L'oiseau rebelle

Love is a rebellious bird that cannot be tamed

Through the Looking Glass Sunday, August 28, 2005

Why must Singaporeans be given the rubber stamp by foreigners (of the Caucasian sort, mostly) before we (or our work or ideas) can be considered "good" in our own country?

Notice that all the "superstar" Singaporean hires are almost always "brought back" from another country?

That we need to pay tons of money to some foreign experts to believe that Marina Bay is the best name for that piece of land?

Or even, some artistes have to establish themselves in the region (or for a few, beyond the region) before being recognized in their own country?

Why are Singaporeans generally believed to be inherently inferior?

Why do Singaporeans have such low confidence in their own judgement?

Maybe it's because of an over-reliance on metrics in the educational years, such that when things become more subjective, we lose our ability to judge? Even within the educational years, why is extra-curricular involvement simply reduced to a number?

But, if your work is deemed irrelevant by some Singaporean authority or another, it really doesn't matter how many gold stamps leading American experts give you.

Some time back, a couple of Singaporeans at my university set up some organization to network with Singapore employers (or something to that effect). In one of their webpages, they said something like "Us Singaporeans who have studied overseas have a special set of skills" and generally implied that they are superior to graduates of the local universities by virtue of the fact that they studied in an American university. Although there are indeed some benefits of studying overseas, like an increased understanding of cultural differences (which is difficult to develop when associating almost exclusively with Singaporeans, in any case), it ultimately boils down to individual personality, character, intelligence and work ethic, and these traits are certainly not determined by the university you graduated from.

But why is there a mindset that a rubber stamp by an American (or any other foreign country) university that certifies that you're worthy of a degree is worth more than a plastic stamp by a local university?

And, why is an academically (super)-successful Singaporean studying in the US of A almost always automatically assumed to be on a scholarship?

M recently got a "When you go back to work in [insert name of some scholarship agency]..."


L'oiseau rebelle 10:48 AM Permalink | | |



Corruption of the Soul Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Tolstoy was known to be a very sensitive man. As a child his nickname translated into "Cry Baby" (don't ask me what it is in Russian). He has great insights into human nature, and this one I just read is particularly suited to some *current* events, and others less current in the same (un)said country:

On the Tsar Nicholas:

The constant, brazen flattery of his entourage, in the teeth of obvious evidence, had brought him to a state where he no longer saw his contradictions, measured his actions and words with reality, reason or plain common sense, but was quite sure that all his orders, however senseless they were, however unjust and inconsistent, were reasoned, just and consistent simply because he gave them.
-Leo Tolstoy, Hadji Murat


L'oiseau rebelle 2:52 PM Permalink | | |



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