One can make all sorts of erudite arguments about the nobler aims of education but, in Singapore at least, most parents want to see their children not just pass exams but excel in them too. This ex-teacher and current tutor, in a well-argued letter to ST (Oct 16) below, justifies the role of tuition in the current make-up of the public education system here in Singapore:
So, if the writer is spot-on, tuition here has become complementary to the formal structure. I must assume Ms Ng (above) tutors a small number of "tutees" (I was poised to claim that I've just made up this ugly-sounding word but an online check showed that it -- unfortunately -- already exists!).
So, deductively, good tuition depends on good tutors teaching a small batch of "tutees" (better still, offering them tuition on a one-on-one basis). I will not attempt any definitions here but one must assume that excellent tutors might even make excellent Ministry of Education consultants, if these chap in the ad below have indeed found the Holy Grail of the purpose of education in Singapore (to excel in exams):
One must also assume that parents run the risk of short-changing themselves if they opt for cram-style post-school lessons tuition classes:
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To not produce idiots like these (thanks, Lye Poh, for passing this on)...
No: 1 Idiot
I am a medical student currently doing a rotation in toxicology at the
poison control center.
Today, this woman called in very upset because she caught her little
daughter eating ants.
I quickly reassured her that the ants are not harmful and there would
be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital.
She calmed down and at the end of the conversation happened to mention
that she gave her daughter some ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants.
I told her that she better bring her daughter into the emergency room right away.
~~~~~~~~~~
No: 2 Idiot(s)
Some Boeing employees on the airfield decided to steal a life raft from one of the 747s. They were successful in getting it out of the plane and home.
Shortly after they took it for a float on the river, they noticed a Coast Guard helicopter coming toward them. It turned out that the chopper was homing in on the emergency locator beacon that activated when the raft was inflated.
They are no longer employed at Boeing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No: 3 Idiot
A man, wanting to rob a downtown Bank of America, walked into the Branch and wrote this on a slip he took from the counter, “Put all your muny in this bag.”
While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, he began to worry that someone had seen him write the note and might call the police before he reached the teller's window.
So he left the Bank of America and crossed the street to the Wells Fargo Bank. After waiting a few minutes in line, he handed his note to the Wells Fargoteller.
She read it and, surmising from his spelling errors that he wasn't the brightest light in the harbor, told him that she could not accept his stickup note because it was written on a Bank of America deposit slip and that he would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank of America.
Looking somewhat defeated, the man said, “OK” and left.
He was arrested a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line back at
Bank of America.
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No: 4 Idiot (or, maybe, almost an idiot?)
A motorist was unknowingly caught in an automated speed trap that measured his speed using radar and photographed his car. He later received in the mail a ticket for $40 and a photo of his car.
Instead of payment, he sent the police department a photograph of $40.
Several days later, he received a letter from the police that contained another picture, this time of handcuffs. He immediately mailed in his $40.
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No: 5 Idiot
A guy walked into a little corner store with a shotgun and demanded all of the cash from the cash drawer.
After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of Scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and said, “Because I don't believe you are over 21.”
The robber assured her that he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because she didn't believe him.
At this point, the robber took his driver's license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk.
The clerk looked it over and agreed that the man was in fact over 21 and she put the Scotch in the bag.
The robber then ran from the store with his loot.
The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address of the robber that he got off the license. They arrested the robber two hours later.
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No: 6 Idiot
A pair of robbers entered a record shop nervously waving revolvers.
The first one shouted, “Nobody move!”
When his partner moved, the startled first bandit shot him.
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No: 7 Idiot
Seems there's this guy who wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run.
So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back knocking him unconscious.
It seems the liquor store window was made of Plexi-Glass. And, yes, the whole event was caught on videotape.
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No: 8 Idiot
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road.
The reason? “Too many deer are being hit by cars out here. I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing any more.”
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