TR EMERITUS

At the recently held launch of our education policy paper, a teacher said that she had lost faith in our education system and that she was leaving the profession. She lamented the fact that the system is putting our children through torture. She also related that a colleague of hers had told her that if she could, she would send her child to an international school because the emphasis there is less on exams and more on critical thinking and personal development. The tragedy is that the teacher, knowing our education system first hand, doesn't want to put her child through it. Another (former) teacher commented on Temasek Review Emeritus that many students needed private tuition because the subjects are poorly taught in school and teachers have too many non-teaching duties. Class sizes are also too big. He left the system and now tutors students in Math and English. “I usually need no more than one hour to get students to understand core concepts in key exam chapters,” he said. “What amazes me every time is that if their own school teacher had been willing to sit down one hour with that same student, that student wouldn’t be needing tuition.” "We knew we had a problem" The Prime Minister acknowledged the problem of teachers leaving the profession. In 2009, he said: “Too few young people wanted to become teachers and too many teachers were leaving the service...we knew we had a problem.” What was the government’s solution? “We did what was the obvious thing,” Mr Lee Hsien Loong said, “...and that was to raise the pay.” Teachers’ pay was consequently raised by an average of 15 percent. Mr Lee added that it was “critical” that the government did this so that it could get “dedicated, committed teachers, who would make all our other ideas work.” Contrast this with Finland where the education system is admired across the world and where teaching is a highly regarded profession. The Finland government knows that merely giving its teachers high pay is not the answer. Finnish teachers are paid only a little more than half (US$28,780) of what Singaporean teachers get (US$45,755). Yet, Finland does not have a problem retaining their teachers. The reason is that Finnish teachers take pride in their vocation. According to Mr Timo Lankinen, Director General of the Finnish National Board of Education, teaching is “one the most popular professions among students in upper secondary schools.” The problems with Singapore's teaching profession is discussed more fully in the SDP's education policy paper Educating for Creativity and Equality. Teachers in Finland are highly trained and given autonomy in the classroom to design their plans to help their students reach their potential. As a result, the country produces well-adjusted, intelligent and creative students. Finnish students perform no less well than Singaporean ones – minus the psychological hell that we put out children through. (Read Why do we do this to our children?) Judging by the sentiment of our teachers, Mr Lee's idea of throwing money at the problem doesn't seem to be working. Note to Prime Minister: You still have a problem. Singapore Democrats  Read More →

Later Draw Down Age (DDA) Many people go to church on Sunday. Some go to seek comfort, some to confess and some to repent. The recent uproar on the development of the CPF schemes particularly on the retention of the people’s life time savings is being felt the wrong way by many affected CPF members. Many in the social media are speaking out on something they know isn’t right. And a young man, Roy Ngerng, is now in hot soup for stating his case too strong and rubbing Hsien Loong the wrong way. The Govt has been making a lot of changes to the CPF schemes on the ground that they are the elected representatives of the people, the lawmakers and thus bestowed to them to make whatever changes they deemed necessary, all legally under the law. No MPs or Ministers have spoken firmly against the changes, presumably agreeing that there is nothing wrong with the changes. No one questions the legality of it all, assuming that everything done is legal as long as the Govt says so, absolutely legal. From the aspects of ethics and morality, from the angle of equity and fairness, from the point of social justice, is there no wrong about keeping the people’s life time savings away from them and deciding what to do with them without their consent and changing the date of withdrawal, with some in the Medisave Minimum Sums that may not be withdrawn at all unless the member is seriously ill or hospitalised. Otherwise the money would go to his beneficiary without him enjoying it after saving it for a lifetime. The silence or lack of objection by the Ministers and MPs is as good as all agrees to the changes, all support the changes and all does not see anything wrong with all the changes. Many have voted to the changes, but many changes were not even discussed or addressed in Parliament. Whether the Ministers and MPs voted in support of the changes in the CPF Schemes or simply abstained, without saying no to the changes when they can, they are all in it, all in support of the changes, tacitly, reluctantly, grudgingly or willingly. I am just wondering if any Minister or MP has any misgivings about the changes to the CPF Schemes. Does their conscience prick them when the people are kept away from withdrawing their savings on reaching the age of 55 and henceforth a higher age to be introduced over the years? Nothing wrong about it, nothing wrong with the meddling of the people’s lifetime savings against their wishes, without their consent? In all fairness and with one hand touching the heart, does anyone of them think they have the right to mess around with other people’s money, the money that people saved over a lifetime, to act as if they are the guardian angels vested with the power to do as they want, inventing more and more schemes while the people getting angrier and angrier? Can these people sleep well? Or can these people say they have nothing to do with the changes that they too did not agree with the changes? Can they be excused or be guilt free when they are the elected people’s representatives and could do something about it but did nothing? All 87 MPs and Ministers are saying yes to all the schemes or not saying ‘No’ while the peoples’ money slip further and further from their fingers. It is perfectly ok to mess around with other peoples' life savings. Chua Chin Leng aka redbean * The writer blogs at mysingaporenew.blogspot.com.  Read More →

MP Ang Hin Kee The National Taxi Association (NTA) organized a tour for some 150 elderly taxi drivers today (1 Jun). These elderly taxi drivers, mostly aged 70 and above, from the "pioneer generation" were treated to a visit to Clarke Quay to re-live their memories of the tourist attraction. It was organized as a form of appreciation for the cabbies' contributions. They went on a river cruise and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch at a riverside restaurant. Some of the regular passengers of these taxi drivers were also present to thank them and offer them tokens of appreciation. There are some 28,000 taxi drivers in Singapore and more than 10 per cent of them belong to the pioneer generation. Mr Ang Hin Kee, executive advisor of the NTA, said, "Many of these pioneer taxi drivers have been providing taxi service for more than 25 years. They continue to lead an active lifestyle and stay healthy by exercising regularly, keeping to a healthy diet and getting adequate rest." "Many are also mentors to the younger drivers. It is thus timely that we recognise and show appreciation to their commitment and effort in providing the public with a valuable and safe public transport option." The National Taxi Association (NTA) is an association for all the taxi drivers in Singapore. It was formed in 2010 from the six company-based taxi operators’ associations namely: Comfort Taxi Operators’ Association (CTOA) CityCab Operators’ Association (CCOA) Premier Taxi Operators’ Association (PTOA) SmartCab Operators’ Association (SCOA) SMRT Taxi Operators’ Association (STOA) TransCab Operators’ Association (TCOA) NTA currently has about 15,000 members. The NTA is affiliated to NTUC. Who is Ang Hin Kee? Mr Ang is one of the PAP MPs for Ang Mo Kio GRC. According to his resume [Link], he is the assistant Secretary General of NTUC and holds executive positions in Shell Employees' Union, Education Services Union and NTA: MP Ang was in the news last year when a hooligan spat at two female commuters and threatened to hit one of them at Woodlands Interchange. Commenting on the incident, MP Ang said, "I have been to crowded places and seen how people accommodate one another. You have a choice. Don’t blame external factors for our behavior." Prominent blogger Uncle Chua retorted in his blog on hearing MP Ang talked about having "a choice" [Link]: "Ang should experience the rush hour crowds at MRT interchange and then ask if the commuters have a choice not to be there." "I would like Ang Hin Kee to read the study on how white rats behaved when overcrowded and the comments by psychologist Joel Yang, ‘that commuters may become “increasingly angrier” and tend to react negatively to minor annoyances as Singapore’s population density increases.’ Yang also added, ‘It has been widely researched in major, densely populated cities that crowding is linked to anxiety, frustration, aggression, and inappropriate social interaction.’" "Do Sinkies have a choice on whether the island should continue to get more crowded and not less? Do Sinkies have a choice on the 6.9m population planning number or the unceasing influx of foreigners here?" Uncle Chua further asked: Can Sinkie stop the 6.9m population from happening? Did anyone give the Sinkies a choice? Who should Sinkies blame for the crowded environment? Yes don’t blame external factors. The foreigners can only come here to flood this place because of internal factors. They are invited to be here like swarms of locusts. And Sinkies have a choice to stop this.  Read More →