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Singapore Is Cracking Down on Tiger Moms


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Hypersonic

wah don't send kids to uni and don't spend on tuition can save a lot of $$

 

no need to worry about retirement liao

 

can the MIW lead by example first?

 

:D

 

Singaporean Carmen Kok regrets that she never made it to university. She’s not letting her daughter make the same mistake, even if she has to send her abroad to get a place.

“You can’t rise up in Singapore without a degree,” said Kok, 47, who plans to spend three times what she makes in a year as a hairdresser to send her daughter to college in South Korea. “She may be able to get a job if she doesn’t go to university, but she can get a higher salary if she goes.”

Singapore’s Tiger moms are becoming a headache for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is trying to persuade the population that they don’t need to go to university to have a good career. After a clampdown on immigration and a slowdown in the economy, he needs fewer graduates and more workers to fill the shipyards, factory floors and hotel desks that keep the country going.

Lee, who graduated from Cambridge University in England with top honors, is leading a campaign that includes speeches and roadshows to persuade more youths to join the workforce under a system modeled on Germany’s apprenticeship system. The “earn and learn” program would place graduates from technical schools into jobs, while giving them the chance to continue part-time education.

Intentional Trend

Lee is the latest Asian leader with an A-starred education system to try to put the brakes on, as universities turn out more and more graduates who aren’t matched to the jobs available. A few years ago, South Korea said it may close some higher-education institutes amid what then-President Lee Myung Bak called “reckless university enrollment.”

“There is a clear international trend in the developed world to make vocational education a true choice for more young people,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yet, many still see it as a “secondary choice,” especially in Asia, where parents tend to believe that “higher education would be the only key to prosperity and success.”

Six out of 10 Singaporeans between 25 and 29 years old completed tertiary education, the highestproportion in the world and just ahead of South Korea, according to the latest World Bank figures from 2010.

‘Work Hard’

In a televised address last August, Singapore’s Lee celebrated two employees at Keppel Corp Ltd., the world’s biggest builder of offshore oil rigs, who had risen through the ranks without a graduate diploma.

“They may not have degrees, but they are working hard and trying to improve themselves,” Lee said. “So long as you work hard, you can always hope for a brighter future here in Singapore.”

The Straits Times, Singapore’s most widely-read newspaper, has run profiles of Singaporeans who achieved career success after eschewing or postponing college. An October survey by the paper showed readers equally divided over whether it is possible to succeed in the country without a degree.

“The success of this campaign is crucial for Singapore going forward, as it reshapes its labor market,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho Bank Ltd. “It’s a hard sell for Singaporeans who see college as the route to a good salary.”

Lifetime earnings for a typical U.S. bachelor’s degree holder is twice that of someone with a high-school diploma, according to a study by the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project released in September. In Singapore, the median starting salary for graduates with a four-year electrical engineering degree was S$3,135 ($2,370) in 2013, compared with S$1,750 for those who studied the same subject at a technical institute, according to data from the Ministry of Manpower.

Problem Solving

The Southeast Asian nation’s education system is regularly ranked among the best in the world. Students aged 15 from Singapore and South Korea topped those in 44 countries in problem solving, according to a report last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

South Korea is now encouraging companies to hire young people and is pushing for a job-sharingwage system to reduce youth unemployment.

Singapore already has a system that sorts children into different subject-based bands at school after testing starting at age 10. They’re later placed into junior colleges or technical institutes based on exams at 16 or 17. Those going to junior college have a higher chance of entry into a local university.

Under Singapore’s earn-and-learn program, technical school leavers would receive on-the-job training while they study for an industry qualification, according to the government’s budget for this fiscal year. Each Singaporean who is placed in the program will receive a S$5,000 bonus. A pilotplan next year will place some graduates from the technical institutes in apprenticeships in sectors including aerospace, logistics and information technology.

“We can’t become a Germany, but what we can do is adapt some of the very strong points for certain sectors and certain types of skills,” S. Iswaran, second minister for trade, said in an interview on Feb. 24.

German Model

Germany’s Dual Vocational Training System allows school-leavers at 18 to apply to a private company for a contract that mixes on-the-job learning with a broader education at a publicly funded vocational school.

Persuading Singaporeans to go down the same route will be an uphill task after decades of extolling the importance of education. Singapore households spent S$1.1 billion on tutors outside school in the year ended September 2013, according to the most-recent survey by the statistics department.

Every member of the cabinet has a degree, and the civil service continues to offer students full scholarships to top colleges overseas as a form of recruitment.

Two of Lee’s sons went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while his deputies Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Teo Chee Hean have sons who went to Cambridge University in England andBrown University in Rhode Island on government scholarships.

Singapore subsidizes the bulk of tuition fees at local universities for its citizens, making the cost about S$7,950 a year for an arts and social sciences degree at National University of Singapore. That compares with about $45,000 a year at Harvard University without financial aid for a full-time student.

Many Singaporeans who don’t get into a local college go abroad. Four in 10 graduates in the resident labor force last year got their degrees overseas.

“The government shouldn’t tell people not to go to university unless they can promise the same job opportunities as graduates,” said Kenneth Chen, 26, whose parents spent more than S$170,000 on a sports science degree in Brisbane, Australia, after he graduated with a biotechnology diploma in Singapore. “But obviously that’s not going to happen.”

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Supercharged

wah don't send kids to uni and don't spend on tuition can save a lot of $$

 

no need to worry about retirement liao

 

can the MIW lead by example first?

 

Can the army/gov departments have officers/managers which are not are educated in the first place?

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is the mindset, having a degree doesn't mean you can't get your hand dirty to do other job like mechanic, chef, craft or gardener, It is about developing passion in the field.

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Very simple....

 

Tell Gov department to employ those with only 3 'O' level as SAF or SCDF officer (Lt) or as Inspector in SPF ... :angry:

 

Sometimes I am very sadden & pitty those with only 'N' level. Just stuck in the lower bottom of the workforce. What old folks use to says, "No three, No Four" ... [:(][:(]

 

Another one of those theory: "One Thousand Dollas A Month Salary Can Own A HDB Flat" ........... :ph34r:

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Hypersonic

PM already said he wants workers who are willing to get their hands dirty

 

enough of managers because many imported in already

 

you all still talking about being managers....

 

:D

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Very simple....

 

Tell Gov department to employ those with only 3 'O' level as SAF or SCDF officer (Lt) or as Inspector in SPF ... :angry:

 

Sometimes I am very sadden & pitty those with only 'N' level. Just stuck in the lower bottom of the workforce. What old folks use to says, "No three, No Four" ... [:(][:(]

 

Another one of those theory: "One Thousand Dollas A Month Salary Can Own A HDB Flat" ........... :ph34r:

Sure why not....they can prompote all they want....but mostly these chaps will be given saikang job and the pay.....well......stagnant!
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Why 'O' levels cannot be officer ah ?? Maybe there could be talented strategist or administrators who are not so good with academic subjects. I believe some countries do have specialized high schools for training military cadets, and could lead to higher education focused on military command.

 

 

 

SG minimum good score in 'A' level then only selected for officer course and thats after going for interview .... [grin]

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Supercharged

Haiz... same old topic over and over again... education - degree or no degree...

 

It has nothing to do with paper qualification, they just don't understand the concept of NO ELITE TREATMENT... In the world of oil rigger / drillers, even if you have MBA, PhD etc you have to start from the very very bottom...

 

You can't jump to be a Rig Superintendent or even Rig Manager. You have to get the hands dirty learn the oily jobs before progressing and mind you the PAY IS EXORBITANT but of course there is safety risk involved...

 

Why restrict to "technical schools" students? Why not Uni? That's still elitism mindset!!! So nothing is going to convince the parents if that mindset remains... All jobs can be and should be placed and learned even for Uni... If a tech / poly student and a uni student takes for example Supply Chain Management, what's so special that the Uni can take on roles as Manager and Poly ends up as Supervisor? Crap thinking... Both deserved the chance to be placed on Manager selection, the performer will take the job!

 

That's changing mindset and reduce Paper Chasers!!

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Supercharged

When I read the news... my understanding is, PM is asking the people not to study so that we can fill those jobs which requires low education....

If everybody study hard and gets a degree, who is going to sweep the floor and cook the meal?

 

....

[confused]

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Hypersonic

everybody wanna be the manager, who wanna be worker

of course have to say worker good, worker earn alot

crane operator lah, taxi driver lah, dish washer lah

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Supercharged
(edited)

Is it because we have enough good officers ? So there's no need to hire from another pool ? Some people may not be good in academic subjects, but can still be good officers. I think that's why in some countries they have high schools specialized for military training. Many strong managers in private sector do not have perfect scores in 'O' or 'A' levels.

But it also does not show his other "talents", we are seriously behind in recognition of other "talents". We are too much of Paper Chasers that we forgot about the uniqueness of a child...

 

I will place my kids on other life skills like swimming, wushu, arts, chess etc than to stereotype them as paper chasers. Unfortunately, their life skills will NOT be shown in the RESULTS BOOK...

 

Fortunately, as the name suggest the skills they acquired will serve them for LIFE... can be swimming coach / lifeguard, wushu coach or if good enough can represent the nation, as arts teacher, chess master / teacher

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When I read the news... my understanding is, PM is asking the people not to study so that we can fill those jobs which requires low education....

If everybody study hard and gets a degree, who is going to sweep the floor and cook the meal?

 

....

[confused]

 

 

not to that extent lah but close, can't afford to end up like another Taiwan or Korea where graduate become waiter or delivery driver.

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Supersonic

 

 

not to that extent lah but close, can't afford to end up like another Taiwan or Korea where graduate become waiter or delivery driver.

 

That's what LKY says about Philippines many years ago.

But today it's different.

They come here to be managers.

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The title is very American audience-centric. The government is not cracking down on Tiger Moms, the government is trying to stop inflation of qualifications which will lead to inflated expectations, and greater disappointment.

 

I don't have much regard for this politician, but I agree fully with this speech he has made:

 

k9u994.jpg

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