Possible for Singapore to stay 'forever young'?

After reading the extract on PM Teo’s view if Singapore to stay ‘forever young’, i have some views about this. Singapore has five 'building blocks' that provide it a strong foundation to continue to thrive in the future. PM Teo also related to ‘Iceland, also enjoyed a boom, particularly in the mid-2000s. It was regarded as quite a miracle. However, poor regulation of the banking and financial sector resulted in a highly leveraged economy and small nations like Switzerland , or cities such as New York or London, that have done well for centuries.’

Being 'young' is really an attitude of mind - to keep ourselves socially and economically energetic, competitive and attractive. Of those five points, i believe that a strong culture of education and learning is able to help Singapore stay ‘forever young’. By having a strong culture of education and learning, it will always allow people to stay fresh and new, and even relevant to the world. Due to the importance of education, it will encourage people to want to have the heart and the desire for even better education and seek for knowledge, innovation and ideas.

Singapore has all along been emphasising on the importance of education. Singapore students have consistently done very well in international comparisons in science and mathematics and also in literacy. Education is already encouraged at a very young age of four and Singapore does seek to provide even better education for all. Investments are made heavily for universities, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education to be even better.

Both parents and students also see education playing a big role in their lives. It is definitely true that if parents were to not give their child any stress, majority would not even want to educate themselves. True enough that many want to pursue a good education as they believe that that would help them to get a better and stable job in the future.

Education will never ever grow old and it will always be relevant to any others. Education has never ever been about institutions as well. As long as someone is willing to learn and education oneself, that will do. Education surely plays a big and important part in helping Singapore to be ‘forever young’.

- Yongqing.

How Singapore Can Stay 'Forever Young'

After reading the article 'How Singapore Can Stay Forever Young', here are some of my views and opinions with reference to the first point, a strong culture of education and learning.

Singapore has always emphasized on the importance of education. This can be seen by the Government implementing ‘Compulsory Education’ in the year 2003. Students need to be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to be productive citizens in a knowledge-based economy.

A strong culture of education and learning not only depends on the students. Parents also play a part in a child’s education. The Government has passed ‘The Compulsory Education' act whereby parents can be fined or sentenced to imprisonment if their child fails to attend school regularly.

Schools in Singapore are well equipped with facilities and trained staff to educate the young minds. Students are given the freedom to choose their path and interest of study after completing their secondary education. Those whom are less fortunate are granted subsidies so that they are not deprived of an education.

Besides having a strong foundation in education, Singaporeans also need to adapt and upgrade their skills to meet the demand of a constantly developing nation. For example, as technology advances, companies are sending their employees to attend subsidised training and courses. An up-to-date workforce means that Singapore will be at the forefront among countries such as Switzerland or cities such as New York where their economy thrives.

When it comes to education, there is no age limit. Therefore, I do agree that a strong culture of education and lifelong learning is vital in keeping Singapore ‘Forever Young’.

From my perspective, Singapore can remain ‘Forever Young’ by having more bilateral ties with developed and thriving countries. Hence, we can learn more or gain insights from them. For example, tourism and gambling has been the primary drivers of the economy in Las Vegas and Macau. In bringing the casino and integrated resort to Singapore, the tourism industry stands to gain the same prosperity.

‘How Singapore can stay forever young as a city’

Singapore has been known as one of the fastest developed country and a highly developed state capitalist with mixed economy. And Singapore conducts an open business environment, with relatively corruption-free and stable prices all year round, additionally; it is one of the countries with the highest gross domestic products per capital in the world. Perhaps, being steadfast could be one of the strategies that Singapore could adopt in staying young. Although, having stability in the economy sector does not mean that it can sustain the country for long in staying forever young.

As the old saying goes, “it takes two hands to clap.” Therefore, leading in the economy sector alone is not enough. As Singapore continues to develop and prosper, in my opinion, it is essential for a country to remain competitive and innovative. So that Singapore would be constantly coming up with new and innovative ideas to upgrade themselves in order not to lose out to other countries.

Out of the five points in Mr Teo’s speech, I personally feel that a strong and forward-looking leadership would be the most important feature in making Singapore to ‘stay young’ as a city. Leadership holds a very important key feature in Singapore therefore having a good leadership meant that leaders in the government would make wise and right decision and not what is popular in order to make Singapore growing into a more competitive country. With good leadership, this enables Singapore to enjoy political stability and confidence, with that, Singapore will be able to venture into other areas in the country.

A forward-looking leadership in Singapore enables the country to further develop into a more competitive manner as leaders are open-minded and are willing to take risks. Besides being open-minded, forward-looking leaders are to be able to foresee problems ahead of time and carry out proper planning in preparations for emergencies.

In conclusion, having a forward-looking and strong leadership is the most important key feature that Singapore should adopt in ‘staying young’ because having leaders that are anticipating of future challenges means a competitive country and also looking for solutions to ‘future problems’ or problems that requires solutions that are out-of-the-box. This helps Singapore to constantly remain far ahead of her competitive and this is one of the measures that Singapore could practice in ‘staying forever young’

ShuMei

The point which i totally agree with is the second part which is explaining about the culture of seeking knowledge, innovation and ideas.

As Singapore is a small country, it has a smaller recognition. In order for Singapore to stay young, it is becoming more like a research and development hub which covers almost every area such as wealth management, media and design and much more. Moreover, Singapore are employing top scientists to Singapore to work so as to allow these foreign talents to be passed around and also to nurture their top students. When these students are nurtured, they will be taking on a new challenge which results in greater competitions with other countries. This is one of the reasons Singapore is able to stay young.

The second reason is that more foreign multinational corporations are setting up in Singapore and this creates more jobs for Singaporean as they need people to run the company. These foreign multinational corporations are setting up in Singapore to sell their products. Products that are coming in are made using new skills and different ideas so that Singapore will stay young and not continuing using those products that are using the same old skills. This reason allows Singapore to rise up instead of staying at the same position. We have to be at the forefront of knowledge, innovation and ideas so that Singapore can stay young.

From my point of view, Singapore can stay young by having more casinos and integrated resorts because quite a lot of countries have casinos set up. So as not to be indifferent from these countries, Singapore should build more of these resorts and casinos to get on the same pace. When more and more casinos and integrated resorts are set up, more jobs will be created. Machines in the casinos and roller coaster in the integrated resorts will be developed using new skills. This helps to keep Singapore to stay young.

Who says Singapore gets older every year!

Hi my name is fatima.

Of all the five points that DPM Teo has touched on, i would like to share opinion on the fourth point, whereby Singapore is a magnet for talent.

Since SIngapore has little raw talent, the government is offering scholarships and bursary's for foreign students so that they can come to Singapore to study. This way, the foreigners would use their talent here in Singapore. For example, Li Jia Wei. She was from China. However, in the Youth Olypic Games 2009, she played badminton for Singapore. This are foreign talents that SIngapore needs and that we lack of.

However, if we have too much foreign talent, our local talent would have no place to nurture their talents as the government is too focused on nurturing the foreign talents. Also, other countries would try to get hold of our local talent and then Singapore would lose their own people. Too much foreigners in the country is also not good as Singaporeans would lose their sense of belonging.

Singapore can stay young as a city by keeping up with the latest technology and upcoming events. Voluntering for big events such as hosting the YOG and F1. This way, Singapore is not kept in the dark, instead it is actually the Sun, which knows everything. By building casino's and Integreted resorts, Singapore is attracting more tourists to increase their gross domestic product(GDP). It has nothing to do with Sigapore staying young unless you talk about Singapore active in having events. And by not taking o levels, it only makes things worst. Students would not have a good education and their qualifications would not be as high as other foreign citizens. So this doesn't make Singapore stay young, it is in fact pulling Singapore down. If the students take o levels and continue with a high qualification, they would work in Singapore and suistain a stable economic growth, keeping Singapore young and knowlegdeable.

And therefore, that is my opinion! Thank you :D

Mother Tongue, A 'Second Class' Subject?

Singaporeans Split On Mother Tongue Weighting

With regards to the issue posted above, decreasing the weightage of Mother Tongue language in the Primary School Leaving Examination(PSLE) hits close to home for many. Singapore is a multiracial country known for its diversity in races and languages. We pride ourselves in being able to live in tolerance regardless of race, language or religion. Decreasing the weightage of Mother Tongue has lead to some citizens asking ‘has Mother Tongue become a second class subject'?

It is true to a certain extend that decreasing the weightage of Mother Tongue in the PSLE means that students will be able to concentrate more on the other given subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science. This also means that students are expected to perform better in the 3 other subjects.

There are however disadvantages of decreasing the weightage. Students that has a flair for their Mother Tongue subject would not be entitled to equal chance of getting into the top Secondary Schools. With the weightage lowered, students might not deem Mother Tongue as important as the other subjects. There is also the possibility of cutting short Mother Tongue lessons to cater to the other subjects which is of higher weightage, which in turn might affect the demands of Mother Tongue teachers.

In conclusion, decreasing the weightage of the Mother Tongue subject might cause more harm than good.

I feel that mother tongue is still vital in Singapore as we cannot just depend on English to communicate to people. In order to build up the knowledge for their language for future use, students are being taught their mother tongue subjects and they have to take their monther tongue exam paper during PSLE to test their understanding level of their own language. Moreover, quite a number of students rely on mother tongue to help them score better.
Increasing number of people in Singapore are using English to communicate with each other. This in turn, neglects the use of mother tongue. As chinese, we should learn how to speak our own language. It would be a disgrace if we do not even know how to speak or write our own language. We should also know our language well so as to communicate with our grandparents or parents who may only have chinese as a communcation language.

PM Lee: Mother Tongue still vital?

As generations passed, slowly, we see a steady increase in dominance of western cultures spreading across after each passing generation. If this continues, gradually, mother tongue cultures will be slowly diminishing in this world. Therefore, I agreed in Mr Lee saying of ‘Mother tongue education is still vital.’ Mother tongue is definitely still essential as of this generation and in the future as well, after all, it is something that we are ‘born’ with it and are being recognized at. Mother tongue is just like a base of our knowledge, and also it signify the root of each different cultures and races, without this ground or base, it is equivalent to planting a seed onto a ground without giving it a proper care, and hence, it will not grow. There goes in applying our knowledge into mother tongue languages. If this negligence towards mother tongue languages continues, this will causes local cultures to be lost. When that happens, this will affect foreign sector’s economy in our country thereupon this may directly affect society-at-large for businesses as foreigners will no longer take interest of local cultures, this may contribute to loss of investments from foreigners and as well as loss of revenues earned from the foreign sector thus creating problems like recession, unemployment. Therefore, Mother tongue education is definitely still vital in Singapore.

xoxo, ShuMei

Mother Tongue still vital?

I agree with PM Lee Hsien Loong's statement that Mother Tongue education is still vital. Singapore has always been known for her bilingualism and i don't believe that by just cutting the weighting of Mother Tongue would do any help to the students.

It is said that, for years, a vocal and potentially growing group of English-speaking parents has argued that the weighting given to mother tongue penalises pupils who excel in all subjects except Mother Tongue. And due to that, many can't get into top schools. However, other subjects like Mathematics, Science and even English itself require the usage of English three times more than mother tongue. It seems to be rather fair too. Chinese might also be the only language which students from Chinese-speaking families can most probably do well in.

As cliché as it is, how can a Chinese not know how to speak in his/her own language? In the midst of catching up with the world in English, we should not also forget our very own Chinese roots. Moreover, Chinese surely would also come in handy if we were to be at countries like China and Taiwan. Though English is the most spoken language in the world, i don't agree that mother tongue should be should be neglected and i hope to see mother tongue playing an important part in the culture as the time passes by.

- Yongqing's :D

my name is fatima :D

In my opinion, mother tongue should continue as a subject in PSLE as it enables them to relate to their own culture and race. It is important as it helps them develop a sense of belonging and understand themselves better as they have learnt it since young to communicate with their family members. Also, some students rely on their mother tongue to score for a higher aggregate in PSLE. Everyone thinks that second language is not important as long as the students know how to speak english. However, english alone is not enough. Some students may be weak in english and thus not able to communicate well. Bilingualism in english and malay, chinese or tamil is a heavy load for the students. Becoming monolingual in english would cause them to lose their cultural identity. However, since english has been our working language for several years, people may think that mother tongue is unneccessary. Both is important, the children would just have to pick off from where they left and study to be able to strive in both languages. Even adults with no kids thinks that it is a need for students to excel in their own mother tongue as it is something they should be proud of, knowing their own language. We learn english, yes we can use it in most countries. But what if one day we were sent to the rural areas of China and Pontian? We would have difficulties communicating with them. Therefore, mother tongue should not be banned as no matter what, the students deserve to learn it.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. Plagiarism, however, may not be stated as an offence in law but it can lead to a serious issue if no action is delivered to address this problems.

After reading the two articles, plagiarism is seen as the common concern and I realised that it is most often violated among students especially. As a student, I will share my opinions at a student’s view on plagiarism committed by students.
Firstly, educations are getting tougher and more competitive each generation. Students often feel pressurized to complete their assignments that will be due quickly, therefore, they start to plagiarize because it provides the fastest way to produce their work without much effort involved. Additionally, with the easy accessibility of internet, this could makes plagiarism seemingly much more effortlessly done.

Secondly, one out of the main reasons that contributes to plagiarism that occurs amongst students is due to, peer pressure. The most common misconception that students had is, ‘everybody else is doing it the same.’ Therefore, students often feel is perfectly alright to plagiarize since their peers are doing the same too or they feel that they must do the same to keep up.
One of the way to deal with this issue is to start educating from young. Schools should educate their students the consequences of plagiarism. Students should be taught about the concept of plagiarism so that they’ll be equipped with adequate knowledge of it and teachers should encourage students not to plagiarize by teaching them the proper way of doing their work, also, students should also be taught how to appreciate and respect author’s and owner’s work by crediting.

With that, I’d like to sum up my views on plagiarism.

ShuMei.