money ought to be spent on foreign "scholars'"foundation year in English and Math ... or whether they need any help in these subjects at all .... but whether the powers-that-be is bending over backwards in nurturing and promoting these foreign talents at the expense of Singaporeans, and whether such largesse is justifiable when equally deserving locals (at least in my eyes) are left out in the cold .....