TRUTH the daughter of Time
and this records my thoughts and emotions.
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the interaction with this uncle.
Saturday, September 01, 2007 @ 3:01 am
okay, i am inspired by one of my friend's blog entry on aunties and i decided to talk about this random uncle who said approached me and zhihan when we were on our way home on the bus 98. it was after vball training, and we were on our way to the mrt station, and on the bus, theres this uncle who suddenly turned around and asked us to check whether the building which the bus just passed is lakeshore. then we answered him and i dno how and why, the convo drifted off and he said that many singaporeans of 'my generation' are not being very productive in the innovation and enterprise sector in singapore and then he said that unlike the countries in our region, we have very little people who have made great contributions to society.He said that most people who have made innovations and those great achievements are ppl from malaysia, like the one who invented the newater concept, Olivia Lum (Chinese: 林爱莲; Pinyin: Lín Àilián), born in Kampar, Perak, Malaysia, is the Group CEO & President and founder of the Hyflux Group. She also heads the Research and Development function. (cited from wikipedia) well, nationality might be a factor in her successes but one must agree that she studied in singapore at the age of 16, at tiong bahru secondary school and then in Hwa Chong JC, and then in NUS, and graduated with an Honours degree in Science from NUS. However, this shows that Olivia Lum couldn't have done what she has done today if not for her chance to be educated in Singapore. however, it is undeniable that Olivia Lum might have the edge, because of her conditions she lived in previously, as she is said to have supported herself by giving tuition and paddling wares. However, it is undisputed that she couldn't have succeeded if she did not have the chance to receive the education she had in Singapore. besides, i think he is being too subjective, because the people who he sees, are not the representatives of my 'generation' they are the products of the education system of singapore in the 80s - 90s. so, this shows that our products of education are actually productive in flourishing in the innovation sector. zhihan also argued that Sim Wong Hoo, who was born in Singapore and had worked his way up to become a successful businessman and the youngest billionaire in Singapore at the age of 45. But the uncle just dismissed him and said, 'how many Mr Sim will there be?' well, i believe it's one of the banes of singapore's education system, that emphasizes too much on examination grades and the Sciences. yet, it is flawed as there is no statistics to show that our education system does not create many brilliant businessmen and technopreneurs. so, this man started saying about how our language and communication skills suck, compared to our neighbours. He said, students from other countries are more proficient in their languages, and he cited Malaysia, and said that many Malaysians can speak good Chinese. well, i haven't interacted much with Malaysians, so i cant comment on that, then he challenged us and asked us how to say quality in Chinese. i thought for a while and i said 品质, then he had nothing to say. but he went on to say that this 'we' youths should learn to say it right, no matter if it's chinese or english. and not mix them up. well, thats the problem with bilingualism, u substitute some words u dont know how to express with the alternate language. and he says that it creates this concept of Singlish in us, which some of us are proud of. I am certainly guilty of speaking the 'so-called' Singlish, but it is a natural phenomena which i believe other countries have. But he said again that well, Malaysians can speak good Chinese. I cant refuse this theory, but he backs it up with the fact that Malaysia has Chinese medium schools, and hahaha, immediately, me and zhihan said that Singapore doesn't have Chinese medium schools because of the Communist threat, and i said it was because of the 共产主义者, then he seemed amazed. and he asked me whether i am local. which i said i was. and he just nodded his head in agreement. then he said that actually, singaporean students are overcomforted. i agreed with him, and zhihan said that we have progressed so fast in 40 yrs we have leapfrogged from 3rd world, to 1st. and he said that no country has done that before. and i immediately pointed out that Israel is another good example of a rapidly growing country, and we learnt from Israel when we gained our independence too. as Israel is in a area of different beliefs and are in constant unrest. So, the uncle said that we are getting stagnant because of the lack of danger in our lives. so, i think that to him, we should grow up tumbling. =/ but, ya la, many of the youths are spoilt asses. yet, i believe theres nothing wrong in having peace and stablility but theres sth wrong if we take the peace we enjoy for granted. then, he started asking zhihan what are the teachers in jc were teaching them physics and maths, which i felt left out because im an arts student. then in the end, he asked us, 'so u two are sci students?' then i said, im from the arts stream, and i beamed at him. then like as if he had seen a detestable object, he ignored me from then on and started bombarding zhihan with questions. then we reached the interchange and we parted at the JE mrt station. i dont know why i made this post but, just for fun, and i can practise my GP. =D thats all, and im sorry evina. |
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