You can easily spot a fake if the prepared message delivered formally seems to be at odds with the spontaneous response to a question that follows. Or maybe the guy is just plain schizo.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat told parents at the Gongshang Primary School seminar on Saturday his ministry will focus on three core areas: to provide a good value system; to teach social and emotional competencies; and to foster creative thinking skills. "The values that the Ministry of Education and the schools are trying to impart will be the values of care and concern for others, values of integrity, values of resilience," he said.
Then there was his take on the brutes at Bedok Police Station, ""Clearly you see that the principals and the teachers are working with the police, and it's important for us not to make sweeping generalisations."
Er, did he actually say the principals and teachers were acting in cahoots with the cops in sweeping up 80 youths into the lock-ups, without first giving them the benefit of student counselling services? Does the MOE think handcuffing teens in their impressionable years is a good lesson in imparting "social and emotional competencies?" The creativity part we understand, in particular the police's wildly creative claim that "the officers did exercise flexibility and discretion in consideration of the suspects' age." If they handcuff 12 year olds like common criminals, will they taser the teens without compunction? Apparently the mass round up was precedented by the arrest of 156 young people last year, and 60 other young victims in 2008. These guys actaully have a sordid history of scarring young lives, and seem to take perverse pleasure in doing so - that and their maso-sadistic fetish for handcuffs. Heng is basically saying the principals and teachers, since 2008 and earlier, have surrendered their custodial duties to the uniformed thugs. No wonder the cops are so brazen in "calibrating" their approach with their students. Where will they draw the line - make the females do nude squats?
Heng blindly defended the rogue police, instead of taking the side of his young charges. That's hardly the ingredient of a good value system that boast of "care and concern for others, values of integrity, values of resilience." But then that's so typical of this breed of civil servants, perpetually sticking up for their own kind, and never own up to their obvious failings.
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He's been regurgitating old news as new news, and talentless as the new talents. So I'm yet to see what concrete new ideas he's going to bring in the 1) education reform,
ReplyDelete2) address the increasing cries about scholarships granted to foreign talentless student as opposed to giving our local students a chance
3) while many hundreds are being denied a place in their local universities.
If the whole imported foreign students (just like the cheap foreign PMETs) are done merely as a replacement strategy for the dwindling populations, I think the govt (PAP) must own up to its people and say it plainly and pointedly so. Otherwise, why are we squandering taxpayers money on cultivating and educating foreign students instead of my own home-grown students.
Ho Peng, current MOE Director General is the sister of Ms Ho Jinx.
ReplyDeleteThe same reasons they favor paying top dollars to woo foreign talents.
Everyone is just a lab rat in the big experiment of social engineering in disguise.
Counting money is definitely much easier than educating others.
ReplyDeleteAnd
some people are good at money and not good at educating others, that's why teachers are trained before they start teaching.
However,
our Education Minister is new and probably not underwent any teaching lesson.
And
even if he does, it does not necessarily mean that he will have the aptitude for educating others.
You are just another digit in this system. Those have some overseas education would understand this.
ReplyDeleteI am no sympathiser of MOE but don't underestimate these so called 12-16 year-olds. Some of them are beyond counselling. In fact, it is precisely the counselling approach that has caused many of these young thugs to view schools as impotent.
ReplyDeleteWe should bring back the Chinese schools - as most of the Malaysian chinese are educated in Chinese schools. Why is it that they give ASEAN Scholarship to Malaysian Chinese, froma age 13 onwards. If they think that the Chinese schools system is good enough to offer scholarhip to these students, then convert all Singapore schools to Chinese schools, and not to a selected elites only.
ReplyDeleteEducation is no more a level playing field. I would like to see how he address this issue, how the financially less well off compete with with the middle/upp class who can throw tuition money. Everyone knows that tutors are the ones doing the real educating, not school teachers.
ReplyDeleteTattler,
ReplyDeleteHeng Swee Kiat is obviously talking thru' his ass before engaging his brains.
How does one inspire teachers to teach social and emotional competencies, impart values of care and concern for others, values of integrity, values of resilience, when the govt leaders and their stooges in parliament are negative examples to students ?
(except to the dumb ass 60% in Spore)
It is no better than parents who are habitual liars, guilty of resorting to underhand means to gain advantage(cheating), displaying cowardice to compete fairly, shamelessly greedy, inconsiderate, etc, etc and the same parents are expected to impart values as well as inspire their own children.
It was a lot easier in the old days as a teacher, because I can easily name people like Dr Goh KS, Toh CC, Lim KS, Hon SS, etc, to inspire my students.
As it is, can Heng Swee Kiat convince the teachers to do the same with the present leadership...starting with his boss, the PM himself.( what a freakin joke )
I have a good laugh when I read the ST writer who praised the police for nipping the problem in the bud with the handcuffing incident. Clearly this parent who's also a believer of caning his child would support such an inconsiderate act. Be that as it may, the problem in the bud lies elsewhere. They can start with the poor and desperate who needs to resort to such methods of lending, and largely the stonehedge in front of our Marina Bays and Sentosa called the Casinos.
ReplyDeleteSo today Dr Tony Tan came out and try to defend his old policies and claim "singaporean first, not singaporeans only". LMAO. Can he back up with facts, figures and policies he supported to tell us how that's been the case?
ReplyDeleteDid NUS/NTU achieved its world ranking in the past by relying more foreign students? How many world ivy league universities have the high % of foreign students as compared to SG? Show us the numbers MOE and TT or you're just like MOM, shooting off the asses of yours. Opening the floodgate till is too late.
@July 19, 2011 8:23 AM :
ReplyDeleteFully agreed with you. Counselling by schools? Its highly overrated. You think just counselling these errant students is enough to straighten them out? Who are you kidding? Many of these teens are already exposed to gang activities...I've seen a <10yo kid in Bishan shouting orders to his 'frens' like a gangster with a ciggy in hand. All this pseudo phsyco practices from America are overrated n its about time we Asians stop monkeying them, when they dont work and come up with our own ways to dealing with deliquent students. Dont see anything wrong with schools in 'cahoots' with the police if they cannot handle these students. There are many of these students who needs the 'strong arm' of the police to straighten them out.
Hah! How to have good inspiring teachers when most teachers and support staff behave like thugs and sex obsessed ?
ReplyDeleteSome are so free they online chat, sms and surf porn from office.
teachers are so free ar?? Really?? Obviously, you dont know any teachers do u??? Of course office workers on the other hand are such angels arent they??
ReplyDeleteWell...if only you knew how often polytechnic staff are not at their desks or office and when they are, most likely they are surfing the net, chatting on FB or MSN or Gmail or some IM chat.
ReplyDeleteI know that its not hard to find some polytechnic chatters in an online chatroom during office hours or surfing friendster, adult friend finder sites or on MSN looking for women friends.
I know because I have caught my 14yr old daughter chatting with a guy from the first poly in Singapore. He prepositioned her many times with sexual leading questions. This guy's IP traces to that poly.