the most depressing thing I’ve read in a while that all the more reinforces my desire to get out of Singapore asap. call me a quitter but I’m not going to sit around and wait until I’m close-to-sucked dry by the locality here.
So, old men have been making some interesting noises:
From the article Tuition Culture has to go, say MPs reported by Today Online.
“Despite government efforts, Singaporeans still have the mentality that getting good grades is the ticket to securing good jobs and a bright future, MPs noted.”
I wonder what efforts the MPs are referring to here. What exactly is the problem that the government thinks needs fixing? Lots of amateur laymen shooting their mouths off proposing solutions in Parliament — why does everyone think that problems in the education system need to be fixed with education policy? How about labour policy? The article brings up a number of possibilities, but I suspect that the government is having too much fun playing amateur problem-solver to successfully identify what the real problem is.
(1): Tuition is the problem – shouldn’t be necessary to get good grades.
There’s…
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postcards from far away 
“… all the more reinforces my desire to get out of Singapore asap. call me a quitter but I’m not going to sit around and wait until I’m close-to-sucked dry by the locality here….”
That’s more or less how I felt ten plus years ago when I went to university — I felt like I would do anything in order to get out.
Now that I’ve been back for quite a bit, let me tell you, you do put down roots and find things worth staying and fighting for. Despite the bleakness of my post, I’ve been lucky in many ways — luckier by far than many.
I do struggle with a sense of disenfranchisement from time to time, the “Singapore you are not my country” vibe that crops up whenever things don’t turn out the way I’d like. But I think as you grow into your own skin you get a better sense of how you can make things better for yourself and for others you care about, and that sense of capability might make you less inclined to cut and run, more inclined to stay and fight.
Certainly, we’ve got a great number of talented people in Singapore who could easily have had greater success overseas, who’ve decided to stay and stick it out. Our arts community is the richer for it, as are our diversity and civil rights movements.