Yu-Mei Balasingamchow said:

Amidst the annual scholarship fever and the flurry of applications, what the newspaper ads don’t mention, and what people don’t talk about enough in a meaningful way, is that the three or four years spent in university can change a person quite profoundly, all the more so if that university education is conducted abroad. I don’t mean having a British- or American-sounding accent, or having visited half of Europe in one summer backpacking jaunt, or learning how to cook the food you get homesick for. I’m talking about the kind of deep-seated change that can leave a person wondering how to reconcile what her old self agreed to do, with what her new self now believes.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "in retrospect: a government scholar looks back on the choices she has made"

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musings said:

A more appropriate CSE could ... say : (1) That sex is essentially a risky activity ... (2) ... pre-marital sex is higher risk activity, compared to sex between married couples. (3) That certain forms of sexual activity, such as anal sex, are ... higher risk ... (4) That responsible sex in a pre-marital (and even marriage) context means (i) ensuring that you are free of STIs ... (ii) using a condom, and (iii) being prepared to deal with the ... consequences ... (5) that for ... practical reasons, sex should ideally be confined to married couples, and virginity is rightfully valued.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Writer suggests what might be a better CSE program."

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The Sun Chair Critic said:

I'm sure this is one ranking that NUS or the government will never want people to know.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Talks volume about how singapore universities are overcharging us."

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John Ashbourne said:

On Singlish - "Many Singaporeans are very proud of this distinctive way of speaking. It is very expressive and, as shown above, often much more efficient than Standard English. The government, however, is not pleased. It isn't clear what would please them- with the exception of an efficiently regulated derivatives market or the natural death of both members of the opposition; but an unregulated and particularistic language certainly doesn't. " On NUS tutorials - "getting true opinions is like pulling teeth."

Recommended by Otterman: "NUS exchange student writes back home to his U of Toronto student newspaper to reflect on Singapore and NUS. Just one inaccuracy about homsexuality but otherwise a funny and well written piece. "The Victorian Expansion into Asia...,' by John Ashbourne. The Strand, 30 Oct 2008.
See also the comments from readers: http://tinyurl.com/66ve5d"

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Tribolum said:

In 2000 I enrolled in the University of Arizona. I did not apply for a scholarship of any kind, but they offered me a bond-free scholarship via an email. I replied to ask if there were any conditions attached, specifically a bond of employment. While the details were that I had to maintain certain grades in order to keep the scholarship money going for the whole duration of undergraduate study, there was no bond of any kind. They wrote back, saying they were giving me the scholarship because they believed I could contribute to society after graduation. Not American society. Humankind.

Recommended by tinkertailor: "A well-written perspective of scholarships and bonds that is foreign to Singaporean thinking. "

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Smoot said:

I thought Elite schools had good teachers. I didn't know they had fortune-tellers.

Recommended by Cobalt Paladin: "Is this how the top schools in Singapore are maintaining their track record? Someone should really whack the principal's head or wake up MOE."

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SGFRAG posted an email written by an NTU student expressing drop in education standard at NTU.

Dear Chan Kwong Lok,

I writing this email to you to express my personal opinion in an informal and frank manner.

Firstly, I feel that there isn’t a need to charge additional fees for students attempting special terms. The cost of $500 for a Singapore citizen is extremely high given the economic conditions now (cost of inflation and so on). OAS claims that it is for the provision of higher quality of education in NTU. If a fee needs to be charged, can it be made lower and more affordable?

Here are some queries that I have with regards to the above issue
Why is it that only that minor in entreprenuership is not covered?
What about other minor programmes?
Why must students taking special term be penalised economically?

and enquiries to new “real estate” developments in NTU. Why is it that the prices of food in the new food court so high? Why are we bringing in outlets like old chang kee and sakae sushi when our own library expansion project is delayed?

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stressed_teacher said:

I feel tired and worn out. Every single bloody day. On the way to school, I take out my handphone. There is still ample time to call in sick. I open up my handphone and pull out my school's number. All that separates me from making that call is just a press of a button that requires a force of around 1 Newton. And I surprise myself by being able to resist that temptation, even though I know that at least three colleagues who will make that morning call.

Recommended by tinkertailor: "Teaching is a fulfilling career in Singapore."

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Looking For LaLaLand… said:

First, the minister defended the principal effectively asking the students to lower their goals (go to ITE ) and in the next breath he urges teachers to “set high goals” for their students and “help them achieve these goals”.

So, what exactly was the minister saying?

Sadly, this is another instance of the tiresome “pragmatism” which government leaders are promoting – from the very top right down to the rank and file. “Be realistic! If you can’t make it or know that you can’t make it, don’t try so hard! Take the lesser road. You’re not cut out for the high road, buddy!”

And for goodness’ sake, realize this at the beginning of the new school term! You’re doomed! ITE awaits you!

Recommended by at82: "Is this another case of the Principle not wanting weaker students to pull down their ranking?"

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Oikono said:

Michael spent many years in Singapore’s Morgan Stanley office as regional CEO and was involved in the education reforms of Singapore. His involvement happened when Tharman Shanmugaratnam left the Monetary Authority of Singapore to head the Ministry of Education. Tharman asked Michael what Singapore could do better to increase creativity and entrepreneurship.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Acknowledging the foreigners who have contributed to Singapore's education reforms and their thinking behind public policy."

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squareCircleZ said:

This is a thought-provoking video. Should we teach math via algorithms? Should we be concerned about whether students understand what they are doing, or whether they can just get the right answer? How does technology fit into this? Should 10 year-olds use calculators for multiplication?

Recommended by tinkertailor: "While the context is American, the lady in the video plugs the Singapore mathematics textbooks"

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Michaelk said:

Why does so much spoon-feeding take place, when all it does is to transform students into question-answering machines incapable of learning new subjects without help from other people? Shouldn’t TLLM be implemented in full by making teachers lesson facilitators instead of spoon-feeders? What is the point of spoon-feeding them in the first place, when the teachers know how competitive it can be in an institute of higher learning?

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "An account of how students are dependent on teachers in secondary schools here, to the extent to being unable to cope with independent learning later on."

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A Geeky Life said:

What sort of school embark on an ambitious experiment to hold lessons online without even preparing their pathetic school network for the workload, let it fail spectacularly due to negligence, still claim that there is nothing wrong with the system, and even congratulate themselves for the 'success'?

Answer: My school

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "A school "successfully" implements e-learning for their students."

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'Boards said:

Ruairi Robinson brought eBoy's pixel art to life for the Singapore Institute of Management.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "A pretty good ad for SIM. Much better than NUS pukerific recruitment ads from last year. "

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Flying Low said:

And I do think there is a tendency that a teacher’s work in the classroom is often ignored during grading exercises, unless we have failed to produce satisfactory results. In that case, our unsatisfactory results alone will overshadow all the other contributions we have made to the school. The question is why does this happen? Surely most people would agree that what we do in the classroom is of greatest importance and not how many carnivals we organised for the community.

Recommended by tinkertailor: "Why we have so many unmotivated teachers."

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Zi Ming said:

My wish for this year is to pass my english paper if not i will not able to graduate to poly or JC. i feel that this year is very stressful as most of the teachers had given mi a lot of homework to do and nd to do a lot of ten years series. Being a student in Singapore is very competitive. My parents always like mi to be top in the school but a lot of student in the school are very “ li hai” and smart so we cant get top. My parents also like to compare mi with the RI students and sae that I am dumb or stupid, but different student hav different capability and talent. So I think that my parent should not compare mi wif them.

Recommended by alvinism: "I was very touched by the honesty of this blog entry. The boy is trying his best to excel in our rigid education system for his parents' sake. Can actually identify with him and feel the pressure that's mounting on him to do well in school. "

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project_00 said:

I can imagine the kind of embarrassment the “upgraded” forum will suffer from. I’ll say, let them compete head to head. See which forum will have more users, more posts, more varied and interesting content at the end of one year. If someone suggests this to the new prinicpal, I wonder what he/she has to say.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Censorship and accountability issues in a JC forum"

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New Jersey Star Ledger said:

Learning math usually means working with endless numbers and a variety of strange-looking symbols.

But students in a handful of New Jersey schools are finding math equations have been replaced by pictures and stories.

This is all part of Singapore Math, a problem-solving-based method that schools across the U.S. started adopting in 1999, after Singapore's students placed first in math in the Trends in International Math and Science Study. American students placed 19th out of 38 that same year.

South River officials implemented Singapore Math two years ago and have witnessed so much progress by their students that consultants with the New York Comprehensive Center, who work to improve the curriculum in all of the state's public schools, visited the Middlesex County district yesterday.

While Singapore Math is based on graphics and word problems, American math focuses more on reasoning, probability and applied math, like statistics.

A Singapore Math lesson start with concrete examples, followed by pictures, then students graduate to abstract concepts.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "oh no Singapore education is going to conquer the world. I see a shipload of Ten Years' Series headed to New Joisey now! "

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Trisha said:

I believe that if schools are doing things right, most kids would not need tuition at all. The fact that many kids, even those from good schools, are having tuition, is a sign that something is very wrong, either with our education system, society's or parents' expectations or a combination of these.

Recommended by tinkertailor: "A teacher wonders if her own daughter needs tuition."

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The Kentang said:

Singaporean Students will now be ranked according to their monetary value each month, to reflect their potential value to Singapore’s community at large. This will begin at a negative value, since a Singaporean at the Primary One level has taken in resources to be educated while potentially achieving little.

However, once the Singaporean has been streamed and categorised, the monetary value can increase exponentially. EM1 students, primed to go to top secondary schools, junior colleges, and exotic educational programs, are usually valued between SGD4000 - SGD8000 a month, depending on academic performance.

Recommended by at82: "That would be an interesting policy isn't it?"

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