Saturday, August 23, 2008
5:16 PM
Chua argues that there is a “…dawning realisation in the Government that the arts do have an important role to play, beyond the economic. What role do the Arts play in Singapore?
Arts have been a neglected area in Singapore, with many having the mindset that the Arts is something that only the rich engage in. For many busy Singaporeans, Arts is not something worthy to spend time on; you do not earn a living in the Arts. And for pragmatic Singaporeans, Arts merely play a economic role in Singapore. However, as Chua has mentioned in the article, Arts plays an important role in Singapore.
A role of Arts mentioned is that of social bonding, which results in social improvement. Arts provide a platform for all Singaporeans to interact, with a shared enjoyment of the Arts such as though performances, concerts and viewing of art work. Arts can therefore allow Singaporeans from all walks of life to mingle and bond over shared appreciation of the Arts. This is not only limited to interactions among Singaporeans, but with people from all over the world. As can be seen from the example of the Singapore Arts Festival organised by the National Arts Council, “artists from more than 20 countries” are invited to participate in the Festival. This provides Singaporeans to have a chance to learn more about other countries, their cultures and way of life. Singaporeans will hence be better citizens of a “Global City”.
Also, Arts provide an important “window” through which a society’s soul can be viewed. Often, Arts is a commentary of life as a whole. It provides Singaporeans with the opportunity to reflect on themselves, which many Singaporeans fail to do in our fast paced lives. Art inspires us and lets us think about life seriously. Basically said, it enriches our life. Art gives a society its soul, without it, it would be a soulless, cold society, where life is not valued and celebrated- as it should be.
In conclusion, Art builds up great civilisations and without it, Singapore would definitely be unable to progress.
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/about_the_festival.asp
http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/storage/paper144/news/2005/02/03/Opinions/The-Proper.Role.Of.Art.In.Society-850252-page2.shtml`kiawoon
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12:45 AM
Role of the Arts in SingaporeTo some the arts mean the world to them, but to others it is just a waste of time.
Though many may not realize, the Arts is becoming increasingly important in Singapore today and cannot be neglected. Besides bringing about economic returns, the Arts can serve as a form of social bonding, as suggested by the author. The Arts can help to bring people of all walks of life together, as people come aggregate to appreciate different forms of art like music, dance, and artifacts and so on. This is not only true locally, but internationally as well. The Arts help to link Singaporeans to people of other countries and exchange of culture occurs in the process. For example, many schools in Singapore today tend to send their performing arts groups for exchange programs in other parts of the country. For instance, Anderson’s Junior College’s Chorale journeyed to Italy for the prestigious Concorso Corale Internazionale Choir Competition in 2008. This shows that the Arts can help to break barriers between Singapore and other countries and allows Singaporeans to be exposed to other cultures other than our own.
Besides this, the Arts can contribute to improving the well-being of the Singapore society. In our fast-paced society with endless lists of things to accomplish, how many of us really take time to relax and say enjoy an orchestra concert or a dance performance? Needless to say, majority of us are guilty of that. With the boom in the Arts industry, there is a high possibility that our society would appreciate it more and take time to enjoy it. If this happens, the Arts would aid in slowing down the pace in Singapore, giving people more time to rest and not just focus on work, work and work. By doing so, the stress levels of people would definitely decrease, improving the overall well-being of the nation. The Arts with all its beauty and passion can also move people and maybe influence our society to be more gracious and more cultured. For example, listening to orchestras like the Singapore Symphony Orchestra can help citizens to better understand the culture of the West, from which most classical pieces derive from. This helps to improve the knowledge of our people and elevate our status as a developed nation with cultured people.
Melissa
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Saturday, August 16, 2008
7:50 PM
Ravi Veloo believes that the key to solving the problem of talent shortage in Singapore lies in changing the mindset of the people. Do you agree with his views?
Talent shortage is a problem that Singaporeans should not take lightly of. As a small country whose only resources lies in its people, we have to depend on its people to drive the economy and ensure that Singapore is able to substantiate itself. Hence, this resource should be utilized fully. One of the ways in which Singapore can maximize its ability to survive economically is through the use of talents. However, Singapore suffers from “brain drain”, were some of the local talents choose to migrate or work overseas. Added to the small population where the possibility of talents is lesser, the shortage of talents has been a constant problem in Singapore.
Yes, I agree with the author’s view that the key to solving the problem of talent shortage in Singapore lies in changing the mindset of people.
To address the problem of talent shortage, changing the mindset of people should be first on our list. Singaporeans have long been known to be pragmatic people. Being typical Asians, we are less likely to take risks, unlike our Western counterparts. Risk taking is essential when one intends to develop his talents and pursue his dreams. Hence, changing the mindset of Singaporeans can help them be more adventurous and more likely to take risks regarding development of their talent.
As mentioned in the article, part of changing the mindsets of Singaporeans involve thinking of ourselves as not just having one talent, as implied by the kind of job we are holding, but also having talents outside of the area we specialize in, even if it is as trivial as “wiggling your ears”. By limiting our thoughts such that we think we are only talented in areas we are formally trained in, we tend to ignore our interest and love in our individual talents, as we assume that it is insignificant, because we are not able to survive based solely on our talent. In this way, many talents can be buried in the busy work lives. By not dismissing talents outside of our work, we are can change the mindset that Singaporeans share, which is that talent is something rare, something inborn. If we can just develop our talents, no matter how small, we will be able to think of talent as something feasible, not something obscure. Therefore, such mindset will enable us to increase development of individual talents, which may result in them switching to entrepreneurship as a career.
In conclusion, changing the mindset of Singaporeans will result in a domino effect. As a result, the pool of local talent will increase greatly, lessening the problem of talent shortage in Singapore.
kiawoon
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Friday, August 15, 2008
1:45 AM
Supian and Hartung argue that talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined and that we tend to produce only certain types of talent. Do you agree with their views?
Supian and Hartung argue that talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined and that we tend to produce only certain types of talent. I feel that this is true only to a certain extent.
Our education system should bear major responsibility for the lack of variety in the types of talent Singapore produces. Don’t you feel that our education system is overly skill-based? The knowledge imparted to students from primary to tertiary education is hardly ever useful when they embark on the path of their careers. As such, many of our students are knowledgeable but the problem is that they are unable to apply it into real-life situations, rendering the knowledge almost useless. This rigid form of education produces talents based on academics instead of holistically. I feel that students should not only be recognized based on their results, but also skills such as finding solutions, creativity, PR and many more. In our society, music, art, literature and other form of humanities are also largely neglected. They are often seen as secondary to subjects such as science, mathematics and economics. One disadvantage of such a system is that students who are talented, say in the area of arts may choose to give up their passion for a stable job or greater recognition in other fields. When this happens, there goes another valuable asset to our country. It is only when we are willing to change our mindsets on what is the true meaning of talent and not stick to the stereotypical view that ir means good academics, can we construct a nation of diversified talents.
However, we also cannot neglect the fact the efforts put in by our country to groom talents in a many different fields. This can be seen from the setting up the sports school to harness the physically-inclined talents. In recent years, the arts school, NAFA, has also been set up to develop talented Singaporeans in the field of the arts. In addition, the Ministry of Education has also begun to place emphasis on the music arena in Singapore. One example is the recent tour to Italy which the SNYO took part in. They were given a chance to perform on an international platform, signaling the progress Singapore is making in the music arena. Thus, we cannot totally say that the talent in Singapore is too narrowly defined as measures are already being put into place to ensure a more holistic development of our local talents. What our country need is time. Given ample time and greater emphasis, Singapore would be able to produce a wide array of talents from all walks of life and might even be able to gain recognition for our talents.
Melissa
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Saturday, August 9, 2008
9:54 PM
Is there a case for affirmative action in Singapore today?
Affirmative action describes action in the form of policies to ensure that minority groups, such as racial groups, are not at a disadvantage in areas such as education and employment. In America, government contracts employ applicants “without regard to their race, creed, colour, or their national origin.” In Singapore, affirmative action takes place too, to ensue that citizens of various race and religions are treated equally and enjoy equal opportunities.
I believe there is a case for affirmative action in Singapore today, as the country consists of citizens from many different races and religions. Hence discrimination such as racial discrimination against minority groups is bound to exist. Affirmative action can allow minority groups not to be discriminated in terms of admissions to educational institutions and also in terms of employment.
Singapore’s education system at the moment emphasizes on merit instead of race and religion. However, critics argue that affirmative discrimination is a form of reverse discrimination as it promotes prejudice and resentment towards minority groups. This can be explained in the example of s student’s admission to university. A student from a majority group might find herself unable to admit to the course of her choice as the university has policies to ensure that minority groups have opportunities in education, hence reserving a certain percentage of its admissions to students from minority groups. This in turn leads to smaller percentage of students from majority groups able to be admitted. Hence, even if a student from a majority group is academically stronger than another student from a minority group, she might not gain a place in the university. Obviously, such policies do not ensure for “equal opportunities”, as eventually, students from majority groups are being discriminated. Also, some critics would say that affirmative action causes the standard of a educational institute to drop as unprepared students are admitted in order to make up the certain percentage of students from minority groups.
Therefore, affirmative action has a case in Singapore, but only if it is ensued that it will cause minority groups to gain employment and education opportunities, yet will not cause majority groups to beat a disadvantage too. It is essential to attain a balance in the affirmative action in Singapore, so that there are truly equal opportunities for all in multi-race, multi-religion Singapore.
``kiawoon
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11:53 AM
“Women will never enjoy the same rights as men.” Do you agree?
Sex discrimination or sexism is prevalent in societies, be it in the past or now. It is a belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior or less valuable than the other. From my point of view, I believe that sometimes women do not enjoy the same rights as men, especially in certain basic issues.
Women will never enjoy the same rights as men as cultural, social and religious norms have always perceived women to be both mentally and physically weaker than men. In the past, women will not be allowed to have an education, and instead were forced to stay at home to look after the family. In present society, women are discriminated and are looked down that they will never achieve the same success as men. For example, a Gallop Poll conducted in five Latin American countries found that more than half of respondents in Brazil and neighbouring Argentina consider that women do not enjoy the same working opportunities as men. Examining social attitudes on specific issues, such as access to education and income-generating opportunities for women, reveals even more clearly the extent of gender discrimination and how it compares across countries. The World Values Survey reveals that an alarmingly large number of men often hold power in the household allocation of resources for vital services such as education and health care and these men also believe that university education is more important for a boy than a girl.
However, it is not all cases that women do not enjoy the same rights as men. For example, in certain sectors of work, such as nursing, women are preferred over men as they are perceived to be more meticulous. Likewise, in many countries over the world, such as in Singapore, women are given the same voting rights as men, and the government does actually introduce laws to make Singaporeans above the age of 21 to vote compulsory. Hence, women are given the chance to vote to make a difference in their lives.
In conclusion, it is untrue that women will never enjoy the same rights as men and I believe that more equity will be given to both genders in the future.
Jessie :)))
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Thursday, August 7, 2008
3:42 AM
AQ 2 for Prejudice Reading Package
I feel that discrimination arising from stereotypes exist in Singapore. A prominent area is the education system. As mentioned by the author, “the backward-ball capped guys slumped in the back row of class are believed to have attitude problems”, which obviously is a form of discrimination based on outward appearances. No matter how much we dislike discrimination, it is difficult to emit it from our world today. In Singapore, one form of discrimination is based on the misconception that the tertiary educations in junior colleges are more superior to that of polytechnics. I feel that though this might be true in the past whereby polytechnics were not well-established, it is hardly true in today’s context. Today, polytechnics are a viable alternative to the rigid system of junior colleges and allow students to pursue their chosen career paths earlier on in life. For example, many straight ‘A’ scorers in o levels are starting to opt for polytechnics because they feel that it will help to build their career foundations. Therefore, I feel that polytechnics should not be looked down upon as inferior to junior colleges just because they break away from the traditional forms of education. If you have not noticed, isn’t the polytechnic system highly similar to that of the university curriculum?
Another area of discrimination based on stereotypes seen in the education system is the segregation of ‘the geeks’, ‘misfits’, ‘the popular’, ‘the sporty’ and so on in schools. Born looking different from others and you are branded weirdo or a misfit. Trying to improve your grades by being hardworking and conscientious and you are deemed as a geek, a mugger. I feel that this problem is so prevalent that it has to be addressed. Awareness must be raised on the detriments of stereotyping, especially in the negative aspects. Stereotyping a person as a geek or nerd might hurt their pride and self esteem, leading them to be emotionally affected. It is only when everyone learns how to accept each other for who they are that discrimination on stereotyping can be removed right from the roots. Till then, discrimination arising from stereotypes will still exist in Singapore.
Melissa
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