myth 72

'Singaporeans are great pretenders' ' Hey zebra, why are you wearing pyjamas?' The zebra was angry and said the remark was uncalled for. And as more zebras got agitated, they started to demand for an apology. But many, including Singaporeans will agree with the zebra that they are not wearing pyjamas. The issue is how many believe what they said openly and what they actually believe but not saying? How could one make out of people who would not blink their eyes and tell you that the zebra did not wear pyjamas? The statement that Singaporeans are great pretenders is unlikely to be a myth. Neither are they stupid. Many are just not saying what they really know and believe. It is more a case of no point saying it or the time is not ripe to say it. And for those who are cornered to say something, their response is obvious. The zebra is not wearing pyjamas. And they will swear in court to say the same thing, for pragmatic reasons.

deception is good for the soul

Deception is good for the soul. NUS is now ranked 19th among the great universities in the world by Times. Everyone is happy. NUS is now a great university. No body bothers to question the criteria that put NUS up there. Only those that find the criteria rather silly would dismiss the findings as another crap. And Newsweek came out with a different set of criteria and the ranking were all different. The accounts people were very good at juggling numbers and creative accounting to make a company looks good. Academics can be equally brilliant to set their own criteria to make themselves look good. I too can set up a set of criteria to make NUS Number One. As long as NUS is Number One, that is all people want to know. NUS can even be Number One in the Guinness Book of World Record or in Sotong's Book of World Best, doesn't matter. NUS is Number One. Now the reality. Even if today NUS is ranked Number One and Cambridge or Harvard are ranked 50th and 51st, where would students choose to study? Or would people care that there is a NUS that is ranked Number One?

myth 71

'Singapore is short of talents' How can that be? I think no where can one find so many talents congregated in a small piece of land. And the kinds of talents we have, all multi skill and multi talented, will put many foreign talents to shame. Our talents can be political leaders, ceos, singers, dancers, sports champions etc all rolled into one. And they all performed multi taskings wearing 10 or 20 hats. Whew! They probably work 25 hours a day.

feelings of relative wellness

Feelings of relative wellness Singaporean parents are the most stressed by our education system. Not that they have to sit for the exams. It is the social stigma that they have to live with and be confronted by the daily comparisons of why their children are not in the Gifted Programme or in the top schools, or why they are in neighbourhood schools, normal stream or last in class. How could they bear such labels being hanged over their Gucci and Versace apparel and accessories? How could they say their children are in Longkang Besar Sec School? In earlier days, schools were ranked in a simple order of goodness. Then you have the two Raffles, ACS, SJI, the Convents etc hogging the limelight at the top. And any children that are not in the top 10 schools were considered non conversation topics. Better not to be seen or heard. And when newer concepts like SAP Schools and Independent Schools came about, a different kind of orientation of the mind map took form. Now children must be in such institutions to be recognized as good students, to give pride to their deserving parents. Under these two systems, only a small group of students could do their parents proud as our mind can only accommodate about 10 digits, the top ten. Even being top ten in class will be a good thing to talk about though the child is not from a fine school. Any bigger number is difficult to comprehend. Naturally not many parents could be found to be happy. All kinds of ranking that defines what or who is good or better will make those not so good feel lousy. Quite a normal response. So when the SAP and Independent Schools were taken out of the ranking list, more parents were made happier as another 10 new schools made it to the top of the packing order. Needless to say, parents of those in SAP and Independent Schools were still be as elated as ever. The next great thing that the Ministry came up with is the banding system. There are now 9 bands for the Special/Express Stream and four for the Normal Stream. And the beauty of this system is that 6 schools can be in one band. How would this make parents happier? With only 9 bands, we cannot expect parents to look at the top ten anymore. A little adjustment to read the top 3 or 4 bands as good schools will suffice. Bravo! Another 24 (6 x 4 bands) schools will now be socially acceptable as good schools. And in total, including all the SAP, Independent and Integrated Programme Schools, there will now be 30 to 40 that will make parents feel good instead of just 10 in the past. The Ministry could go on and add more schools to make parents feel more secure and less traumatised. One area is the sports or arts and music schools. Though these may not be top schools, they could do with a little rebranding. Instead of simply calling them sports or arts schools, call them Gifted Schools for special talents. Their students will then be recognized as talents, or students from Gifted Schools. There could also be schools like Eton or Schools for the Gentry Class to churn out young ladies and gentlemen who can appreciate all the finer things in life instead of boring academic grades. Not everyone needs to work for a living. Creative packaging could mean lesser emigration, less stress and more babies.

my first article with the New Paper

Hi fellas, My New Paper article was scheduled for today but was held back because of some factual errors. I am trying to clarify the errors. Will see if it will ever see the light