Adam Khoo: The expats will rule Singapore
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Cheval:
Thanks for your insight too, it has been good to read from your balanced views here.
I'd like share some personal experiences in France, where I studied and worked for 12 years altogether. All regular foreigners have exactly the same benefits and pay the same fees as French, except the right of voting. As such, when I was a student, I could also apply for housing subsidy just as my French classmates. French universities are free (i.e., wholly subsidized by the government) and this also applies to foreign students. For health care, the government takes on charge 85% of the cost. Usually people buy a 'Mutual' policy allowing to complete the rest. At the end of my study, thinking that I was going to leave soon, I did not renew my Mutual. Unfortunately, I got a serious bicycle accident and stayed 2 days in hospital on emergency. In the end, I paid only 300 francs (about 50 euros).
I have long heard from my french colleagues that education in France is highly subsidized by the state. However, depending on which type of universities you go to, some are not free (the private business schools for instance). What is interesting to learn from you on the other hand, is that for a foreign student, the university education is also free. Must one be on some sort of scholarship? Just wondering, why don't people send their kids to France to study since it is free? -
Hi, just want to share this recent article by Thomas Friedman. I agree with his viewpoints wholeheartedly.
America’s Real Dream Team
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 20, 2010
Went to a big Washington dinner last week. You know the kind: Large hall; black ties; long dresses. But this was no ordinary dinner. There were 40 guests of honor. So here’s my Sunday news quiz: I’ll give you the names of most of the honorees, and you tell me what dinner I was at. Ready?
Linda Zhou, Alice Wei Zhao, Lori Ying, Angela Yu-Yun Yeung, Lynnelle Lin Ye, Kevin Young Xu, Benjamin Chang Sun, Jane Yoonhae Suh, Katheryn Cheng Shi, Sunanda Sharma, Sarine Gayaneh Shahmirian, Arjun Ranganath Puranik, Raman Venkat Nelakant, Akhil Mathew, Paul Masih Das, David Chienyun Liu, Elisa Bisi Lin, Yifan Li, Lanair Amaad Lett, Ruoyi Jiang, Otana Agape Jakpor, Peter Danming Hu, Yale Wang Fan, Yuval Yaacov Calev, Levent Alpoge, John Vincenzo Capodilupo and Namrata Anand.
No, sorry, it was not a dinner of the China-India Friendship League. Give up?
O.K. All these kids are American high school students. They were the majority of the 40 finalists in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search, which, through a national contest, identifies and honors the top math and science high school students in America, based on their solutions to scientific problems. The awards dinner was Tuesday, and, as you can see from the above list, most finalists hailed from immigrant families, largely from Asia.
Indeed, if you need any more convincing about the virtues of immigration, just come to the Intel science finals. I am a pro-immigration fanatic. I think keeping a constant flow of legal immigrants into our country — whether they wear blue collars or lab coats — is the key to keeping us ahead of China. Because when you mix all of these energetic, high-aspiring people with a democratic system and free markets, magic happens. If we hope to keep that magic, we need immigration reform that guarantees that we will always attract and retain, in an orderly fashion, the world’s first-round aspirational and intellectual draft choices.
This isn’t complicated. In today’s wired world, the most important economic competition is no longer between countries or companies. The most important economic competition is actually between you and your own imagination. Because what your kids imagine, they can now act on farther, faster, cheaper than ever before — as individuals. Today, just about everything is becoming a commodity, except imagination, except the ability to spark new ideas.
If I just have the spark of an idea now, I can get a designer in Taiwan to design it. I can get a factory in China to produce a prototype. I can get a factory in Vietnam to mass manufacture it. I can use Amazon.com to handle fulfillment. I can use freelancer.com to find someone to do my logo and manage my backroom. And I can do all this at incredibly low prices. The one thing that is not a commodity and never will be is that spark of an idea. And this Intel dinner was all about our best sparklers.
Before the dinner started, each contestant stood by a storyboard explaining their specific project. Namrata Anand, a 17-year-old from the Harker School in California, patiently explained to me her research, which used spectral analysis and other data to expose information about the chemical enrichment history of “Andromeda Galaxy.” I did not understand a word she said, but I sure caught the gleam in her eye.
My favorite chat, though, was with Amanda Alonzo, a 30-year-old biology teacher at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, Calif. She had taught two of the finalists. When I asked her the secret, she said it was the resources provided by her school, extremely “supportive parents” and a grant from Intel that let her spend part of each day inspiring and preparing students to enter this contest. Then she told me this: Local San Jose realtors are running ads in newspapers in China and India telling potential immigrants to “buy a home” in her Lynbrook school district because it produced “two Intel science winners.”
Seriously, ESPN or MTV should broadcast the Intel finals live. All of the 40 finalists are introduced, with little stories about their lives and aspirations. Then the winners of the nine best projects are announced. And finally, with great drama, the overall winner of the $100,000 award for the best project of the 40 is identified. This year it was Erika Alden DeBenedictis of New Mexico for developing a software navigation system that would enable spacecraft to more efficiently “travel through the solar system.” After her name was called, she was swarmed by her fellow competitor-geeks.
Gotta say, it was the most inspiring evening I’ve had in D.C. in 20 years. It left me thinking, “If we can just get a few things right — immigration, education standards, bandwidth, fiscal policy — maybe we’ll be O.K.” It left me feeling that maybe Alice Wei Zhao of North High School in Sheboygan, Wis., chosen by her fellow finalists to be their spokeswoman, was right when she told the audience: “Don’t sweat about the problems our generation will have to deal with. Believe me, our future is in good hands.”
As long as we don’t shut our doors. -
I agree with his views too. The moment this country put an offspring of an immigrant, who's also a minority, to the top post, I knew it's a country with hope, a country which can reinvent itself (from 8 bad years under an incompetent president), and that it will emerge from whatever recession it's going through. It is exactly this accommodating spirit of its people, plus a system that encourages creativity and freedom of speech, that will make the U.S. thrive in this ever-changing world in the long-run.
That's why I'm a bit skeptical when people say China will eventually take over U.S. No doubt China is going to grow faster than anyone else in the next few years. However, after playing catch up, without a democratic system and freedom of speech, I think China will eventually be tied down by a lot of problems - corruption, aging, boy/girl ratio, human rights - just to name a few.
Look at the other end of the spectrum, Japan, who can't even accept 3rd generation residents as citizens, not to mention giving them voting rights. To me, there's only one way the country is headed - south.
Now you know where to put your money
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Busymom:
Like I said, the university is free for everyone because it's public. French do not make difference between their own and foreigners, PR or not. No scholarship is required. That is also why whenever possible, I always recommend my Singaporean friends to send their kids to France. They just \"lose\" one year to learn the language. If one does not choose Paris or Aix-en-Provence, living cost is not that high.
Thanks for your insight too, it has been good to read from your balanced views here.
I have long heard from my french colleagues that education in France is highly subsidized by the state. However, depending on which type of universities you go to, some are not free (the private business schools for instance). What is interesting to learn from you on the other hand, is that for a foreign student, the university education is also free. Must one be on some sort of scholarship? Just wondering, why don't people send their kids to France to study since it is free? -
minnie2004:
Can't agree more, Minnie. However, never underestimate China. What Singapore can achieve today, they can also achieve with determinations.....which brings us back to our first post in this thread.... HUNGER FOR SUCCESS....I agree with his views too. The moment this country put an offspring of an immigrant, who's also a minority, to the top post, I knew it's a country with hope, a country which can reinvent itself (from 8 bad years under an incompetent president), and that it will emerge from whatever recession it's going through. It is exactly this accommodating spirit of its people, plus a system that encourages creativity and freedom of speech, that will make the U.S. thrive in this ever-changing world in the long-run.
That's why I'm a bit skeptical when people say China will eventually take over U.S. No doubt China is going to grow faster than anyone else in the next few years. However, after playing catch up, without a democratic system and freedom of speech, I think China will eventually be tied down by a lot of problems - corruption, aging, boy/girl ratio, human rights - just to name a few.
Look at the other end of the spectrum, Japan, who can't even accept 3rd generation residents as citizens, not to mention giving them voting rights. To me, there's only one way the country is headed - south.
Now you know where to put your money
I don't know others but I am sending my child to Chinese enrichment class since young and preparing for that day to come. -
gajidouma:
Hi gajidouma, yes this \"hunger for success\" is very important. I'm just worried after years of one-child policy in China, there are a lot of spoilt kids around asking for handouts from parents. It's very common for parents there to buy properties for their kids and pay for their weddings. I wonder how much \"hunger\" is left for these kids.
Can't agree more, Minnie. However, never underestimate China. What Singapore can achieve today, they can also achieve with determinations.....which brings us back to our first post in this thread.... HUNGER FOR SUCCESS....
I don't know others but I am sending my child to Chinese enrichment class since young and preparing for that day to come.
I'm also sending my kids to Chinese enrichment, not so much to profit from China's rise but more like it's something we should do as Chinese. It'll be quite shameful not being able to speak better Chinese than Ang mohs. Therefore, since my DD was born, we made an effort to talk to her only in mandarin (although my DH speaks broken mandarin as Eng is his native tongue). However, once she entered pre-school, she picked up fluent Singlish in no time :faint: -
minnie2004:
Minnie,
Hi gajidouma, yes this \"hunger for success\" is very important. I'm just worried after years of one-child policy in China, there are a lot of spoilt kids around asking for handouts from parents. It's very common for parents there to buy properties for their kids and pay for their weddings. I wonder how much \"hunger\" is left for these kids.gajidouma:
Can't agree more, Minnie. However, never underestimate China. What Singapore can achieve today, they can also achieve with determinations.....which brings us back to our first post in this thread.... HUNGER FOR SUCCESS....
I don't know others but I am sending my child to Chinese enrichment class since young and preparing for that day to come.
I'm also sending my kids to Chinese enrichment, not so much to profit from China's rise but more like it's something we should do as Chinese. It'll be quite shameful not being able to speak better Chinese than Ang mohs. Therefore, since my DD was born, we made an effort to talk to her only in mandarin (although my DH speaks broken mandarin as Eng is his native tongue). However, once she entered pre-school, she picked up fluent Singlish in no time :faint:
I share the same opinion as you regarding the chinese language! We ARE Chinese after all and its quite a shame to not to know your very own language. BTW, as almost everyone around my kids are speaking Singlish, I'm still struggling in my quest to get my kids to speak Mandarin. But I'm not giving up!
:celebrate: -
Cheval:
Hi cheval,
Like I said, the university is free for everyone because it's public. French do not make difference between their own and foreigners, PR or not. No scholarship is required. That is also why whenever possible, I always recommend my Singaporean friends to send their kids to France. They just \"lose\" one year to learn the language. If one does not choose Paris or Aix-en-Provence, living cost is not that high.Busymom:
Thanks for your insight too, it has been good to read from your balanced views here.
I have long heard from my french colleagues that education in France is highly subsidized by the state. However, depending on which type of universities you go to, some are not free (the private business schools for instance). What is interesting to learn from you on the other hand, is that for a foreign student, the university education is also free. Must one be on some sort of scholarship? Just wondering, why don't people send their kids to France to study since it is free?
Is it still like that? Free public university studies for everyone?
i know Germany offers free public university studies for its citizen... only need to pay misc fees and housing fees if you don't live around the uni... But its very expensive if foreign students study there. -
tree nymph:
Yes it is, and it won't change any time soon. But a few weeks ago, I read that they wish to attract talented students of wealthy families from emerging countries like India, China etc. to their \"grandes ecoles\", at a fee around 10k euros.
Is it still like that? Free public university studies for everyone?
In fact, France has 2 parallel system at the university level: engineering school (grande ecole) and university. Grandes ecoles are the place where the elite is trained. While anyone can enter a uni with a Baccalaureat (A level), the competition to enter a grande ecole is hard. The students have to have a good Baccalaureat score and attend the \"Classe preparatoire\" for 2 years. But only 50% will get thru in the end, a small proportion get into a dozen of prestigious grandes ecoles (the best two are: Ecole Normale de Paris and Ecole Polytechnique).
In addition the language problem, I am afraid the A-level credits might not be recognized, contrary to universities in US or UK, which is not favorable to those with good A-level score. The latter can easily save 1 year if they study in UK or US. -
tree nymph:
Hear hear. I'm trying to cultivate the love of Chinese language in my kids also by reading, and also through enrichment. DS1 likes to say he hates chinese, I have to remind him that he is a Chinese, it's a shame if he can't speak his own language.minnie2004:
It'll be quite shameful not being able to speak better Chinese than Ang mohs.
Minnie,
I share the same opinion as you regarding the chinese language! We ARE Chinese after all and its quite a shame to not to know your very own language.
Took me so many years, but my chinese teachers are going to have the last laugh. I used to hate chinese lessons, ting xie etc....but seems like I'm imposing the same in my kids in the hope that they will grow to embrace the language.
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