Punggol (sounds like an alcohol... oops)
Talked to scary technician to get peristaltic pump tubing. Wasn't as scary as expected. Talking to anyone is a relief after having talked too much about SJP.
Went to Punggol yesterday, invited by a Shanghainese family to have discourse on the education system, overseas studies and the like with their kid. Was impressed by their living room on the 16th storey, which has windows taking up a whole wall looking out to Pasir Ris and Tampines. The view will be uninhibited until the new high-rises in the block in front of them get built next year.
Punggol's emptiness reminds me of Shanghai's suburbs. I guess it can be some sort of suburbs of Singapore. The station was empty. As the LRT train left curving rails behind from the MRT it rather felt like a mini tour. Everything is compact, new and cute, from the LRT compartment and platform to the flanking flats, especially with the architects' ubiquitous taste for amusement park colours. At stations that aren't in service, entrances are chained out. The train stopped briefly by and moved on after announcement of the station name. It was night then. Empty platforms, phantom shadows thrown onto train windows made the place suddenly un-Singapore like. However, with time even Jurong Island can feel Singapore-like. Un-Singapore like circumstances are ephemeral indeed.
The daughter studies in RGS going on RJ. She's of the first batch under the integrated program (IP), about which I made an effort to understand and failed. But it can't be that bad, with the dad, daughter and I sunk in creamy white couches, bathed in 16th storey sunlight and soul music - a gentle allure of examlessness. Right in these months too, when my orchestra hadn't had second erhu players for two weeks for they are all students. The girl is shy but interested; and has a taste for Evanescence, Sarah Brightman and Anne Rice, potentially emotionally intense stuff. She admitted that Sec 4 has been a thoroughly confusing year and learning has been somewhat haphazard and unfocused. Indeed, exam schedules aren't out yet, and the school nearly missed the deadline for the registration of O-Level subjects not under the IP (French, in fact). Instead, the year was of frenzied activities regarding project work, presentations, report writing and CCAs. Regarding the RGS confidence she developed for these non-textbook activities, I dare say IP has achieved its objective. If the objective has been cultivation of business professionalism. After all it ties up with the entrepreuneurship bit. On the other hand, this is just bringing forward a university education, characterised by bad-teaching, half-digested learning, confidence-cultivation through non-textbook experiences and cultural exposures (this is even lacking here). Thought it makes little sense to bewilder and hammer the youth with concepts such as "What is knowledge" - concepts that take a lifetime to explore and mature. Not sure if high school is good enough to start. Maybe it had just been me, who sucked at GP.
Went to Punggol yesterday, invited by a Shanghainese family to have discourse on the education system, overseas studies and the like with their kid. Was impressed by their living room on the 16th storey, which has windows taking up a whole wall looking out to Pasir Ris and Tampines. The view will be uninhibited until the new high-rises in the block in front of them get built next year.
Punggol's emptiness reminds me of Shanghai's suburbs. I guess it can be some sort of suburbs of Singapore. The station was empty. As the LRT train left curving rails behind from the MRT it rather felt like a mini tour. Everything is compact, new and cute, from the LRT compartment and platform to the flanking flats, especially with the architects' ubiquitous taste for amusement park colours. At stations that aren't in service, entrances are chained out. The train stopped briefly by and moved on after announcement of the station name. It was night then. Empty platforms, phantom shadows thrown onto train windows made the place suddenly un-Singapore like. However, with time even Jurong Island can feel Singapore-like. Un-Singapore like circumstances are ephemeral indeed.
The daughter studies in RGS going on RJ. She's of the first batch under the integrated program (IP), about which I made an effort to understand and failed. But it can't be that bad, with the dad, daughter and I sunk in creamy white couches, bathed in 16th storey sunlight and soul music - a gentle allure of examlessness. Right in these months too, when my orchestra hadn't had second erhu players for two weeks for they are all students. The girl is shy but interested; and has a taste for Evanescence, Sarah Brightman and Anne Rice, potentially emotionally intense stuff. She admitted that Sec 4 has been a thoroughly confusing year and learning has been somewhat haphazard and unfocused. Indeed, exam schedules aren't out yet, and the school nearly missed the deadline for the registration of O-Level subjects not under the IP (French, in fact). Instead, the year was of frenzied activities regarding project work, presentations, report writing and CCAs. Regarding the RGS confidence she developed for these non-textbook activities, I dare say IP has achieved its objective. If the objective has been cultivation of business professionalism. After all it ties up with the entrepreuneurship bit. On the other hand, this is just bringing forward a university education, characterised by bad-teaching, half-digested learning, confidence-cultivation through non-textbook experiences and cultural exposures (this is even lacking here). Thought it makes little sense to bewilder and hammer the youth with concepts such as "What is knowledge" - concepts that take a lifetime to explore and mature. Not sure if high school is good enough to start. Maybe it had just been me, who sucked at GP.
posted by Azzurra | 12:37 PM
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