Back to normal programming – but at what price?

Mon, 27 Feb 2012
3 min read
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Early test pattern for WKY TV

I’ve just returned from a 2.5 week long In-Camp Training (ICT), and I plan to post up thoughts and whatnot from this experience in the next week or so.

To start off with, I want to emphasise how disruptive and inefficient ICTs are.

For one, it is a STRUGGLE to write something coherent because I’ve not used this portion of my brain for 2.5 weeks.

Besides this, so many tangible and non-tangible resources are not only put into preparing and executing military training – e.g. arranging for colleagues to cover duties – but a lot of time and energy also has to be expended in the transition back to civilian life.

For example, I’m going to have spend quite a bit of additional time over the next couple of days sifting through the deluge of e-mail in my work inbox.

I’m also not entirely prepared for work tomorrow – I don’t have my timetable and I suspect I’m going to have to arrange a couple of make-up lessons over the rest of the week because I’ll need tomorrow to get up to speed re: what has been taught and what needs to be taught tomorrow.

At home, I’ve been cleaning my military equipment, laundering my uniforms, packing/storing them, etc. besides the normal things that have to be done – bills to be paid, e-mail to read, friends to re-connect with.

So I’m not convinced by the feasibility of the current National Service Training System because it consumes more resources than it should, financially or otherwise.

Perhaps the argument here is that this is the price one has to pay for national security and peace of mind.

Fair enough – but I wouldn’t mind it so much if the system were fairer in that the misery is apportioned out equally and no one is exempt from the trouble that all of us go through.

Unfortunately, the suffering is always not distributed fairly.

This is not only evident in the case of Tony Tan’s son, but also in other instances e.g. NSmen who ‘keng’ even though they are obviously as fit (or as unfit) as their fellow platoon mates to serve in the capacity they were trained in.

So while I understand and respect the need for National Service, I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I resent having to shoulder more of the burden than other Singaporeans – or worse, other Singaporeans and Permanent Residents who have essentially been bumming off our contributions to the nation.

Waterway to travel.

Sat, 28 Jan 2012
1 min read
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Canal between St Andrew's Junior College and St Andrew's School.

This boat faithfully trawls the canal between SAJC and SAS to pick up litter and leaves on a regular basis (every week or so, I estimate).

Based on this, I’ve had some students who’ve suggested using this waterway as a transport route as part of their Project Work [1].

If students can do it, what more adults?

That’s why I think it’s possible for our urban planners to come up with more creative solutions to solve our transport woes instead of just razing buildings and fattening roads [2].

Links

In context

Tue, 3 Jan 2012
3 min read
2 Comments

Do-it-yourself ministers gaining notice

So! I was quoted in an article in today’s Straits Times.

This is a snippet from the article, including my quote:

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat was a guest at the Pre-University Seminar last June but chose to sit unnoticed at the back of a hall for more than an hour, to listen to students’ presentations.

He said he prefers not to disrupt proceedings or affect the candour of discussions.

He also stressed that it is his belief in working together with educators at the front line and with the community that “shapes my interaction, rather than a reaction after the [General Election]”.

Mr Heng also does not believe in making unannounced visits to schools to try and catch educators out.

That is not helpful in generating trust between educators and those at the ministry’s headquarters, and trust is what matters in the long run, he said.

Project manager and parent of two, Mr Tan Gin Tat, 40, gave a thumbs up to Mr Heng’s school visits.

However, he added: “If Mr Heng is walking down the school corridors, I hope he doesn’t just talk to the top people but chats with teachers on the problems they are facing on imparting knowledge to kids.”

Teacher Laremy Lee, 28, however, wants more unannounced visits to be made. Schools and teachers sometimes “stage a show” for office-holders on planned visits, he said.

I realise that I may sound as though I want Heng Swee Keat to catch educators out, so I thought I’d share the actual quote I gave in its entirety:

Question: Heng Swee Keat has been making it a point to visit schools of all levels and strengths to find out more about what’s going on the ground and to gauge the prevalence of parents’ feedback. A few of these visits were unannounced. How do you feel about this move by Mr Heng? Are you in favour of it or do you feel it’s just “wayang”?

Answer: Unfortunately, I don’t have a bird’s eye view of things, so it’d be difficult for me to correlate the visits with efforts such as the recent Character and Citizenship Education initiative. If the visits have led to the understanding that parents are as responsible as teachers for instilling values in the youth of today, for example, then yes, I am in favour of more visits like these.

With specific regard to unannounced visits, I think it’s great. When announced visits are made, what happens is that schools and teachers will stage a show for the visiting office-holders. So office-holders end up going off with the impression that everything is fine and dandy, when in actual fact, there are many problems that have been swept under the carpet, only to resurface after the visiting office-holders leave. So there should be more unannounced visits.

The point I was trying to make was that there should be more unannounced visits so that office-holders get a good sense of the realities of the situation as opposed to an artificial view of what is going on.