Obama raised some interesting debate about how education should be tackled and guided in the coming 21st century. I think as educators and students, one of the most fundamental question which we all too often neglect to ask is what is education for. My point is that often all the questions you hear out there are all about what schools are for, what teachers should do, what students should learn and yet at the same time, day after day, we go through meaningless activities and lessons in school just because we all take for granted this is what education should be like.

“Don’t tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend most of the year preparing him to fill in a few bubbles on a standardized test,” Obama said Tuesday. “Let’s finally help our teachers and principals develop a curriculum and assessments that teach our kids to become more than just good test-takers.”

Random | 2 Comments »

If you haven’t heard of the greatest offer now on, then you better listen up.

Adobe is now offering its ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 3.3 WEB PREMIUM to all MOE students and educators for only $97 (incl GST) !!! Check out the information here.

This is an absolutely crazy offer! Adobe CS 3 Web Premium includes

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
• Adobe Illustrator CS3
• Adobe Fireworks CS3
• Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional
• Adobe Contribute CS3

Have Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Acrobat in the same package is a totally-crazy-less-than-$100 bargain! There is simply no excuse for you to say you couldn’t afford Photoshop anymore!

What are you waiting for? I paid for the whole thing in July last year at over $800!

P.S. The second offer comes from Threadless.com! Go see their website. Sigh everything is now $2 more.

Random | 3 Comments »

It is not Singapore of course.

• It is a welfare state. Their welfare expenditure is 23% of GDP.
• It has the highest divorce rate in the world.
• It also has the highest birth rate.
• It has the highest percentage of working women.
• It’s citizen has the 2nd longest life expectancy at 81.8 years.
• Until the 20th century, it was one of the poorest country in Europe.
• It has a population of a bit more than 300,000. (N.B. Singapore’s population is about 4.68 million.)
• It is the number one country on the UN Human Development Index. (N.B. Singapore is 25, above South Korea.)
• It is now the country with the 4th highest living standard according to their Purchasing Power Parity. (N.B. Singapore is 6.)
• It is also the 4th most productive country in the world according to GDP per capita. (N.B. Singapore is 21.)
• It is one of the most egalitarian society with one of the lowest Gini coefficient of 25 which measures income equality. (N.B. Singapore is 42.4, just above Iran.)
• It has an unemployment rate of less than 1%. (N.B Singapore is 2.1%)
• It is the 18th largest island in the world, with a total surface area of 103,000 km².
• It is a country with no armed forces.
• It has the lowest crime rate in Europe.
• It is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system in the government. They elected the world’s first women president.
• Their president’s salary is ISK1,465,000 (US$19,728). (N.B. Singapore’s president salary is S$3,187,100. (US$2,329,751))
• They have 9 months fully paid childcare leave, which can be split between either parent.
• Almost everyone speak 3 languages there.
• Education is largely free, even up to university level.
• About every one above the age of 17 owns a car.
• This is their flag.

This country is Iceland.

You should go read about this wonderful country in this recent informative article inside the Guardian. I am beginning to consider immigrating there. Lots of space with no people, terrific landscape. Isn’t that just perfect?!

Partly by dint of travel, partly by accident, Iceland, we agreed, was a melting pot that had contrived to combine humanity’s better qualities, offering a lesson for the rest of the world on how to live sensibly and cheerfully, free from cant and prejudice and taboo.

(more…)

Random | No Comments »

Hahahhaha!

Well looks like a lot of you needn’t worry about your future partner, because our Big Brother is already looking out for you according to this report (all the way from UK!). The things you find out about yourself from other people right?

The Singapore government is offering students lessons in seduction in an attempt to boost the city state’s flagging birth rates.

Students at two polytechnics can earn two credits towards their final degree by choosing the love elective. Activities include watching slushy films, holding hands and “love song analysis”.

An 18-year-old mechanical engineering student, Isabel Seet, told the local Straits Times newspaper: “My teacher said if a guy looks into my eyes for more than five seconds, it could mean that he is attracted to me and I stand a chance.
advertisement

“It’s very interesting, and if I have a boyfriend in future, I’ll know how to cope with any problems we may have.”

So if you have ‘problems’, you know where to go for answers!

Random | No Comments »

How many of you will be willing to quit school to become singers?

According to Alvinology, the recent Singapore Chinese music pop sensation wannabe, BY2, quit their Secondary 3 studies last year to pursue their singing dreams in Taiwan. Part of the controversy stems from the fact that they have to lie to their teachers and the school when they submitted their drop-out letter.

I hope none if you will feel that you need to lie to me if you have to do such a thing.

So the question is again, would you give up your studies to become a pop star? Please vote on the right!

Music, Random | No Comments »