PM Asks "What kind of people do we want to be?"

[WeiHan]

Lilac66:

Btw, WeiHan hope your niece is fine now

Thanks. She is very well now. Still at home. Minimum 6 months before medication that suppress immune system reduces and after that she will be free to go anywhere she likes.

[Lilac66]

WeiHan:

Lilac66:

Btw, WeiHan hope your niece is fine now

Thanks. She is very well now. Still at home. Minimum 6 months before medication that suppress immune system reduces and after that she will be free to go anywhere she likes.

Good to hear that. :rahrah: Nothing is more gratifying than seeing our loved ones hale and hearty.

[Dora1]

I think it is time for us to re-look at the endless academic pursuit of our society. The reason why all parents and students have the burning desire to get into Uni is that the pay discrepancies between graduates and non graduates are very wide, and gets much wider later on in life. Therefore, it is perfectly understandable for parents and students to fight to enter Uni.

We should look into paying non-graduate professions a decent salary, like some of the western countries. Their plumbers, tailors, carpenters, electrician, cooks etc all earn very decent pay. I believe it is also for this reason that schooling is a lot less stressful in their society because, if you are not academically inclined, its perfectly ok. You can choose a skill that you are interested in and good at, and earn a decent living. Of course they cannot be the top earners, but most are comfortably middle class if they have the right skills.
If you compare this with the Singapore model, our kids only have 1 way, that is the Uni way. That’s why all the parents and kids are so stressed. If your kid happens to be academically inclined, well and good. If not, you still have to push them up. cos plumbers, electricians, etc in SG below to the lower income, so they have to struggle for life if they choose this profession.
Of course, there will be a lot of changes that we have to make as a society, e.g. super high fees charged by plumbers and electricians, so must pple must learn and DIY. It will obviously take a long time to change the thinking of the whole society. But I think it’s high time we start exploring the other options instead of just increasing the % of Uni places to fulfill the desire for Uni education, not because of academic pursuit, but as a key to better paying jobs.

[keroppi]

My regular plumber/aircon man, car mechanic and piano tuner guy charge relatively high fees for their labor. And it's so hard to book them. I don't believe their pay are indecent (alamak, not sure why maple leaf comes to mind when I use this word :faint: ). I think the problem lies in the society/parents perceiving these jobs as less glamorous compared to desk-bound ones with air cond offices. Ironically, these are jobs that can withstand economic ups & downs.

[corneyAmber]

Lilac66:

Adapting well seems the way to go now... read the ST report about the unemployed grads in Korea. The usual route of going to renown Us now mean nothing there. 30% of PHD holders were jobless last year.


To survive in the future, we can see that academic achievement is not a sure route to success, many more attributes are needed. Looking at South Korea's grads in such a dire state, should our govt increase the no. of U places?

That is why whenever I say I am not interested in academic achievement for my child as the focus... people will :roll: their eyes at me... like I speak Greek not Singlish.... kekeke It is always good to get a decent education but it is important to know how to live.

[corneyAmber]

Way2GO:

Lilac66:

should our govt increase the no. of U places?

Aren't d gahmen planning to add another 2 uni?
More grads without availability of jobs will be another major problem to handle.

The next worse thing is graduates whining away....with big bombastic words and good GP-argument style being the only difference.

[corneyAmber]

Dora1:

I think it is time for us to re-look at the endless academic pursuit of our society. The reason why all parents and students have the burning desire to get into Uni is that the pay discrepancies between graduates and non graduates are very wide, and gets much wider later on in life. Therefore, it is perfectly understandable for parents and students to fight to enter Uni.

We should look into paying non-graduate professions a decent salary, like some of the western countries. Their plumbers, tailors, carpenters, electrician, cooks etc all earn very decent pay. I believe it is also for this reason that schooling is a lot less stressful in their society because, if you are not academically inclined, its perfectly ok. You can choose a skill that you are interested in and good at, and earn a decent living. Of course they cannot be the top earners, but most are comfortably middle class if they have the right skills.
If you compare this with the Singapore model, our kids only have 1 way, that is the Uni way. That's why all the parents and kids are so stressed. If your kid happens to be academically inclined, well and good. If not, you still have to push them up. cos plumbers, electricians, etc in SG below to the lower income, so they have to struggle for life if they choose this profession.
Of course, there will be a lot of changes that we have to make as a society, e.g. super high fees charged by plumbers and electricians, so must pple must learn and DIY. It will obviously take a long time to change the thinking of the whole society. But I think it's high time we start exploring the other options instead of just increasing the % of Uni places to fulfill the desire for Uni education, not because of academic pursuit, but as a key to better paying jobs.

You make very good sense cos now I can pay an arm and a leg for such skilled services these days, getting to be like Europe. Which is why I am busy playing with my child all the DIY things that we can do at home. I like to DIY at home and my child sometimes questions me why I behave like the man and woman in the house. I think uni certs in the future is good for putting up as posters on the wall.

[Edureach]

The purpose of receiving tertiary education is for the training of minds in general and for professional degrees is necessary to enter a choice professions ie doctors, dentists,lawyers. accountants, engineers, pharmacists, scientists etc. Just ask if a law clerk can be called to the Bar without a recognised degree? Can a general hospital worker be a doctor without passing medical exam? Is it possible to to be a certifield accountant without being accountant trained? The list is long so one should not just generalise for the sake of convenience. Think for a moment can a technician with 30 yrs experience be eligible to register as a practising engineer as oppossed to someone with only few yrs of practical experience but duly qualified?


Why poly grads want to hve a shot at unis? It opens door otherwise not possible in terms of longterm career development. Take for example why business schools rank point is relatively high: The top grad from NUS/NTU/SMU commands a starting pay of $10,000/mth. Imagine if these chaps could make alot of money for the banks as investment bankers, private bankers, relationship managers or instituion traders, the monthly salary woukd enable them to book a unit at district 9/10/11 at a relatively young age. So our youth are pursuing a dream which is good. Rich is good, prosperity is better. Of course we would expect these high fliers to contribute more to our society. That way their souls prosper even as they continue to accumulate wealth. Is a dream many hve!

I believe when one writes, its impt to write from the heart not just out of popularity.

[pirate]

Let me explain why I find ambiguous comments about discriminatory practices by foreigners of "a certain" nationality in "various" industries to be pernicious:


(1) It allows whoever has any chip on his/her shoulder to fill in the blanks anyway they want. Someone with ONE unpleasant experience with, say, a Chinese PR will fill in the blank with "from China". Another will fill it in with India, Philippines, Malaysia or what have you. Then they fill in whatever industry they happen to work in. So, now we have banking, IT and Raffles Place.

(2) Before you know it, the impression being conveyed by such posts becomes the IT, banking and numerous unspecified industries in Singapore are being taken over by FTs who discriminate against SCs. These incompetent FTs prefer other incompetent FTs of the same nationality (whatever that is) over more competent SCs. Not only that, this is now spreading all over our statutory boards with entire departments being taken over by "new citizens" and PRs.

(3) Amplify it online and we get anti-foreigner sentiment. Worse, we get people who feel justified in their anti-foreigner sentiment.

(4) All the while, none of these nebulous allegations can be investigated because they lack specificity. And because they cannot be investigated, individual transgressions cannot be rectified and the individuals taken to task. Which then opens the door to blaming the government - ‘they must condone it because they are not doing anything about it’.

[pirate]

ksi:

The next worse thing is graduates whining away....with big bombastic words and good GP-argument style being the only difference.

This is what we need to change. The mindset that somehow a degree entitles one to a job making big bucks doing nothing but sitting behind a desk in an air-con office. I for one can see no good reason why bus drivers, trash collectors etc should not be able to earn more doing those hot, hard, dirty and dangerous jobs, than a barely useful fresh graduate. I see no good reason why these workers doing essential jobs that nobody else wants to do should be subsidizing the rest of us in our aircon offices by having to work at 3rd-world wage levels so as to \"keep our costs down\".