When technology stupefies you!

Taken from: http://www.citroenchat.com/showthread.php?t=2816

I was driving home the other day and a thought just struck me. If I was caught in a traffic jam but am in a very familiar road situation, would I still need a GPS system to guide me out of the jam? Would I be able to make that dynamic decision to perhaps change my route, that could perhaps save me from being stuck unnecessarily in an avoidable jam?

Perhaps when one talks about such a technology as the GPS system, one can't help but be thankful that such a technology exists, but I do feel that the convenience of having one does stupefies the user a little.  Now let me qualify my statement that no, it doesn't mean that using GPS confines one to a state of stupidity. It is just that the very fact that one knows that one has it, and can depend on it, would lead to a tendency of its users from moving away from thinking through their decisions, and solely based their directional judgements on a machine, which might not be able to perhaps see the jam 200 m ahead of you!

But on the other hand, I do feel that the GPS is a godsend in certain contexts and situations, more so in a situation where you are in an unfamiliar road condition or routes, or you are simply driving through a location that you have been a long while back, but have somewhat changed over the years. I do think that GPS is a good 'friend' to have by your side in such situations, but having them to make that judgements for you when you are on familiar ground, just seems a little 'not using your brain and letting it to rot' kinda of moment for me.

But then again, this is just my personal opinion.

From crowdsourcing to crowdexecution

Taken from: http://bit.ly/sohhzY

I've blogged a little post on crowdsourcing, and the reasons why it might not work at times. But at a deeper level, what comes after crowdsourcing is even more important, and that is its execution!

But what I do find perplexing at times is the seemingly absent community that actually does the execution of the plans. It seems easy for the crowd to be giving ideas, but not that easy when it comes to rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands 'dirty', and doing what needs to be done.

And this is where perhaps this idea of actually doing, being engaged at the operational phase...being actually 'crowdexecuting' the plans that have been suggested and planned out during the earlier phases...this is where perhaps there IS an even greater need for the community...the crowd...to be directly involved. And more so when it come to something that affects an entire community, at a social or even national level. 

Ideas, their evaluation, and eventually, the execution of the selected plans should be the ownership of the community, the crowd if I may so. I've seen numerous examples where there were a high degree of talks and ideas being brought up, and bounced off from one to another, but sadly, not enough resources were allocated when and where it was needed most.

So perhaps this need for crowdsourcing should really extend to more than just the mere solicitation of ideas and advise...more than just about the mere invites of non-tangible deliverables. It should extend, and go into the 'what-do-you-have-to-volunteer-at-a-more-tangible-level-if-your-idea-is-accepted' kind of mode.

So have you been part of the 'crowdexecuting' crowd yet?

The hospital that 'Pees'

Taken from: http://bit.ly/lQBfTi

My colleagues and I had a meeting with some representatives from the newest hospital in Singapore, the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, and came away impressed with some of the health ideas and philosophies that they have infused, or trying to infuse, into their daily operations.

On a very macro level, what I love and find refreshing is their idea, or approach to what, and how should, a hospital be. Instead of just looking at a hospital as an institution to cure the sick and needy, the evolutionary idea that was surfaced is that the hospital should be a centre for health too, and in fact, should be a catalyst for healthy living. And this idea should be propounded beyond the 4 corners of the hospital, into the immediate community that resides close by. This idea of getting the hospital to be part of the community just sounded like the proposed idea of how mosques in Singapore were supposed to operate within this multi-racial and secular society of ours. Each mosque was supposed to be a leader, or take ownership in matters related to Islam and other family-related issues and matters, whilst of course, taking into account national and other religious agenda.

On an architectural level, the design of the 3 blocks that makes up the hospital is indeed functionally impressive. Their 3-step approach towards customer orientation, their time-limited consideration for patients/visitors to be able to be at a certain location, within the hospital complex, their integrative approach towards 'integrating' the water body next door into their overall landscaping works...all these seems to be really an excellent testimony about their seriousness towards achieving a more holistic and evolutionary idea about what healthy living is all about....and more importantly, about how health should be approached and how a hospital is supposed to operate, currently and for the future!

I also loved their idea of the 3P's...especially in the areas of geriatrics. The first P, being PRODUCT, looks at the most basic and perhaps, 'superficial' level....that some problems or situations could be resolved by designing and making A PHYSICAL PRODUCT. Beyond this, the second P being PROCESS, is somewhat pitched at a more conceptual level. Perhaps this is something similar to what I am trying to infuse into my lessons...that sometimes problems should be identified beyond just the symptomatic or superficial levels, into its root cause! So perhaps process here involves beyond just the mere physicality or tangibility of products as solutions or probable solutions; beyond that there could be process-related issues that are best resolved in order to achieve the most complete or effective solutions. On the last level of P, being PEOPLE, I thought is somewhat true as beyond just the manifestations of a product or a process, it is indeed people that would be the true changers and perhaps, solutions to most problems. Changes in attitudes, lifestyles, perceptions....all these are people-related situations that are complex in nature, but not necessarily impossible to achieve a change in, in order to realise a win-win outcome.

I walked away from the meeting still feeling floored and amazed at the ideas that they are working on, and I hope that the programme that my team and me are currently working on with them could bear even more 'fruits', to enable my students to understand better, about what is at stake for them, in their 'Elderly Challenge' journey.

Teaching them to be hungry

Photo by Irfan Darian (2011)

In my relatively short teaching career so far, one thing that I realise is the need for a teacher to not only be just teaching content and subject mastery, but also life skills. And one challenge that I have is this idea about teaching my young charges about being hungry...and perhaps even staying so! And no it's not about being literally hungry, but rather being hungry in a constantly dynamic and evolving world.

Why do I say that? I guess sometimes we as educators, we do tend to focus on the immediacy of our actions, of our teachings, and perhaps what better way for a teacher to see the fruits of his or her labour, than to base them on the results that their charges would have gotten from tests, exams and a host of other myriad assessments. Immediate gratification much? But is it really all about that? I mean if that is the eventual aim of teaching, then I would be one of the most disappointed educators here in Singapore.

And what about this thing about being hungry? Seriously it has got everything to do with the things that we are currently inculcating into our students, this thing about not just being satisfied with their status quo, but to do their very best to do even better. And I am not particularly condoning this from a materialistic or tangible rewards angle, but more so from the angle of values. This need for our students to really do better, to always be looking at improving their own lot, to move ahead to be the best that they can be, and NOT at the expense of others. Perhaps to put it in a more correct social and moral slant, to be ethically hungry. Looking and reading about how hungry students from developed nations are, and about how even hungrier students from developed nations have become, I feel so worried about the kind of hunger that our students have, that burning-in-the-stomach feeling to really go all out to achieve their aims and goals. The irony of it is that the hunger that the previous generation have suffered and endured,  have translated to perhaps its absence from the current one, whether metaphorically or literally. I wonder whether this is just my own perception, or a really true fact that is happening amongst my young charges. Well I can't really say that all of them are demonstrating this (lack of) hunger, but certainly perhaps at times, I don't seem to be able to see that deeper desire to really satisfy their hunger either. Or perhaps we are just not making them hungry enough?

Dealing with the age of free knowledge

The ride so far for me in this new set up that I am in has been rough so far, but it sure has been one hell of an exhilarating experience. I came to realise that knowledge is free, well almost. Less important than that is this idea that I have about the validity of calling myself a teacher. I think a more appropriate term for my role in the classroom right now would be that of a 'Learning Facilitator'. In this age where everything else can be Googled, and almost every bit of knowledge that has been created since the dawn of Man has been Wiki-ed, who are we as teachers to teach the students something that is totally and 'revolutionarily' NEW? Unless we are engaged in a field that is like totally new to the human race, which is perhaps the sole domain of the few amongst us, what we are teaching our young charges are not new content knowledge per se, but just something that has been discovered by our fathers and forefathers. Well perhaps the definition of 'NEW' here is contextual...yes it is new to our young charges, but then again, there is NO stopping them to learn about quantum physics at age 10 just by Googling, when perhaps a more age-appropriate level is when they are perhaps in upper high school and upwards. But then again, this is again, our assumptions about age-appropriateness.


So perhaps an evolutionary idea here, which I think is currently happening in small sectors of the education field here, is the practice that no longer is learning defined by what is written in the textbooks or assessment books! I mean should we stop teaching and engaging the students if they show interests in the Chaos Theory, just because it is not part of the curriculum. Yes assessment is important at the end of the day, but there should also be certain aspects of their assessment that targets the learning that takes place beyond the classroom or textbooks, the learning that happens when they either pushed the boundaries of their own learning, and start to explore and discover things that they are interested in. As an analogy, this notion is certainly nothing new in the workplaces of innovative firms all around the world. How many times have we heard about how 3M encourages her employees to spend some time within their official working hours, to be engaged in something that they like to do, some thing that seems to be seemingly out of sync with their official duties in the company, but at least they enjoy doing! Hmmm, could we adopt something similar to the education of our future leaders. Perhaps we could...and who knows, we might just do it very very soon!

Tolerance of an idealist

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech spoke about how so very important religious and cultural tolerance is in this pluralistic society of ours. About how the need for one group to be socially, culturally and religiously (SCR) aware of others is so important, less we become an Asian Bosnia! There could never be a place, or space, for any form of SCR chauvinism of sorts in our society, and these was clearly demonstrated when PM Lee talks in great length, and in fact apportioned a significant portion of his speech on this. This is something that perhaps must be constantly, and continually be emphasised, especially to the younger generations, as they are the ones who are ill-equipped with the experiential accounts of what going along the wrong path have led to in the past, and more so with the instant connectivity that the world has to offer right now, and their greater exposure to external influences, both good and bad.

Which led to one idea that pops up in my head during one of my intellectual discourses with my significant other a few days ago. The fact here is that we do have Muslims, or for that matter, non-Christian students studying in mission schools; why can't we then extend this concept to the local madrasahs (Islamic religious schools)? Is it possible for our madrasahs to open up their schools to non-Muslim students, who just wants to study about Islam a little deeper, without perhaps being burdened with the pressure of becoming a Muslim in the end, or without being proselytized by the academic staff and/or others? Would our educational landscape generally, and perhaps the Islamic one specifically, be open to such an idea? Perhaps only time can tell.

This thing about resilience

It had been a rather frustrating past week for me, with all the requests by some of the students, and their parents, regarding their requests for the dropping of their O level subjects. What frustrates me is not so much about the request per se, but more so on the mental model that these 'droppers' seems to have regarding their subject selection. It seems pretty obvious that what these kids really need are a huge dose of mental resilience. Seriously I don't remember having to give up, or at least trying to give up the subjects that I was assigned to, no matter how I hated the subject matter, or the teacher, or both, when I was their age. I think for most of those in my age group, what we did was just to suck it up, go through the paces, and just 'bash through the wall'!

But this time round, things are happening differently! At the sight or at the mere hint of difficulty with the subject area, or even at the very thought of just even disliking the teacher that teaches the subject, guess what our students will do? Yeah, they would drop the subject! Lame reasons like: not interested in the subject, too much time to concentrate on the subject, and similar excuses, really seems to irk me at times, but no matter what, as far as possible we would try to accede to their requests! It is just that, at times to me, some of them are:

- really abusing the system of dropping the subjects, taking it as the easiest and fastest way out of doing work, or worst still, of really avoiding being put through their paces of really stretching their potential...they just do not seem to want their potentials stretched!
- asking their parents to talk to the teachers! I mean seriously, at the age of 16 and 17, don't you have the mental courage or necessary wherewithal to even put forth an articulate, logical and convincing argument about your 'case'. Do you really need to 'hide' behind your parents? I remember making my own decisions about which school to go to at the age of 12, and having the mental courage to want to choose what subjects I wanted to study at the age of 14-15. Seriously, I shudder to think, that when these students go on forth to their post-secondary institution, would they consider THAT easy way out too?

It can get frustrating at times to handles such cases or to be entertaining such issues, but I guess this is just part of parcel of how things would be, as we get to be a more inclusive profession. But what worries me even more is that if the society that we are currently moulding, the ones that are under our care right now, are not even ready to face a little bit of hardship, and lacking in what I call mental tenacity and resilience, and if things were to turn up just as bad like what we are experiencing right now with the economy, and if the 'Flatness' that I have been blogging about hits them, will they be able to survive? Maybe they really need a slight dose of realism in their lessons too!

The need to work towards a more sustained redundancy

My significant other has just started working back in her old line, which is in social work, and never is there a really busy time for our fellow Singaporeans than now, when the economy of the country is really battering those who are not ready, or never ever ready, with the worst case scenario that they can ever end up in in this island state. Having to deal with cases after cases of family that is in dire straits of help, whether financial, social, or both, it is heartening to note that even in this depressing state of the economy, the country's management has repeatedly and consistently make it a point to assist the less-privileged and the less-fortunate, with an ever increasing array of goodies, that both seek to help for those who can't help themselves, or to provide those that are more able, a leg up in enabling them to 'learn how to fish'.

In fact I have seen this slow but sure shift in assistance policies that are mostly classified in the latter category, offering those who really need help, to help themselves with the eventual aim that they may be able to wean themselves out of the vicious cycle of a crutch mentality. I guess at times it is NOT easy for one who has been receiving aid, to get themselves into this mental model that what they are receiving are aid that comes with strings attached, but I guess it is a necessary pre-condition so that the society, especially those who does have the tendency to abuse such a welfare system, will be better off eventually, much like what the title of my post suggest.

But on the other side of the fence, I am not too sure though whether this is something that all our self-help groups (SHG's) are working towards to. Paradoxically shouldn't our SHG's be working towards their own demise, towards perhaps a state of affairs where in actuality their very state of existence is questioned, not because of abuse or anything, but more so because they have been able to shift the society towards a more socially sustainable state of being? In actual fact, in my opinion their only need to be around can only be justified if they have been able to sufficiently transform themselves to be beyond just the mere givers of aid, to perhaps to an organisation that looks at how help, if any can be given in a more sustainable manner, and perhaps to look at reducing the number of aid receivers, and increase the number who gives!

Which also brings me to the other argument on the yearly zakat, the compulsory tithe that every responsible Muslim should be contributing to, that has, over the years, been increasing in numbers. This is definitely good news, a great testament perhaps to our greater social awareness to help the others, and perhaps could be due to to a greater resurgence in gong back to the fundamentals of being a Muslim. But on the other side of the scale, we are also seeing more people receiving aid...no I am not questioning their qualifications to receive aid, I mean if they are able to meet the criteria of aid, I am all for it. What I do worry is that there seems to be an ever increasing number of aid receivers, and I am not talking about those who are really deserving, but of the likes like the 21-year old health young man, who just got married recently, and is not able to sufficiently provide for the family because of a few reasons that I should not elaborate. I mean seriously I do believe that there is indeed a certain element of welfarism in the disbursement of the zakat, but shouldn't there also be a certain degree of a sustainable social element that we, as a community can think of to ensure that this is non-existent in the future at all? Hmmm, I guess only a greater degree of social awareness and effort will be able to pull us through to that state of being...!

The youthful socio-economic dilemma: A malay perspective

It has been quite a while that this particular issue has been stirring in my head, and I guess that there is never a better time for me to lay out this issue, in as clear a manner as I possibly can, other than now...a particularly trying time for perhaps a significant portion of my community, given their rather seemingly perpetual vulnerability to the torrents of economic ups and downs.

It is indeed a seemingly scary phenomena that there is this underlying need for parents, and even educators like myself, to be very culturally aware of this state of needing to maintain a basic level of upkeep amongst our youths, especially the youths of my community. It is of no surprise that a significant portion of our youths are engaging themselves very actively in their own economic endeavours, and doing it not so much for the sole purpose of just earning to better themselves, but more so in needing to be permanently engaged in this enterprise more so so that they are able to maintain a standard of living, whether imagined or otherwise, that they are accustomed to. I do realise that at times it can't be helped that with the ever constant pressures from both their social circles, and the society at large, for these youths to be caught in the wave of consumerism and the likes, but seriously if our teenagers are seemingly pressured to be engaged in manning MacDonalds' counters just so that they can maintain their lifestyle of having the latest handphone gadgets, mp3 players, the latest fashionable streetwear...paid with a premium here due to this niggling need to be different, and lastly, being engaged in becoming delivery boys for KFC and Pizza Hut due to the need to, ironically, be able to pay off the loans on their motorbikes and the fuel...it seems at times we do need to come out with a mental revolution of sorts for these youths before they are swept away with this phenomena. I feel sad at times that as the youths of the community is getting to be more intellectually intelligent in their IQ's it seems quite sad though that they do not seem to have this mental toughness to perhaps move away from being engaged in more permanent economic engagements that are perhaps more in tune with the virtues of being employed so that they can be exposed to social virtues like thrift and the likes, of being able to make it on their own, and being proud of what they are doing, and choosing to do these things because they want to perhaps be more engaged in character building, rather than using these as a pretext and in actuality only using it as a front to better themselves in an economic capacity, in a less than ethical way, just to maintain a minimum level for subsistence.

But seriously, is there a way out of this though? Is it all that bad? I refuse to think that this is the all and be all kind of situation, because being an optimist myself, and having worked before while I was still in school, there can be a silver lining out of all these! Can there be one? Will there be one? I do think so! How? I don't really know, but I guess I can find the answers if I do some deeper understanding of the whole situation. Or perhaps my previous posts on how the 'Flatness' is moving on to the younger demographics could provide me with one answer! Perhaps it might just be the answer that could help us along to provide us with the impetus for that paradigm shift! Hmmmm.

When your product is THAT good!

I went along with my future colleagues for a talk-cum-presentation by Google and came away impressed, not so much at the variety of products and aps that they are offering or going to offer, which is already quite substantial, but more so at the audacity of how some patterns of work that people like myself have been used to, can be changed because of how good their product is.

1 thing that I came away from the talk is the fact that Google has done a fantastic job in becoming a very effective search engine company. In fact, I was thinking it is so good at what it is doing that if you notice, for example, in their ubiquitous email offering, Gmail, there is no necessity for one to include an 'Add Folder' function, something that perhaps is a no-no for other types of similar application. I was in fact thinking it is because that their engine is so good, that is why the need for folders to organise your emails, much like how I used to do, is rendered now redundant! Is it not amazing how your work patterns changes when you have such a product offering. I guess this is what you call organise chaos!

Now if only they can come out with the micro robots from the movie 'Minority Report', the ones that were sent to hunt down Tom Cruise's character, and tasked them to be the search bots for some of us, like for example, my significant other..ehem, then I think life will be so much easier if we don't need to be organised and let these search engine micro-bots do the fetching for us! Hmmmmm.

Of culture and identity (my top 10 peeve of being a Malay/Muslim Singaporean)

Most friends who knows me, or those who have worked with or under me, knows that I am not a racist, and neither do I subscribe to generalizations, or I do always try to avoid them, in as far as I can, because I do believe that ascribing a certain character trait or identity with one's race, nationality or religion is a rather skewed way of looking at things. But then again, having the label of a Singaporean Malay in my identity card does have its 'privileges', of the sort that sometimes is unwarranted, and perhaps at times, uncalled for! And just to get them off my chest, here are some of my pet peeve:

1) That all Malays watch soccer!
Non-malay friend: Eh, irfan, you watch soccer right, did you watch the match last night?
ME: No I don't watch soccer, not that I hate it, but I just don't watch it.
Non-malay friend: You MEAN you don't watch soccer, I thought malay guys always watch soccer!
... and that sure will put a damper in our conversation, not that I care. ;)

2) That all Malay guys can play soccer!
Non-malay friend: Eh irfan, you want to join us for soccer this Thursday evening?
ME: No, I don't play soccer. I can't kick the ball for crying out loud. But I can run.
Non-malay friend: So if you don't play soccer, then what do you take for CCA in school
ME: Errrr, something that involves running, like athletics (well, I was the fastest runner in my primary school, and the 3rd fastest in high school!), and I played rugby too!

3) That all Malays can't do Math
Hmmm, I got the end of this generalization stick when I was applying for the post of a tutor at the West Coast Recreation Centre way back in 1993. Back then, there was a tuition agency that runs tuition programmes for students and they were in urgent need of tutors. As usual, I went there with my credentials, including those that clearly stated my distinctions in mathematics at both the O and A levels. Sadly when the interviewer, whom I suspect is the owner of the agency, saw my result slips, the first thing that came out from his mouth was, "Wow, I didn't know Malays can get distinction for maths". Well, I didn't know how to react, but I think I was surprisingly calm for someone who can get rather hot-headed when dealing with idiotic nincompoos like him. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get the interview completed, and tell myself that that will be the last time that I will set foot into that tuition agency again

4) That Malays are lazy
Errr, I didn't know that any character is inherent in any race, nationality or religion, and until that study is published with impeccable empirical data, then I guess that argument holds no water at all.

5) That Malays are artistically inclined
Funnily, I am living proof to counter that, though I don't think that this will have any bearing at all, whether its true or not

6) That all Malays who teach are teaching Malay
I was also at the receiving end of this when I was first introduced to some of my new friends, whether be it fellow colleagues in the teaching service, which is sad don't you think, and those who are working in the private sector. The first thing that come to their mind, after telling them that I teach for a living, was...'You teaching Malay is it?'. I think one of this days, if I can and I think I will, I will counter by saying, ....'So does that mean that Indian teachers teaches Tamil and Chinese teachers teach Chinese too?' I would love to see their reaction to this! ;)

7) That Malays like to live on lower floors of HDB flats
Now let me clear this up. I don't think this is the case! What happens usually when the Housing and Development Board (HDB) sets up a few new blocks of housing units is to invite members from the majority population to book or reserve their choice of flats or units first, before opening the rest to the others. This is part of the HDB plans to ensure that each housing block, and to a larger picture, the constituency, is appropriately apportioned with the correct racial proportions. Well, I guess you can understand that those in the front of the queue will definitey select the higher units first, where possible, and where it doesn't contravene some of their superstitious beliefs, like choosing the 4th floor with the door number 444, or something to that effect.

8) That Hari Raya Puasa is the Malay New Year
No, Hari Raya Puasa, or Aidilfitri is NOT our new year, in fact it falls on the tenth month of the Muslim calendar! So please stop wishing happy new year to us...just wish us Hari Raya Puasa will be sufficient

9) That green is our colour
No, I don't think green in itself is a Muslim or Malay colour per se, it has just been adopted as one so as to be part of this societal need for each group to be identified with something, a form of branding or identity perhaps

10) That a Malay can't be more than just a Minister of Environment (or of a similar capacity)
Errr, well I think time will tell, and the way I see it, I am pretty optimistic that one day, we will have someone that can hold at least one of the more important portfolios. Who knows, it might be sooner than I think! :)

This thing about following procedures

I had a quick and light dinner earlier today, as both me and my significant other were rushing to our cousin's wedding in the evening. We went to one of the Big-M fast food restaurants and the conversation occurs as follows:

Customer Service Girl (CSG): Hi there, welcome to M.....
Me: Yeah hi, can I have one set of the Chicken Nuggets meal...
CSG: Upshize!
Me: errr...and one set of the McWings meal...
CSG:...Upshize!
Me: (feeling a little flustered now)...errr, no...no upsize for both, and can I change the drinks to Ice Lemon Tea for both
CSG: So the drinks for both change to Ice Lemon Tea, one Chicken Nuggets meal and one McWings meal, no upsize....having here?
Me: Yes, of course

I also remembered the other one that my significant other had when we ordered dinner at the famous chicken food outlet.

Significant Other (SO): Hi there, can I have two sets of the Spicy Chicken Tomyam meal, with the drinks change to Ice Lemon Tea and having here
CSG: Ok, your order is for 2 sets of Spicy Chicken TomYam meal, drinks change to Ice Tea...having here?
SO: Errr...yes
CSG: That will be $..... (can't remember the amount)
CSG: Will that be chilli and ketchup for ou ma'am?
SO: Err, will there be any difference, since you are passing to us the small containers and we will be the ones taking it? (for those not in the know, most outlets of the the local fast food chains are moving into self-service stations for customers to take their own straws, serviettes, chilli, ketchup, sugar, pepper, stirrer, etc)
CSG: Errrr...oh, ok (hands over two mini-plates to my SO, and then off to fulfill the order)

What I like to draw you attention to is not about the badness of having a standardised form of way in handling customers, but sometimes, just sometimes, it does pay to:

• Listen to the customers' orders first
• React accordingly
• Review your standardised procedural greeting/handling in the light of your changing operational practices.

I guess, customer service in the local fast food outlets have still a long way to go! Sigh...

The root of OUR social evil

It has been eye-opening to be part of the gender that is accused of being the root cause of all social and family problems amongst my community here in Singapore, but then again, objectively speaking, I very much agree with that statement. It is interesting to note that while the male members of the community has been accused of such, no one would want to do something or talk about it, either from the accused, or the guilty party! Or perhaps this is a social taboo that someone that is culturally-unaware, like myself, is not supposed to be talking, or in this case, be blogging about.

But seriously, for what it is worth, I seriously think that beyond just the mere accusations and assigning blame to anyone in particular, I do believe that more can be done in order to reverse our social situation. Not that I am a social scientist, or someone who is well-versed in the social affairs of the community, but I guess one probable cause of this could be the seemingly double standards that society, and perhaps parents in particular, have placed over the upbringing of their child. I have seen numerous cases, in families of both within and out of my families, and perhaps in fact, even in families of which I am just a peripheral stakeholder, in which the male younger members are seemingly measured by a different level or standard of upbringing compared to the females. And I am not talking about exacting standards here, just suffice to say that it is a level of which these male members would not be able to live up to when they grow up and become the captains of their own ships, once they are settled down.

On this front, how many times have we seen the young male members being given additional leeways and their lame excuses being given more weight, once they falter. Or the the wide berth that they enjoy in terms of their social lives, or the nonchalant attitude towards actually learning and knowing the inner workings of how to 'run' and lead a family! Surely for what it is worth, and beyond just knowing how to make babies, the male members must be accorded and graded based on a higher level of standards than the other gender! What more with the emphasis that our religion places on the Man of the house being accorded a higher social status, shouldn't the community then be having a higher social standards on the male members of the community and placing social pressures on the 'man of the houses' to better themselves to be good role models, and then, perhaps, just perhaps, things would be better.

But at times sadly, it is the parents of these very families that are facing these social problems who would have the higher propensity to be the ones who are 'producing' such male members. But then again, to be fair, I have seen my fair share of those from a normal regular families too. I guess it is very much about the kind of values and upbringing practices that the parents practices as the child grows up that matters more! And surprisingly, these seemingly preferential treatment towards the young male members of the family are more pervasive amongst the...surprise...mothers of the family! Seriously how many times have we seen these boys being given more leeway by the mothers than the fathers. Yah...perhaps the fathers are mostly not around due to the fact that they are out working, but it is really times like these, when the child is growing up, that perhaps, the mothers can really emphasise these qualities of leadership amongst their sons, and perhaps expect from them a higher level of 'sonship', compared to their female siblings! Make them do their beds, laundry, and their own coffee...(which reminds me about the fact that one of my friends actually still have his mum make for him his coffee even when he was already 23 years old!..hmm, so who is to blame here!?) Expect from them a higher level of performance in what ever that they do, well actually, more so in their academic outputs, since the society here in Singapore is very much academic-results driven during their teenage years! And to top it all off, enforce in them qualities and virtues that will make them good leaders, of both their families, and on a larger scale, the community. For what it is worth, it does require a Herculean social shift in some of the thinking about how parents raise their children in order to reverse the trend, but again, i must add, though this is not a blame game, lest we fail to do something now, it will STILL be a blame game generations from now...the guilty party will still stand at the guilty dock, and nothing better would ever come out of it if nothing is done!

When the 'Flatness' spreads!

I had dinner with my significant other earlier today and was pleasantly surprised to be served by a non-local waiter at the dining place that we patronised. And in fact that was not the first time that I noticed the dining places over here using non-locals as part of their permanent staff. Seriously I got nothing against them, and in fact am lauding the fact that they have found a good place to earn a good decent living over here in Singapore. What does come to my mind however, was the book by Thomas Friedman, 'The World is Flat', in which he highlighted about the pervasiveness of outsourcing practices, especially in the IT sectors, and its related businesses.

What comes to my mind at that moment was not about the usual IT businesses, but more of the the usual practice locally for these food and beverage and retail sectors to be staffed by students, especially during the school holidays. Now it is already serious enough that these industries have a very high turnover rate amongst the locals, but it would be made worse when the students themselves realise that they would NOT be hired at all when their usual jobs are replaced by the more reliable, and I guess more skillful and dedicated non-locals. I guess with all the lecturing and nagging by my colleagues and other teachers on the need for our local students to buck up and meet the challenges of the new economy and the new world order head-on, what would be a lesson that my generation have faced only when we start work are already heading the way of my young charges even earlier in their lives, even before they are ready to contribute to the economy. It is a good lesson for them I think, since lecturing and asking them to read the book in itself would be an almost uphill, if not impossible task. My god, I really do hope that my young charges realise what they are up against, and are really prepared for it. That's my only hope...for now!

The irony of the Peter Principle

In my recent discussions with some colleagues of mine, we had a discussion on the ramifications of the Peter Principle. For those not in the know, the Peter Principle describes a situation whereby one is promoted to a higher level in the organisational hierarchy, but need not necessarily become more competent at his new role or job. The short terminology for it is 'being promoted to a state of incompetence'.

Now relating it back to the local education system here, my colleagues and myself, do find a great degree of parallels within the system here. Because based on how the performance of a particular teacher is, those who are deemed to be performing better at his or her teaching, and henceforth given the chance to move up the management ladder, will find himself in a predicament whereby he is actually spending a significantly lesser amount of time sharpening his teaching skills, but more time on organisational administrative duties, of which, he might not be suitably capable or worst still, be incompetent in! So what does that leaves us...to the remaining group of teachers who are still not 'moved up' the ladder? Does that mean that that they are not necessarily capable? I beg to differ on that, but seriously if you ask me, the sad state of affairs is that at times, we still do need these 'better-ability' teachers to stay around a little while longer, to sort of beef up the 'frontlines' before they 'sit back at their saddles' and start to orchestrate the 'war manouvers' from their mounts. Personally sometimes I do feel that nothing beats having a 'battle scar' here and there, as evidence that you have been 'through hell and back', the only way of which is if we were to hang around a little longer at these frontlines, and fight the battle in the classrooms, a battle of the minds that is. :)

On a more positive note, I do feel that it is not that bad a situation right now, I mean with the additional help being offered and the various schemes that is put in place, or are going to be put in place soon. It is just that sometimes, we really do need every 'muscle that we can muster, at the heart of the battle.'

Designing like it really matters

One of the challenges that I really relish is to come out with something new in the areas of teaching design. The challenge that was thrown to me this time round was in how the various areas of the arts, design, media and technology, can be convergently packaged and taught together with other altruistic values. Though I think it is not easy, but I don't think it is impossible. Certain ideas have already come to mind, such as:

* the fact that Singapore is becoming a greying city opens up various areas and possibilities in the field of geriatrics - the branch of medicine that focuses on healthcare for the elderly. I've see the set up of a model home for the elderly at a certain health care centre in the Western part of Singapore in my Innovation Protocol training (which I have blogged in earlier), and I do think that this would be a good starting point

* looking at the burgeoning industry of alternative fuels and alternative energies is another area of interest that I should be looking into. And in fact, I was thinking of tying up with various commercial concerns should this idea be successful in taking off

* Making the values that one would want to be taught to be the title of the design project, for example, a design project with the title 'RESPECT'. That would bring up some crazy ideas, but this might prove a little difficult as the final intent of the product might just be a little off from the actual intent of the project itself

* Be involved in a multi-cultural/religious/language immersion programme, something like those charitable projects that you see being done by volunteers to areas that are struck with disasters. Students can use those experiences not only to launch a physical project, but also be involved in a deeper understanding of the values that the project hopes to imbibe them in

* Environment: Another slant to the idea earlier is to see how the Green Revolution can be tapped even further to excite students to look at various processes that they can look at that has the potential to green, or even greener. Perhaps this can be parked under the theme of 'Design Sustainability' too

Hmmm, these are the ideas that I have managed to brainstorm at the moment. Any ideas from my blog readers are really welcomed. Doesn't matter to me whether you are a designer, a teacher, or even someone who cares about things that relates to design, all ideas that area passed would be seriously considered.

The Abaya: When the context is deeper than the obvious

I read with interest Karl Albrecht's book on "Practical Intelligence: The Art and Science of Common Sense". I'm starting to read it a second time now, sure is surprising the nuggets of knowledge that one can sieve when reading it the second time.

One interesting information that Karl highlighted, and I would like to quote from the book here is the seemingly 'restrictive' idea that the Islamic Abaya outfit worn by Arab females seems to perpetuate, to both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.






"(Taken from page 255) For example, many Westerners think of the veil, or the abaya...the head-to-toe garment that modest Islamic women wear...as merely symbols of represssion forced upon Islamic or Arab females. Yet when they are viewed in the complex context of family and clan relationships, as in Iraq, they are not isolated elements. The veil is an integral part of a larger gestalt of social rules and symbols, which many Westerners fail to grasp or appreciate. It cannot simply be abandoned or abolished without overturning other, centuries-old social dynamics connected to it.

In Iraq for example, and in many Arab countries, at least 50 percent of marriages are between first or second cousins. One effect of the veil, or any other form of modest attire, is to remove young women from the kind of social circulation that poses competition to their male cousins...the "marriage market". Not only does the veil have practical benefit for young men seeking wives, but many young Iraqi women are firmly comitted to marrying within the clan, and arranged marriages are still very common. Many of them see the modesty dynamics as perfectly natural and appropriate to the patterns of close kinship that shape their lives. The view of veiling as a form of a oppression is largely a projection of Western social values onto the members of a very different culture"

Now I am not an anthropologist nor am I an expert culturalist, but somehow or rather, the seemingly depth of explanation to the wearing of the Abaya as described above does have its validity. But at times, sadly or otherwise, even Muslim women that are not in an Arabic cultural context fail to see its contextual significance and have blindly followed its wearing. Not that I am against it, but I guess, I personally thing that there should be some deeper understanding of one's own assumptions about one's actions before doing something at all.

When the creative wisdom of the crowds can fail

I read with interest the growing number of Malay-Muslim families and individuals seeking help from the Aidilfitri Charity Fund, a fund that was set up years ago to assist families who are in dire need of help, to get by with the festivities, and hopefully, beyond that.

What interest me is not so much the cause that they are set up for, in fact, it is something that I really believe in, i.e. where the members of the community who are abled and capable, chip in to help the less fortunate. But what is a concern to me is the rather ever increasing number of families who are seeking help. I mean shouldn't the overriding aim of setting up a charitable fund like this be the reduction or the socially (almost) impossible task of elimination of the poor and the destitute. Notwistanding the bout of inflationary pressures that are being experienced right now will surface families and individuals who are adversely affected by such an event, but shouldn't the fund in itself by somewhat of a 'root-cause' problem-solving tool, rather than something that would only be a symptomatic cure for what is being experienced by the community.

I still remember the voluntary work that I did over that last few years as part of the Yayasan Mendaki's Tiga M project (three 'M' here meaning 'Membaca' (Read), 'Mengira' (Count) and 'Menulis' (Write)) project. What really touched me is the fact that a greater majority of these participants are really willing to help themselves, though sometimes they are lacking very much in the 'Hows' and the 'Whens'...the 'Hows' because they are really at their wit's end as to how to go about to change the family around, and the 'When's' because they are really hindered by time as most of them would need to work instead of attending a training session, that might just be the tipping point to their family's living outcome. Nonetheless it was a humbling and enriching experience for me, and very much reminded me of where I came from.

But seriously, unless there is a deeper concerted effort to go about changing the situation and just applying the most of pills to just the symptomatic effects, the creative wisdom of the whole community, (of which we are quite well known for) will still falter in the areas of social re-engineering.

When there is no box to think out of?

I can't remember the number of times that the cliche 'thinking out of the box' is often repeated in seminars, talks and courses dealing in innovation, creativity, and the likes. But seriously, when I revisit some of these ideas again, I just can't help but to think aloud, 'Why have the box in the first place?'

I mean seriously, doesn't THE BOX in itself IS the very epitome of constraint, restraint, of non-barrier-free thinking!? Hence thinking out of it does somewhat also refers to the connotation that the possibilities should only be looked upon as those that lies outside of this box, beyond the comfort of whatever that is within the box, a little oxymoronic when one dwells into the question a little deeper, don't you think?

I would prefer very much the terminology, perhaps, something like, "Expanding the Universal set of thought", a reference to the basic terminology referred to in mathematical topic on Venn Diagrams. Or maybe as a means to paying homage to the ubiquity of the original phrase, let's try: "Unpacking the box of thoughts".

Would this phrase catch on? Hmmm, nobody knows!

The abusive minority

I am currently serving my 2 weeks worth of in-camp training right now, right in the midst of the Muslim's fasting month of Ramadan. It is nothing new for me to be doing this, as my unit have been called up for these duties in the past, right smack in the middle of this holy month.

What is interesting to note about serving the nation while serving God, is in the way things are rightfully (or wrongfully) perceived by surprisingly the very people who are practising the fast. I mean I would be most understanding if ignorance are demonstrated by the greater majority of those who are not of the faith and are not, then, fasting. But sadly, it is the very minority who are dutifully fasting, and at the same trying to show what fasting is all about to the others, who are failing at these very role. Sometimes it is perplexing at how people in general are somewhat able to justify their habits which are very much against the spirit of this holy month, but on the other hand, will play up this very 'minoritic trump card' (for lack of a better term) whenever the privileges given to him are seemingly being seen to be taken away! Sad, is it not, that the very act that will be rewarded by God himself, is taken lightly, and played around like as if it is just a normal act of just staying away from food and drinks ONLY, not including cigarettes! And about how fasting in itself seems to be an excuse for excusing onself from relevant physical activities. Sigh...if only they'll learn!