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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - A very touching letter to PM Lee</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>LauZoeTay <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>10:10 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 3) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>21096.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Mr Lee,
I used to be working, but phase out of work because of FTs. I have 2 diplomas.. one from Ngee Ann Poly and another from the US , but worked as teacher assistant in an international school. I worked half a day, ie. 8 to 12 to accomodate my children schedule. A mother has got to be home when the children are at home, goodness know how stressful the education system is and goodness reporting on papers all the monkey business our teenagers are doing in the open ! (10 years ago, I was giving tuition to a Sec 2 girl, and every week when I was there, the elder sister of the Sec 2 girl would be in a closed door with her boyfriend.)
Because of the responsibilities as a parent, that is why I work half a day, but I was retrenched due to the FTs. Not that they are better, as I was more hardworking and more efficient... that was what the chinese teacher told me.. The FTs can do anything bc they left their home country, and so can even work round the clock, but we are different. We have families and that spell responsibilities and time !
It is not that Singaporeans are fussy, but we have family commitments. How to find keep work and family in balance when what employers want is give-give-give since there are easily available, foreigners? Put the flexi-work scheme in law, and more housewives will be delighted to work half-day while the children are in school, than to depend on FTs ! You see, if the employers can employ FTs easily, why rely on Singaporeans ?
I went for an interview for a teaching job recently, but was told that I need to work during the holidays too. Now my questions is : teachers do need a break to re-charge, but the private schools do not think so. .. so the easy alternative is to get FTs. I have my children to care for, and so I cannot work, not that I do not want to, but there are no opportunities with unfriendly family-work condition. Didn't the educators tell us that we need to spend time with the children while growing up, or face dire consequences ?
It is so hard-pressed to be parents in Singapore. Now, get the link.. that is why many young couples do not want children no matter what kind of carrots are dangled in front of them. If I can turn back the clock, yes.. I would say NO to children, after having to sacrifice my career, and sanity to race through the stressful education that we are having, and to think again, my children will face the same dilemma that I am facing...FTs will easily available to take their work.. that is a frightening tot.Maybe one of the solution is.. to get out for good.. because as I experience now, there is no advantage to being a Singaporean in our own home country ! What an irony ! The country should take care of his citizens first, but fails to do so because all the top brass PAPpy are lopsided - all supposedly made up of very smart and intelligent men/women who are too smart and extra-ordinary to understand the life and struggles of the average Singaporeans ! Isn't it the people who made the nation, and not the other way around ?
To those who are doing well now. What can you ensure that your children will be able to earn a decent living here ? Frightening tots. See our govt does not listen to us. They inform us . You either take it or leave it... so we die la.. fighting with the FTs ! Anyway the PAPpy need not fight with FTs, their job is theirs to keep for life, with tons of money thrown in !
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I used to be working, but phase out of work because of FTs. I have 2 diplomas.. one from Ngee Ann Poly and another from the US , but worked as teacher assistant in an international school. I worked half a day, ie. 8 to 12 to accomodate my children schedule. A mother has got to be home when the children are at home, goodness know how stressful the education system is and goodness reporting on papers all the monkey business our teenagers are doing in the open ! (10 years ago, I was giving tuition to a Sec 2 girl, and every week when I was there, the elder sister of the Sec 2 girl would be in a closed door with her boyfriend.)
Because of the responsibilities as a parent, that is why I work half a day, but I was retrenched due to the FTs. Not that they are better, as I was more hardworking and more efficient... that was what the chinese teacher told me.. The FTs can do anything bc they left their home country, and so can even work round the clock, but we are different. We have families and that spell responsibilities and time !
It is not that Singaporeans are fussy, but we have family commitments. How to find keep work and family in balance when what employers want is give-give-give since there are easily available, foreigners? Put the flexi-work scheme in law, and more housewives will be delighted to work half-day while the children are in school, than to depend on FTs ! You see, if the employers can employ FTs easily, why rely on Singaporeans ?
I went for an interview for a teaching job recently, but was told that I need to work during the holidays too. Now my questions is : teachers do need a break to re-charge, but the private schools do not think so. .. so the easy alternative is to get FTs. I have my children to care for, and so I cannot work, not that I do not want to, but there are no opportunities with unfriendly family-work condition. Didn't the educators tell us that we need to spend time with the children while growing up, or face dire consequences ?
It is so hard-pressed to be parents in Singapore. Now, get the link.. that is why many young couples do not want children no matter what kind of carrots are dangled in front of them. If I can turn back the clock, yes.. I would say NO to children, after having to sacrifice my career, and sanity to race through the stressful education that we are having, and to think again, my children will face the same dilemma that I am facing...FTs will easily available to take their work.. that is a frightening tot.Maybe one of the solution is.. to get out for good.. because as I experience now, there is no advantage to being a Singaporean in our own home country ! What an irony ! The country should take care of his citizens first, but fails to do so because all the top brass PAPpy are lopsided - all supposedly made up of very smart and intelligent men/women who are too smart and extra-ordinary to understand the life and struggles of the average Singaporeans ! Isn't it the people who made the nation, and not the other way around ?
To those who are doing well now. What can you ensure that your children will be able to earn a decent living here ? Frightening tots. See our govt does not listen to us. They inform us . You either take it or leave it... so we die la.. fighting with the FTs ! Anyway the PAPpy need not fight with FTs, their job is theirs to keep for life, with tons of money thrown in !
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