Wooden Insist on NS for Sporns, Jobs for FTrash

[makapaaa]

SM Goh says schools must produce students for post-crisis world
By S.Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 27 June 2009 2122 hrs
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Students in Singapore</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD class=update> </TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD><TABLE style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=240><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=topic vAlign=top> Video </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc vAlign=top>

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</TD><TD class=bodytext vAlign=top width="60%" align=left>SM Goh says schools must produce students for post-crisis world</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top background=images/dotline_240.gif align=left>

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SINGAPORE: Singapore's Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong, said schools need to produce students who are ready to cope with a new post-crisis world.

But as schools prepare students to seek opportunities overseas, Mr Goh said there is also the challenge to get them to think about Singapore when they are working abroad and contribute to their country of birth.

Addressing the 70th anniversary gathering of Chung Cheng High School on Saturday evening, Mr Goh said countries which better educate their citizens today will out-perform others tomorrow.

And so schools should prepare students to compete against their peers in Shanghai, Stockholm and San Francisco, and prepare them for economic opportunities in China and India.

Mr Goh said: "We need to produce students who are world-ready, students who are informed about local and global affairs, students who are able to navigate in an emerging Asia and yet understand Western thought and management systems, and students who are capable of leading overseas businesses whether in the West or Asia."

He said Singapore's students need to be imbued with entrepreneurial spirit to push boundaries, adapt to change and seize new opportunities and at the same time be reminded of their ties to Singapore.

Mr Goh continued: "What we must try to achieve is to retain their emotional bonds to Singapore so that they think of Singapore as the home which nurtured them and want to contribute in some ways to the country of their birth. This is best done in schools while they are young."

And while they may work overseas for prolonged periods, Mr Goh said the young must appreciate that their advancement is made possible by the society they grew up in and the investments of their parents, their teachers, their community and their government.

Hence, they should not take the programmes to expose them both in and outside Singapore for granted.

But Mr Goh also said by preparing students to be entrepreneurial, Singapore is also giving them wings. He said more than one fifth of top A-level students from some 10 years ago are not working in Singapore now.

Still, Mr Goh said Singapore will not pull back on giving the young the best education and instead applaud those who wish to work and live overseas.

Some 180,000 Singaporeans are currently based overseas. - CNA/vm

 

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Wanted: Strong wings, deep roots
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>SM Goh urges schools to help students retain their emotional bonds to Singapore </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Chin Lian, Senior Political Correspondent
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(From left) Mr Ong Kock Hua, principal of Chung Cheng High School (Yishun); Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong; Mr Wee Cho Yaw, School Management Committee chairman and Mr Jimmy Koh, School Management Committee vice-chairman, cutting a cake to celebrate Chung Cheng's 70th Anniversary. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->More than one in five of the top students from the 1996-1999 A level graduating cohorts are not working in Singapore today.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Once a problem child, MP changed ways in Chung Cheng

Mr Low and his wife Han Mui Keow returned to their alma mater Chung Cheng High School for their wedding photos. They met at the school and got married in 1982. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF LOW THIA KHIANG

Opposition MP Low Thia Khiang was a problem child in Chung Cheng High School 40 years ago.

... more​

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>And of those from the same batches who went on to universities overseas without a scholarship bond, more than one in three are today carving out careers outside the country.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong gave these statistics yesterday to illustrate the urgency of getting young Singaporeans to sink roots here even as they become more entrepreneurial and break out into the global economy.
'If more and more of our bright students do not return, this begs the question whether our success in giving them wings to fly far and high will result in our eventual decline as a nation, especially as we are not even reproducing ourselves.
'No nation will be able to sustain its growth and prosperity without sufficient talent, much less a small country like Singapore without natural resources,' said Mr Goh.

=> Solution: Import more FTrash to depress pay and replace Sporns to drive out Local Talents?

He was speaking to more than 1,000 guests at the 70th anniversary dinner of Chung Cheng High School last night.
He urged schools to help students retain their emotional bonds to Singapore, 'so that they think of Singapore as the home which nurtured them, and want to contribute in some ways to the country of their birth'.
To do this, he suggested that schools inculcate in the young certain values, such as being appreciative of those who help them advance in life; and not taking for granted the academic, sports and arts programmes they can enjoy here and abroad, when many children elsewhere cannot.
Mr Goh hoped that the end result of such teaching would be students who have strong links with their schools, close ties with their friends and a strong sense of responsibility to their families - even if they choose to live, work and even settle down overseas.
Switching to Mandarin, Mr Goh said: 'I hope Chung Cheng and our schools will give two lasting bequests to our children. One is strong wings; the other, deep roots.
'Like wild geese that migrate each fall, young Singaporeans should be equipped with the courage, strength and adaptability to venture to distant lands in search of opportunities. But when spring returns, they will come back, as this is their home.'
Indeed, Mr Goh further argued in English, helping young Singaporeans stay rooted here was the most important challenge facing the Education Ministry.
This is because the number of young Singaporeans working overseas will grow, given that the education system is producing more and more students equipped with the right skills to go global.
He noted: 'Our continued investments in schools have produced more bright students with each passing year. In 1996, the number of local students with at least 4As and a B3 in General Paper was 541. By 2008, this number has more than doubled to 1,263.'
Even as he made it clear that he supported the push to equip the young to go global, he said: 'But here we face a conundrum. When we prepare our students to be entrepreneurial and world-ready, we are also growing wings on them.'
Mr Goh's remarks are a reminder of a point brought up in April last year by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, when he also touched on the brain drain and how it could adversely affect the country's survival.
Mr Lee noted that about one in four, or about 150 out of 600, top A-level students yearly work overseas after their studies.
This trend presented a big challenge to find successors, particularly for politics, PM Lee said then.
Speaking to The Sunday Times last night, the principal of Chung Cheng High School (Main) Mr Lo Chee Lin said that one way the school keeps its students rooted is by emphasising the need to remember one's roots.
This was a key tenet of the school's culture, he said.
It helped too that students could see the examples set by an active alumni, he added.
These include people like top banker Wee Cho Yaw and Hougang MP Low Thia Khiang, who were both present at the anniversary celebration last night.
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[Eurekas]

I didn't know the Opposition MP Mr Low TK comes from a humble background and was a problem child like Steve Chia.

 

[nickers9]

Steve Chia was a problem child from past until now.

Didnt you see he went to take nake photos with his maid a couple of years ago even when he is in his adulthood.

 

[chinkangkor]

LKY has proudly said that S'pore has a net gain of talents through its ultra-liberal immigration policies and now Goh is crying wolf that a substantial number of our top talents are overseas.

Goh can only be right if S'pore is attracting mostly mediocre foreigners to settle here and there are now a dearth of opportunities for our S'pore born top talents, leading them to seek for better advancements overseas.

Why don't the PAP govt look itself in the mirror to see the wreckage its immigration policies have done to S'pore citizens?

 

[myfoot123]

I told my niece to follow Goh Chok Tong daughter's step of marrying overseas and never look back. If Goh Chok Tong family member can do that, we the citizens of Singapore have as equal rights as those of Goh Chok Tong family to do as we wish.