Education Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday (31 Jan) spoke of two concerns he has about Singaporean students who are entering or have already entered the jobs market, after having got feedback from employers:
1) a lack of drive;
2) a lack of confidence in leaving their comfort zone to try something new.
As reported in ST (1 Feb, "Lack of drive in S'porean students a worry", page A10), Mr Heng said those two qualities are what bosses and top executives had singled out to him as being essential to succeed in today's global playing field.
Speaking to some 300 university students who had gathered at Singapore Management University for the ministerial forum, he said the bosses told him drive was a highly desired trait but "we are not seeing enough of that".
[So, the minister decided to play village idiot...] "I said, how can that be? Our students work very hard," he said, adding that he had a long discussion with the top honchos. No solutions were thrown up.
As for the comfort zone issue, Mr Heng said one CEO contrasted the different responses from Singaporeans and Europeans when told they were being promoted.
In Europe, when the CEO told workers he wanted to try them out in a new role with different responsibilities, "the staff asked, what sort of training will I get, how will you help me succeed, what will I do, and so on".
But when the CEO approached Singaporeans, he was shocked by the response: "What if I fail? Do I still have a job? Is there a support system, and do I get retrenchment benefits?" [Hmmm, I believe a triple-playbook is at work: kiasi (afraid to die), kiasu (afraid to lose), and always cover your ass (CYA)!]
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It looks like these two concerns -- the lack of drive and derring-do -- will be hot topics in the days ahead. Meanwhile, I am puzzled by the choice of name of the university student outfit that organised the ministerial forum: SMU Apolitical.
Most dictionaries will define "apolitical" as politically apathetic or averse to politics. Or, to put it in Singlish, "boh chap" (no heck care!) or "cheng hoo tai chi" (roughly translated, anything political... leave it to the government to take care of it!).
Granted, some dictionaries may concede a second meaning: taking an unbiased position in regard to political matters. But this meaning has yet to attain primacy. I can understand why this student body has avoided using words like "non-political" or "non-partisan" but it should have more drive and derring-do and come up with a better name than SMU Apolitical. Or was it a Freudian slip?
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I can think of at least two other local organisations with names I find puzzling:
Action For Aids
Centre For Fathering
And I have a further quibble, this time about a street name. Today's ST reported a court case in which a driver had crashed her car into another car at the junction of Commonwealth Avenue West and Vista Exchange Green.
Huh? Who came up with such a silly street name as "Vista Exchange Green" (even if there's a building there called Vista Exchange)? Incidentally, the map I looked at showed the other road as North Buona Vista Road, not Commonwealth Avenue West.
I'll keep a lookout for more silly/strange names!
Pending Road?
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