This is for students who want to improve their concentration and memory recall...

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A change of mindset ... go for all A1s

With some encouragement and motivation, a Sec-4 girl has decided to go for all A1s in her O-level examinations this year. She has already obtained an A2 for her Chinese Language. Her mother was so delighted and spontaneously promised her a special gift that the girl longs to have. I wish her success...

What has gone wrong with our children?

Observations:

• Students are seen smoking outside shopping malls, some even smoke in school toilets as I was told by one of the secondary school students.
• I have heard students exchanging vulgarities in buses and public places, in one instance, three girls were using vulgar words in almost every sentence they uttered in the bus.
• Some boys have conducted themselves in a certain manner, in one instance, carrying some metal bars walking in a group of 12, behaving like gangsters.
• Girls were seen sitting very indecently on the concrete parapet walls outside shopping malls.
• Media have reported that a great percentage of upper secondary students is engaging in sexual misconduct.
• I have been told by some parents that they were assaulted by their teenaged children at home.
• Many children are known to be disrespectful towards their parents, raising their voice when talking to them...
• and a host of many other undesirable behaviours.

Questions:

• What has gone wrong with our children and youth?
• Is there anything wrong with home parenting and school education?
• Whose responsibilities is it to put all these things right?

Don't Make a mockery of true education and knowledge...

When NORMAL is being perceived as NOT NORMAL!

In Singapore, students whose do not perform too well academically in Primary Six are put into what is called the Normal Stream when they progress to secondary school, while those who perform well academically are put into Express stream.

The Normal stream students are usually being stigmatised and labelled as "cannot study" type! Many students as a result of such social pressure, perception and labelling, resign to their fate and erroneously believe that they are destined not to do well in studies and hence many just give up on themselves.

Some parents of such students even feel so embarrassed and stressed to talk about their children. One mother told me if her son were to go to Normal stream in the secondary school, she would commit suicide because she could not accept it. Can you imagine how much harm such streaming has done to many students and parents?

I just hope that someone would be bold enough to stand up and abolish this streaming exercise in the secondary schools. As it is right now, I am made to understand that the Primary-Four streaming is in principle, already abolished in primary schools after so many years of feedback from the ground, but many schools are still streaming their students internally according to their academic abilities, presumably because of the school ranking exercise which in my humblest opinion is another non-useful and resource-consuming exercise to be abolished.

Until and unless the streaming is abolished in secondary schools, I just want to encourage those students who are put in the Normal stream to understand this. According to the Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, Normal has the following meaning:

1. Something that is normal is usual and ordinary in accordance with what people expect.
2. A normal person is generally healthy in body and mind, without any major defects or problems.

If you are in the Normal stream, you are perfectly normal. Those in the Express stream are not normal, by this definition of the streaming. Take heart. You are absolutely normal. Go on to study and learn normally, don't give up, don't underestimate yourself. Have strong confidence in yourself. You will continue to lead a normal life because you are perfectly normal.

Please pass this blog message to those who are in the Normal stream to encourage them and tell them that they are perfectly NORMAL!

A message of appreciation from a mother...

This is an SMS from a mother who cares so much for her son in secondary school, that she brought him to see me on a Saturday afternoon. She is also involved in the Parent Support Group in her son's school.

I am very thankful to her for she was so kind and generous that she bought five copies of my book and wanted to give them away as gifts. She was full of appreciation and even bought me a big piece of durian cake (the best I have ever tasted!) and a box of chocolates. I am grateful to her for being so gracious and grateful.

I spoke with her son in her presence, for close to two hours. The son was rather receptive of what I shared with him and found what I said made sense to him. I hope he would go ahead and do as advised and agreed. When he starts implementing those ideas, I am very sure the outcome would be totally changed and different from what it is right now. My best wishes to him... Cheers.

A personal message for all students ...

In less than a week's time, primary and secondary students will be going back to their school to start a new year of learning. Parents with children going to Primary One would be more anxious as to how their child will cope with the new school environment, new study loads and new friends. Those in other levels will be going back to continue their next level of study. It might take a couple of days or weeks for them to get settled down and engaged in their full-speed momentum again.

At the beginning of a new year and new term, one thing that is critically important for the students to do is to forget the past and look forward to new learning experience and achieving new goals and results. With this, I mean they have to forget the past success or setbacks, learn from their past and start setting new and higher goals for the new year. For example, whatever marks they obtained last year for the various subjects, add another 10 to 15 marks and make it the next goal and work towards achieving it. Success is a personal choice. It is all in the mind. So, the most important thing to change is the mindset.

Many students, by default nature, want to just pass their subjects, they do not have higher expectations for themselves. I always encourage them to first of all, acquire the mindset that they can be the top students. It is important to be the best we can be in anything we set our mind to do. Go for it and just do it. Nothing is impossible. It is all about attitude and mindset. I have challenged many students to do it and many of them have given the affirmation, though initially, many would feel that they are not good enough. Recently, some parents engaged me to talk to their children and the outcome of the sessions was promising and reassuring.

The first thing the students could do is to get a copy of my book which is meant for quick-reading and self-reflection and read it. As a result of reading and doing self-reflection, many students have made real changes to their lives such as, stop playing computer games, realise that beating parent at home is wrong, start to appreciate their parents more, decide to go for distinctions in examinations etc.

It is my wish and prayer that all students would adopt a new mindset for the new year, set new goals and consciously and conscientiously work towards achieving them. Best wishes to all students. Cheers!

A witty and humorous two-year-old boy!

A two-year-old boy whose parents are professionals from India, impressed me with his wits and humours. At this young and tender age, he is already speaking complete English sentences. The parents and other members at home also speak to him in other languages. It is amazingly rare!

The father related to me an incident of the boy. The boy likes to pull his mother's hair and wants his mother to carry him instead of walking on his own. So, the mother told him, ''A good boy does not pull Mummy's hair and does not ask Mummy to carry.'' Spontaneously and mischieviously, the boy responded, ''Mummy, I'm a bad boy!''

When I was at their home, I was talking with the father for quite a long while. The little boy started to miss his father and got impatient with me. Eventually, he could not hold it any longer, he came to me and said, ''Uncle, bye bye!'' Of course, the father scolded him and told him not to be rude!

This is a boy very extraordinary. He is doing and saying things many children his age do not. I believe he would grow up very intelligent and smart and able to connect with people well.

What does it mean to get EDUCATED?

Today, many people have mistakenly taken education to mean getting a piece of academic qualification. As a result, instead of going to school to get educated, many go to school to get certified and qualified.

In Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, education is defined as:
"Education involves teaching people various subjects, usually at a school or college, or being taught."

Webster's New World College Dictionary defines education as "the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, character, etc., esp by formal schooling; teaching; training."

Personally, I prefer the Webster's definition. It is more encompassing and it suggests that going to school to get educated means getting oneself trained and developed in different areas of life including skills and character, it is not just about getting certified for competency in the subjects studied or getting qualified eventually with a certificate or a paper qualification.

There has been much report in the media that many graduates are exam-smart but not work-smart. There are those who go to school supposedly to get educated but ended up disrespecting and even assaulting their parents.

I think it is high time schools revisit their basic purpose and start focussing on educating the students on moral and social values instead of just teaching them to excel academically.

Do not stop asking questions!

Most of us, whether students in classroom or participants in seminars, often do not ask questions even when we do not quite understand what was taught in the classroom or delivered in the seminar. Why?

Firstly, I think many of us feel shy to be the odd one out, just in case others might laugh at us or ridicule us for asking a question that is so simple and "stupid"! So, in order not to appear stupid and being poked fun at in front of others, we choose not to ask. It is said that "He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever." So, we better ask if we are not sure of anything.

Secondly, there are situations when we really do not understand the bulk of the contents, we are so "blur" about what was taught and shared that we do not even know what to ask. We could not follow the lessons or the lectures, in other words. It is a good practice for students, in particular, to read in advance, what the teachers are going to teach.

Thirdly, we might be so lazy that we wait for others to ask. If nobody else asks, so be it. This is the behaviour of people who are not so interested or have not much initiative in learning. This kind of people have to change their attitude in learning. Someone told me before, "we can be stupid, but we cannot be lazy!". It is true!

Lastly, there are those who feel proud and highly-egoistic, and do not want others to know that they do not know. They pretend that they know, so they do not want to ask questions to reveal their lack of knowledge. In fact, very often, pride hinders and stops one from learning new things. We must always be humble to learn for learning is a lifelong process.

I hope we would continue to learn by asking questions. It is by asking that we get the answers, It is through asking the right question that we get the right answers.

Down with Elite Schools!

Why is there such a label called "Neighbourhood" school?

My blogpost on "Stop putting labels on things and people" published on 30 November 2009 at my blogger site was selected to be published at the "Star Bloggers" section of BlogTV, a live talkshow on Channel NewsAsia every Thursday at 9.30pm. Check out the starbloggers' weblink...

A touching story... Children must watch....

Watch this if you have not done so before...

For the benefit of my readers who do not understand the Chinese Language. Here is a quick translation of the message...

When the phone rang, the son called the mother to take the call. When the mother picked up the mobile phone, she could not remember which button to press to answer the call. So, she asked the son again and the son apparently got agitated and asked her why after so many times of teaching her, she still did not know which button to press. The mother walked away helplessly.

While seated on the sofa, the mother could not control her bladder and wetted the sofa. The son was annoyed and asked her why she didn’t put on the diaper again. The son said that he had already told her so many times to put on her diaper. The son asked why she could not simply cooperate and was giving him so much trouble. The son lamented that after a hard day’s work, he still has to clean up for her. While removing the cushion cover, the son reminded the mother that that set of sofa was very expensive. The son told her not to sit at the sofa in future. The son went on to tell her if she still behaved that way, he would put her in the Old Folks’ Home.

The mother then patiently told the son not to get so agitated because she just could not control herself. She reminded the son that when he was young, he used to pee and shit with the pants on and she had always cleaned up for him without any grumble. And when the grandchild heard this, he told his father that should he do that in future, he would send him to the Old Folks’ Home, too.

Throughout the video, the son was reminded of how selflessly and unconditionally the mother took care of him in every aspect when he was young.

Stop putting LABELS on things and people...

Recently, in the wake of the announcement of PSLE 2009 results, this label of "neighbourhood" schools has been appearing everyday in the media. Wow! It is the first time neighbourhood schools are producing top PSLE students as if these schools were condemned and destined not to perform.

It appears that it has become a social norm here to put labels on things and people. Such labels usually carry negative connotations. Who actually started this label called "neighbourhood" schools? What do you call the other schools then? Does it mean that students in neighbourhood schools are less smart? Is it the negative consequence of school ranking exercise?

Is there a neighbourhood ITE, junior college or polytechnic? Is there a neighbourhood university? By right, Singapore Management University (SMU) should be better and more prestigious than the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) because the former resides in the City area and the latter is located at the ulu (remote) end of Singapore.

If students in neighbourhood schools are deemed to be poorer and hence less smart than those in the elite schools, then does it also mean that the principals and teachers there are less qualified, less capable and lesser paid? If not, why keep stressing the significance of "neighbourhood"? I think it is time we wake up our ideas and stop putting such non-useful and negative labels on things and people around us. Schools are schools. All schools should be treated the same. In this respect, I think it is time to abolish the school ranking exercise which has been somewhat held as sacred for donkey years.

As I have said in my previous blog, try taking the last 10% of this year's PSLE cohort and put them in the prestigious Raffles Institution (RI) and watch the results four years later in the O-level examinations! By then, I think RI might become a "neighbourhood" school by this way of labelling!!!

Three children with good upbringing...

I had the privilege of talking with a mother who was a good motivator to her own three teenaged children whose first names are all five-lettered words starting with "Ha", so when the first two letters of their names are put together, they become Ha-Ha-Ha. It is my fervent wish that this family would always be filled with laughters.

I could sense the joy and harmony in the family as I was speaking to the mother who later invited all the three children to join in the motivational discussion. The three children were very respectful, well-behaved and were doing their own things when I called at their place. The eldest would be taking his last paper for his O-level examinations tomorrow. After some simple encouragement, he decided to change his mindset and aim to score a distinction for it.

I believe all the three children would be able to do very well in their studies as long as they have the positive mindset and attitude and develope strong discipline in their daily lives. The mother was apparently very proud of her three children. I think the three children owe much to their mother's commitment in taking care of their daily well-being and providing them with lots of moral support for their character-building.

In this context, I think parents play a pivotal role in the upbringing of their children in terms of character-building and moral education. Schools should play a supportive role in reinforcing those values while performing their primary functions of teaching academic subjects.

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It is our personal responsibility to stay healthy!

We go to a doctor when we are sick. But, why do we fall sick in the first place? To a large extent, most of us do not take proper care of our health, either due to ignorance or indifference. When we visit a doctor, we expect to be treated. The doctor will diagnose our health problem and then prescribe medications to treat the problem. Does the doctor suggest any other alternative treatment? Obviously not.

Even if you ask the doctor about some alternative treatment or natural remedy, the doctor would usually tell you that it is not clinically proven and tested! The fact is that most of the doctors are only trained in western evident medicines, but not the natural remedy and nutritional health.

Does the doctor tell you and show you how to take care of your health so that you become healthy and don't have to visit him anymore in future? At most, he will ask you to do some exercise, It is obviously not his job and not in his own interest to tell you how to stay too healthy or else, he would be out of business! Isn't it true? Therefore, it is our personal responsibility to take care of our own health.

Get ourselves educated on health and nutrition by reading books and articles, eat a balanced diet daily, and if that poses a challenge, take some good natural food supplements to prevent certain diseases. As long as we become more aware of how to keep ourselves healthy amd remain healthy, we will live a life that is happier and more fulfilling.

Time to release the valve of the EDUCATION pressure boiler?!

It is heartbreaking to learn of another case of student committing suicide, this time, a Primary 5 student, aged 11. This incident, together with other past similar incidents, should have served enough wake-up calls for those managing the education system. How many more lives that go to get "educated" must be lost before the pressure valves are prepared to be released in the education pressure boiler? Though many seemingly good steps have been discussed and some implemented a little too late. I strongly feel that more drastic positive changes should be implemented.

Education is about a holistic nurturing of an individual, not just academic excellence, but character building, personal responsibilty and morality as well. Parents, schools and community all play a part in the wellbeing of the students who are sent to school to be "educated", not to "study"! Recently, someone poked fun at the name "Ministry of Education", he said, it should be renamed "Ministry of Knowledge" instead, based on what has been happening in the education arena.

I have personally been aware and talked to some families where the teenaged children at home assault their parents. Just recently, an NTU student got beaten up and his laptop smashed because of some squabble over a minor disagreement over the online game they were playing as a group. Such gaming-addiction turned violent is not the first case that happened. Gaming addiction and online rage are becoming more worrying now. Sexual misconduct is another growing problem amongst the teenaged students.

Why are such undesirable behaviours becoming more and more prevalent amongst the youths? Problems are multi-faceted. There is no need to blame any particular body or party. I think students, parents, schools, ministry of education, community all have a role to play to eliminate these undesirable behaviours through a holistic education that does not take the fun and joy out of learning. Students should go to school to learn, not to study. Study is just for examinations, learning is for life. Study is stressful, learning is fun.

Therefore, stop emphasising and demanding academic excellence from students at large, those who are born leaders and with high IQ can be transferred to those so-called good and reputable schools and study to become future leaders; the rest, give them a break, let them go through the normal education path. Forget about streaming students into express, normal classes etc. where the word normal has already lost its original meaning! The Normal stream students today are being perceived as not-so-normal. Let every student complete a 10-year basic education up to secondary four, take their O-level examinations and carry on from there whether in ITE, Polytechnics, Junior College or start working. This will have more positive effects on the majority of the student population.

Many students told me very candidly, "I hate studies!!!". This is a fair and realistic statement that points towards the nature of the education system that many students and even parents till now still feel negative about, though many have really no alternative but to accept it with reluctance and some even pay a high price, not just emotionally but financially as well. Look at the recent comments posted on the internet by parents concerning the high level of difficulty of the recent PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) papers reportedly Mathematics and Chinese, as I read it over the internet.

May be, from now on, we should stop using the word "students", instead, we should call those who go to school to get educated "learners" because students only study, learners learn. As I mentioned earlier, study is stressful while learning is fun. Would someone commit suicide when he or she is doing something that he or she enjoys and is fun? Think about it.

Still very much a textbook-answer education system!

My son told me recently that in one of his English class tests, a fill-in-the-blank question was asked: Bruce Lee is a Kung Fu ______________ . My son and some classmates answered : master. They were marked wrong and were told the answer is: actor.

Goodness me, I am a Bruce Lee's fan, both his Kung Fu and movies, since my childhood days, and my son is currently watching The Legend of Bruce Lee every Sunday. I think he knows Bruce Lee better than the teacher who marked his answer wrong.

This is the trouble with the education system in Singapore, there is no room for creative and outside-textbook answers even though here and there, those in education always sing and preach creativity.

I still remember, when my eldest was in Primary Four, the Mathematics teacher told the class to use only the first method while there were three other methods listed, to solve the problems given in the Mathematics textbook. How to promote and encourage creativity with this sort of instruction? I thought a more creative way would be to tell the class to use any of the three methods but try to think of the fourth method if they could!

A young girl in my neighbourhood, while in Kindergarten, during colouring lessons, she coloured a refrigerator black. The teacher told her that there is no black refrigerator! The girl told the teacher, "The refrigerator in my house is black in colour!". On a separate occasion, the teacher taught the class, "Red apples can eat, green apples cannot eat.". The girl went home telling the mother, "My teacher said green apples cannot be eaten." when the family has been regularly eating green apples.

I think it is high time such teachers wake up their ideas, and those who are put in-charge in the respective ministry should put their ears to the ground to hear what is going on at the ground and operational level, even though some positive things are being introduced into the preschool education system right now.