Singapore Education: Embracing websites telling an alternative viewpoint

SINGAPORE – The current generation of students are generally more Internet-savvy than the previous generation. They have to be. Even at the lower secondary level, the learning syllabus already has Information Technology (IT) components that require students to conduct independent research. And the Internet as we all know is a haven of viewpoints contrary to that of the establishment’s.

What is this 10 minutes column all about?

Serial entreprenuer and head of Smart Virtual Office Bill Ang, will be our special feature columnist in the 10 minutes guide. In this opening youtube presentation, he gives a short introduction of himself and the topics that he intends to feature in this series.

Ten Minutes Guide to Philosophy

First installment in a series to introduce a short-guide to philosophy.

Migrants and stayers

It remains to be seen if scientists can prove with certainty that the ability to migrate is one of the primal instincts in higher animals like Man. I will certainly not doubt that our ancestors desired to seek an oasis of plentiful resources that they made the choice to cross mighty oceans from all corners of the globe and settle in this Lion City. Fast forward to more recent times, it seems that this very primal instinct to migrate is revitalized in later generations of Singaporeans as they desired to seek pastures abroad.

Pegging salaries in civil service against the private sector

SINGAPORE – Much earlier on, the Singapore government tabled a motion to peg the salaries of ministers and civil servants to that of the private sector. To peg the salaries against earners in the private sector, there must be some basis to show that a civil servant is indeed comparable to someone who is employed in the private sector.

Of IDF and SAF

SINGAPORE – The ties between Israel and Singapore goes back a long way. When Singapore was a nascent state during its initial post-independence days, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew looked to India for assistance in the development of Singapore’s Armed Forces. However, India wasn’t a willing party, and thus, Singapore subsequently turned to Israel.

Having LGBT societies in our campuses

Is such an idea feasible? What is the role of the student community?

Quit that arms race please!

INTERNATIONAL – One of Lewis Fry Richardson’s lasting contributions was the development of the Richardson Arms Race model that predicts defense expenditures of competing countries. A Quaker and pacifist by nature, Lewis has always held the belief that an arms race is an ominous prelude to war. For those of you who are mathematically-inclined, a simplified version of the model is shown below:

dX/dt = aY where X is the defense expenditure of country X
dY/dt = aX where Y is the defense expenditure of country Y

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How safe are our Facebook comments?
by The Kent Ridge Common

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NUS Dance Ensemble - Lights off
Running into its 18th successful year, the NUS Dance Ensemble is proud to present The Next Wave 2010 – Lights Off. The Ensemble is one of the university’s distinguished dance groups, and has developed an extensive repertoire both locally and internationally.

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