India should not worry about university rankings

While Sinkies are all over trying to grasp the value and place for tuition, heard in the news that India is worried that none of its universities is among the top 200 universities in the world. And maybe they are going to game the system by bringing in more foreign students and lecturers to boost their rankings. I think this whole ranking thing is a farce and a paper victory and did not reflect the reality and quality of the products of the universities. In a way the good grades of students only tell one side of the story of the student’s ability with many things left untold.
 
The facts are contradictory and disappointing as far as university rankings are concerned. The inputs are variables, the factors are subjective and everything else are but a constrained effort to think they matter. Take the case of Singapore universities versus Indian universities. Oh, we are so proud of the top rankings of NUS and NTU while India has none. Then look at the employment opportunities of Indian graduates and our graduates and their employability in top management positions in MNCs and the govt and govt linked companies. The products of Indian universities put us to shame. Pandit used to be the top man in Citibank Group. And there are many like him in America and Europe. Can we find a Singapore graduate in such rarefied position? None!
 
Indian graduates are in demand and highly regarded in America and Europe and definitely in Singapore. Singapore even signed a free trade agreement that includes opening the door to practically all Indian graduates. As such they are gradually easing out the local graduates in top management positions in our home ground. Indian graduates are highly sought after here. Where do the graduates of our world class universities stand?
 
I will advise India not to waste time, money and resources to game a system that is hardly of value except on paper. Look at the reality here if not in Europe and the USA. Indian graduates beat Singapore graduates hands down. Still thinking of wasting money on some rubbish rankings?
 
Indian graduates are among the best in the world of banking and finance and IT. So, why this urge to want to look good in some make belief rankings that are worth only on papers and ended paying obscenely for the presence of foreigners in the universities? A farce is a farce. A good university or a good graduate is a good one regardless of whether the university is rank at the top or at the bottom. Maybe if the ranking is done by God it may mean something.

Raising the quality of private tutors

 

Someone saw this coming. Since private tuition is so prevalent and necessary, let’s make sure that the standards are high and private tutors are qualified. For a start, all private tutors must be registered with a professional body and have their qualifications and experience certified. So we need a professional body or something like that to certify them.

Private tuition must be conducted in a proper and conducive environment, not below the staircase or in the void deck. Not in the homes also, to give an image of professionalism and respectability.

There must be some regulations or self regulating bodies to maintain a certain standard for the tuition giver. Not everyone can give tuition without the approval of these bodies or organisations. They may have to sit for a test to be issued with a certificate to tutor students.

Tutors are not allowed to anyhow paste little slips of papers on letter boxes or walls for their services like unauthorised agents. Not good for public image and professionalism.

See, we have a new industry in the making. And tutors, please declare your income and pay your taxes, and rentals and fees to your professional bodies, and the media for advertisements. Tutors will henceforth be known as professional tutors and can print name cards with PT added to their names.

This is a multi million dollar industry and deserves some recognition as many tutors are paid much better than school teachers, a choice profession that is highly regarded for the best in the industry. How about a specialist Tuition Centre like Mount Elizabeth equivalent for medical services?

Sinkies, aren’t you lucky?

With the latest govt proposal to provide health insurance for Sinkies till they die, even if they live up to 120 years, what more do the Sinkies want? Aren’t they lucky? I don’t think any govt in the world can do such a thing, to provide healthcare to all it citizens regardless of their age. Got meh? You mean in Australia and other First World countries their govt provide free healthcare to their senior citizens? Don’t bluff can? There is no free lunch. We Sinkies know that this life time Medishield health insurance we must pay ourselves.

And not only the govt is helping the people, the foreigners are all here to help them. The best talents from the Third World are here to help the Sinkies who are obviously sinking. Many could not even find jobs with their high qualifications and experience. They are so lucky as more would be jobless without the foreigners here.

And not only they came to help Sinkies with the economy and provided them with jobs, many foreign celebrities are here to help raise funds to help the old and the sick Sinkies as well. At the rate it is going, soon God too will descend from heaven to help the Sinkies. Why not when the middle class are all in debt and needing help? Soon our middle class will go the Detroit Way. But God will send the immortals down first to do the helping. Just hope the immortals are not helping themselves first.

There was a little thought by Chua Mui Hoong in the Sunday Times today. Though she was talking about the hot issue of tuition, her main point actually was a revelation of the kind of group think within the party/govt. For once she was saying something quite enlightening, about the way the group think among themselves and closed up to put on a united false front to the public. And many real issues were swept under the cloud of unity, a common position. She listed all the grouses of the people, from housing, healthcare, education, PMETs and populations, all disgustingly buried liked an ostrich just because some gods have taken a position and all must close ranks and complied.

The interesting point she made about Medishield Life for all, sick and unsick, tells the thinking behind the half baked solution. It is not fully cooked yet and still a WIP. Yes, the high medical cost to the oldies and sick has been raised much too often like all other issues but disregarded quietly, not heard, not seen, thus dunno.

Now there is a change. They are going to tackle it. But you pay, not the govt. They are going to rope in everybody to pay for the oldies and the sick. The healthy and those who don’t mind dying would not be given a choice to opt out of the scheme. The govt is going to dip into the pockets of everyone to fish out whatever it can get hold of to help the oldies and the sick. What a generous gesture! Daylight robbery for a good cause, like Robin Hood.

What is the problem? The problem is high medical cost. The problem is that not everyone wants to live forever and has the money to pay for it. The problem is that the govt could have cough up the money for the sick and oldies, with some conditions and limitations to prevent a bottomless healthcare scheme from emptying the reserves. The problem is that the govt is collecting too many taxes but not using it in the right place. A few monuments built less could be more than enough to pay for this Medishield Life. Just the annual running cost of that Avatar Garden that is losing its novelty would be enough to pay for the premiums of the oldies and sick with spare to change. And the land could be put to better use.

But the change is really no change. The problem comes from the people and the people will pay for it, not the govt when the govt could well afford it without being extravagant on the ‘good to have’ and the wasteful.

Sinkies could be much luckier if the govt spend its money in betterer ways, for the good of the people. To be specific, for the good of Sinkies.

JEM ceiling collapsed - must be the tightening of foreign worker policy

I quoted below statement from an editorial article posted in TRE. ‘Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for National Development Lee Bee Wah said that sometimes developers and contractors compromise on the quality of construction materials in order to lower costs.

The tightening of foreign workers policy may also be a factor.

Ms Lee said, “Every time a contractor renews work permit for their workers, they face some difficulties and therefore keep changing staff. That could mean we don’t have experienced engineers or inspectors. The government should really look into this.”’

I think this is a good way of looking at the newly built shopping complex. It must have been built during the time when the govt was curtailing the import of foreign workers and thus the quality of the building is affected. Either shortchanged in material or quality of workers could be a factor. It is very likely the later as the only thing changed was foreign worker policy. Now, is this true? When was the building built and was it really affected by the foreign worker policy? Another question, is the foreign worker policy to curb bringing in of construction worker or white collar foreigners that the people were angry about, esp the PMET? I thought there was no problem with construction workers and everyone agreed that in this sector it is very difficult to get Sinkies to work? And another question, how could construction worker be such a big factor when there are engineers, supervisors and QCs overseeing the jobs?

Nevermind, got some small fries to take the blame. And good reason to bring in more construction workers, which was never an issue. Hope this would not translate into bringing in more foreign PMETs.
Another way of solving this problem is to borrow the logic of preventing corruption. You know what I mean. Then the work quality will improve and contractors would not take short cuts. And nothing will collapse. QED.

The need for tuition

This is going to be the hot topic for a while. It is the concern of every parent and their children. To have tuition or not to have. For those children who are better endowed, tuition may be just a little additive like chicken essence, a little booster to get that extra few marks. To some it is not really necessary. How fortunate for these parents and children.

As not every child is gifted the same way, some would really need that little help. Some are slower or develop a bit later. Some are just afraid to ask in class or not getting the attention of the teachers in a class of 40 children. Then there will be the teacher that may go too fast or just not getting the message across.

For the slower students or late developers, tuition helps a lot. Tuition becomes personalized and tailored to their individual needs and pace. Caveat, a good tutor is needed. A tuition teacher could give the personal attention to find out what really was needed to help a child to improve. The proviso here is that the child is willing to learn

But like all things, some children are just not gifted academically and tuition could not do much and literally a waste of money and time. Just hope no clever people will come up with a solution that fits all. It cannot be. There are so many variables that affect a child in his/her growth and acquisition of knowledge and information, the environment, the motivation and the nature of things.

This also applies to teaching, teaching methods and how to motivate children. Not everyone will be uplifted by the same approach. Please, no one size fits all solution. That is why there are so many variations of schools, Normal, Express, ITE, polys and universities. Different target at your own time, fire.

The problem today is that everyone expects every child to fit into one mould, or have an education system that fits every child. And no one is brave enough to say, look, we need to provide a big enough buffet spread to cater to different tastes and the likes and dislikes. For those who need tuition, let them have their tuition. For those who don’t, good for them.

One thing the govt can do is to provide the facilities and teachers to help those who need tuition at little cost, not affordable fees or more subsidies. Free would be better as this is an investment into our precious resources and you are talking about the young that needed help to make them better people for themselves and country.

How to go about it and how much would the govt cough out for this very important needs of the people? No hawker centre, foodcourt and restaurant analogy please. This is serious business.

My two kids were differently endowed. One was slower and needed a little help in maths. She flunked in her late primary class but enough time for me to repair the damage. All I did was to clarify her thoughts and mental blocks, explained the concepts to make sure she understood. And with some perseverance and motivation, she went on to ace her maths in O and A level. Without knowing her problems and lack of understanding of basic mathematical concepts, tuition would not help much. A tutor must know what is the problem or where is the problem.

The other type of tuition which is very popular is exam jamming, cramming to ace exams. This is only good for the exam but the effects are temporary, like an instant high but no residual or long term effect. My other kid is different, better endowed. He came to me only once for a maths problem in P6. I took too long to get the answer using the old method. Before I could complete he said he had worked it out and that was the last time he came to me. He aced his O and A level and aced his Masters with Distinction in Engineering in Imperial College.

Both my kids did not have a day of tuition. One just had 15 mins with me in his whole life as a student and never came to me again. They were lucky, or I was lucky. But not every kid is so lucky and has parents to guide or fall back on. Tuition is necessary to assist, to guide, to motivate and support a child. Showing them the way, opening up their minds and clearing road blocks are very important. That would pave the way for the child to find his own way ahead. Tuition to game an examination is another ball game.