An open letter to the Education Minister from a Secondary 4 student studying at Nan Chiau High School

Jul 14, 11 An open letter to the Education Minister from a Secondary 4 student studying at Nan Chiau High School

Posted by in Musings

There was quite an interesting open letter on Temasek Review that’s written by a Secondary 4 student griping about the Singapore education system. Not to take anything away from her, I will only quote the first 2 paragraphs: I am a Secondary Four student at Nan Chiau High School, and am due to take my O Levels this year. Being shown first-hand what the education system is like, especially from a fairly unflattering point of view, has made me realise much about the education system that I do not like. Of course, I am fully aware that no education system is perfect, yet in the spirit of transformation the PAP has hopefully adopted since the 2011 General Elections, I write this letter to you in the hope that some of these problems with our system will indeed be changed, or if not, at least reviewed. I speak just for myself, and not for all other graduating students in Singapore when I say this, but I do feel strongly about many methods being employed in secondary schools, especially for graduating classes. For one, I have come to realise the serious emphasis the education system has placed on factual memorisation. Perhaps it is just used in my school, or maybe even a method most autonomous or government schools apply, but based on personal observation, I have come to the conclusion that students are often not taught to ask ‘Why?’ More can be seen from her facebook note post. I first read it last night, and by that time, it was already on the web for several days (hurhur, in internet time, several days means the news is outdated!) and thus there were already a big chunk of comments. Personally, she reminds me of Nicole Seah: Angsty, and maybe sidelined by the current system. I commented that, It’s already been said before last time.. In Singapore, students are not taught; they are trained. Trained for performing a certain role/job for the bigger purpose of being a productive worker in Singapore....

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Another perspective of the world from the eyes of a Malaysian

Jul 11, 11 Another perspective of the world from the eyes of a Malaysian

Posted by in General

In Singapore most young adults usually think that we have a lousy bargain in terms of the ruling PAP government. But the recent Thailand election has been quite an eye opener for some, though being a typical human, people are usually only concerned with matters affecting them. I found this video, and thought it’s quite an interesting video. Most people always look things from their own point of view. But the things affecting us is affecting the world (Inflation, social unrest, unemployment, asset prices going mad, etc) Take a look at this video from the Malaysian point of view. There are probably a few more worth looking at.. (eg: Greece 40% unemployment for young adults. Spain 20% unemployment, etc) Perhaps we’re all demanding too much for our own...

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Price discrimination in the world of airlines and how I maximised it on Jetstar, Tiger Airways and Air Asia

Jul 10, 11 Price discrimination in the world of airlines and how I maximised it on Jetstar, Tiger Airways and Air Asia

Posted by in General, Travel

In classical economics, price discrimination is when an identical product is sold for different prices to different customer segments. Of course, theoretically this should not happen, but we see it all the time! A Sweet Talk bubble tea sold at a busy MRT station can be $1.80, whereas a location slightly further away from the same MRT station can be sold for $1.50. A dress sold at a pushcart can cost $20, while the exact same dress (since most pushcarts and blogshops tend to get it from the same manufacturer) can be sold for $16 online. Likewise, airlines practice price discrimination in order to maximise their profit. People who are willing to book tickets 9 months in advance can get tickets as low as $1 (not including taxes that is), whereas people booking tickets 3 days before a flight would have to pay a premium. However, there is yet another form of price discrimination that people don’t usually know about. The booking of 2 single trips VS a return trip! Take a look at the fares above. I got the screen shots within 5minutes of each other. At this point of time according to XE, the THB to SGD rate is 0.0403021. So, a return fare is S$246.90, whereas 2 single trips booked is S$114.95 + THB2699.00*0.0403021 (S$108.78)= S$223.73! A savings of S$23.17 with just 5 to 10 minutes of additional effort! Of course,  your credit companies might charge you a lousier rate for the exchange, but they would typically not charge more than 1% spread. I use Mustafa Forex as a typical money changer indication, and they are currently quoting 0.040/0.0409. Based on Visa’s rate and a administrative fee rate of 2.5%, I got 0.0416. That means at worst, you would be charged S$112.28 for the BKK to SG single trip. That’s still a saving of S$20 or so. Likewise for another airline, A return fare costs S$222.87, whereas 2 single trips costs S$80 + THB3570 * 0.0403021 (S$143.88) = S$223.88. In this case, there is...

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Are Singaporeans selfish self-centered (ie, kiasu and kiasee) people?

Social experiments are quite a funny thing. On 1 hand, people may feel cheated when they find out they were involuntarily part of a social experiment. On the other hand, it exposes us to the good(or bad) nature of humans when we are unaware of the experiment.. A group of 4 girls decided to do a social experiment 1 day, inspired by a movie, Living Without Money, which talks about how a woman who decided to stop using money and to live a life based on exchanging favours. The question was, can it be done in Singapore? Singapore is always known to be a place full of apathetic, jaded people. Particularly so after the numerous charity fiascos like Joachim Kang, NKF, Ren Ci, and potentially a City Havest Church one. People suddenly became very tight with the purse when it came to random people coming up to them on the streets to ask for donation for <insert name here> charity. So the plan was to go out to food places, and try to get a meal without paying for it. They tried it out on 4 different types of establishments and well, it’s interesting how people reacted. Enough said. Read more at their blog! For 1, I don’t think I have the courage to go out and ask people for...

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Marriage and the impact of changing social dynamics

Jun 16, 11 Marriage and the impact of changing social dynamics

Posted by in General

Marriage is one of the most memorable thing in a person’s life. It marks the start of a new chapter in the lives of 2 individuals when they decide that they are willing to put aside a part of themselves to stand together as a couple. I once heard a quote, and thought it’s really quite true. “Monogamy is when a person decides that staying together is more worthwhile than chasing personal wants.” However social dynamics have changed significantly in the last 10 years, and one of the things I have been pondering about is marriage. The main reason is actually because most of my peers are starting to get married, and I have attended 8 weddings in 6 months! But that’s not the only things I have observed. I have seen quite a number of shotgun marriages, a number of people getting married for the sake of moving out from parents, and a few divorces, separations and annulments. From that, I believe in the next 10 years, there will be far less marriages than now. Let’s look at it logically. Since I’m a guy, I will largely present the guy’s point of view. I believe guys get married for 4 main reasons, Family pride and name One of the main reasons why guy’s get married is for the family name. This is one of those deeply ingrained asian culture that we have. In India, a person’s choice of a spouse is irrelevant. The parent’s choice is more important. In most chinese, the surname and family name is a very significant thing. Having family culture and future generation was probably one of the biggest concern of our parents and grandparents time. Even for myself, when I was in secondary school, one of my considerations when looking for a girlfriend was if she would be a good mother to my kids. (Okay fine. Go giggle behind my back). This has been diluting a lot these days, where personal desires are more important than family desires. Some couples...

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