14.May.2010
One of Singapore's founding father, Dr. Goh Keng Swee passed away at the age of 92. When there is an ongoing discussion about the history or founding of Modern Singapore, most people will revolve around MM Lee. But most people have neglected the man behind the scene.
Perhaps I've forgotten about him myself too until lately, I started reading "Men In White" and I finally witness the accomplishments of this silent worker. I vaguely remember the social studies textbooks in secondary schools mentioning Dr. Goh as the architect of Singapore's economy. True enough, the luxurious and high standard of living that we get to enjoy must be credited to Dr. Goh!
He had a bird's eye view of Singapore's strategic advantages and disadvantages and he engineered our economy in different stages. Slowly, he transformed Singapore from entrepot trade to manufacturing-dependent and eventually now, knowledge-based driven. His footprints were left in the 3 most significant Ministries in Singapore i.e. he held the 3 largest portfolio as a Minister, mainly in Finance, Defence, and Education respectively.
Wherever he's been at, we've become world class.
World Class Central Banking System which can cushion us from external shocks and has helped us to survive major financial crises.
First Class Defence Force with the latest technology, military equipment, and weapons. We've got F16s Fighter planes! Once the most state-to-art technology that destroyed millions of countries like Egypt, Afghanistan, blah blah blah.
Par excellence education system that mould the future of our nation into holistic individuals and allow Singaporeans to challenge other Westerners in highly-paid jobs globally.
If not for him, would I be travelling around the world now?
If not for him, would you be lying on your couch watching television programmes in LED.LCD technology?
If not for him, would we be sleeping safely and soundly every night?
If not for him, would people ever know that Singapore is actually not part of China?
If not for him, would I have the opportunity to explore the world of Economics and see the beauty of the subject?
If not for him, would you have the ability to embrace whatever faith, religion, and likes of your own? (Without bread, you worship money and not anything else. Just look at the people from the poorer countries and you will know.)
If not for him, would there be Singapore?
Hale Dr. Goh! Hale the Economist! :))
Friday, 11 June 2010
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Tiffany & Co. Alas!
Finally I can strike off this thing that's been on my wishlist for a year!
With some sponsorship from my Bro as a birthday gift. :)) Was quite indecisive about it.
Went into the boutique then out again.
Eventually, decided to head back!
Was really contemplating whacking the gold one (on impulse)
Luckily my rational sis threw in her two cents worth.
Leave the gold one for the future. :))
But still, the last item on the wishlist is there to stay!
Friday, 21 May 2010
Bidding goodbye to a promising young lad..
From the corner of my eye, this innocent looking boy who always carries a smile awaits....
Oh who's he? New contract staff? New relief teacher? Tons of question marks... Until Ibir decided to approach him and say hello....
He walked over, introduces himself, we engage in a small conversation cause great minds think alike. We both edge out of the conversation...
The next day, he comes back to the cubicle, we chatted and slowly, we connect.
Then along with others, we played wii, have lunch and the best thing about our friendship is,"we crack jokes, we gossip, we let our hair down, we have fun. In front of our small clique, we ain't pretentious." He kidnaps the green tuning fork and demands a stupid ransom and I played along by giving him a piece of paper with 1,000 written on it.
Today, he stood in front of the school and gave a speech about himself and his jc days. Yet out of a moment of folly and the tumbling pile of work I've on my desk, I missed it.
After 6 months, I sum him up in a sentence. Takes pride in his work but he definitely knows how to enjoy himself and have fun while at work.
Yes, I think he's definitely someone who will go very far in his life. However, I hope his overseas education will not change him. I hope the cruelities of life do not taint his cheerful personality and his candid self. For I envy him for whatever that he's doing at this stage in his life.
At the same time, I'm very glad MOE recruited him as a scholar. We need people like him to mould the future of our nation.
Work's gonna be a tad boring without his crappy ideas and jokes. A and I will have one lesser buddy to gossip with.
Yes, he's ERIC, our buddy in JJ!
Hereby, I wish you success in your future endeavours, Eric! :))
Oh who's he? New contract staff? New relief teacher? Tons of question marks... Until Ibir decided to approach him and say hello....
He walked over, introduces himself, we engage in a small conversation cause great minds think alike. We both edge out of the conversation...
The next day, he comes back to the cubicle, we chatted and slowly, we connect.
Then along with others, we played wii, have lunch and the best thing about our friendship is,"we crack jokes, we gossip, we let our hair down, we have fun. In front of our small clique, we ain't pretentious." He kidnaps the green tuning fork and demands a stupid ransom and I played along by giving him a piece of paper with 1,000 written on it.
Today, he stood in front of the school and gave a speech about himself and his jc days. Yet out of a moment of folly and the tumbling pile of work I've on my desk, I missed it.
After 6 months, I sum him up in a sentence. Takes pride in his work but he definitely knows how to enjoy himself and have fun while at work.
Yes, I think he's definitely someone who will go very far in his life. However, I hope his overseas education will not change him. I hope the cruelities of life do not taint his cheerful personality and his candid self. For I envy him for whatever that he's doing at this stage in his life.
At the same time, I'm very glad MOE recruited him as a scholar. We need people like him to mould the future of our nation.
Work's gonna be a tad boring without his crappy ideas and jokes. A and I will have one lesser buddy to gossip with.
Yes, he's ERIC, our buddy in JJ!
Hereby, I wish you success in your future endeavours, Eric! :))
Monday, 3 May 2010
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Master IP is my Master.
Despite all the criticisms and despise that we have for the "Tiongs" in our nation, the history, culture, and teachings of the Chinese are here with us, in our blood.
"Although people differ in their status in life, there is no differentials in their dignity or integrity, meaning there is no one race or nationality that is superior in his or her integrity or dignity."
“人的身份虽有贵贱之分，但人的尊严却是同等的”
"In elegance lies peace, for peace we battle."
“贵中之和，不争之争”As a Master whom his disciples look upon to, he genuinely cares for their well-being. Nevertheless, he is always so capable of staying calm and keeping his cool when faced with difficulties.
I guess he's the person I should look up to. That in the pursuit of helping my students attain excellence in life, I am bound to meet up with unhappiness and so do them. The mannerism and the way I carry myself in front of others will dictate the values and beliefs that get passed on to them. :)) I must learn to keep my cool as always!
To have my temperament moulded into the way Master IP behaves should be one of the learning objectives for me at the end of my teaching career. :))
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Sorry but you don't belong here.
This feeling constantly bugs me. That I am simply a girl who is born in the wrong country. Seng told me the same thing 3 weeks back and I was taken aback when he told me that. Now, I am CERTAIN that he is ABSOLUTELY right!
The reasons behind the bug could be attributed to the environment that I am in, the people whom I interact with, the values that I uphold or the belief that is firmly rooted in me, etc.
I like to stand up against unjust, like to fight for my own rights, believe in being truthful to myself and to others, respect privacy and expect others to respect my privacy as well, love freedom, believe in human rights not hierarchies, hate to compete with others, love doing things at my own pace, blah blah blah...
Yet when I look around at the people in my social circle everyday,
they lie whether for the good or for the bad,
intrude other people's privacy,
overtly coward towards standing out and up for themselves,
rather take it lying than to oppose,
willingly be succumb to authority, ranks, and hierarchies,
comply than to question,
compete just because they are afraid of losing to some others,
critical and stingy with praises,
scold and reject without providing alternatives or guidance,
Just what is wrong with this world and the system that is meant to teach us all to become all-rounded individuals?
The past one week I've been so swarmed with the project work drafts. I volunteer to help those students not because I think that they are stupid and immature to come up with any brilliant ideas. Rather, I simply just can't sit and watch them suffer and endure the constant rejection and scoldings from someone who doesn't provide them with alternatives! So much so for getting the students to work on alternatives when the educator herself is incapable of doing so.
In all 23 years of my life, I have always been a critical person. And I think this critical side of me is attributed to my idiosyncratic desire to want things in life to be perfect, or at least near to perfect. However, with age comes wisdom and I slowly learn to appreciate that imperfections can beautify your life. That was when I started to appreciate the little things in my life that are imperfect in my opinion but perfect to some others. I should be less critical and more generous with praises because we all need constant motivation and assurances to excel in life.
So last night, I finally couldn't take it and voiced out my opinions. I reckon that if someone does not know how to respect others, then he or she doesn't deserve even the basic respect that comes with her role or status. In terms of IP, I have yet to witness how brilliant or solid her content knowledge is. Where building rapport with students is concerned, she is a complete failure. Evaluating her professionalism and code of conduct, the person who grades her really needs to refresh her memory of what the two entail.
After entering university and having worked in the corporate world for so long, I thought I have learnt how to keep my emotions in check. God knows I was totally wrong. I am still the me who loves to voice out and speak up when I feel things ought to be better managed. The weirdest thing is they are still issues that do not concern me i.e. I am not standing up for myself but for those who are naturally less strong and more dependent on others. WTH is wrong with myself? I just cannot tolerate such nonsense and watch the people whom I care for being subjected to such mental tortures and sufferance!
But of course, I have always reiterated that I only help those who show me that they wish to help themselves. Students who come running towards me at the very last minute, hugging the buddha leg and request for help. Hello! I am a human being, not BUDDHA! Plus, generating ideas is not an easy task to begin with. There are a handful who directly or indirectly request for my help to think of strategies! Hello! It's your work, not mine! If you are lazy, then you should live with your own laziness and poor grades and be contented with it. If I tell you it wouldn't work, then go back and squeeze all your brain juice dry and think! Ask your grandparents, parents, siblings, relatives, or whoever is available for opinions. Don't come back to me with the same piece of work and expect me to give you comments. What comments do you exactly want?!
Honestly, I need to reflect on how I can better manage my own emotions when dealing with other people's problems or towards people whom I dislike deep down from the bottom of my heart.! Lol!
Like plants that require a particular type of soil to bud, animals who need the right habitat to survive i.e. freshwater, seawater, I need the right environment to thrive. And this environment and culture is definitely not the right one. It impedes my development and growth. :(
Do you know what's worth fighting forWhen it's not worth dying for..For what's worth trying for is worth fighting for....
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
I guess adequate time has passed for me to evaluate my job and the true reasons behind where I'm now.
"attire checked", "attendance checked", "lecture notes checked", "tutorials checked", "markers checked", blah blah.. Endless checks to be done every single passing day....
Pulling myself out of bed in every reluctant manner possible every morning, conducting the checks which I as a student failed to live up to expectations with, I honestly question, why did I sign up for this?
I flipped anxiously over pages of my primary and secondary memories searching for that one special person who steered me in this direction only to my disappointment to see none.
From another perspective, 5 years ago this one person unleashed my potential and inspired me to complete whateve he has left undone, though I'm not sure if I'll be as outstanding as he did.
Over the course of the last 5 years, another 3 popped up and helped complete me as a person.
And the true reasons behind me embarking on this mission is my desire to continue with what that was set out to be done and entrusted to me. The mission is to complete the puzzle of the countless others that I'll be encountering, to be there to provide guidance when they are in a deadlock, to be there to encourage and motivate when they are about to uphoist the white flag. However, it's not in my capacity to blindly lead the way. Only effort can generate rewards and all results are fed by the amalgamation of a positive attitude in learning, desire to excel and be empowered by knowledge.
Right from day one, I told myself that I will never compromise my students' learning over anything nor short change on the knowledge that they are entitled to. Thus, even though a handful are difficult to discipline, a few prefers to live in isolation, the general population that is bubbly and engaging motivates me.
Through my job, I uncover the values that are deep rooted in me. A 50-mark grade is not a pass, A C is. A's are norms whereas C's anomalies. When I teach, I hold the same kind of expectations for my students. I do not think that achieving a C or a pass is good enough which explains why I am always so disappointed with my students' results ever since those times when I was giving tuition. I am not dissatisfied with them because I do know a handful had really put in their utmost best. In fact, I question my own ability to teach them well. Over the years, I did learn to align my expectations because not everyone is capable of the A like what Linky always tell me. He highlighted the top most important attribute as an educator that is, to be able to detach yourself from the learning outcomes of your students. Some people are exam-smart, others work doubly hard, whereas a handful are simply intelligent. You need to have certain attributes to begin with before you can be transformed from a C-grader to an A-grader.
"attire checked", "attendance checked", "lecture notes checked", "tutorials checked", "markers checked", blah blah.. Endless checks to be done every single passing day....
Pulling myself out of bed in every reluctant manner possible every morning, conducting the checks which I as a student failed to live up to expectations with, I honestly question, why did I sign up for this?
I flipped anxiously over pages of my primary and secondary memories searching for that one special person who steered me in this direction only to my disappointment to see none.
From another perspective, 5 years ago this one person unleashed my potential and inspired me to complete whateve he has left undone, though I'm not sure if I'll be as outstanding as he did.
Over the course of the last 5 years, another 3 popped up and helped complete me as a person.
And the true reasons behind me embarking on this mission is my desire to continue with what that was set out to be done and entrusted to me. The mission is to complete the puzzle of the countless others that I'll be encountering, to be there to provide guidance when they are in a deadlock, to be there to encourage and motivate when they are about to uphoist the white flag. However, it's not in my capacity to blindly lead the way. Only effort can generate rewards and all results are fed by the amalgamation of a positive attitude in learning, desire to excel and be empowered by knowledge.
Right from day one, I told myself that I will never compromise my students' learning over anything nor short change on the knowledge that they are entitled to. Thus, even though a handful are difficult to discipline, a few prefers to live in isolation, the general population that is bubbly and engaging motivates me.
Through my job, I uncover the values that are deep rooted in me. A 50-mark grade is not a pass, A C is. A's are norms whereas C's anomalies. When I teach, I hold the same kind of expectations for my students. I do not think that achieving a C or a pass is good enough which explains why I am always so disappointed with my students' results ever since those times when I was giving tuition. I am not dissatisfied with them because I do know a handful had really put in their utmost best. In fact, I question my own ability to teach them well. Over the years, I did learn to align my expectations because not everyone is capable of the A like what Linky always tell me. He highlighted the top most important attribute as an educator that is, to be able to detach yourself from the learning outcomes of your students. Some people are exam-smart, others work doubly hard, whereas a handful are simply intelligent. You need to have certain attributes to begin with before you can be transformed from a C-grader to an A-grader.
It will definitely be encouraging if Linky and I were posted to the same school in future. I guess at least we can constantly motivate each other and we complement each other. Nonetheless, judging from the current circumstances, the probability is HIGHLY UNLIKELY. Well, let fate decide. :))