I am a totally committed student in Singapore, so I am avidly following local news. It seems that beyond the SMRT fare hike and frequent MRT breakdowns, Singaporeans are struggling with / dealing with / debating some interesting / serious issues.
Are you proud to be a Singaporean? (link)
The topic is discussed with listing good and bad things and in more depth, i.e. with explanations, than I reproduce here.Good things about Singapore (with some qualifications)
1. Singapore has an efficient government.
2. Singapore has high GDP.
3. Singapore has a reputation for being safe.
4. Good Singaporean food.
5. Relatively free from natural disasters.
6. Singapore really spoon feeds its citizens, processes-wise.
7. Strong defence.
8. It’s not a boring place.
Bad things about Singapore
1. Carrot and stick approach. “Fine” city. No chewing gum.
2. Creativity is stifled
3. Things in SG are bloody expensive, and the average salary has not increased to match.
4. Narrowly-defined measures of success.
Doctor, lawyer or banker. That’s about it.
5. The media is muzzled and misleads.
6. Singapore IS boring.
7. Singapore is tiny, yet it takes a long time to get anywhere meaningful.
Good things about Singaporeans
1. We work among the longest hours in the world. [Employed residents in Singapore worked 45.6 hours per week on
average in 2013, according to a slight decline from the 47.4 hours per week a
decade before, apparently reflecting a rise in part-time employment. Compare that with our UM contract of 38 hours per week.]
2. We are mostly bilingual.
3. We are efficient.
4. We suck it up at work.
5. We are good at academic benchmarks.
6. Competitive. Aka kiasu. We want to win, and that can be good.
Bad things about Singaporeans
1. We are kiasu. Not everything in life is a competition.
2. We don’t speak up enough where it counts.
3. We lack perspective.
4. We lack resilience.
5. We want to have our cake and eat it.
6. We are materialistic. We judge people by their possessions. What car they have. What house they have. Which suburb they stay in.
7. We are elitist. We judge people by who they know, what job they have, what schools they went to.The 9 sucks of Singapore (link)
- The government sucks
- Singaporeans suck
- Foreigners suck
- Transportation system sucks [SMRT fare hike, unduly costly to the lower middle class and 3 serious MRT breakdowns already in 2014.]
- Jobs suck [In a survey by The Straits Times (2013) 70 per cent of the respondents said they are happy with their working hours and workload, as well as their career prospects and development. But the findings of a survey by Randstad Group (2014) are that 23 per cent of all Singaporean workers feel unmotivated and that their skills are not being used effectively, and 64 per cent plan to quit their jobs this year.]
- Wages suck
- Housing sucks
- COE sucks [Certificate of Entitlement, the quota license which grants the legal right of the holder to register, own and use a vehicle in Singapore for a period of 10 years. I just heard today, it costs S$70,000 for the 10 years.]
- The weather sucks? [Question mark not by me!]
Education
Even though the world sees Singaporean education like this (link)
Singaporeans see their education like this (link, edited by me):
18 reasons Finland is leading Singapore and the rest of the world in terms of education by about a mile - give and take, a few light years.
1. Pre-school teachers in Finland are required to have a basic three-year degree and many hold master’s degrees. In Singapore, if you’re a woman without a criminal record, you’re pretty much getting the job.
2. The teacher-student ratio for pupils between three and six years old is 1:7. This is virtually unheard of in Singapore.
3. Finland operates 24-hour childcare centres.
Singapore operates 24-hour kopitiams. [Kopitiam or kopi tiam is a traditional breakfast and coffee shop with simple offerings. Kopi is Malay for coffee and tiàm is the Hokkien dialect word for shop]
4. Teachers of primary and secondary schools study for five years up to master’s level. In Singapore, 19-year-olds do relief teaching in secondary schools.
5. Finnish pre-schools are focused on play to stimulate creative development and a curiosity for learning. Singaporean parents try to make their 6-month-old infants read.
6. Finnish children under the age of seven have a right to attend childcare. In Singapore, the law is used to deter criminals.
7. The top 10 percent of students to graduate from Finnish high schools will pick teaching over law. It would be a miracle if we found 10 people in Singapore who did that.
8. This year alone [2013], 2,000 applied for 100 spots in the primary school teacher-education programme in one Finnish institution. This statistic sounds like the number of applicants for NUS [National University of Singapore] Medicine.
9. There is no yearly appraisal or grading of a teacher’s performance, due to the rigorous training teachers have undergone in Finland. In Singapore, most teachers get a C, while scholar teachers tend to get a B. True story.
10. Finnish primary school teachers make an average of US$30,500 (S$38,300) a year. In Singapore male teachers get this pay because they served NS [National Service, i.e. conscription]. Female teachers, tough luck.
11. Finnish schools are all equal — every school is a good school. In Singapore, Raffles Institution is the best school. [R.I. Founded in 1823 by Sir Stamford Raffles, the oldest school in Singapore, a centre for pre-tertiary learning. It is a "top" or "elite" independent school, with school fees of S$300 per month.]
12. In Finland, government spending on education makes up 6.8 percent of GDP. Education is free from pre-school to university level. If you’re going to university in Singapore, get a bank loan.
13. Education reforms in the 1970s scrapped private schools and schools become publicly funded. Not in Singapore.
14. Finnish children were ranked among the top performers in mathematics, science and literacy in the Pisa studies in 2000 and 2003. We need tuition to get the same results. [In the 2012 PISA rankings Singapore was 2nd in math, and third in reading and science.]
15. Streaming of Finnish students occur only at age 16. Streaming of children in Singapore used to begin as early as 9 years old in the past.
16. Classes have an average of 25 students in Finland. Classes have an average of 40 students in Singapore.
17. Finnish teachers design their own lessons and assess students based on tests designed by themselves. Teachers in Singapore design lessons for teachers, who then assess students based on whatever energy they might have left after dealing with CCAs [Co-curricular activities, previously Extracurricular Activities, are non-academic activities that all Singaporean students must participate in], HOD meetings [???], marking, remedial classes etc.
18. Finland has a strong reading culture. Singaporeans like to watch movies on their smartphones.
Culture - Singapore will change (link)
"I believe a lot of this stifling culture will change with this generation, because we haven’t seen the struggles of the country like the previous generations have; we grew up taking for granted the gifts of education, full stomachs and a bed. See, Singapore was a third-world island with no resources and no support; we struggled, but triumphed when we found the formula for success. Since then, we’ve been on a roll, but the country is still clinging to its formula in desperation. It is never enough. A family-sized government flat in the suburbs can cost half a million dollars. A car is a couple hundred grand. And the older generations run on the fear that if we were to ever loosen our grip, we would plummet back to poverty, high unemployment, and struggles."
The Straits Times
Monday, Aug 26, 2013
SINGAPORE
- Many people grumble about their jobs but it seems most Singapore
employees are satisfied with their lot and will probably stick with
their employer for a few more years at least.
In a new survey, more than 70 per cent of the respondents said they are happy with their working hours and workload, as well as their career prospects and development.
- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/more-7-10-spore-workers-happy-survey#sthash.cs7nQEeD.dpufIn a new survey, more than 70 per cent of the respondents said they are happy with their working hours and workload, as well as their career prospects and development.
The Straits Times
Monday, Aug 26, 2013
SINGAPORE
- Many people grumble about their jobs but it seems most Singapore
employees are satisfied with their lot and will probably stick with
their employer for a few more years at least.
In a new survey, more than 70 per cent of the respondents said they are happy with their working hours and workload, as well as their career prospects and development.
- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/more-7-10-spore-workers-happy-survey#sthash.cs7nQEeD.dpufIn a new survey, more than 70 per cent of the respondents said they are happy with their working hours and workload, as well as their career prospects and development.
