When teachers are unintelligent and policy makers confusing the purpose of education

An exam paper of a primary school girl has been circulating around exposing the unintelligence of teachers, maybe one teacher setting the question and one marking, or one teacher doing both, and how a poor child that was so confused by the questions because of her exceptional intelligence ended being marked wrong for her exceptionally clear answers.

One question showed 3 pairs of ducks facing each other and the question asking how many ducks were there. What was confusing was that at the answer column, after a space for the answer was a picture of a duck facing one side. Without this picture, the answer was obvious, 6 ducks. But with the picture of a duck added, and facing one side, a child could read the question as asking how many ducks were facing the same direction as the picture next to the answer. The child put down 3 and was marked wrong.

Another question was a picture of 9 dogs in various positions and the question asked how many dogs were there. Same problem, answer should be 9. But at the answer column, after the space to put the answer was a picture of a dog lying in a particular position. And only one of the 9 dogs was lying in that position. The child's answer was 1 and was marked wrong.

Who was right and who was wrong? An average child would have given the answers that an average teacher wanted, 6 ducks and 9 dogs. An above average child would give the wrong answers as the child above, to an average thinking teacher. Whose fault is this? The painful thing is that the child would have gone bonkers trying to figure out why her answers were wrong, all because of unintelligent teachers and unintelligent questions.

Is this the reason why our education system is producing duds that cannot think outside the exam questions and could only produce unintelligent answers and thus found wanting when applying for jobs or for top positions in an organisation? We pay millions and millions for good teachers and good education system but the above situation is appalling. Something is very seriously wrong in this robotic fashion of teaching.

And I read in the papers that the school system is going to teach the child mental health and in the same breath acknowledging that teachers that have proper training on mental health would not be qualified to offer professional support to troubled children. If teachers after being properly trained may be found wanting, how much would the children learn from such classes? There are so many things that our children are expected to learn from their school curriculum that wanted to turn them into superman and superwoman but ended turning out duds and people knowing a bit of nothing in everything.

If this is the way the schools are being made to do, I would suggest a few more important topics to prepare the children other than mental illness, disappointments and accepting failures as part of their life after going through our very expensive and confusing education system. Let them know that they are not supposed to be the best in their studies as that would hurt the feelings of less academically inclined children. Let them know that being good academically is nothing to be proud off. If they are good academically they must hide in the closets and not to talk about it. Academically smart children are frown upon by society as they made others looked bad.

And prepare them to accept low paying jobs, to be underemployed, to willingly take on part time jobs, and not to feel bad that they cannot get a job and not to be angry with foreigners that went through half baked education system that did not teach them all the good things in our education system but taking all the good jobs.

The schools must tell the children that despite being taught so many things and paying so much for it, even travelling overseas to understand other people, they would not get the good jobs and may end up jobless. The good jobs would go to foreigners that paid a pittance for their makeshift education, did not go on exchange programme, but just teaching them the 3 Rs and what a basic school education is meant to teach.

Yes, the school can teach everything, from brushing the teeth, how to take a shower, how to go dating, how to use condoms etc etc. The question is what are schools meant for in the first place. With every change of minister for education, the roles of the schools have changing and deviating from its original mission. Let's get back to first principles and let the schools do what they should be doing and not all the nonsense that are good to have, that are desired by a few parents or policy makers, things that parents should be teaching them.

What do you think? Is it the problem of our education system or confused policy makers trying to do things beyond their field of expertise, not trained in education and telling the teachers what to do? Oh, the above teacher or teachers setting and marking those questions are exceptions to the rule despite being paid top dollars as the best teachers money can buy. We have many good teachers, just let them teach what the schools should be teaching. Non teaching professionals should meddle less with the teaching professions.

USA - when will the accidental country's luck run out?

Federal health employees were sent to interact with repatriated Americans quarantined for exposure to the novel coronavirus without wearing protective gear or receiving training, a whistleblower complaint cited by US media said Thursday.

The filing, which was seen by the Washington Post and New York Times, was submitted by a senior official in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who said she was improperly re-assigned after raising her concerns and threatened with being fired if she did not comply.

According to the two newspapers, the incidents were in relation to two California air force bases, Travis and March. More than a dozen workers were sent to each site.  AFP

As cases of COVID-19 continue to spike around the world, the CDC warned on Tuesday that Americans should prepare for the likelihood that the coronavirus will eventually spread here. Amid escalating outbreaks outside of China, it’s clear that there has been undetected transmission of the virus from countries with which the U.S. has not restricted travel. While there has not been a corresponding spike in cases within the U.S., many health experts are warning the coronavirus may already be here. That remains an unknown though — in no small part because the U.S. has done very little testing for the virus. And thanks to problems at the CDC, including the distribution of a faulty test kit for the coronavirus, it’s not clear when the country’s testing capacity will improve.

“We’re testing everybody that we need to test,” President Trump insisted on Wednesday during his first press conference on the coronavirus. He’s almost certainly wrong....

According to the CDC, 445 people have been tested for the virus as of February 25, resulting in 15 confirmed coronavirus infections, including two cases resulting from person-to-person spread, and one case of unknown origin. Those totals only include cases detected and laboratory-tested inside the U.S.....NY Intelligencer

The above comments from two American media sources said something very typical of the USA, the accidental country. They are fumbling along with the way they are handling the Covid19 pandemic. bad gear, bad protocol, bad test kits, no test kits and a disinterested attitude in testing Americans for infection by the Covid19.

But all will turn out well like in the past in this accidental country. Luck is on their side....question is for how long. The USA has been thrusted to become the most powerful and richest country in the world for nearly a century. When would their luck run out and bring them down on their knees as they fumbled along from accident to accident and coming up on top?

If the end of the Empire is near, this Covid19 could be an accident too far. The numbers of affected cases in the USA is low, only 60 plus, not because it is low but because they were not testing them, just like H1N1. They still did not know the truth and the truth could be very ugly. And recent cases in the USA are indigenous, with no known contact with imported cases.

Or maybe their tidak apa attitude is due to the fact that they already have the vaccine and have no cause to be alarm and to panic.Or is it that they know the virus is all over the USA and it is better not to test, better not to know?

Racist attack on a Chinese Singaporean in London - No arrest made

Detective Sergeant Emma Kirby, who is the officer in charge of the case, said the attack left the victim "shaken and hurt".
"There’s no room on our streets for this kind of violent behaviour and we are committed to finding the perpetrators," she said.
“I am keen to speak to anyone who has information about this assault. I would like to identify and speak to the four men pictured who may be able to help me with our enquiries."
No arrests have been made, and police have asked witnesses to come forward. CNA

The above is reported in CNA. Do you believe that detective sergeant saying that they are committed to find the racist attackers when they have CCTV images of them, clear for all to see who they are? Is London such a big city that no one knows who these 4 rogues are? The London police are so incompetent that they could not arrest them after so many days?

Or is this another case of the white racist police protecting their white racists rogues?

What is the Singapore govt going to do about it? Keep quiet? Our govt are always first in sending greetings to some foreign dignitaries birthday or whatever day that offers a chance to be the first to send congratulatory messages. Now a Singapore citizens has been brutally attacked by some white racist rogues in London. Ionly hear 'tiam tiam'.  Not a single sound was heard. Did our High Commissioner or govt leaders say anything to the British govt to apprehend the attackers and bring them to justice quickly?

Or is it another case of nevermind lah, white men beating Singaporean is ok. It happened, nothing can be done about it, let's move on? What happened to shouting for our rights, for justice, for the rule of law when it now affects our very own citizen? This is the time to punch above our weight as it affects not only the personal safety of our citizens but also our standing as a sovereign state, big or small.

White racism against Chinese in London

One Singaporean student, unfortunately, experienced the horrors of racism firsthand in London, where he has been studying for two years. Jonathan Mok took to Facebook to write about a vicious attack he underwent recently, all because he’s Asian. As his assailants attacked him, he could hear one of them say, “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.”

Mr Mok writes that he refuses to be cowed by the attack. “To the group of guys who saw fit to attack me because of my skin colour: here’s something for you— I stood up to you because I wasn’t afraid, I’ve faced far more intimidating characters in my life. And if you think ganging up on someone who is sizeably smaller than you makes you a big man — it doesn’t. It only makes every single one of you a coward who doesn’t have the balls to take someone on 1 on 1. Grow a pair.”....

In the hospital, Mr Mok was told that he “had suffered a few fractures in my face and might need to undergo reconstructive surgery to fix some of the bones.”

No stranger to racist remarks during his two years in London, Mr Mok now has new insights as to the nature of this type of prejudice. Once upon a time he believed that racism was grounded in stupidity, but now he believes it’s rooted in hate.

The above is posted in www.theindependent.sg. And this Mok guy claimed that they attacked him because he is Asian. That is a stupid statement that can come only from stupid Singaporeans. They attacked him not because he is Asian but because he is Chinese. Wherever a Chinese Singaporean goes, he is Chinese to the racist whites. Stop being silly to think there is a difference in the eyes of the white racists that you are a Singaporean and you will be spared. 

I hope the stupid banana Chinese in this island understood this for their own good. If they want them to think that they are not Chinese, go and do the Michael Jackson act, bleach themself white, and also dye their hair dumb blond and get a new pair of European eyes, and also a plastic surgery to sharpen the nose. Then maybe next time they walk the streets of London or any European countries or the USA they may be spared, thinking that they are one of them. 

 Many bananas have bashed by the white racists, just like Matilah had in Australia but pretending nothing had happened, it was ok to be bashed by their white racist masters. When you are dealing with a snake or the devil, do not treat them like human beans. Remember the story of the old woman that saved a snake by taking it home only to be bitten? And the snake told her that she was stupid to think a snake would act differently just because she saved the snake. The snake and the devil do not reason with human beans. Only stupid human beans would want to talk reason with snakes and the devils to their own peril.

To this Mok guy and other bananas, it is pointless to say anything after being bashed by the racist whites. Learn to keep a distance from them, just like keeping a distance from the snakes and the devils. They would not spare you and would attack you whenever they feel like doing. It is good that thenewpaper put up this piece of ugly incident in the front page to remind Singaporean Chinese that it is not safe in white countries.

The future is drones not F35s legacy fighter jets, not fighter jet pilots

ORLANDO, Fla., — Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted Friday that the future of war would be carried out by autonomous drones and not by legacy aircraft.

“The fighter jet era has passed,” Musk said during a fireside chat with U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. “Drone warfare is where the future will be. It’s not that I want the future to be – it’s just, this is what the future will be,” he added.

Musk also said that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, which is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system, should have a competitor.

“The Joint Strike Fighter, there should be a competitor ... that’s a controversial subject but I don’t think it’s good to have one provider,” Musk said. He later elaborated on Twitter that the F-35 competitor should be a drone.

“The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that’s remote-controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy. The F-35 would have no chance against it,” he wrote.... CNBC


How many billions have Singapore just signed away for a dozen F35s? Read the above and ask if this is a sensible thing to do. Also ask how many drones can be bought with the billions that have gone to the few legacy fighter jets F35s? Just heard that they would start with 4 toys and option to buy 8 more. Let' hope they would save the money for better uses by not exercising the option. Paying protection money for 4 toys should be more than enough.

The F35s may be good for show for a few more years, but by the time they are delivered, they could be obsolete, money down the drain. As for future jet fighter pilots, oops, I mean drone fighter pilots, they would be looking very nerdy, with glasses and not very athletic except for their fingers and their brains. No need perfect eyesight, no need strong muscular body to withstand physical and mental stress, high pressure etc etc. And Singapore has plenty of them, all ready to take up such glorious warring occupation. Future war heroes are made of these...nerdy looking drone fighter pilots.

The Saudis are very happy flying Chinese drones for attack missions. So were the Turks, but not sure where they bought their drones. The Americans too are using drones instead of jet fighters to protect the lives of their pilots from being shot down.

What do you think?

PS.  Musk also said this,
“A thing that will feel pretty strange is that the Chinese economy is probably going to be at least twice as big as the United States’ economy, maybe three times,” Musk said.
“The foundation of war is economics,” Musk said. “If you have half the resources of the counterparty then you better be real innovative, if you’re not innovative, you’re going to lose.”