Hey saturday~
Saturday, January 18, 2014
The HSP interview is coming up pretty soon (Monday, 3pm) and well I said to myself that I'd start thinking about it/prepping current affairs a week in advance but such time has passed with little progress made. I do suppose that there have been some considerably more interesting pieces of news that have caught my eye, there's Stephanie Koh's "I'm not proud to be Singaporean" rant (of which some sense was made), Singapore's first retirement village and the transport fare hike.
I realised though I don't readily offer my take on current affairs topics because I'm really too out of tune with the goings-on in Singapore and have forgotten much about world affairs and perspectives to offer a particularly nuanced view on what's going on. However, in the interests of Monday's interview I will attempt to get some critical thinking done.
Had to submit an essay as part of the HSP application, either an environmental issue, something else or a problem that Singapore is facing (I think). One topic that I feel for the most is the Singaporean model of education, and so I titled my essay "The failing rigidity of the Singaporean education system". I wrote it not because I'm frustrated with the education system, everything that's happened to me so far has made me tremendously predisposed to loving the system, but rather because there are improvements that can and have to be made to allow a larger quantity of students to thrive and a greater quality of education.
The system takes very good care of the top few percenters, and in line with the adopted principle of meritocracy the high achievers are showered with opportunities aplenty. But this we all know already.
At the other end of the spectrum are schools with poorer learning environments, students who are rowdy and at time teachers who are, at the end of it all, burnt out and lacking in energy. Sure with every system and programme there will inevitably be the best and the worst, but that is something that can be changed, or at the very least improved.
Education is the surest guarantor of success for the common man, and it is a sad reality that not all are able to benefit fully from what the system has to offer. Some part of the blame lies with the system itself and the rest with other factors. Bottom-lining this (and perhaps generalising some), this furthers the income divide and in the circumstance of nurture over nature such will only just get worse and worse.
The government can only do so much to try and address the problem, but at the end of the day there are limits to what it can achieve. To truly try and resolve the problem, the more privileged members of society should consider lending aid to those less fortunate and less intellectually and otherwise well-endowed people.
Yet again the above is an unfinished thought, which does leave much room for substantiation but I can't think very well at night anymore (I started in the morning). I guess that has in some part due to the fact that I've got a lot more on my mind right now.
//
When all's said and done, letting go is as important as holding on. As we go through life we realise that certain things we saw as ways of life are rather unnecessary and in the greater scheme of things detrimental to our way of life. Though at the same time to be traditional about certain things is perfectly fine, and encouraged too.
Point is, while I am against the very immature idea of jumping into situations, there're certain seemingly contradictory steps and stages of life that have to occur in sequence and given a reasonable time frame. Certain stages are similar to that which we try to avoid and by skipping them on the pretense that we want to avoid it because it might jeopardise everything, we're essentially doing what we don't want to do - without the proper buildup or foundation to it. (okay this was more of a rant because right now I can't find anyone to offload this onto)
Hey saturday~
Saturday, January 18, 2014
The HSP interview is coming up pretty soon (Monday, 3pm) and well I said to myself that I'd start thinking about it/prepping current affairs a week in advance but such time has passed with little progress made. I do suppose that there have been some considerably more interesting pieces of news that have caught my eye, there's Stephanie Koh's "I'm not proud to be Singaporean" rant (of which some sense was made), Singapore's first retirement village and the transport fare hike.
I realised though I don't readily offer my take on current affairs topics because I'm really too out of tune with the goings-on in Singapore and have forgotten much about world affairs and perspectives to offer a particularly nuanced view on what's going on. However, in the interests of Monday's interview I will attempt to get some critical thinking done.
Had to submit an essay as part of the HSP application, either an environmental issue, something else or a problem that Singapore is facing (I think). One topic that I feel for the most is the Singaporean model of education, and so I titled my essay "The failing rigidity of the Singaporean education system". I wrote it not because I'm frustrated with the education system, everything that's happened to me so far has made me tremendously predisposed to loving the system, but rather because there are improvements that can and have to be made to allow a larger quantity of students to thrive and a greater quality of education.
The system takes very good care of the top few percenters, and in line with the adopted principle of meritocracy the high achievers are showered with opportunities aplenty. But this we all know already.
At the other end of the spectrum are schools with poorer learning environments, students who are rowdy and at time teachers who are, at the end of it all, burnt out and lacking in energy. Sure with every system and programme there will inevitably be the best and the worst, but that is something that can be changed, or at the very least improved.
Education is the surest guarantor of success for the common man, and it is a sad reality that not all are able to benefit fully from what the system has to offer. Some part of the blame lies with the system itself and the rest with other factors. Bottom-lining this (and perhaps generalising some), this furthers the income divide and in the circumstance of nurture over nature such will only just get worse and worse.
The government can only do so much to try and address the problem, but at the end of the day there are limits to what it can achieve. To truly try and resolve the problem, the more privileged members of society should consider lending aid to those less fortunate and less intellectually and otherwise well-endowed people.
Yet again the above is an unfinished thought, which does leave much room for substantiation but I can't think very well at night anymore (I started in the morning). I guess that has in some part due to the fact that I've got a lot more on my mind right now.
//
When all's said and done, letting go is as important as holding on. As we go through life we realise that certain things we saw as ways of life are rather unnecessary and in the greater scheme of things detrimental to our way of life. Though at the same time to be traditional about certain things is perfectly fine, and encouraged too.
Point is, while I am against the very immature idea of jumping into situations, there're certain seemingly contradictory steps and stages of life that have to occur in sequence and given a reasonable time frame. Certain stages are similar to that which we try to avoid and by skipping them on the pretense that we want to avoid it because it might jeopardise everything, we're essentially doing what we don't want to do - without the proper buildup or foundation to it. (okay this was more of a rant because right now I can't find anyone to offload this onto)
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Kay Han
21
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