2/25/2008

A wonderful educational experience

As we get more influence and have more money to spare, we become more creative and innovative with what money can offer. Schools are increasinly organising overseas trips for their students as a badge of honour, as a wonderful educational experience for the children. We are seeing trips not only to neighbouring countries, but to the US, Europe, China and Japan. At the university level we have exchange programmes with other universities all over the world. Such experience will definitely make our students smarter and brighter. They will definitely be better than third world students who can't even afford a trip to town. Money sure can buy quality education. The more expensive the education fee, the better will be the education.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Herd mentality? Keep up with the Jones'? Oh yeah, creative and innovative from the point of view of those organising the trips when free trips are thrown in for them, but some poor parents have to foot the bill.

Someone commented recently that he cannot see the value of young people going overseas to do charity/volunteer work when they could have put their efforts into doing the same thing at home where so many volunteers for charity work are needed.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i see your point. the rich would have no problem spending this kind of money just to feel good and said 'i have been there.' the poor would only envy them and listen to their fairy tales of how great and fun the trip was.

the in between parents would have to squeeze their balls to let their children go along and be with the in group.

as for doing charity, it is fashionable and nice to visit somewhere else to do it. some would even neglect their parents and families only to do good to strangers.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

> The more expensive the education fee, the better will be the education. <

Generally true, but not always.

Education is an economic good, and therefore requires resources for its production, delivery and replenishment.

It would be wise for would-be parents to be reminded of this: you want children? Then make sure you can afford them and make sure that you can stay commited to bringing them up.

Unfortunately, most fuck-head parents expect The State to educate their children for "free", and to function as a "part-time-nanny" for 8-12 hours of the day.

These cheap-skate loser parents also expect The State to run the economy such that there'll be "enough jobs" for their oh-so-precious-spoilt-brat children.

However this "entitlement mentality" ain't going away anytime soon. In modern culture, you can just have what you want, as long as you can organise the political means to rob people and redistribute the wealth.

I do agree that education should be broad-based, as well as speciallised, so that children develop themselves as INDIVIDUALS and not just automatons to serve the state apparatus--which is the sole purpose of State-controlled education.

You will notice that despite passing exams and scoring high academically, most ex-students from State-controlled schools are fucking goondoos when they enter the real world.

Anonymous said...

I fail to see how a week or two on an overseas trip would benefit kids.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

it can. the kids will tell their friends they have been there, and so fun.

Anonymous said...

Singapore education had prepared me well for University education abroad but at what cost. Many graduates had also left singapore. Senior mentor lament Brain drain. I agree education is good ... Intellient? I don't know, hard working, yes. I did well because I work hard but did not care whether I understood what i studied. We were robot like drilled and trained how to do well in exams starting at primary school. I saw my nephew being given top exam-papers from different years at pri4 level ...it is sad ... this true for most family in Singapore. Singapore education system should modify somewhat not all. This is why, if Singapore education so great, ... where are the top local scientists, engineers...etc.I never heard of them or read their journal. I know there are some very smart kids i went to college with...where are they?

I like to see my nephew,niece and all kids in Singapore to be innovators and creators not robots.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi cough cough,

welcome to the blog. it is not easy to do well just be mugging. it still requires some talent and a storage capacity. and yes, we do have some very good brains among each cohort.

where are they? overseas and the civil service doing admin jobs. quite a waste of talent.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

If someone witht the writing skills of cough-cough is allowed to enter university, you'll be wise not to put too much creedence on academic achievements.

It is obvious the public education system in S'pore fails spectacularly. This person who claims to be "prepared" for university has woeful written communication skills.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

It depends what the trip is about. Here in Aust, overseas school trips are common, but they are steeped in purpose. For e.g. historical enquiry. Nothing beats "direct experience" - going to the places where notable events have occured and getting a "feel" for the history. History bleeds into culture too, so engaging with the people of the areas of interest do have an 'educational benefit".

I was fortunate to go to a school which was big on overseas trips. Persoanlly, it added value to my childhood in ways beyond classical education. You notice it for yourself: when you are young and first exposed to "different" cultures, you immediately start making comparisons using life in Singapore as a "standard". If one pays attention, one will soon realise that S'pore is NOT the centre of the universe and there are other cultures different from S'porean culture where people manage quite well and are happy.

This, if taken further, can form the aegis to protect oneself against the bullshit the PAP foists upon the people.

For example: freedom of speech - in many other places in the world, people speak freely. Often they disagree and argue quite loudly, getting personal in the heat of the exchange. Yet, they still manage to live together, work together and keep their societies peaceful and prosperous.

When you experience something like that directly you know the PAP is full of shit when it comes to its ideas on freedom of speech and "out of bounds markers" and other motherfucking bullshit conjured up by demented ministers who I suspect are secretly taking drugs and fucking their pets.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

matilah!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

die die must follow means those parents who can barely afford it may have to squeeze money out from somewhere.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

People never consider the consequences before they fuck.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

you are wrong. it is the making of babies that brings the consequences. the act of love making without bringing babies into it is a different matter.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

matilah,
betw you and me and a jug of beer, i can match you word for word, any swear word.

but i have to take note that there are young people around who may not be too comfortable with such lingo. there is a time a place for everything. you don't do it during dinner but after.

animal!

Anonymous said...

Dear matilah, i never pretend to be a english major nor my mother tongue is english. I learn english at 11 in singapore,before i can even master my own mother tongue, I was required to take a second language by the Gov. Thanks to Mr. Ng, my Pri5 teacher, I was given permission not to take a second language. I will say this, most singaporean writes better than me but that is not the issue. The issue is giving our youth the ability to think not dictate by rules or parents in order to be successful. I see many sucessful singaporean but they are all money oriented. No creator or inventor eg like Bill Gates. By the way I admire BG for his shrew business skill but not for his dos. you use window updates = $$$ (ethics). What I want for my niece, nephew and all youth is to arm them with ability to think and not drilled or dictated.

Anonymous said...

It s not about ability to write but rather ability know how to write exams Matilah. Does your brain computes.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi hmt, welcome to the blog.

agree with you.

the internet is a great invention that allows people to write and express themselves, share their views etc. it is a kind of liberation from oppressive, authoritative and monopolistic press that shaft everything to the passive readers. they dictate what you shall read, how you shall think, or what it important,what is the trend, or style. it is all their agenda, etc etc

internet has given everyone the freedom to say and say as he/she pleases. but while we are given this freedom, we should appreciate it and use it to benefit ourselves and everyone else.

we should not oppress others with our views and demand others to do, say or think the way we want them to. otherwise we will be as oppressive as the msm.

cheers.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I'd like to thank everyone for their responses.

redbean: You write for a living. Words have different meanings in different contexts. "God" can also be a swear word, but it can also be a word denoting deep spirituality. When 2 people fuck, "fuck" is not a swear word. When you say "fuck you" it is.

hmt: Exams have their place in academic and intellectual pursuits. However in the real world your ability to COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY will count toward your "success" in life. Communication involves speaking and writing for the most part, because human beings have been doing those things for a very long time, and are going to continue doing so.

No one has forced you to write on a predominently English blog. And at least you are brave enough to do so even though English is not, as you claim, your mother tongue.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

ah, i don't write for a living. but as for putting ideas into words and in print, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

that's why i encourage all the young people to write more. it helps.