///I wonder whether really you have any experience with the Singapore educational system to be in a position to make such judgements./// – Ablastine #49.

I am afraid I do.

There and elsewhere.

///Instead we call people robot. OMG!!/// – ShiokGuy

Don’t send your young children to go through the whole rigmarole of primary & secondary education in S’pore. Its like a pressure cooker there, they may turn “robots”. They won’t get (as easily) the trilingual exposure as Middle Class Non Malay students could get here (assuming parents could give them good English foundation at same time, and they know basic Mandarin). This I believe answers Godfather’s question in #27 – “given the choice between the education systems in both countries, warts and all, which system would you tell the middle-class non-Malays to choose ?”

Even they are already going to tertiary level (at 16 or 17 & above) and of reasonable maturity it may be a different story : whether you can be turned a so called “robot” depends on you.

In answer to Godfather’s second question, “Singapore has now advertised in Malaysian papers offering scholarships. Would you recommend that students here apply for it ?” – if you get a scholarship in for eg NUS (but not from other good universities of US, UK or Australia) and if in particular you don’t want children to be too far away or for other reason imbibing too much of Western values, then grab that scholarship without hesitation.

Although I question whether generally the education in S’pore can be called “world-class” by reasons of the specific drawbacks I have taken pains to point out, yet by world’s standards in terms of facilities etc NUS is otherwise considered a very good university, its very tough criteria to get in, and if you’re Malaysian you have to be better than Singaporean counterpart to get a place there, subsidised by S’pore Govt, and its degree is well recognised as a spring board to post graduate studies anywhere else that is worth considering.

But if you don’t have money and can’t get any scholarship to study in S’pore or elsewhere, and could only get into one of the public universities here (whose education you think is lousy due to politics), still do not despair, take it. Education is a right. It may still give you a basic degree as stepping stone to study elsewhere.

Parents, if able, should inculcate thinking skills of their children as early as possible for education begins at home… It is important to remember (as a student) that wherever you study, you can’t just sit back “passively” to “receive” or imbibe education from your so called enlightened educators with facilities…. You have to take charge of your own education in the sense of finding what course matches your innate talent best, acquiring knowledge by your own inquisitiveness and research on fields beyond your immediate specialisation, and learn to think and question, and have open mind and not just think that your lecturers are infallible demi gods, regurgitate materials that you think your lecturers will give maximum marks….You learn to socialise and take part in activities that engage your enthusiasms. Thats also education. (My dean used to tell me learning ‘how to touch’ was also education!) And remember when you graduate with your 1st class, Masters or PhD from whatever your university, including NUS, you are still at the peripheral of education because when you enter into the working life, thats where you enter into the real university of life where you graduate only when you die. Thats where the real education begins, and as always, you take charge of it. People can’t make you a robot unless you let them. They can’t stultify your minds unless you let them. In this sense ‘World class’ education is very much what you could control and give yourself. Not necssarily all the time what others give you that you passively receive and say you’re OK. Thats all I want to say on this subject.

///ChengHo, however you may want to call them, just remember that in the early 80s theirs s$1 was our 80cents; today their s$1 is our rm$2.50! get that? Basically an increase of over 300% of purchasing power in the world market.///#4 by waterfrontcoolie.

Based on UBS report “Price and Earnings 2009? Consultant editor Eugene Yeo analysed – in spite of S’pore having the the highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Asia at $49,288 according to a World Bank report (source: Wikipedia), Singapore is also the second most expensive place to live in after Tokyo, surpassing Hong Kong for the first time. If one measures prosperity by dividing the average annual salary by the total price of a selected basket of goods and services (as used in the UBS study) to determine how much purchasing power local wages, Singaporeans have a (comparatively) low purchasing power of only 39.9, comparable to Kuala Lumpur (39.5), Warsaw (34.0) and Bogota (33.7). Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region which are ahead of S’pore are Tokyo (82.2), Auckland (68.9), Taipei (58.9), Hong Kong (58.1) and Seoul (57.4). …Although Malaysia is still a developing country and has a GDP (PPP) per capita of only $14,215, less than 3 times of S’pore, the ordinary Malaysian citizen has about the same domestic purchasing power as the Singaporean!”, Eugene Yeo concluded.

“may be he couldn’t make it there, that is why the frustration” – Lim Kam Put.

As usual you like to make unwarranted intellectually challenged remarks. We’re only having discussion of Singapore’s education system’s drawbacks and a S’pore analyst’s take based on UBS report “Price and Earnings 2009!” and you come out with “maybe this or maybe that” without by your own admission not knowing anything about me or where I am.
Your’s a remark as meritorious or otherwise as that if I were to speculate that maybe you are making a comment from your notebook in Hospital Permai in Johor.