The true mark of Leadership

Whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. Mark 10:44


All school is a good school
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zrcrkZKW8bs

Acid test of MOE's 'every school is a good school' statement

WHILE I am glad that the Ministry of Education has finally decided to abolish the system of banding secondary schools, I am wary about whether this will ease the acute stress of the paper chase in schools ("MOE scraps secondary school banding"; yesterday).

After returning from several years working overseas, my wife and I enrolled our son in Hwa Chong International School.

To our dismay, even such schools are not spared the acute focus on academic pursuits.

The ministry may have abolished banding, but if the best students continue to be channelled to a few brand-name schools, such as Raffles Institution and ACS (International), the public does not require a banding scheme to know that these are among the top schools.

The proof of the ministry's statement that "every school is a good school" will be when branded schools start admitting students with normal grades, like neighbourhood schools do.
Patrick Tan

http://www.moe.gov.sg/initiatives/every-school-good-school/

What Makes A Good School?

A good school cares for its students, studying and knowing the needs, interests and strengths of her students and motivates them to learn and grow.

A good school ensures all students acquire strong fundamentals of literacy and numeracy and develops them holistically, in character, knowledge and critical competencies.

A good school creates a positive school experience for each student, making him a confident and lifelong learner.

A good school has caring and competent teachers who are steadfast in their mission to impact lives.

A good school has the support of parents and the community, working together to bring out the best in our children, and

A good school cares for and provides opportunities to all students, regardless of family circumstances.

Will a parent short change their child?

Can I request that our Ministers or MPs lead by example by sending their children to such a neighbourhood school to emphasize their meaning of "All school is a good school"!

A qualified leader is one who has learned to serve. Walk the talk!

Correct them (Our Hope) Now!

“Our education system must...nurture Singapore citizens of good character, so that everyone has the moral resolve to withstand an uncertain future, and a strong sense of responsibility to contribute to the success of Singapore and the well-being of fellow Singaporeans.”- Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education

 Failure to discipline our children is a failure to love them.

What has happened to our Asian values... the youngsters are rude, they don't respect elders, they are demanding.

The problem is Singaporeans lacks Gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is towards God while grateful towards others.

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Chirst Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

MOE to roll out new syllabus for Character & Citizenship Education
From 2014, all primary and secondary schools will offer the new Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) syllabus.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said the new syllabus is linked to the life experience of students so that they can relate to it more readily.

Identity, relationships and choices, core concepts of the new syllabus, will be delivered through different activities like storytelling and discussions, such as a mini version of Our Singapore Conversation, where students like Soh Pei Xuan discuss current issues.

Soh, who is currently in primary 5, said: "... I think it (CCE) is quite meaningful and it teaches us to be more caring towards others."

CCE lessons will be conducted in the Mother Tongue, but it will also be taught through interactions with the form teacher.

Schools will also be able to customise lessons that reflect their school values.

One new component is "Family Time", which has suggestions for activities that allow parents to bond with their children and support CCE.

Mr Heng believes this component will complement the efforts from the schools.

"It provides for better bonding as well as greater involvement of parents and the community, and this is a very important effort because I think schools alone cannot succeed without the support of the parents and the community," said Mr Heng.

Core values like responsibility and integrity would not just be learned through formalised lessons.

A teacher at Yangzheng Primary School, Elena Tan, said teachers will also try to seize on 'teachable moments' during other lessons to explain these values.

"For example, in terms of Science, through these experiments, I can teach them values such as perseverance where sometimes, you don't get the first try right all the time," added Miss Tan.

Some teachers said the challenge is to get students to internalize these values and apply them to their daily lives.

To do that, the teachers added that one way is to frequently appreciate and recognize the effort made by students who do the right thing as that would then encourage them to continue to do more good.

 
Character Education provides the fundamental foundation to the personal growth and expansion of pupils through a coordinated approach across various domains.

Moral Education - "Who have the integrity, wisdim, passion and vision"; Goal is to groom students to become respectable and exemplary individuals.

Outdoor Education - Experiential learning with the aim to nuture resilience, social skills, risk taking and leadership skills.

Arts Enrichment & Appreciation - To increase aesthetics sensitivity, with the aim of exposure to a variety of genres and interest in the arts.

Community involvement
Health Education
Sports

National (Citizenship) Education

• Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong.
• We treasure our heritage and take pride in shaping our own unique way of life.
• We must preserve racial and religious harmony.
• We value our diversity and are determined to stay a united people.
• We must uphold meritocracy and incorruptibility.
• We provide opportunities for all, according to their ability and effort.
• No one owes Singapore a living.
• We find our own way to survive and prosper, turning challenge into opportunity.
• We must ourselves defend Singapore.
• We are proud to defend Singapore ourselves, no one else is responsible for our security and well-being.
• We have confidence in our future.
• United, determined and well-prepared, we have what it takes to build a bright future for ourselves, and to progress together as one nation.

As Christian parents, we have the awesome task and responsibility to lovingly discipline our children. As we impart God's wisdom to them, we have the blessing of helping them develop into responsible, God-fearing adults.

Be Fair and Just

In order to walk towards building a more gracious society, Singaporeans must recognize the need to be more forgiving and understanding toward others.

We have more than 1 milion foreign workers here, trying to live their dreams of better wages and providing  for their loved ones. Sadly, many transient workers face unjust treatment by their employer and had their dreams cut short.

Transient worker -
One who moves from job to job, maintains no fixed home, and is not associated with any particular business locality.

TWC2 Transient Workers count too
http://twc2.org.sg
One such organisation that provides assistance to foreign workers in time of needs. TWC2 promotes equitable treatment for migrant workers in Singapore. We help those in need and advocate better policies. Labour is dignified. It is minds that need to be changed.

In Colossains 4:1, "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven."

Though we may not own a company, we do have regular contact with a variety of people. As believers, it is important to be ethical in our dealings. We can also, with God's enablement care about others' well being through prayer, encouragement and meeting their physical needs.

Galatians 6:9-10; Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

God blesses us so that we can bless others.

On the subject of being FAIR

Professor Lim Chong Yah reiterates need for 'shock therapy'

Six months after his call for the Republic's economy to be put through "shock therapy" ignited intense public debate - with the Prime Minister and several ministers criticising his proposals as risky and unsustainable - Professor Lim Chong Yah yesterday reiterated that they were needed to stem worsening income inequality and arrest an over-reliance on low-cost foreign labour.

Speaking at the Singapore Policy Forum co-organised by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Economic Society of Singapore, Prof Lim argued his case for freezing the salaries of top earners for three years and called again for the institution of a minimum wage system.

Suspending raises for top earners - those who make more than $$15,000 a month - would prevent top-tier salaries from pulling further away and widening the wage gap, he said.

Salaries at the top, "already at times at stratospheric heights, should not move into a morally indefensible position of unconscionable but perfectly legal rewards", he added.

A temporary pause could see top executives choosing to pay out dividends to shareholders and themselves, and would also prevent a "spiralling effect" on the pay cheques of those who earn less, said Prof Lim, who helped overhaul Singapore's wage policy in the late '70s.

In turn, these higher wage costs could eventually make Singapore's companies and economy less competitive internationally, he added.

He noted that such a measure "can work in Singapore" because of its strong tripartite relations, giving the example of how the entire nation took a voluntary pay cut across the board in 1985 and 1998, when Singapore was mired in deep recession.

Yesterday, Prof Lim, the founding Chairman of the National Wages Council (NWC), repeated his call for another facet of his "shock therapy" - minimum wage - to be implemented.

Addressing some 200 economists, policymakers, students and guests at the forum, Prof Lim praised the NWC's recent move to recommend a minimum S$50 raise for those drawing less than S$1,000 monthly.

However, he added that if the wages of workers in the bottom tier "remain stubbornly very low in two or three years' time ... perhaps a minimum wage scheme should be seriously looked into".

This, he said, is because Singapore's Gini coefficient - cited as an indicator of income inequality - has worsened steadily, from 0.422 in 1980 to 0.473 last year, and is within touching distance of the "dangerous" threshold of 0.5.

Prof Lim, who had unsuccessfully advocated a minimum wage policy in 1972, proposed a baseline amount of S$1,000 and said he had arrived at it by examining similar schemes wages in other countries.

For instance, it was about one-quarter that of Australia, one-third that of France, and half of Japan's. Compared to Newly-Industrialising Economies, the S$1,000 figure was slightly lower than South Korea's, but higher than Taiwan's and Hong Kong's. He noted, however, that if inflationary pressures turn out to be more serious, then even S$1,000 would be too low.

Prof Lim also stressed that productivity improvements keeping pace with the wage increase were an "absolute necessity", adding that improving workers' skills must continue.

While he acknowledged the Government's "Herculean efforts" to correct the income inequality, by way of the Workfare Income Supplement scheme and the GST Voucher scheme, to name a few, Prof Lim contended that such social spending could lead to the Government having to raise taxes eventually.

And this scenario, as compared to a temporary wage freeze for top executives, was more likely to "frighten (talent) away", he said, citing the adverse impact of France's "draconian measure" of unveiling a 75-per-cent super-tax rate.

The Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics at NTU also proposed the NWC continue recommending pay raises in quantitative terms for two more years.

He said "the road ahead has to be clear that we are taking this route" so that those employers who "depend heavily" on cheap foreign labour can plan ahead and rethink their modus operandi.
Prof Lim added: "The disadvantage of announcing one year's pay increase without the commitment to the two more years would hardly have favourable impact on economic restructuring."

Government's call to increase productivity not only requires a mindset change (away with using cheap labour) but realistic action to control income gaps.

Fair
No party needs to pay costs in Hougang by-election case; In Mdm Vellama's case, the judge said the questions raised in her application "concerned public law issues of general importance", so there shouldn't be a winner or a loser...