Last week Lee Hsien Loong finally came out clean with the government's concern about social stratification in Singapore. He noted that 'the children of successful people are doing better, the children of less successful people are doing less well....It's a big gap. It exists in Singapore, sharper than before.'
This seems to undermine Ng Eng Hen's statements just before the GE that Singapore's meritocracy education system ensures social mobility. To pove that meritocracy is alive and well, he had then flashed out statistics that amongst students in the bottom third socio-economic bracket, about half score within the top two-thirds of their Primary 6 cohort. One can only laugh and wonder how many iterations these statistcs were juggled and tossed to present a certain point. I can even imagine the irate minister dismissing sets of not good enough figures.
I have personally learnt from the experiences in my previous job to be discerning in reading historical figures. This happened when the company invited banks to submit proposals for jobs like managing a bond issue or a M&A project. Unbelievably every bank would present itself as the top in a league table. Were their statistics fraudulent? No not at all, it was just a question of being top in which geographical zone, which historical period (last 1,3,5,7 or 10 years), which criteria (aggregate of projects in terms of $ value; absolute number of projects; or number/aggregate value of projects exceeding $100m $200m etc). There was no shortage of creative criteria used to present each bank as top in the league table. In fact I was told that there is a software to help sort statistics for league tables such that the desired presentation is achieved.
It is no surprise therefore that the government and affiliates with its huge resource of think tank and software can easily produce sets of authentic figures that meet the presenter's requirement. So when LHL defended Temasek and GIC's investments in Citigroup and UBS in 2008 by citing that despite the huge write down in those investments, GIC's annual returns in the past 20 years still averaged 7.8 percent in U.S. dollar terms; a discerning reader has to ask for figures over the last 10 or 5 or 3 years as well to get a more holistic picture.
Back to Ng Eng Hen. Ooh... I feel bad for him (He preformed a minor surgery for me when he was a surgeon. Nice guy, very approachable). Just because the government's stance has changed, the statistics he presented earlier in the year may now seem irrelevant or even misleading! Well if you have asked why bottom ONE THIRD ah?, why 50%? amongst top TWO THIRD ah? you would have scratched your head and dismissed it as "Aiya I was never good at statistics in school anyway, that's why I can never understand".
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
My Teacher's Answer
Karma is based on the concept of cause and effect. We are made to be aware that various unwise actions and thoughts will lead to unfavourable effects for our future, this life and hereafter. Hence if we are skillful we may want to avoid them.
I raised a question for the teacher. So our actions are driven by fear and the objective to achieve better karma for ourselves. If such intentions arise from selfish interest how then can we ever cultivate the real loving compassion and kindness just in doing good. I am quite sure only few are blessed with the natural attributes of compassion.
The teacher provided a satisfactory answer. The good practices no matter the intention is a good start. As one practises acts for the good of others, the "I" diminishes and as the "I" diminishes the compassion grows. Yes I believe this will be a good beginning to understanding the concept of "non-self" which is a very challenging concept to appreciate.
I think about all the struggles that one goes through in life. I begin to have an inkling that they arise out of the thougths relating to "I" "My" "Mine" "Myself" and "Me".
I raised a question for the teacher. So our actions are driven by fear and the objective to achieve better karma for ourselves. If such intentions arise from selfish interest how then can we ever cultivate the real loving compassion and kindness just in doing good. I am quite sure only few are blessed with the natural attributes of compassion.
The teacher provided a satisfactory answer. The good practices no matter the intention is a good start. As one practises acts for the good of others, the "I" diminishes and as the "I" diminishes the compassion grows. Yes I believe this will be a good beginning to understanding the concept of "non-self" which is a very challenging concept to appreciate.
I think about all the struggles that one goes through in life. I begin to have an inkling that they arise out of the thougths relating to "I" "My" "Mine" "Myself" and "Me".
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Those Apple Gadgets
Steve Job was famous for developing products for people even before they knew they would want them. With his passing, there is no lack of tributes in all forms of media about this great visionary.
My first close encounter with wanting an Apples gadget arose when I discovered a discarded walkman in my daughter's room a couple of years ago. The Sony walkman was of course not an Apples product. However I was thrilled that I could possibly put the walkman in a cloth bag, sling the bag across my shoulder and thus listening to music whilst doing housework. It then struck me that I could buy or borrow audio books in CD form and listen to them using the walkman whilst doing the mundane chores. It was only when I carelessly asked my son to look out for audio books in the library that he introduced to me the I-Pod and the amazing world that it opened up for me. He taught me how to download music, BBC podcasts and loads and loads of free talks, lectures and audio books found in the net. So I borrowed his I-pod and was careful not to spoil it whilst marvelling at its sleekness when compared to the plate like walkman. Of course my clumsiness with technology caused me great anguish when I accidentally wiped out an entire of his music collection. Anyway that was a good enough reason for him to get the latest version and let his foolish mum take over the old one. To this day that I-Pod is the thing that is in closest contact with me literally. In retrospect however that product was what I already knew I wanted.
What about the I-Pad then? Well I have ever seen my grandniece playing with it like a toy and marvelled at the beautiful photographs that a friend flashed across the I-Pad screen of the shots she took on a holiday. It was just a big version of the I-Phone which I thought I could do without. That was until a couple of days ago when my husband walked away with an I-Pad from the lucky draw at his company's D&D. Since I would have more time to play with it, it is destined to be MY TOY. I left it in the box for a couple of days. Surprised at my lack of enthusiasm, my daughter demonstrated a few things availbale, one of which is reading books from the tablet. I watched in stupor as the picture of an empty bookshelf flashed the screen. When she downloaded a couple of books in minutes, the books appeared on the shelf one by one, buidling a virtual library!. Then she showed me some other amazing features. Now, now this will really be a new toy which I have not had for a long long while.
Yes in my own little world, Steve Job has brought quite a lot of thrills that suspend boredom that often accompanies aging. Indeed he did know what I needed even before I knew it.
My first close encounter with wanting an Apples gadget arose when I discovered a discarded walkman in my daughter's room a couple of years ago. The Sony walkman was of course not an Apples product. However I was thrilled that I could possibly put the walkman in a cloth bag, sling the bag across my shoulder and thus listening to music whilst doing housework. It then struck me that I could buy or borrow audio books in CD form and listen to them using the walkman whilst doing the mundane chores. It was only when I carelessly asked my son to look out for audio books in the library that he introduced to me the I-Pod and the amazing world that it opened up for me. He taught me how to download music, BBC podcasts and loads and loads of free talks, lectures and audio books found in the net. So I borrowed his I-pod and was careful not to spoil it whilst marvelling at its sleekness when compared to the plate like walkman. Of course my clumsiness with technology caused me great anguish when I accidentally wiped out an entire of his music collection. Anyway that was a good enough reason for him to get the latest version and let his foolish mum take over the old one. To this day that I-Pod is the thing that is in closest contact with me literally. In retrospect however that product was what I already knew I wanted.
What about the I-Pad then? Well I have ever seen my grandniece playing with it like a toy and marvelled at the beautiful photographs that a friend flashed across the I-Pad screen of the shots she took on a holiday. It was just a big version of the I-Phone which I thought I could do without. That was until a couple of days ago when my husband walked away with an I-Pad from the lucky draw at his company's D&D. Since I would have more time to play with it, it is destined to be MY TOY. I left it in the box for a couple of days. Surprised at my lack of enthusiasm, my daughter demonstrated a few things availbale, one of which is reading books from the tablet. I watched in stupor as the picture of an empty bookshelf flashed the screen. When she downloaded a couple of books in minutes, the books appeared on the shelf one by one, buidling a virtual library!. Then she showed me some other amazing features. Now, now this will really be a new toy which I have not had for a long long while.
Yes in my own little world, Steve Job has brought quite a lot of thrills that suspend boredom that often accompanies aging. Indeed he did know what I needed even before I knew it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
A Funny Mix
I attended a retreat for school counsellors organised by MOE yesterday. At the session I moved around with my colleague, the school counsellor from my school. So I went along and joined her ex classmates at a round table of young people perhaps all below 30. I felt rather out of place as they laughed and chatted catching up with each other. Suddenly one of them, a young woman likely to be in her mid 20s and who was seated across the table, looked at me and asked almost rudely, "Are you sure you want to sit with us?" I stared at her puzzled, wondering what she is driving at. "I mean we are very loud, you know" she continued. Seeing my speechless expression, one of her friends quipped, "only she is loud, we are not". Regaining my composure, I said "I am fine with it, maybe it will be more exciting sitting here".
I pondered why she made that remark. Did my facial expression betray any diapproving response whilst listening to their conversation? Did I look far too prim and proper for her liking? Did she find my presence suffocating or did I remind her of her mother hahaha? Phew! I was honestly a bit taken aback by such frankness. Then it dawned on me that she was probably taking care of me (counsellors are very caring you know). She probably felt I would enjoy myself more if I joined the elderly crowd. You have to know the dynamics in that ballroom of about 300 school counsellors to see where she was coming from. It was a funny mix. The crowd seemed to be equally divided into 2 groups at different ends of the age spectrum; a group of energetic young men and women and a group of patient and amiable looking elderly men and women nearing or post retirement. How does this age extremes come about? Some years ago after recognising the need to have counsellors in schools MOE embarked on 2 schemes. Firstly it opened an avenue for teachers to become counsellors after going through a crash counselling course. Another scheme incentivised retired teachers and principals to become part time school counsellors after receiving similar training. In recent years however, MOE revised their policy and differented school counsellors from school teachers ie. placed them on different schemes of employment. School counsellors came under the Allied Educators (AE)scheme which enjoyed less benefits than the EO or Education Officer scheme where teachers fall under. To help solve the problem of a shortage in teachers MOE now offered those teacher turned school counsellors an option to revert back to being a teacher. Those counsellors who chose to stay on will then be placed on the less beneficial AE scheme. Needless to say most young school counsellors chose to revert to being teachers. Those who opt to remain as counsellors tend to be the older ones. This explains the older group of school counsellors. What about the young crowd in the room then? Where are they from? Well, facing the shortage of school counsellors MOE subsequently recruited from outside any degree holders with or without counselling qualification, again providing training for thoses without. Amongst them are young social workers as well as young people from various disciplines searching for their ideal job fit.
However I do not belong to any of the groups mentioned above. I am more of a free lancer engaged by the school and not by MOE and added to the mean age of the crowd.
As the day progressed I felt rather bored sitting with that young crowd. They seemed really childish and their jest and jokes weren't funny to me at all. I was also stunned by the blunt remarks they threw at one another. I couldnt tell when they were fooling around and when they really meant what they said. Gosh this generation gap thingy is for real.
The youngsters dominated the dialogue session with the Dy Director of MOE, focusing on employment benefits, scope of work, etc. I recall only 2 remarks made by the older group at the dialogue session. One requested for the observation of a minute of silence for a colleague who had passed away recently, someone who had initiated and pushed for the school counsellors to be introduced in schools. Another remark was some kind of advice in response to comments made by a young counsellor about the unrealistic expectations of counsellors by some principals and school leaders.
At a break away session thereafter, we were told to work as a group to come up with 3words which we deemed best describe the role of a counsellor and to create a mission statement. 2 words were unanimously agreed upon by my group, namely "Care" and "Empower". There were differing views for the third word. I suggested "Empathise" whilst the same young lady across the table wanted the word "Change" and went rhetoric on why that word was so important. I could not be bothered to defend my suggestion. It was then put to a vote and "Empathise" won hands down. I felt a small victory! Who's really childish? Sigh...
I pondered why she made that remark. Did my facial expression betray any diapproving response whilst listening to their conversation? Did I look far too prim and proper for her liking? Did she find my presence suffocating or did I remind her of her mother hahaha? Phew! I was honestly a bit taken aback by such frankness. Then it dawned on me that she was probably taking care of me (counsellors are very caring you know). She probably felt I would enjoy myself more if I joined the elderly crowd. You have to know the dynamics in that ballroom of about 300 school counsellors to see where she was coming from. It was a funny mix. The crowd seemed to be equally divided into 2 groups at different ends of the age spectrum; a group of energetic young men and women and a group of patient and amiable looking elderly men and women nearing or post retirement. How does this age extremes come about? Some years ago after recognising the need to have counsellors in schools MOE embarked on 2 schemes. Firstly it opened an avenue for teachers to become counsellors after going through a crash counselling course. Another scheme incentivised retired teachers and principals to become part time school counsellors after receiving similar training. In recent years however, MOE revised their policy and differented school counsellors from school teachers ie. placed them on different schemes of employment. School counsellors came under the Allied Educators (AE)scheme which enjoyed less benefits than the EO or Education Officer scheme where teachers fall under. To help solve the problem of a shortage in teachers MOE now offered those teacher turned school counsellors an option to revert back to being a teacher. Those counsellors who chose to stay on will then be placed on the less beneficial AE scheme. Needless to say most young school counsellors chose to revert to being teachers. Those who opt to remain as counsellors tend to be the older ones. This explains the older group of school counsellors. What about the young crowd in the room then? Where are they from? Well, facing the shortage of school counsellors MOE subsequently recruited from outside any degree holders with or without counselling qualification, again providing training for thoses without. Amongst them are young social workers as well as young people from various disciplines searching for their ideal job fit.
However I do not belong to any of the groups mentioned above. I am more of a free lancer engaged by the school and not by MOE and added to the mean age of the crowd.
As the day progressed I felt rather bored sitting with that young crowd. They seemed really childish and their jest and jokes weren't funny to me at all. I was also stunned by the blunt remarks they threw at one another. I couldnt tell when they were fooling around and when they really meant what they said. Gosh this generation gap thingy is for real.
The youngsters dominated the dialogue session with the Dy Director of MOE, focusing on employment benefits, scope of work, etc. I recall only 2 remarks made by the older group at the dialogue session. One requested for the observation of a minute of silence for a colleague who had passed away recently, someone who had initiated and pushed for the school counsellors to be introduced in schools. Another remark was some kind of advice in response to comments made by a young counsellor about the unrealistic expectations of counsellors by some principals and school leaders.
At a break away session thereafter, we were told to work as a group to come up with 3words which we deemed best describe the role of a counsellor and to create a mission statement. 2 words were unanimously agreed upon by my group, namely "Care" and "Empower". There were differing views for the third word. I suggested "Empathise" whilst the same young lady across the table wanted the word "Change" and went rhetoric on why that word was so important. I could not be bothered to defend my suggestion. It was then put to a vote and "Empathise" won hands down. I felt a small victory! Who's really childish? Sigh...
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Synchronicity
Synchronicity, as explained by wikipedia is "the experience of two or more events, that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner".
I experience synchronicity occasionally in counselling.
Of late I am counselling an adult who has loads of self awareness and being trained in counselling herself, puts before me her own psychoanlaysis of herself. I tell you it's not easy when you are aware that your client is silently naming the therapy you are applying with her and perhaps doubting its usefulness. So I told myself I really need to think through and do some research before the next session.
Nowadays I am always wearing a earpiece whilst doing housework, listening either to BBC podcasts or some interviews etc. These I download into special folders in my ipod. I seldom listen to music. Conditioned as an utilitarian to make the most out of time spent on mundane housework, I will try to gain some knowledge listening to these podcasts. That particular morning however I hit on the music playlist quite accidentally and let the song run, thinking of switching back to my usual podcast folders when it finished. Strangely enough after the song ended a philosophy lecture came on in the 'music' playlist. It is really strange that I have wrongly downloaded the lecture onto the music folder and have quite forgotten about it. As I listened to the content of the lecture it strikes me that the information may be of great interest to my adult client and discussing it with her may help lead to even deeper insights.
You may call the above just a coincidence but I have encountered a couple of others as well. It occasionally happens when I go to fetch my child client from class to my counselling room, the teacher says it is not a good time for the child to miss his lesson. This happens when the teacher swaps the timetable a bit and is teaching a core subject. When this happens I may think of other students that can fit into the time slot thus changing my own schedule a bit. It happens more than once when I went to look for a substitute, it occured that something unpleasant had just happened to the alternate client. He or she could be in a fit of tears having jut been penalised by the teacher or something bad had happened in the family and the child needed someone to confide in.
There were also chance meetings with teachers or student care supervisors that provided very useful and much needed information about the latest develpment of a certain child.
Synchronicity or good coincidences may arise as a guidance from somewhere which is beyond our comprehension. If that is what I subconsciously believe, it explains what I did one night. That night before going to bed, I looked out of my window at the full moon. That day my thoughts were quite engaged by the reported behaviour of a particular child. I find myself thinking about his mother who committed suicide 3 years ago. I looked up at the sky and whispered softly "If you are there and if you can, please help me help your son."
I experience synchronicity occasionally in counselling.
Of late I am counselling an adult who has loads of self awareness and being trained in counselling herself, puts before me her own psychoanlaysis of herself. I tell you it's not easy when you are aware that your client is silently naming the therapy you are applying with her and perhaps doubting its usefulness. So I told myself I really need to think through and do some research before the next session.
Nowadays I am always wearing a earpiece whilst doing housework, listening either to BBC podcasts or some interviews etc. These I download into special folders in my ipod. I seldom listen to music. Conditioned as an utilitarian to make the most out of time spent on mundane housework, I will try to gain some knowledge listening to these podcasts. That particular morning however I hit on the music playlist quite accidentally and let the song run, thinking of switching back to my usual podcast folders when it finished. Strangely enough after the song ended a philosophy lecture came on in the 'music' playlist. It is really strange that I have wrongly downloaded the lecture onto the music folder and have quite forgotten about it. As I listened to the content of the lecture it strikes me that the information may be of great interest to my adult client and discussing it with her may help lead to even deeper insights.
You may call the above just a coincidence but I have encountered a couple of others as well. It occasionally happens when I go to fetch my child client from class to my counselling room, the teacher says it is not a good time for the child to miss his lesson. This happens when the teacher swaps the timetable a bit and is teaching a core subject. When this happens I may think of other students that can fit into the time slot thus changing my own schedule a bit. It happens more than once when I went to look for a substitute, it occured that something unpleasant had just happened to the alternate client. He or she could be in a fit of tears having jut been penalised by the teacher or something bad had happened in the family and the child needed someone to confide in.
There were also chance meetings with teachers or student care supervisors that provided very useful and much needed information about the latest develpment of a certain child.
Synchronicity or good coincidences may arise as a guidance from somewhere which is beyond our comprehension. If that is what I subconsciously believe, it explains what I did one night. That night before going to bed, I looked out of my window at the full moon. That day my thoughts were quite engaged by the reported behaviour of a particular child. I find myself thinking about his mother who committed suicide 3 years ago. I looked up at the sky and whispered softly "If you are there and if you can, please help me help your son."
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