18 Years In Education Later, I May Have To Move On

18 years in education is not a short time.

I am seriously contemplating a move out of it.

For those who’ve known me for some time, this may seem unexpected. After all, it’s what most people I know have known me for, and know that I truly enjoy.

Thankfully, though, it’s not the only thing they know me for. I do have options.

Perhaps it’s worth talking about - why I’m thinking about leaving the education industry, at least in Singapore.

Those who are parents or are educators themselves know that our local education system has mandated a fairly recent “update” to the way schools are handling class allocation for their students.

Essentially, each class is “mixed” - with students from different backgrounds, who have different aptitudes, and who likely have different life experiences thus far.

Each student is projected to learn each subject at their pace and at a level that is projected to cater to them.

The intent behind it was noble. The marketing to the public was focused on the positive. The educators themselves were informed way ahead of time and deemed prepared.

The results are, to put it lightly, not great. Even taking into consideration the usual teething problems at the start of any huge change, there is a clear lack of support and knowledge of handling rising issues.

It all looks to me like a poorly-thought-out grand experiment and I’m not confident that it will yield the hoped-for results, at least not within the next 5 - 10 years.

Some schools had piloted the move since a couple of years ago, but, as of 2024, this is now a nation-wide programme.

As an educator for nearly 2 decades, I’ve had my share of difficult audiences.

What I haven’t faced in that time is the sheer number of difficult audiences over such a short time.

I cannot speak for the teachers in the schools, but, from my interactions with them, they, too, are facing difficulties.

Add this to the tremendously unfair practices around getting school programmes, which I have talked about before, and this becomes a serious push factor away from this sector.

Yes, my current employment revolves around this sector, and a move away from it will likely entail an end to this state of affairs.

It’s not an easy move to make, and I don’t relish the potential problems that doing so will bring.

That said, I am nearly at my limit with the current situation and, unlike teachers who are bonded to the system, I can much more easily make a move. I believe that, this time, I likely will.

Happy Polling Day, Fellow Singaporeans - 01 September 2023

It’s Polling Day for Singapore’s Presidential Election 2023.

The hopefuls? Mr. Ng Kok Song, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Mr. Tan Kin Lian.

I’m not aiming to discuss the political implications of this event, merely to memorialise it.

As with all elections, Presidential or General, there have been a great many incidents leading up to it, some heartwarming, others rather disturbing.

As a fairly regular Singaporean, I’m not particularly hoping for major changes to occur, no matter who wins the election.

At the end of the day, my belief remains that, if I want major changes in my life and for the lives of those around me, I have to effect those changes, not wait for somebody else to do it.

That said, I have voted for my preferred candidate - whom I believe will bring dignity and gravitas to the office.

Happy Polling Day, my fellow Singaporeans!

GE2020 - a Historical Event in Modern Singapore With a Curious Incident

You won’t find much political material here.

I’m not particularly interested in politics for its own sake, though I have found that the related effects, especially geopolitics, can be very interesting.

Nevertheless, I love my country. I am proud to be Singaporean, and to have grown up here.

But enough about me. Back to the subject at hand: Singapore’s General Election 2020 (GE2020). And a curious incident that occurred because of it.

Singapore’s parliament has been under a single party majority since its independence.

This party is, of course, the People’s Action Party (PAP).

And after GE2020, the PAP still makes up the majority - winning 83 out of 93 seats.

The other 10 seats were won by the Workers’ Party (WP), who won an additional 4 seats through the Sengkang Group Representation Constituencies (GRC), while holding on to 5 seats from Aljunied GRC - won in the previous election in 2015, and 1 seat in Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC) - won since 1991.

In response to this new win, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (PM Lee), leader of the People’s Action Party, announced that the government would like to recognise current leader of the Workers’ Party, Mr. Pritam Singh, as the official Leader of the Opposition - something that has never happened before.

There are many lessons to learn from this General Election, though many others have presented a number of these lessons. I may do so at a later date, but I would like to dedicate this post to the event that I just mentioned:

The recognition of an official Leader of the Opposition.

PM Lee gave a press conference in the wee hours after the votes had been collected, counted, and the results announced. He talked about his party’s position and plans going forward, and then he congratulated the Workers’ Party and made the announcement of intent to recognise Mr. Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition.

As soon as I heard the words, I remarked, “Oh, that’s very clever.”

When asked about my remark, I explained the following:

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By making Mr. Singh an official Leader, he will likely receive staff and support for his team (this was mentioned as part of the announcement). It was also announced on the news later that he may even have an office space, on top of secretarial support.

While this all sounds great, I believe that this will have a host of unintended (or intended, depending on how you view it) consequences.

With staff and space to manage comes administration and people problems. While I’m sure that Mr. Singh is fully capable of delegating and leading well, as he has demonstrated in the past years and during this GE2020, every additional task takes up additional mental resources and everyone has limited amounts of attention and energy.

The less he can dedicate to leading his team, reviewing proposals, and suggesting new policies, the less effective he will be.

Now, I am confident that the PAP is worth trusting and I have no particular reason to doubt that they will uphold integrity.

I cannot, however, help but notice that this sounds like a tactic - both to monitor (though not necessarily in terms of politics) and to tie down an opponent within a controllable area and circumstance.

If you play sports, games, and/or fight an actual battle, you will know that this is a highly valuable strategy. It increases your stability, lowers the amount of unknowns that you have to deal with, and gives you advance warning in the case of a potential move against you.

Again, I’m not saying that the PAP necessarily intended this, but I have no doubt that someone would at least have understood this to be, at a minimum, a side benefit.

On top of this, I noticed that the position/title is not a party-specific one, which, of course, would be redundant, seeing as Mr. Singh is already leader of his party. The title in this case is Leader of the Opposition.

The ‘Opposition’ is made up of a number of different parties and comprises different ideologies, personalities, and agendas. Many of them are in conflict with one another - part of the reason they have not consolidated their efforts and/or joined efforts as a single party.

This non-consolidation is constantly questioned by a number of Singaporeans, who feel that banding together to ‘defeat a common enemy’ is the best course of action.

I do not agree.

After all, what is the point of such a victory if the aftermath results in in-fighting, self-interest, and division of the spoils?

No, the parties have to remain separate and only come together should their values align and the people within are willing to work together for the long-term.

The PAP understands this, and uses the non-unity to its advantage. I expect nothing less from them. They have not stayed in power for so long by relinquishing the use of obvious advantages.

To use the advantage, they have to manage and adjust to each different party’s many variables. By having a Lead of the Opposition, this messy management task can be offloaded to him/her. Now, they only need to manage one entity - a result that is more predictable and far easier.

This next statement has not been announced, so this is mere speculation: It is possible that, if an opposition member wishes to communicate or make a request, they may have to do it through the Leader of the Opposition. This uses up his/her resources, instead of the PAP’s. Great for the PAP, perhaps not so good for the Leader of the Opposition.

I’m certain that the PAP knows that some of these differences (in ideology, personality, agenda, etc.) may be disagreeable to Mr. Singh, who is human after all, and has his own and his party’s views and values to consider.

The unpleasant task of turning these requests and communications down or away will then fall to Mr. Singh, who will be seen as responsible for doing so, without implicating the PAP as ‘unwilling to listen to the opposition’ or ‘not open to alternative views and opinions’.

Certain too-different personalities and/or views will likely then never make it into discussion, let alone influence policies, and all without the incumbent party having to deal with them.

To me, the offer of Leader of the Opposition is a masterstroke of cunning strategy, one that I admire for its sheer brilliance. It is has the mark of a carefully-considered offer, not just a mere whim or fancy.

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I must reiterate that the incumbent party may not have necessarily intended these things, but they are or can be results of accepting the position. And, understanding how the incumbent party’s members are likely to think helps me to see things from their perspective. I believe that these things have been considered, though not necessarily vocalised or purposefully intended.

It is entirely possible that they truly wish to offer the position as a means of congratulations and with hope of working more closely together with the Opposition. I certainly hope that this is the case.

In the midst of the emotions of the win, the WP may overlook them and simply accept the position without question, negotiation, and/or careful consideration.

Certainly, every post and article (which are few and far between) that has talked about this has been merely congratulatory in tone, with no deeper analysis of its other effects. This concerns me greatly.

As of the time of writing, an official response from Mr. Singh has seen him accepting the position.

I hope that, in the days to come, he will ask the necessary questions and negotiate his roles and responsibilities in the position.

For his and his party’s good, and the good of Singapore and Singaporeans.

I Spent Two Months Plus Doing These Things During Singapore's Circuit Breaker

Now that Singapore’s Circuit Breaker has entered Phase 2, with limited openings of certain establishments, I suppose we could say that we are starting to get back to some sense of ‘normal’.

Perhaps this is a time to take stock of what I’ve done over the past 2 months or so.

The main achievement?

I produced 4 sets of curriculum/content.

Namely,

1) Forensic Investigative Skills

The original purpose for this one is for the school market, of course. This will be put to use in July, as long as schools remain open.

That said, I think that it will be both useful and fun for adults as well. The skills, after all, are used in our everyday lives - information gathering, observation, problem solving, and so on.

I’ll have to see who I can talk to to get this started.

2) Health Science

Again, this was made for the school market, but can be useful for those who have aged parents and/or children to take care of.

3) Harnessing Your Quiet Strengths

Now, this one has a little story behind it. It was originally developed for Introverts Network Asia (INA), but things have tapered off for this, so I never finished it, leaving it half done.

I decided to just finish it up. At least I now have a set of curriculum ready to go should I need it, either live or, perhaps, as an online course.

It is, as expected, aimed at introverts and helping them to make use of the strengths that they perhaps regard as insignificant, but are actually highly valuable.

I see this as an accompaniment to The Introvert Teacher, and intend to have them linked together.

4) 4D Your Message

This is my take on communication skills, slightly angled towards newer educators/trainers, but can definitely be used by anyone who wants to get their message out.

This, too, has a story behind it. It was originally conceived for online delivery as part of an initiative by an organisation. But, as with the previous set of content, this, too, fizzled out.

I decided to just have it finished up.

My main thought at the moment is figuring out how to bring these things to more people once Circuit Breaker properly ends.

I've considered online training, but the activities, especially for the first two, are best done live. I could potentially redesign them, but it’s A LOT of work.

Alternatively, I could have them converted to videos and sell an online course. I’m not sure yet.

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I’m also finishing up a project I started 2 years or so ago - my book on gem buying, titled A Gem of a Deal.

The good news is:

A Gem of a Deal is NEARLY finished! Yay!

Here’s a cover I designed for it. It may not be the final version, but I’ll use it for now.

I’ll put more information up on Loupin Jewels.

Yes, I designed it myself. Photoshop and Illustrator. ;)

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Photographing gems!

It’s quite a long story behind this, but I’ve started to photograph gems again. This time, the results look pretty good, even if I do say so myself.

Sapphire Crystal

Garnet Crystal

Prehnite Cabochon

Emerald Piece

And, of course, I’ve been collating some of my old photos.

It’s been a fairly productive couple of months, I’d say.

Here’s to an even more productive 2 months ahead!