There are so many reasons why having children in Singapore is losing traction

There are so many reasons why having children in Singapore is losing traction.

There is the education system minefield that keeps changing every now and then. Even teachers themselves have lost their expertise trying to keep up and needed upgrading to do so. And parents could no longer act as tutors to their kids unlike my generation.

Then there is the cost involved in bring up a child. A tin of baby milk powder costs an arm and a leg for low-income families, on top of shrinking contents. A kilogram tin has now shrunk to 800 grams; a half kilogram is now 400 grams. This is just based on my outdated quotation, as my children and grandchildren have all grown up. I still remember paying S$15 for a kilogram tin of baby milk powder in early 1980s, if I remember correctly. Now this is what the Chinese used to say - paying more money for less ingredients.

The milk powder manufacturers keep telling consumers that this and that has been added just to justify the price gorging. Some even claim that their milk powder improves intellectual competence. Can I just ask, what intellectual competence if the child is born without the brain capacity to study? Can just drinking the milk do the job? The generation of LKY and GKS did not have to rely on such baby milk powders to nurture them into such outstanding thinkers. They probably grew up on condensed milk, nothing fanciful.

This same argument can be applied to the elite schools chalking up accolades for stellar performances over decades. How can that not be so when they have the choice of the cream of the crop, leaving other normal schools to try their best with mediocre students. If students from such elite schools cannot produce stellar results based on their cream of the crop intake, something is seriously wrong somewhere.

On top of that parents have to contend with after school tuition fees in order not to land in ITE, although that route is becoming more conducive rather than a university education that is losing traction in the jobs market with AI doing the thinking. I am amaze at the number of young graduates doing hawking today, which is unthinkable in the past. However, it is quite apparent that tuition centers are a lucrative business, with even students from the elite schools needing to go for tuition and giving tuition centers the opportunity to boasts about having such elite students in their midst.

Another factor is that nowadays both parents need to work to make ends meet due to the high cost of living, thereby leaving the kids to the maids and that is another added cost that poor parents can ill afford. Not all maids are reliable and may impart different upbringing mindsets in kids. Complaints about maids can be heard more frequently than praises.


Anonymous

Distrust of the white men started during Deng Xiaoping's time....hide your strength, keep your head down....

China wanting to serve the Global South countries is a fact accompli. It is already well and truly a done deal. China saw the whole picture more clearly since Trump's first term when he started the trade war. China knows this is the beginning of the end of China's flourishing trade with the USA and over the years, China had already decided that decoupling cannot be avoided.

So, what had China done before and after Trump's first term? In fact, thinking long term, China and Russia already started the ball rolling with the formation of BRICS in 2009, followed by China's BRI project in 2013, well before Trump's first term, having seen the trajectory of the USA's agenda against China under Biden and Obama.

It is rather difficult to pinpoint the straw that broke the camel's back that pushed China to prepare itself for the oncoming anti-China mantra over the last two to three decades. But it was a blessing in disguise that China took the bull by the horns and decided on a path that was plainly seen as a decoupling move, slow but undaunted mindset.

Which is why serving the Global South countries is so important a step to be taken. The preparation was strategic; the commitment total and the result is positive enough to make the USA worried and paranoid. Otherwise, why is Trump unnerved by de-dollarization and even threatening countries joining BRICS with punishing tariffs. Trump can do what he does best, but countries are still giving Trump their middle finger and queuing to join BRICS.


Anonymous

American terrorists still calling the shot in Operation Kill Iranians

9 min news clip 'Trump says interim deal with Iran is 'over' as both sides trade fresh strikes'

The US announced a new round of strikes on Iran after several tankers were targeted while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian media reported explosions in the early hours of Wednesday in the southern province of Hormozgan, including at the ports of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as on Qeshm Island, close to the narrowest section of the strait.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it was conducting “a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.” RT 7 Jul 26

Are there still any brain dead unthinking fools believing the American terrorists are giving up their plans to annihilate the Iranians and negotiating for peace?  Oops, oops, cannot call them brain dead. They are very intelligent people, and they really, honestly and sincerely trust the American terrorists are for peace and would not want to massacre the Iranians any more. 

What was the main reason for wanting to wipe out the Iranians from the face of the earth in the first place? Trump's lie, to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons when Iran did not have, and had an agreement with Obama not to have. So this scoundrel Trump simply tore up the agreement and claimed that Iran was going to have nuclear weapons in the next few weeks. And the brain dead and unthinking all choose to believe in this psychopathic liar. So they all go along with Trump, support his killing of Iranians, no complaints, no protests, no condemnations, no crimes, cannot talk about it, look the other way.

Is this lie still valid as an excuse to kill Iranians? Of course. This lie was specifically fabricated to kill Iranians. So, the main reason to kill Iranians is still there.

There is another reason to kill Iranians. The Israeli terrorists' Greater Israel Plan. This reason will always be there as long as there are Jews alive. If this reason cannot be erased, there is no reason for the Jews not to want to kill Iranians. And they are controlling and dictating to puppet Trump and his clowns to do the killings for them.

So, is there any sincerity to hold peace negotiation with Iran? The American and Israeli terrorists are using the pause to build up their attack forces to wipe out the Iranians when they are fully ready. The brain dead and unthinking believe that the American terrorists want peace deserved to be wiped out by the American and Israeli terrorists for their own stupidity.

Would the Iranians negotiate again when Trump ask for another negotiation when he runs out of ammo or out of options? Sure they would. Stupidity cannot be cure.

America destroyed Japan. Desperate Japan thinks India is a great dark horse

When the USA talk about a 'win-win' situation, it means heads it must always win and tails everyone loses. So, either way, it is a win-win situation for the USA as always, while everyone must be made to lose, by hook or by crook.

Everything is all tailored for the USA to win. If it was not so, Japan and Germany would not be made to bow down to USA punishment for trying to win. When Japanese products were selling and competing very well against the USA and the West due to the cheaper Yen. The USA and the West came up with the sinister Plaza Accord to make the Yen expensive that was to cripple Japan for decades. It was a lost three decades for Japan and even though the Yen is so cheap now, Japan still could not turn around the harm done to its economy. Years of stimulation, using arrows, whatever 'nomics' they could come up with were fruitless. The money poured into stimulating the economy had made Japan's debt to GDP the highest in the whole world.

The lost couple of decades lost by Japan was to enable South Korea and the other Asian Tigers to take over many of the sectors dominated by Japan, particularly electronics, shipbuilding and chips. Now China is another peer competitor for both South Korea and Japan, which means climbing back up for Japan is getting tougher. Japan is now trying to work out co-operation with India, desperate for investments, and good luck to the Japs.


Anonymous

White men selling slapped on labels on Chinese made products to make grotesque profits is over

The USA and the West are now at the crossroads of realizing that the days of making money outsourcing manufacturing and then profiting from products by just attaching a label to sell with exorbitant markups is now over. They can try to enact the same trick by investing in India, which some are in fact doing and also finding out India is a different kettle of fish compared to China.

First was motor vehicle manufacturing shifting production to take advantage of cheap labor and the huge Chinese market, which was highly profitable for the West. EVs killed that goose that laid the golden eggs.

Then there was the Chinese factor, said to be making junks, now also discovered to be making products for the big brands of the USA and the West, also profiting from label slapping but not the making of the products which actually came from Chinese factories. The exposure by Chinese factories killed the prestigious names that had been gouging unsuspecting buyers at the top end market of handbags and watches. The fairy tale era of harnessing big profits has also ended. Just how stupid can some human buyers be by still saying they are willing to pay a premium just for buying the label, costing a couple of bucks, and not the value of the bag or watch.

Just goes to show how brainwashing and propaganda can dull the mind is just astonishing.


Anonymous