She crushes apples with her biceps!

James, you may have met your match, and her name's Mama Lou!

Remember this beefy butcher whom I had featured earlier?...

Well, someone who has just breezed into town has these im-pec-cable credentials...

She's American and her name is Mama Lou and we are told (above) that she "can bend metal bars, crush apples with her biceps and lift weights with her tongue" (gee, if she grips a whip with her tongue instead, it will give a new meaning to the compound word tongue-lashing!). Here she is...

So, as they say in the Westerns, this town ain't big enough for the two of them. Waddaya say, James? Your place (Bukit Timah shophouse) or her place (Sentosa, Buskers Festival, Sept 1-8). Oh, she's also billed as a busker, so here's some suitable music to go with the Big Arm-twist, ie, if it does happen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFa1-kciCb4

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(More of) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

Here's a very good recent headline, from ST:

This one-word headline is very clever, very powerful! Well-known American journalist Fareed Zakaria was recently outed for plagiarism. The headline plays on the German word schadenfreude, which means "taking delight at someone's else's misfortune". The story recounts how there were critics who seemed to have been overzealous in their attacks on Fareed, who had quickly admitted that what he did was outright wrong.

And here're some bad ones...

Why, why, do the media and the ad industry keep trying to pull the wool over our eyes? Singapore does not have seasons in the sense of summer, autumn (fall), winter or spring!

As for this one above, when have we started using the American term "soda" instead of "soft drinks"?

This is an advertorial for the taxman (IRAS). But what exactly does "Taxpayers come first" mean?

This is plain bad headline writing. Just as well, it is from a foreign newspaper, not a Singaporean one.

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As for my candidate for "ugly" (as in boorish), this man in China fits the bill (Reuters story, in TODAY, Aug 31)...

China's 'Eagle Dad' renews parenting debate

QINGDAO -- "Tiger Mother" became a buzzword last year for tough love and parenting in the United States but, in recent months, an "Eagle Dad" in China has sparked a new furore with his own brand of discipline.

Mr He Liesheng created a storm in February when a video of him making his four-year-old son run nearly naked in the snow while on holiday in New York went viral on the Internet, leading to talk about whether Mr He was teaching toughness or being abusive.

Recently, he has encountered similar criticism in the media and on China's Twitter-like microblogs for forcing his son -- He Yide, known as Duoduo -- to sail a dinghy single-handedly. Some said his parenting style risked leaving lasting scars.

Last year, the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Chinese American Amy Chua, similarly prompted furious debate about ultra-strict parenting. Ms Chua has said she meant much of the book to be parody.

But Mr He, who comes from eastern China and has been branded "Eagle Dad" by the Chinese media, has said his extreme parenting is serious and meant to prepare his son for the future.

"The big eagle pushes the young eagle off the cliff. As it falls, the little eagle has no choice but to spread its wings, and learns how to fly," he explained, quoting a Chinese proverb.

He also brushed off comparisons with Ms Chua. "She educated her children by threatening and scolding them," Mr He said. "I would never do that. I use the environment, like the waves, to do it instead."

Van Kleef Aquarium? Now, that's a different kettle of fish!

Phrase of the day: (Different) Kettle of fish

I'm sure many of us are familiar with this English idiom, whose contemporary meaning is “This is a different matter from the one previously mentioned”.

This link below provides more insights into the phrase:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ket1.htm

I felt it would serve nicely to introduce my ruminations today, on the Van Kleef Aquarium, after yesterday's peek into that ghastly world of Haw Par Villa.

Van Kleef Aquarium

Sadly, it is no longer around, having been demolished in 1998. Located in Fort Canning Park -- facing River Valley Road -- it came into existence in 1955, when I was just five years old.

What was the secret of its appeal to me (and I am sure, countless other boys) growing up as teenagers? Garfield too was enthusiastic about the idea of going to the aquarium!...

Yes, the Van Kleef Aquarium was "heaven". You are a teen and you've just snagged a date. She doesn't want to go to the movies (it's a horror flick), and you don't have much money in your pocket, anyway. Why not a meal at the nearby Hill Street Food Centre and then a stroll to the aquarium? She's hooked!

So, what's dark enough inside (apart from the brightly lit tanks) for you to easily put your arm around her waist without feeling awkward about it? Then the best part... SHARKS!

  
Okay, maybe the Van Kleef didn't have this one above -- the Great White -- but it had other kinds, mostly much smaller and more likely to be scared off in an encounter with humans. But what's to stop you from whispering in the dark, "Sharks grow to become big, mean man-eaters, you know. I hope this glass tank here is strong enough." She moves closer to you. Sherman (below) would have you get out of your comfort zone, but he misses the point. You want her to get into your comfort zone...

  
Anyway, all that is long past, the callow growing up years, the dates whose names you have since forgotten. But this baby boomer will never forget the Van Kleef Aquarium. Thank you, Mr Karl Van Kleef.

http://www.a2o.com.sg/a2o/public/html/etc/vankleef.htm

Suckling note: I was told, apart from the weird olden Chinese "expression" of filial piety as depicted at the Haw Par Villa, there's a Roman equivalent! Check out "Roman Charity" on the Internet.

Haw Par Villa's take on filial piety, its 10 Courts of Hell, and its other strange dioramas...

I thought I would blog on something non-quirky and straitforward nostalgic today, like another remembrance trip into my growing up years, and stuff like the first time my parents took li'l toddler me to the Haw Par Villa Hell theme park in Pasir Panjang.

Funnily, I don't remember much about that first visit, or any later ones, apart from some vague recollection about gory stuff my childhood eyes had seen. I don't even recall if I had taken Liane and Lynn to that theme park when they were little. Even funnier (in the funny-peculiar sense), people have of late been calling Haw Par Villa a historical landmark and even clamouring for its restoration...

Well, American humour website Cracked.com has come up with a list of "5 Theme Parks Where Childhood Goes to Die", complete with really gross pictures. Har Par Villa is listed as No 1, ie, the grossest. So, with that caveat in mind -- DON'T SAY I DID NOT WARN YOU -- here's the link:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19959_5-theme-parks-where-childhood-goes-to-die.html

No, I won't say, "Enjoy!" for this one. But it did bring back flashbacks of what I had seen soooooo long ago.

A healthy dose of quirky stuff...

Kiss-my-a** chairs?

Those Herman Miller chairs are not the only attention-grabbers. There's this quirky story from yesterday's TODAY (Aug 27) that features some special "VIP" chairs...

 

Here's the link:

http://www.todayonline.com/ArtsandDesign/Arts/EDC120827-0000010/Chair-lebrity-squares

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A seminal study?

Another quirky story -- about how a dose of semen can make women (and men) happy! -- comes from insing.com:

http://news.insing.com/tabloid/semen-ward-off-depression-women/id-c25c3f00

Study shows that semen may ward off depression in women

A new study is claiming that having unprotected sex or giving oral sex makes women happier – a claim that will no doubt make men happier as well.

Researchers at the State University of New York were analysing the effects of semen properties, which showed that it contains mood-altering chemicals that fights depression (at least three anti-depressants including serotonin), enhances mood (oxycotin and estrone), increases affection (cortisol) and induces sleep (melatonin).

The Medical Daily, a US website, reported that the study tapped into an anonymous survey of 293 female students on the University of Albany campus, which found that women who had oral sex or unprotected sex were more contented than those who used protection.

The students also had to take a test that measured depressive symptoms clinically.

The results, which were published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, found that sexually active women who never used condoms had fewer depressive symptoms than women who abstained from sex totally.

It also showed that very promiscuous women who used condoms were just as depressed as women who abstained from sex totally.

This led the researchers to suggest that semen, not sex, makes women happier.

Other studies done earlier had also recorded the effects of semen in a woman’s body: Women who have ejaculate in their system, by ingestion or vaginal absorption, have the ability to concentrate better and do relatively well at perceptive tasks.

Additionally, if a woman has regular unprotected sex with one partner, her reproductive system is able to detect semen from another man and prevent pregnancy from the “foreigner”. [Hmm, is this where beleaguered US politician Todd Akin (from the Republican Party) got his "legitimate rape" idea from?]

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Jobs, defined three ways!

Finally, someone sent this obviously pro-Republican set of irreverant pics. Don't take them seriously, hor!...

Why I'm not passing the salt and pepper; and why this man wrestles while he works!

Two personally interesting things (ie, interesting to me) happened today. I had decided to lunch "sinfully" at Beauty World hawker food centre. I had char kway teow, and since I don't eat "see hum" (cockles), lup cheong (chinese sausage) was substituted. Yum.

The first interesting thing happened when I went down to the barber at the basement level. As my shorn hair fell onto the cloth sheet wrap, I realised those discarded locks were "salt and pepper" in colour, and had that curled pattern... just like the fur of my mini schnauzer, Killer:

So it's true... what they say about dogs and their owners starting to look alike!

Next, as I passed this Korean butchery (K&J) at the Goh & Goh Building nearby, a sign inside caught my eye. So I went in and the big-sized fellow at the meat counter -- the owner/butcher himself -- obliged me by posing with the sign:

Yes, James is his name and he is a South Korean living here. He took one look at skinny me and knew I was not inside his shop to take up the challenge (his wrestling sessions are on Wednesdays, anyway).

Were there any takers this month? No, he said, he had just come back from a home vacation. But there were 10 challengers last month (July). They had all lost to him.

As I thanked him on my way out, the ex-pro wrestler added, "I have never been beaten!"

Don't just ding-dong, get to the point!

The "beer paunch" ad I posted yesterday reminded me of other ads, labels and signage that had made me take my camera out to take a pic. Some are funny, some quirky, and some are stupid (also, did you notice the Oxford comma here?):

This sign below was taken in one of Sydney's Asian suburbs by Lynn and Mike. Note that another shop further back offers a barbeque meal. So, first stop for the dong, then over to the barbeque eatery?...

This one below was spotted at a local coffeeshop...

Now, if only all food hawkers put their names to what they do, it would be so easy to recall their names... Raju Roti Prata, Tua See Hum's Char Kway Teow, Ah Dong Pigs' Organ Stall, Sar Teh Lim's Satay (Chinese stall), Salim's Satay (Malay stall), etc...

Also, "Michael Jackson" Tau Hway/Tau Hway Chwee (actually, there is! It is tau hway -- or tau hway chwee -- that has (black) grass jelly added.

And if you want Beve to serve you (below), be nice to her, hor. Actually, if the sign says what it means, it makes no difference even if you are nice. Just place your order, put the exact sum of money down on the table, and cover your ears...

Still on food, there's this brand...

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Going beyond what some people put in their mouth, this Ford Mondeo car ad wants you to maximise the power in that gear stick, and not just shift gears. Shift your gear. After all, as the tag line says, "Go Further"...

Houston, we have lift-off. Wait a minute, I see an entire face lifting off! No body in sight, just a man's face...

Face-saving note: This is just bad labelling resulting from a poor understanding of nuances. Face Lift Cream would be okay because it is accepted as cosmetic-industry terminology (I think it originated in the building industry, ie, to give a building facade a face lift). But face lifting? I can only see a literal meaning here! It reminds me of those days when travel irons were being touted as travelling irons, and serviced apartments as service apartments.

I have more stuff but I'll keep it for another day.

What do you get when you cross a chicken with a Tiger?

You get a drunken chicken. I suppose another way to cast the header above is to intro with...

A chicken walks into a bar and orders a Tiger.

Here's the chicken, while still sober:

http://www.myessentia.com/blog/blog/tag/organic-chicken/

Here's the Tiger:

So, we found out that there's this eatery called Chums whose specialty is "beer chicken" (yes, its beer of choice is Tiger). We were told to place an order in advance as it takes 30 minutes to prepare this item:

You can just see the can of Tiger peeking out. Another blogger who went to Blooie's at Faber Hills (that eatery has this item too) had a more, um, interesting pic:

http://www.misstamchiak.com/2012/03/blooies-roadhouse-say-cheers-to-beer.html

We did find the dish excellent. What happens is that the chicken is marinated in herbs and slow-roasted with an opened can of beer "strategically inserted" (*okay, if you must know, another name for this dish is beer-butt-chicken; * very importantly, as they say, don't try this at home with an UNOPENED can of beer!).

Anyway, the result is a roast chicken that's crispy on the outside and deliciously moist on the inside, infused with the beer yet with no detectable trace of beer taste. The three of us (Lynn was with us) liked it very much.

I Googled and found out that someone has a recipe for beer chicken (it is called "beer can chicken" by this blogger):

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beer_can_chicken/

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We didn't complement our meal with a Tiger each. But I like this very creative ad below that's a pitch for, not for Tiger, but a men's body toning outfit:

  

Don't get comma-tose, you could save grandma from being eaten!

A cat has claws at the end of its paws;
A comma is a pause at the end of a clause.
(Found on the Internet)

In my work, I see many examples of commas in the wrong place, or worse, missing commas when they should be there. This picture below shows why the all-important comma can save grandma's life...

The classic punctuation example is this one:

Woman without her man is nothing.

It is said that an English language class was given the above example by the teacher and told to insert the appropriate punctuations.

The girls in the class gave this answer:

Woman: without her, man is nothing.

The boys, not to be outdone, gave this one:

Woman, without her man, is nothing.

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There is a particular comma -- the serial comma aka Oxford comma aka Harvard comma. When a sentence has three or more nouns in a series, this punctuation can help avoid ambiguity.

Lynn alerted me to the example below of one hilarious use of the Oxford comma:

Here's another example, from an obviously pro-Oxford comma blogger:

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Why you should check your child's homework!

Finally, this drawing below has been around for some time. I was reminded about it by a reproduction in the latest issue of Reader's Digest:

The end justifies the means? Or, how to ensure civil servants' bums are comfy while at work.

From a page 2 "hot news" story in TODAY (Aug 23), it looks like it is now the turn of the Attorney-General's Chambers and SPRING Singapore to hunker down in defensive mode/damage control/spin, etc -- because we taxpayers have now come to know that they had purchased a brand of office chair called Herman Miller (first made infamously known to taxpayers when it was revealed that the Ministry of Manpower had bought the said brand last year for more than $570 a piece).

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120823-0000052/AGC,-SPRING-defend-designer-chair-purchases
 

   
In the case of the AGC, the Herman Miller chairs were bought at $597 each; SPRING bought its batch for $650 each.

There seems to be certain similarities in the several cases, including the recent one regarding the Brompton brand of foldable bikes bought at $2,200 a pop:

* A blogger had somehow come across the purchase and had posted his/her discovery online. This typically went viral, followed by official reaction, as well as triumphant whoops from websites less than enamoured of the government. Notice too that the mainstream media have never labelled such action whistle-blowing (to be fair, such a label may be construed to imply impropriety);

* All such cases have been officially defended as having "complied with relevant procurement rules". This is emphasised ad nauseum. Concessions are made to tweak the rules if necessary, such as relaxing over-rigid (or over-lax, as the case may be) tender requirements.

* But no official will come down to the public perception level, and I mean that of the ordinary man/woman in the street, not the critics with an axe to grind. Apropos the chairs, I would imagine ordinary people -- me, for one -- would ask, "Isn't $570 to $650 per chair for civil servants, paid by tax-payers' money, a bit over-pampering their civil-servant bums? I could walk into, say, VHive and -- only if I'm in a spendthrift mood -- buy one of its upper-range chairs for, say, $300. And that's when I'm feeling self-indulgent. Junior can jolly well make do with a $200 chair at most, even if he may sit on it longer than I will be doing on my chair to merely relax in."

And if you tell me the Herman Miller chairs come with a 12-year warranty, I will ask: do chairs need to be regularly serviced, tyres and oil filters changed, etc, like cars? If a $200 chair lasts only five years, three such chairs over 15 years will cost $600.

As for the foldable bikes, we see ads every day offering such bikes at prices well below the $2,200 price. Granted, most of them may not be light enough, easily folded compactly or -- most importantly -- be built for everyday heavy-duty tasks. How then do we explain this ad I saw recently?...

  
So, this brand of rugged, military-use foldable bike at the regular price costs $2,099. But it can be sold -- at a sale price -- for $630. Assuming that people go into business to stay in business, there is a high mark-up in the regular price for this brand advertised above.

One can go on, but I think a recent ST commentary by an NUS academic, Associate Professor Ho Yew Kee, hit the nail on its head in his concluding remarks, highlighted in this picture caption below:

At least one site has reproduced his article:

http://ifonlysingaporeans.blogspot.sg/2012/08/towards-best-practice-in-procurement.html

The one-hit wonder ('San Francisco') but what a hit for Scott McKenzie!

Scott McKenzie, who sang the 1967 hippie song, "San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)", died last Saturday of illness but ST only reported it today in its Life! section:

The mid-1960s to early1970s were a time of Vietnam War protests in the United States. Here in Singapore, we youths wore bell-bottomed long pants and had long hair too (If I can find my old photos, I'll put up one here). Then it was off to the army for National Service (I was in the sixth batch). Long hair became military "four by two" and after NS, we had to apply for a "Suitability Certificate" -- just to make sure we had no left-leaning ideas -- to get into uni.

McKenzie's sole hit was a favourite of me and my friends, even though we had no idea what hippie culture was all about and most of us had never been abroad, let alone to San Francisco! Here is Huffington Post's orbit piece, which includes the YouTube video of the song:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/scott-mckenzie-dead-dies-san-francisco-73_n_1809989.html

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But I did make my first visit to San Francisco in the 1980s (one would look odd wearing flowers in one's hair by then). I was there as a journalist on the US International Visitor Programme together with ST buddy Tom.

I fell in love with the City on Golden Hills with its wonderful fresh air and great summer weather, and I felt safe going to all the must-see places. Our hotel was a stone's throw from Chinatown, comfy but no star. I remembered asking at the front office if there was air-conditioning (I'm beginning to understand why Daikin chose "Everywhere with you" as its slogan for the Singapore market). Anyway, the hotel staff, with exaggerated bemusement, said: "We do not need airconditioning here!"

Indeed, that very first night, I was glad for the heater provided even though it was a really antiquated one.

I have since been there again, and enjoying my time there. Here's Tony Bennett's rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco":       

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryF9p-nqsWw

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Sassy comedienne Phyllis Diller -- of that era too, of those times of pre-colour monochrome TV sitcoms -- has died too, in her sleep, aged 95, on Monday. As reported in ST Life!, she was quick on the draw with one-liners:

 Here's an episode (1960s) from The Phyllis Diller Show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBhcw_qO3Y0

And, finally, here are more of her wacky quotes:

"The only thing domestic about me is I was born in this country."

"They say housework can't kill you, but why take the chance?"

"I became a stand-up comedienne because I had a sit-down husband."

"Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest (nursing) home."

"Best way to get rid of kitchen odors: Eat out."

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shovelling the walk before it stops snowing."

"We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up."

"Never go to bed angry. Stay up and fight."

It's a joke, even on taxi bumper...

The Scottish city of Edinburgh hosts an annual Festival, and one popular fringe event is a contest for funniest jokes. Thanks to Nick for reminding me of this year's event. Here are 2012's top 10:

• 1. Stewart Francis - "You know who really gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks."

• 2. Tim Vine - "Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily I was the one facing the telly. "

• 3. Will Marsh - "I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister."

• 4. Rob Beckett - "You know you're working class when your TV is bigger than your book case."

• 5. Chris Turner - "I'm good friends with 25 letters of the alphabet… I don't know Y."

• 6. Tim Vine - "I took part in the sun tanning Olympics - I just got Bronze."

• 7. George Ryegold - "Pornography is often frowned upon, but that's only because I'm concentrating."

• 8. Stewart Francis - "I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!"

• 9. Lou Sanders - "I waited an hour for my starter so I complained: 'It's not rocket salad."

• 10. Nish Kumar - "My mum's so pessimistic, that if there was an Olympics for pessimism… she wouldn't fancy her chances."

Here's the BBC's link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-19316443

Note: David and Victoria Beckham have children named Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper Seven.

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Nick also sent me this very funny text message:

Seen on the back of a bus today... [email address for] the Singapore website for Garuda:

sin-reservation@garudaindonesia.com.sg

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Speaking of which, I don't get this taxi bumper sticker ad for Daikin, the airconditioning company:

EVERYWHERE WITH YOU

And I used to see this taxi bumper sticker quite a bit, but not any more (fewer cheating spouses now, or fewer getting caught, or fewer of them riding taxis?)...

http://crossdpaths.blogspot.sg/

The 'education' of Chinese children...

Mark Kitto, a white American who first went to China as a student in 1986 and returned in 1996, married a Chinese national and lived there for the past 16 years -- wrote a compelling commentary article for the New York Times. It was reproduced in TODAY (Aug 20) under the headline "You'll never be Chinese".

His is a must-read article; what struck me in light of recent postings of mine is this extract:

...there is one overriding reason I must leave China. I want to give my children a decent education.

The domestic Chinese lower education system does not educate. It is a test centre. The curriculum is designed to teach children how to pass them.

In rural China, where we have lived for seven years, it is also an elevation system. Success in exams offers a passport to a better life in the big city. Schools do not produce self-reliant young people with inquiring minds. They produce winners and losers. Winners go on to college or university to take "business studies". Losers go back to the farm or the local factory their parents were hoping they could escape.

There is little, if any, extra-curricular activity. Athletic children are extracted and sent to special schools to learn how to win Olympic gold medals. Musically-gifted children are rammed into the conservatories, where they have all the joy in their talent drilled out of them. (My wife was one of the latter.)

The pressure makes children sick. I speak from personal experience. To score under 95 per cent is considered a failure. Bad performance is punished. Homework, which consists mostly of practice test papers, takes up at least one day of every weekend.

Many children go to school to do it in the classroom. I have seen them trooping in at 6am on Sundays.

China does not educate its youth in a way that will allow them to become the leaders, inventors and innovators of tomorrow, but that is the intention. The party does not want free-thinkers who can solve its problems. It still believes it can solve them itself, if it ever admits it has a problem in the first place.

[Do read the entire article. Here is the TODAY link:]

http://www.todayonline.com/CommentaryandAnalysis/Commentary/EDC120820-0000014/Youll-never-be-Chinese

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People not only lose their cellphones in strange places, they have a love-hate relationship with it. Otherwise, why would anyone want to oreganise a mobile phone-throwing contest (actually, I think it is a great idea)?...

New world record set at mobile-phone throwing contest

http://news.xin.msn.com/en/weird/new-world-record-set-at-mobile-phone-throwing-contest-1

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Anyway, I thought I should alert someone now living in Sydney to my blog entry with the picture of a cellphone accidentally dropped down a toilet bowl by her sister. Back came this reply:

"Haha. I had also dropped my handphone into the toilet four years ago."

So, now I know of at least one family where 100 per cent of the offspring have dropped a mobile phone into the can.

3 things revealed!

Wow, even toddlers are stressed these days and in need of kicking ass (from being swamped by tuition classes at their playschool level?) ...

Some statistics don't lie. It's true 1 in 5 people have dropped a cellphone down the loo, says someone I know, who did! (genuine undoctored picture below)...

I was wrong, someone else told me! "Sar kar" (sah-kah) is not a busybody... such a person is a bootlicker, or more crudely, a "balls carrier"...

Here's how the Coxford Singlish Dictionary explained it:

SAH-KAH

Hokkien term literally meaning "three legs". Meaning sycophancy or buttering someone up, the phrase comes from a rude hand action whereby three fingers are held up to denote supporting someone's genitalia.

"If you don't sah-kah the boss, you won't get your bonus."

http://www.talkingcock.com/html/lexec.php?op=LexLink&lexicon=lexicon&keyword=Sah Kah&page=1

Three-fingered footnote: I tried a combination of three fingers but I just could not mimic the gesture of someone "supporting someone's genitalia". Guess I'm just not cut out to be a sah-kah.

What have we done to our children?

We owe it to our children not to make them neurotic. Even if we are (by playing about with statistical data) the "richest nation on a per capita basis", we are a zone-locked, resource-challenged tiny dot that needs our future generation not to become zombies.

What we have become for sure is a Tuition Nation -- out there in the top league of similar nations like South Korea. See, for example, this yahoo article, "Real reason behind Singapore's obsession with tuition":

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/things-consider-sending-child-tuition-classes-102823408.html

Unsurprisingly, New Paper had this front page article today (Aug 18):

TODAY (Aug 18), meanwhile, published a letter on this subject:

http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120818-0000021/Education-must-not-be-rushed

Education must not be rushed

Aug 18, 2012

From Jillene Koh

 

It is with some concern that I have seen how parents can be "kiasu" about their children's education, especially in pre-school. Some parents hope to see their children bringing worksheets home as evidence that they are really studying in school.

 

However, childhood theorists such as Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Maria Montessori supported the fact that children should learn through play.

 

The saying, "don't run before you can walk", also goes for children. They have to achieve the basics first before doing higher order things.

 

However, I have seen children at the age of three, who have yet to grasp fine motor skills, doing worksheets in school.

 

I have read in a book that children spend more time doing colouring than the main work when worksheets are used.

 

For example, a child takes less than 10 minutes to count the number of stars, circles, etc, in a worksheet used in a 30-minute mathematics lesson and then spends more than 15 minutes to do colouring. It defeats the main purpose of the lesson.

 

Children need concrete materials to learn. They need the experience, like adults, who learn better through hands-on experience.

 

Some pre-schoolers attend two schools in a day, which would tire them out. All they would do is study continuously. Perhaps attending two prestigious schools may make a child smarter. But are they happy/happier?

 

Do they get the chance to interact with other children when they have to rush? When they do not get that chance, they are neglecting their social skills.

 

It may be true that one is nothing without a certificate in Singapore, but one who has strong social skills knows the way to effective communication, which helps in getting a job. Therefore, parents should not rush their children's education.

 

When I was younger, I was the only one in my class who had difficulty in doing simple addition. I got a number of canings. From then on, I was not positive towards maths.

 

However, when I grew older, I was able to understand its concepts at my own pace.

 

It was a bad experience before that, to be forced to learn fast, so as to be on par with the others.

 

It is tough for children who are forced to learn faster than their natural pace, like asking someone who does not run to do 10 kilometres in one hour for their first run.

 

Infant expert Magda Gerber formulated 10 principles for toddlers. Principle 10: Be concerned about the quality of development in each stage.

 

Perfecting skills is more important than pushing children to develop new ones, which will come when the child has thoroughly practised the old ones.

 

When parents do not rush education, their children will get a sense of accomplishment and will have fun learning, too.

 

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So, what have we done to our children?

Very rich, very healthy, and very prone to dropping cellphone down the loo...

There are lies, damned lies and statistics. That's why on Wednesday (Aug 15), I had mocked that silly survey which declared that Singapore is the "world's richest country per capita". There are people who will play around with data. If it's just for fun, as in a spoof, make that very clear. So, did I?

Just to be sure, here's ST economics correspondent Aaron Low's "very serious, no tongue in cheek" commentary today ("S'pore richest in the world? Not quite", ST, Aug 17, page B6), which echoes my own sentiments:

S’pore richest in the world? Not quite
New ranking is one among many, others paint a less rosy picture

A recent survey caused quite a few people to do a double take when it declared that Singapore is the richest country in the world.

It even predicted that Singapore will continue to top the rich league table in 2050.

The Wealth Report 2012, conducted by real estate firm Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank, said Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – its economic output divided by its population – was US$56,532 ($70,450) in 2010.

This placed it higher than Norway, with GDP per capita of US$51,226, and third-placed the United States on US$45,511, US$10,000 less than Singapore.

Similar reports that track GDP per capita, however, do not place Singapore right at the top. For instance, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which has a far wider sample size of about 180 countries, have not placed Singapore at the top.

The World Bank placed Singapore fourth in its 2010 rankings while the IMF placed it third, below Qatar and Luxembourg, which were absent from the Knight Frank Wealth Report, which surveyed just 58 countries.

Similarly, Singapore, while a country in itself, is really a city.

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pointed out in June, Singapore is not even in the top 20 of the world’s wealthiest cities, according to an index study from the Brookings Institute in the US.

The Knight Frank-Citi study also predicted that Singapore will have a GDP per capita of US$137,710 in 2050, and so retain the top spot on the wealthy list.

This projection assumes Singapore will grow by an average of 2.25 per cent a year from 2010 to 2050 – not an outlandish estimate by any means.

Economists estimate that the underlying growth potential is between 3 per cent and 5 per cent, so 2.25 per cent a year seems achievable.

But while the report reflects business confidence in Singapore’s future, as the centre of a rising Asian region, it is also questionable how reliable such forecasts might be. It takes a lot of confidence for an economist to project 10 years down the road, much less 40.

OCBC economist Selena Ling said: “To assume Singapore will just be able to grow without interruption and still be at the top in 40 years’ time – I wouldn’t bet on it.”

As it is, the past few years have shown a remarkable period of volatile growth, with Singapore sinking into recession in 2009 and then bouncing back with a record 14.8 per cent growth the following year.

The next few years will be marked by painful restructuring aimed at lifting productivity while reducing reliance on foreign workers. This will be a major challenge for policymakers, so expect growth to be choppy as productivity catches up.

And whether Singapore can then resume growing steadily will be determined more by the external economy and less by its own efforts.

But perhaps the biggest criticism against such studies is that GDP per capita is essentially an average number, which can be skewed by extremes. There is also a perception that GDP per capita is equal to incomes – it is a measure of wealth but is not a wholly accurate one.

Given that there is a wide income gap in Singapore, this means that, for the average man on the street, the high GDP per capita is probably not the most significant indicator.

Singapore’s Gini coefficient – a measure of inequality – was 0.473 last year, one of the highest among developed countries.

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Associate Professor Tan Khee Giap noted that the average figure is not representative for economies with income disparity.
“For Singapore, do you think that the average worker earns $70,000 a year? That sounds more like an upper-middle class professional,” said Prof Tan.

The monthly median income in Singapore in 2010 was $2,710, or about $32,520 a year, half the GDP per capita figure in the report.

Focusing on the high GDP per capita number is missing the forest for the trees. Singapore has not “made it” economically, and there remain many challenges ahead, such as an ageing and shrinking population, as well as the need to maintain economic competitiveness and social cohesion.

If the rosy forecast of Singapore staying at the top of the rich league is to be a reality, these challenges, and many as yet unforeseen, will have to be tackled successfully. And that, is not a given.

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Just when you thought it was safe to believe the number-crunchers again, along comes another study, declaring that Singapore is the "healthiest country out of 145 nations". Sigh.

But TODAY (Aug 17, page 2) comes to our rescue with this healthily sceptical report:

Singapore named healthiest country
But some healthcare experts and MPs are sceptical of finding by Bloomberg Rankings

by Tan Weizhen

A report by financial data agency Bloomberg that ranked Singapore as the healthiest country out of 145 nations came as a surprise to some healthcare experts and Members of Parliament, who were expecting other nations such as Japan, Switzerland or the Nordic countries to come out tops.

The report, released by Bloomberg Rankings on Wednesday, used three main indicators for countries with a population of at least one million to tabulate its total health score.

Ten per cent was placed on life expectancy at birth and infant mortality. Another 10 per cent went to survival to 65 years and life expectancy at that age.

The bulk of the weightage - 40 per cent each - went to causes of death by disease and death rates according to three age groups.

Professor Phua Kai Hong, of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and MP Dr Lam Pin Min pointed out that the Japanese, for instance, are ahead in terms of life expectancy, a common benchmark when it comes to measuring the health of a nation.

"It is not unexpected that Singapore will rank high as one of the healthiest nations in the world but being in the pole position did come as a pleasant surprise to me," said Dr Lam, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health.

Prof Phua noted that, in the yearly World Health Organization indicators, Singapore is not in top position, although it is among the top.

In determining the rankings, the Bloomberg report used a "health risk penalty" on countries with populations that led unhealthy lifestyles.

These indicators included the percentage of the population that smokes, has high blood pressure and high cholesterol, is infected with HIV or does not exercise. It also included environmental factors such as sanitation and pollution.

Despite the people in Singapore leading better lifestyles than those in other countries, Prof Phua said this is not determinative of the health of the population.

He found the study wanting in that it largely measures deaths, with 80 per cent going to such indicators.

"If you are talking about poor health, death is the ultimate climax, of course. But, in between, are we really creating the conducive environment for good health? Such a method doesn't say if people actually live healthy lives. They can live longer but, perhaps, they are kept alive because of good medical treatment."

Prof Phua felt that a better, although more difficult, way would be to measure disease rates rather than deaths.

Dr Lam was also sceptical about indicators such as smoking, HIV infection and alcohol consumption, and how these findings are obtained.

"Very often, these may be under-reported as such social behaviours can be a taboo in our culture," he said.

Both Dr Lam and MP Fatimah Lateef also said that the study did not take into account mental health, an aspect that most experts deem important in measuring the health of a population - and an area that Singapore could do more in.

While many experts welcomed the ranking, they also drew attention to areas that the Republic could improve on.

Dr Jeremy Lim, Chief Executive of Fortis Colorectal Hospital, named end-of-life care, control of chronic diseases and healthcare affordability as areas to be focused on, while Dr Lateef pointed to preventive and sexual healthcare.

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So, statistics are useful when properly used, contexted and qualified. Otherwise, be sceptical. But you can still have fun with statistics, especially in the marketing of products, like this one making a sales pitch for "waterproofed" cellphones: