I never realised it until I was an adult.
But having a musical education makes you a better rounded person.
At least a classical one. Sorry, you YouTubers and jammers.
So now it comes to my kids' turn to have a music education and I would never deny them any opportunity to learn something new.
Scouted for 2 weeks to buy a piano. Became an expert in the process and learned tons about the inner workings of a good piano.
All for Estelle Sophie Ong. Luckily her BFF is also learning piano so she has interest in it too.
Next step: Looking for piano teachers.
Interviewed 5 in all (oh yes, the picky helicopter parent) and decided on one finally.
Type number:
1. The Aloof: You call her number and she says she wants to come over to see your child. Fine, you text her your address and you don't hear from her the next 7 days. When you call her back, she has the gall to ask "Who is this?".
Teaching piano business must be GOOD.
2. The Auntie: No age discrimination here. But when you talk like you've been teaching since the 19th century, then I really have to doubt if my daughter can learn any contemporary musical references from you.
Keep it current lah, Auntie. Then people can relate to you, ya know.
3. The Hater: "Is your daughter naughty? I don't do naughty kids" AHHH? You teach kids piano right? If you cannot understand and tolerate kids then er...Miss, I think you may be in the wrong line. OUT!
4. The Human Calculator: How far is your house? ok, mileage will cost you additional RM40 per month. Huh? But your house is 5 km away? Yes, but it will inconvenience me. Hello teacher? I think you also better change your business model.
5. The Right One: I hope so.
From the start, she was enthusiastic. Setting realistic expectations (very important for this kiasu dad). Being detailed about books etc. Also saying it's' ok if we change our minds as long as we tell her 2 days beforehand.
Now...to see if Estelle Sophie Ong can sit still for an hour every Saturday and tinkle on those ivories....
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Monday, November 02, 2015
Friday, June 27, 2014
Migrating to Australia, Good Meh???
This article was excerpted and adapted from the book "Migrating to Australia, Good Meh???"
The age-old adage, “the grass is always greener on the other side”, does signal unwise and unrealistic optimism. Australia is a favourite destination for Malaysians wishing for a better life, but its sparkling and seemingly rich shores, as writer Ken Soon discovers, can be deceptive.
By Ken Soong
I am a Malaysian living in Melbourne, Australia. My brother, sister and I migrated here in 2004. Our parents came along as well. We applied under the “individual skilled migrant” category and later sponsored our parents. They were given a “bridging” visa from January 2005 until July 2012 before they were finally granted their permanent resident visa. This category of visa allows “aged parents” to stay in Australia on one condition – they must have “two-thirds” of their children living in Australia. Since all three of us were here, they had more than two-third majority.
This article is not about the technicalities of migrating. Rather, it is about the “why” of migrating. Most Malaysians who have migrated or have decided to migrate (soon) to Australia told me that their children would have a better future if they grew up in Australia. Back in 2004, I would have fully agreed with them. The idea of “becoming better off in terms of education, career, family life and life in general” in Australia was a no-brainer for me – of course we would be better off in Australia.
Ten years on, I have come to realise that Australia is not as good as we have all made it out or hoped it to be. We have no one (not even Australia since it is only natural that every government presents its country to the world in the most favourable light) but ourselves to blame for our own failure to make a more objective assessment about our future in Australia as migrants. Most of us are still using a very outdated perspective, rooted in our recent colonial history, with which to see the world.
For migrants who came to Australia back in the 1960s, the 1970s or even the 1980s, their decision to migrate would have benefitted them much more than if they were to do it today. Back in those days, Malaysia was still not adequately developed, modernised and industrialised. Foreign direct investments, education and infrastructure were definitely a far cry from today’s standards. Particularly for the average Malaysian professional, his or her work would have been much more richly rewarded in Australia than back home.
If a Sudanese or Afghan were to migrate to Australia today, then I can say with almost absolute certainty that their lives will be better off. But today’s Malaysians had better think twice. Jobs are moving in big numbers from Australia to Asia; Australian educational institutions are failing many of their own students, with many schools (even public ones) turning to attracting more students from China, Korea and other Asian countries for financial reasons; drug-related crimes and schoolyard bullying are becoming more rampant; and the total cost of income support (i.e. welfare) payment has now (as of 2014) topped A$70bil a year.
These trends and developments are here to stay, and the shift of fortune from the West to the East is an irreversible one. Investor Jim Rogers frequently remarked that if you were smart in 1807, you would go to London, if you were smart in 1907, you would go to New York, but if you were smart in 2007, you would go to Asia. (In 2007, Rogers moved his entire family to Singapore.)
So I wonder, why on earth are we still leaving Malaysia? What are we actually running away from? While most of us think that we are running away from some potential or real political threat, the actual fact might well be that we are running away from some real lifetime opportunities! With market saturation and an ageing population in the EU, US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China, the Asean region, with its population size, relatively young median age and richness in natural resources, is poised to grow like never before.
Calligrapher at work during the 2014 Sydney Chinese New Year Festival. The most populous city in Australia also has a significant migrant population
When jobs are getting scarce in Australia, why move there at all? Already we are seeing Malaysian migrants’ Australian-born children returning to Singapore and Malaysia to work in high corporate positions because they could not get that kind of opportunity back in Australia! Sending your children to Australia today does not necessarily mean that they will benefit from being exposed to different cultures, because there are now so many Asian students in Australian schools that they do not have to interact or mingle with their Australian classmates anymore! It also means that these children risk being exposed to the rising drug-related crimes on Australian streets, and by the time we retire, the Australian government would not have enough to support our retirements. Yes, Australia is famous for its social safety net. But this net has many holes in it, each of which is getting larger by the day!
Still, without fail, we Malaysians have somehow managed to convince ourselves that Australia has more of a future to offer than Malaysia. To be fair, I shall wait for another few years to find out, because the future I envisaged for myself in Australia is still not here. Will it ever be here? For my American neighbour and my British and South African friends, they are reasonably happy and satisfied here, but not so much for Malaysians, I feel. Maybe it will happen for us one day. Maybe.
Not many migrants want to admit failure in achieving their goals here. I know of at least two such migrants – one telling friends he works for ANZ Bank (one of the leading banks in Australia) in Melbourne and the other telling people he works for American Express in Sydney. In truth, both of them are working for two Australiabased call centres which provide outsourced customer relationship management services to their clients – who happen to be ANZ Bank and American Express!
Coming from Malaysia myself, I can perfectly relate to the “face” issue most migrants had to handle when they first started out here in Australia. Many of them came from relatively successful professional careers in their home countries after all. I have seen a former middle-aged Indian-Malaysian lawyer working as an insurance underwriter earning graduate entry-level salary, a former listed-company director driving a taxi, a former Filipino corporate accountant studying to become a nurse (because he could not find a satisfactory corporate accountant job) and a former Hong Kong University mathematics professor working as a sales representative in a mobile phone dealership – not because his English was not good enough, but because he did not sound Australian enough.To migrate and live comfortably here in Australia, we need firstly to have the right knowledge – for example, the tax system here is very, as a tax accountant friend says, “oppressive”. One needs to be financially stronger first, otherwise one is here to throw good money away! Yes, we will get some income support and welfare payment, but that is like hoping for free medical treatment when we should not be bleeding in the first place.
To migrate or not to migrate – it is your call. It is your future at stake.This article was excerpted and adapted from Migrating to Australia, Good Meh???, published by Gerak Budaya to help Malaysians make an informed decision on migrating to Australia
Monday, December 03, 2012
The Secret of Jimmy Yen
A jury of distinguished scholars and scientists, including Albert Einstein and Orville Wright thought enough of Jimmy Yen to vote him one of the top ten Modern Revolutionaries of the Twentieth Century.
Yet all he did was teach Chinese peasants to read.
What made that so amazing was that for four thousand years reading and writing in China was only done by the Scholars.
"Everybody" knew, including the peasants themselves, that peasants were incapable of learning.
That thoroughly ingrained cultural belief was Jimmy Yen's first "impossible" barrier.
The second barrier was the Chinese language itself, consisting of 40,000 characters, each character signifying a different word!
The third barrier was the lack of technology and good roads.
How could Jimmy Yen reach the 350 million peasants in China?
Impossible odds, an impossibly huge goal-and yet he had almost attained it when he was forced (by Communism) to leave his country.
Did he give up?
No.
He learned from defeat and expanded his goal: Teach the rest of the Third World to read. Practical reading programs, like the ones he invented in China, started pumping out literate people like a gushing oil well in the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya, Columbia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Ghana, India รข€” people became literate.
For the first time in their entire genetic history, they had access to the accumulated knowledge of the human race.
For those of us who take literacy for granted, I'd like you to consider for a moment how narrow your world would be if you'd never learned how to read and there was no access to radios or TVs.
180,000 Chinese peasants were hired by the Allied Forces in WW1 as laborers in the war effort. Most of them had no idea- not a clue-where England, Germany or France was, they didn't know what they were being hired to do, and didn't even know what a war was!
Jimmy Yen was a savior to them.
What was the secret of Jimmy Yen's success?
He found a real need, and found in himself a strong desire to answer that need.
And he took some action: He tried to do something about it even though it seemed impossible.
He worked long hours.
And he started with what he had in front of him and gradually took on more and more, a little upon a little.
The English author Thomas Carlyle said, "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."
And that's what Jimmy Yen did.
He started out teaching a few peasants to read, with no desks, no pens, no money, no overhead projectors.
He started from where he found himself and did what was clearly at hand.
And that's all you need to do.
Start now.
Start here.
And do what lies clearly at hand.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Pass the Books. Hold the Oil.
Perhaps we should take heed of this article. The real resource of a nation isn't it's natural ones, but rather it's people.
Pass the Books. Hold the Oil.
Thomas Fuchs
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 10, 2012
EVERY so often someone asks me: “What’s your favorite country, other than your own?”
Josh Haner/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman
I’ve always had the same answer: Taiwan. “Taiwan? Why Taiwan?” people ask.
Very simple: Because Taiwan is a barren rock in a typhoon-laden sea with no natural resources to live off of — it even has to import sand and gravel from China for construction — yet it has the fourth-largest financial reserves in the world. Because rather than digging in the ground and mining whatever comes up, Taiwan has mined its 23 million people, their talent, energy and intelligence — men and women. I always tell my friends in Taiwan: “You’re the luckiest people in the world. How did you get so lucky? You have no oil, no iron ore, no forests, no diamonds, no gold, just a few small deposits of coal and natural gas — and because of that you developed the habits and culture of honing your people’s skills, which turns out to be the most valuable and only truly renewable resource in the world today. How did you get so lucky?”
That, at least, was my gut instinct. But now we have proof.
A team from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., has just come out with a fascinating little study mapping the correlation between performance on the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, exam — which every two years tests math, science and reading comprehension skills of 15-year-olds in 65 countries — and the total earnings on natural resources as a percentage of G.D.P. for each participating country. In short, how well do your high school kids do on math compared with how much oil you pump or how many diamonds you dig?
The results indicated that there was a “a significant negative relationship between the money countries extract from national resources and the knowledge and skills of their high school population,” said Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the PISA exams for the O.E.C.D. “This is a global pattern that holds across 65 countries that took part in the latest PISA assessment.” Oil and PISA don’t mix. (See the data map at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/9/49881940.pdf)
As the Bible notes, added Schleicher, “Moses arduously led the Jews for 40 years through the desert — just to bring them to the only country in the Middle East that had no oil. But Moses may have gotten it right, after all. Today, Israel has one of the most innovative economies, and its population enjoys a standard of living most of the oil-rich countries in the region are not able to offer.”
So hold the oil, and pass the books. According to Schleicher, in the latest PISA results, students in Singapore, Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan stand out as having high PISA scores and few natural resources, while Qatar and Kazakhstan stand out as having the highest oil rents and the lowest PISA scores. (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Bahrain, Iran and Syria stood out the same way in a similar 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or Timss, test, while, interestingly, students from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey — also Middle East states with few natural resources — scored better.) Also lagging in recent PISA scores, though, were students in many of the resource-rich countries of Latin America, like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Africa was not tested. Canada, Australia and Norway, also countries with high levels of natural resources, still score well on PISA, in large part, argues Schleicher, because all three countries have established deliberate policies of saving and investing these resource rents, and not just consuming them.
Add it all up and the numbers say that if you really want to know how a country is going to do in the 21st century, don’t count its oil reserves or gold mines, count its highly effective teachers, involved parents and committed students. “Today’s learning outcomes at school,” says Schleicher, “are a powerful predictor for the wealth and social outcomes that countries will reap in the long run.”
Economists have long known about “Dutch disease,” which happens when a country becomes so dependent on exporting natural resources that its currency soars in value and, as a result, its domestic manufacturing gets crushed as cheap imports flood in and exports become too expensive. What the PISA team is revealing is a related disease: societies that get addicted to their natural resources seem to develop parents and young people who lose some of the instincts, habits and incentives for doing homework and honing skills.
By, contrast, says Schleicher, “in countries with little in the way of natural resources — Finland, Singapore or Japan — education has strong outcomes and a high status, at least in part because the public at large has understood that the country must live by its knowledge and skills and that these depend on the quality of education. ... Every parent and child in these countries knows that skills will decide the life chances of the child and nothing else is going to rescue them, so they build a whole culture and education system around it.”
Or as my Indian-American friend K. R. Sridhar, the founder of the Silicon Valley fuel-cell company Bloom Energy, likes to say, “When you don’t have resources, you become resourceful.”
That’s why the foreign countries with the most companies listed on the Nasdaq are Israel, China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, South Korea and Singapore — none of which can live off natural resources.
But there is an important message for the industrialized world in this study, too. In these difficult economic times, it is tempting to buttress our own standards of living today by incurring even greater financial liabilities for the future. To be sure, there is a role for stimulus in a prolonged recession, but “the only sustainable way is to grow our way out by giving more people the knowledge and skills to compete, collaborate and connect in a way that drives our countries forward,” argues Schleicher.
In sum, says Schleicher, “knowledge and skills have become the global currency of 21st-century economies, but there is no central bank that prints this currency. Everyone has to decide on their own how much they will print.” Sure, it’s great to have oil, gas and diamonds; they can buy jobs. But they’ll weaken your society in the long run unless they’re used to build schools and a culture of lifelong learning. “The thing that will keep you moving forward,” says Schleicher, is always “what you bring to the table yourself.”
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on March 11, 2012, on page SR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Pass the Books. Hold the Oil
Pass the Books. Hold the Oil.
Thomas Fuchs
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 10, 2012
EVERY so often someone asks me: “What’s your favorite country, other than your own?”
Josh Haner/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman
I’ve always had the same answer: Taiwan. “Taiwan? Why Taiwan?” people ask.
Very simple: Because Taiwan is a barren rock in a typhoon-laden sea with no natural resources to live off of — it even has to import sand and gravel from China for construction — yet it has the fourth-largest financial reserves in the world. Because rather than digging in the ground and mining whatever comes up, Taiwan has mined its 23 million people, their talent, energy and intelligence — men and women. I always tell my friends in Taiwan: “You’re the luckiest people in the world. How did you get so lucky? You have no oil, no iron ore, no forests, no diamonds, no gold, just a few small deposits of coal and natural gas — and because of that you developed the habits and culture of honing your people’s skills, which turns out to be the most valuable and only truly renewable resource in the world today. How did you get so lucky?”
That, at least, was my gut instinct. But now we have proof.
A team from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., has just come out with a fascinating little study mapping the correlation between performance on the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, exam — which every two years tests math, science and reading comprehension skills of 15-year-olds in 65 countries — and the total earnings on natural resources as a percentage of G.D.P. for each participating country. In short, how well do your high school kids do on math compared with how much oil you pump or how many diamonds you dig?
The results indicated that there was a “a significant negative relationship between the money countries extract from national resources and the knowledge and skills of their high school population,” said Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the PISA exams for the O.E.C.D. “This is a global pattern that holds across 65 countries that took part in the latest PISA assessment.” Oil and PISA don’t mix. (See the data map at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/9/49881940.pdf)
As the Bible notes, added Schleicher, “Moses arduously led the Jews for 40 years through the desert — just to bring them to the only country in the Middle East that had no oil. But Moses may have gotten it right, after all. Today, Israel has one of the most innovative economies, and its population enjoys a standard of living most of the oil-rich countries in the region are not able to offer.”
So hold the oil, and pass the books. According to Schleicher, in the latest PISA results, students in Singapore, Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan stand out as having high PISA scores and few natural resources, while Qatar and Kazakhstan stand out as having the highest oil rents and the lowest PISA scores. (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Bahrain, Iran and Syria stood out the same way in a similar 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or Timss, test, while, interestingly, students from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey — also Middle East states with few natural resources — scored better.) Also lagging in recent PISA scores, though, were students in many of the resource-rich countries of Latin America, like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Africa was not tested. Canada, Australia and Norway, also countries with high levels of natural resources, still score well on PISA, in large part, argues Schleicher, because all three countries have established deliberate policies of saving and investing these resource rents, and not just consuming them.
Add it all up and the numbers say that if you really want to know how a country is going to do in the 21st century, don’t count its oil reserves or gold mines, count its highly effective teachers, involved parents and committed students. “Today’s learning outcomes at school,” says Schleicher, “are a powerful predictor for the wealth and social outcomes that countries will reap in the long run.”
Economists have long known about “Dutch disease,” which happens when a country becomes so dependent on exporting natural resources that its currency soars in value and, as a result, its domestic manufacturing gets crushed as cheap imports flood in and exports become too expensive. What the PISA team is revealing is a related disease: societies that get addicted to their natural resources seem to develop parents and young people who lose some of the instincts, habits and incentives for doing homework and honing skills.
By, contrast, says Schleicher, “in countries with little in the way of natural resources — Finland, Singapore or Japan — education has strong outcomes and a high status, at least in part because the public at large has understood that the country must live by its knowledge and skills and that these depend on the quality of education. ... Every parent and child in these countries knows that skills will decide the life chances of the child and nothing else is going to rescue them, so they build a whole culture and education system around it.”
Or as my Indian-American friend K. R. Sridhar, the founder of the Silicon Valley fuel-cell company Bloom Energy, likes to say, “When you don’t have resources, you become resourceful.”
That’s why the foreign countries with the most companies listed on the Nasdaq are Israel, China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, South Korea and Singapore — none of which can live off natural resources.
But there is an important message for the industrialized world in this study, too. In these difficult economic times, it is tempting to buttress our own standards of living today by incurring even greater financial liabilities for the future. To be sure, there is a role for stimulus in a prolonged recession, but “the only sustainable way is to grow our way out by giving more people the knowledge and skills to compete, collaborate and connect in a way that drives our countries forward,” argues Schleicher.
In sum, says Schleicher, “knowledge and skills have become the global currency of 21st-century economies, but there is no central bank that prints this currency. Everyone has to decide on their own how much they will print.” Sure, it’s great to have oil, gas and diamonds; they can buy jobs. But they’ll weaken your society in the long run unless they’re used to build schools and a culture of lifelong learning. “The thing that will keep you moving forward,” says Schleicher, is always “what you bring to the table yourself.”
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on March 11, 2012, on page SR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Pass the Books. Hold the Oil
Monday, March 05, 2012
School system debate
There are people out there baying for a one-school system.
That, at least to me, would be the death knell for what is already an ailing education system.
My opinion, and I sure am entitled to it, is that the vernacular schools outperform the national schools in almost every factor.
That is the main reason I'm sending all my children there.
In a post by Din Merican, which was an opinion by the academic Farish Noor, the argument was that vernacular schools are a factor against national integration.
Populist Democracy made cowards of us all
Which was laughable.
Because the Chinese don't get less Malaysian as they go to a Chinese vernacular school.
I argued my point there.
But there were a few detractors who could not see the woods for the trees.
I'll post the comments chain here.
You let me know what YOU THINK.
That, at least to me, would be the death knell for what is already an ailing education system.
My opinion, and I sure am entitled to it, is that the vernacular schools outperform the national schools in almost every factor.
That is the main reason I'm sending all my children there.
In a post by Din Merican, which was an opinion by the academic Farish Noor, the argument was that vernacular schools are a factor against national integration.
Populist Democracy made cowards of us all
Which was laughable.
Because the Chinese don't get less Malaysian as they go to a Chinese vernacular school.
I argued my point there.
But there were a few detractors who could not see the woods for the trees.
I'll post the comments chain here.
You let me know what YOU THINK.
- It is true that Malaysia is unique in that vernacular schools get government financial grants. Nowhere else do you find that.
Finanicial grants? Hahaha.
Pittance compared to national schools.
Most vernacular schools have to get addtional funding via other channels.
But I digress.
The real issue here is integration vs existence of vernacular schools.
1. Integration is an issue not because of different school systems. It is because of our stupid politicians who harp on race.
2. Vernacular schools have better methods and more dedicated people than national schools.
I’m not knocking those hardworking teachers in national schools. My father was a teacher in Darul Ridwan for 28 years.
I’m just saying I’m astounded by the amount of effort the teachers in vernacular schools put in and I have to say they’re better.
Also, let me state 2 reasons why my 2 boys are in Harcroft:
1. I believe it’s important to know their mother tongue. It will help them when China becomes the no.1 nation in the world in 10 years time.
It will also help Malaysians of ALL races if they know Mandarin. Imagine Malaysia being the no. 1 trading partner with China.
2. Like I said, I like what I see in the school. The teachers are organising additional classes. Robotics, Computer etc. Sure, I have to pay a little extra, but I know my boys are also getting extra knowledge and it’s worth it.
I was educated in SM King Edward VII, possibly the greatest school in the history of Malaysia.
My classmates are percentage wise the same ratio as our Malaysian population.
Until today, I keep in touch with them regardless of their ethnicity.
But I have 1 regret. The Mandarin classes those days was not sufficient to give me a proper grounding in the language.
If I did read and write Mandarin well enough, I would have been accepted by that company to work in China and earning RMB 1 million annually.
I passed everything in that interview except the language factor.
Harcroft, where is that?
Since they have al this over here too guess what, the Asians are taking over in studies over here but there ares till very very clever Australians we cannot discount that.
M’sians , poor, poor Ms’ians have benn cheated over what an excellent education can do to one self esteem, holistic develiopment and outlook adn help one participates in ones community effectively. Poor poor M’sians, cheated.
I was told by a Malay gentleman friend of mine that recently his child started in a new 1 Malaysia Smart School…and he found out that the children were made to assemble by race…and Bahasa Malaysia only was to be used in school. He promptly removed his child from the school.
Din, quite obviously, the Wisma Putra is not the only establishment that requires closer scrutiny.
Bobby is right …the fear among parents is that the standards will be lower in national type schools as compared with vernacular schools. Why should we accept this? It is not from lack of funds!
let me say my bit; my father was a headmaster in a vernacular school and I have taught for a couple of years. for the chinese from vernacular schools it is no problem getting a job in the private sector because there are many chinese companies. now they can easily get jobs in China. which is not the case for others.
a pupil who goes to a tamil school and excels would do the same if he goes to a chinese or national school.
here, we are concerned about Malaysia. we should not prepare our students to go to China, India or Australia; on the contrary we should give them an education that is proper, to BUILD malaysia – attract investment, research and development, new job intensive companies. businesses and a service sector which give jobs to OUR unemployed.
once and for all, get rid of vernacular schools. malay and english should become the main languages keeping the arts subjects in the national language and science subjects in english. make Pupils Own Language(POL) compulsory. wether you are chinese, indian or malay should not be a problem for the education department. make sure. the education minister is qualified for the job. get more non-malay teachers, they can do a lot of good for the future of this country.
once and for all GET RID of MCA and MIC who are making use of this theme for their own profits, splitting the people further.
Malaysia should be for Malaysians, there should be no chinese or indian politics.
Education should be non-political and non-racial so there can be only ONE TYPE of school. jibs would start 1School soon?
p.s.,
in germany they have extra schools for trees!! (Baumschule)
“The real issue here is integration vs existence of vernacular schools.
1. Integration is an issue not because of different school systems. It is because of our stupid politicians who harp on race.” – Bobby
Firstly, politicians who harp on race are not stupid. They know exactly where their bread is buttered. The very existence of vernacular schools will ensure that Malaysians will never be united. Exactly what these “clever” politicians want. Is that what you want, Bobby?
“2. Vernacular schools have better methods and more dedicated people than national schools.” – Bobby
True. These better methods and dedicated teachers will be doing their good work in National schools once vernacular schools are abolished. Win win.
“1. I believe it’s important to know their mother tongue. It will help them when China becomes the no.1 nation in the world in 10 years time.
It will also help Malaysians of ALL races if they know Mandarin. Imagine Malaysia being the no. 1 trading partner with China.” – Bobby
I repeat my call for English medium schools with compulsory Malay language passes. Mandarin and Tamil to be optional language subjects. This way, no child will forget their mother tongue – if the parents opt for the mother tongue, of course. The great thing is that they don’t have to. As Malay is already compulsory, I would hope that more Malay parents will choose either Mandarin or Tamil for their kids as their second language choice. It’s a lovely dream, isn’t it?
“2. Like I said, I like what I see in the school. The teachers are organising additional classes. Robotics, Computer etc. Sure, I have to pay a little extra, but I know my boys are also getting extra knowledge and it’s worth it.” – Bobby
This is achievable in National schools too.
What we need is national unity.
And, dedicated teachers.
Vernacular schools will always divide us – no matter how good they are.
The U.S. is a melting pot of cultures, of languages etc Everybody is from somewhere else. However, nobody comes to the U.S. to set up ethnic schools so they could send their children to learn their native languages and get an education in their native languages. They compete to get into schools administered by the local school boards and financed by state and federal governments.
But Malaysia has had to be different. Why? Was it because national schools are not good enough? In that case Malaysians should be given the choice of sending their children to state schools or private schools for their education. Until recently, private schools are limited to children of expatriates serving in Malaysia.
The existence of vernacular schools is grounded in history. In Malaysia the colonial administration had allowed vernacular schools and these have continued to this day. Recently Chinese vernacular schools gained popularity with some Malays who lacked the confidence national schools gives them.
In terms of a national education policy and objectives the existence of vernacular schools is an aberration. Where do graduates of these schools go to get their tertiary education?
As for the learning and teaching of Mandarin, it is increasingly popular with Americans today as it never was. It is just reality. On the other hand we have Chinese nationals from China coming here to complete the course to become attorneys and be admitted to the Bar here in the U.S. and then return to China. The world has become a lot smaller and borders don’t mean the same thing as they used to.
To Bobby
KE VII ? Yes, I remember leading the school chess team in the late ’60s. The school had a strong chess team. But we trounced them.
1. Harcroft is a relatively new school in Puchong. It’s almost privately funded by Tan Sri Lee, since government funding cannot cover a proper curriculum.
Which is a good and bad thing.
Good that there is someone like him concerned enough about education to take charge and my children will benefit from a well-funded school (and that’s why Harcroft is over-registered 3 times each year)
Bad, because I can imagine more than a few schools that could do with that kind of funding.
2. Tony, it’s not a fear that vernacular schools are better. They ARE better and that’s a fact.
I would accept with all my heart for my boys to go back to my alma mater, KE VII, if it was still as good as it was 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the Education Ministry has managed to screw it up, together with all the missionary schools in the country.
3. Actually there is a solution but it will never be implemented due to politics.
I will agree to abolishment of vernacular schools with the condition:
Put some Chinese in charge of revamping the Education Ministry. We Chinese have always prioritised education above all things for the past 3000 years, from the time Officials were selected based on their examination results.
Let’s put meritocracy at the top of everything.
Also, it doesn’t help if 40% of the syllabus is about a racial agenda. Why is there 5 chapters in Sejarah about Islam civilisation? We never had this in the 80s. Why start now?
Islam is a great religion, but certain Muslims in Malaysia make a mockery of it. We should learn about ALL civilisations, at least our children will be better informed and well-rounded instead of just knowledgeable about 1 religion.
4. It seems the proponents of the 1 school system here are also pro-PAGE.
The PAGE people are dreaming if they think they can achieve progress. As long as the DPM is more concerned about Malay votes, PAGE is dead in the water.
People like Ai Tze are too idealistic and have their heads in the clouds.
Science and Maths in English is possibly the ONLY good thing Dr. M did in his 22 years. But as we all know, politics takes priority instead of the country’s future.
So in the meantime, we parents have to be PRACTICAL and send our children to the best school possible, which is Harcroft and co.
This is called DOING SOMETHING within your means. Not fighting for some idea which may not happen in your lifetime.
Why do you think the government allowed private schools to flourish? You would be stupid if you can’t figure it out by reading my analysis.
Which brings me to the last point, Mr. Bean.
An aberration?
5. The Federal Constituion provides for the freedom of vernacular education.
As for Malay parents who admit their children to vernacular schools. I spoke to my son’s classmates’ parents. They are happy their son is there. They know it too that this school is better. So what if he speaks Mandarin instead of BM? Doesn’t make the boy any less Malay or Malaysian.
Footnote: Mr. Bean, KE VII was not known for it’s chess team. We were the best in rugby, football, hockey, tennis and managed the time to get the prettiest girls too.
You won because I was not there to play you.
Fancy a game?
Saturday, May 14, 2011
How the system in Malaysia works
Is the investment in education really worth it ?
BRILLIANT STATEMENTS ABOUT THE WAY THINGS REALLY ARE !
* Most 'First Class' students become Doctors and some Engineers
* Those who get a 'Second Class', pass the MBA, become Administrators and control the 'First Class'
* The 'Third Class' passes, enter politics and become Ministers and control both above
* Last, but not the least, The ‘Failures’ join the underworld and control all the above
BRILLIANT STATEMENTS ABOUT THE WAY THINGS REALLY ARE !
* Most 'First Class' students become Doctors and some Engineers
* Those who get a 'Second Class', pass the MBA, become Administrators and control the 'First Class'
* The 'Third Class' passes, enter politics and become Ministers and control both above
* Last, but not the least, The ‘Failures’ join the underworld and control all the above
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The issue with the Malaysian education system, AND the SOLUTION
For those who know me, I've just started my own business.
It's retail, so the job will be labor intensive.
My ex-boss, Tan Sri Gnanalingam, recently wrote an article in the NST about how we should place more local workers in our local businesses, fairly and equitably.
I have the highest respect for this man, and I totally agree with his views.
So, I have placed utmost priority on hiring local Malaysians.
First snag, the communication skills.
I was schooled in King Edward VII in Taiping. For the boys who went there, they will tell you that's the best school they could have possibly gone to.
We were taught to speak and write well in BM and English, and we were also encouraged to take up sports such as rugby and football, hence KE's reputation as a sports school.
I do not know what has transpired in the past 15 years since I left school, but I believe the standard of education in our country is possibly down in the dumps.
I hired recent school leavers with a take home pay that is decent.
However, they cannot speak a word of English. That's fine. I don't expect Shakespeare lovers to be salespersons in my business.
But, are you telling me that it's ok for them to go through life without knowing an international language, especially English?
Let's just start at BM. They cannot even write in BAHASA MALAYSIA with proper grammar when they're filling up the job application forms.
What are we doing for the education of the next generation Malaysians?
Imagine my surprise when a 49 year old man came looking for work.
Spoke to me in good English.
I asked him, why is it that you haven't had a job in 6 months?
He answered that at his age, no one wants to take a person who can only work another 5-6 more years before retiring. But that's a story for the next post.
I said, I don't care about creed, colour or even age.
All I want is a worker who's HONEST, HARD-WORKING and with GOOD MANNERS.
He had all of the above.
I hired him on the spot.
After giving him the offer, I asked, where did you manage to learn such good English?
He showed me his MCE certificate, dated 1966.
Good grief, I thought. It's in English.
Wait, we had exam certificates in ENGLISH?
Where did the government, specifically the EDUCATION MINISTRY, go wrong?
I've asked my wife and mother in law to speak to my baby daughter in Hakka. Why?
I do not know how or why, but I've seen the effects of being at least bilingual.
People who know more than 1 language are generally SMARTER and more intuitive.
The solution is simple but not easily implemented.
Make ENGLISH a COMPULSORY PASS subject.
This will in no way diminish BM as our national language, but it will do tons of good for the next generation.
I challenge the government. Prove to US, the people, that you want to do good.
Because if you do enough good, we will return you as the government in the next election.
We don't care about allocations for schools that you promised etc.
Because that is YOUR DUTY as the GOVERNMENT, to SERVE US.
YOU ARE THERE TO SERVE THE PEOPLE, regardless of who voted for you.
Now, it looks like I have to save up a lot of money to send my kids to private international schools for the time being...........................
It's retail, so the job will be labor intensive.
My ex-boss, Tan Sri Gnanalingam, recently wrote an article in the NST about how we should place more local workers in our local businesses, fairly and equitably.
I have the highest respect for this man, and I totally agree with his views.
So, I have placed utmost priority on hiring local Malaysians.
First snag, the communication skills.
I was schooled in King Edward VII in Taiping. For the boys who went there, they will tell you that's the best school they could have possibly gone to.
We were taught to speak and write well in BM and English, and we were also encouraged to take up sports such as rugby and football, hence KE's reputation as a sports school.
I do not know what has transpired in the past 15 years since I left school, but I believe the standard of education in our country is possibly down in the dumps.
I hired recent school leavers with a take home pay that is decent.
However, they cannot speak a word of English. That's fine. I don't expect Shakespeare lovers to be salespersons in my business.
But, are you telling me that it's ok for them to go through life without knowing an international language, especially English?
Let's just start at BM. They cannot even write in BAHASA MALAYSIA with proper grammar when they're filling up the job application forms.
What are we doing for the education of the next generation Malaysians?
Imagine my surprise when a 49 year old man came looking for work.
Spoke to me in good English.
I asked him, why is it that you haven't had a job in 6 months?
He answered that at his age, no one wants to take a person who can only work another 5-6 more years before retiring. But that's a story for the next post.
I said, I don't care about creed, colour or even age.
All I want is a worker who's HONEST, HARD-WORKING and with GOOD MANNERS.
He had all of the above.
I hired him on the spot.
After giving him the offer, I asked, where did you manage to learn such good English?
He showed me his MCE certificate, dated 1966.
Good grief, I thought. It's in English.
Wait, we had exam certificates in ENGLISH?
Where did the government, specifically the EDUCATION MINISTRY, go wrong?
I've asked my wife and mother in law to speak to my baby daughter in Hakka. Why?
I do not know how or why, but I've seen the effects of being at least bilingual.
People who know more than 1 language are generally SMARTER and more intuitive.
The solution is simple but not easily implemented.
Make ENGLISH a COMPULSORY PASS subject.
This will in no way diminish BM as our national language, but it will do tons of good for the next generation.
I challenge the government. Prove to US, the people, that you want to do good.
Because if you do enough good, we will return you as the government in the next election.
We don't care about allocations for schools that you promised etc.
Because that is YOUR DUTY as the GOVERNMENT, to SERVE US.
YOU ARE THERE TO SERVE THE PEOPLE, regardless of who voted for you.
Now, it looks like I have to save up a lot of money to send my kids to private international schools for the time being...........................
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Need to produce thinking students
I read this article yesterday and found it to be a good one. I went to IKIM once when I audited them, and found the people there to be rational and good thinkers. I hope more of these views are disseminated and that our country can produce better thinkers.
Need to produce thinking students
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 13:08
There has to be a system able to educate and equip the people with all the tools necessary to face the complex pressures of modern society.
IKIM views by Nik Roskiman Abdul Samad, The Star
WE celebrated Teachers’ Day a few weeks ago. Talk of education always brings to my mind a speech given by Dorothy L. Sayers at Oxford in 1947, which was later printed in essay form bearing the title The Lost Tools of Learning.
Although Sayers was not an educationist, but rather a novelist, her profound critique of the modern education system has initiated a classical education movement in the US and Europe.
I first came across her ideas several years ago, and those ideas have stayed in my mind. And I find them to be relevant more so now as our government is planning to review or revamp our education system and curriculum.
It is indeed timely for the Government to introduce a new education system that is able to really educate and equip the people with all the tools necessary to face the complex pressures of modern society.
This is the crux of Sayer’s critique of the modern education system: the inability to produce educated people equipped with the necessary tools of modern life.
Our national education system has failed, the public has said. They are clamouring for a better education system to replace the present one. Our system is accused of being exam-oriented and produces trained “parrots”. Why?
One of the reasons is that our system today is burdening students with too many subjects. Since there are too many subjects, teachers are not able to concentrate on developing personalities and individual characters. Their focus is on completing the entire syllabus of every subject, otherwise the students may not be able to answer questions in the coming term examinations.
No time is spared for inter-personal discussions, counselling or informal advice-giving sessions between teachers and students. The situation in our country is worsened by the attitudes of some of our ministers or politicians, who want to have their say with regard to the education system.
It is as though every minister deems he has the right to have his say in deciding what subjects should or should not be taught in our schools, without being duly qualified.
When we feel that the trend is towards Information Technology (IT), we want subjects related to IT to be taught in schools.
Later, when we dispatched our angkasawan to the moon, we wanted Astronomy to be part of our curriculum.
When we feel entrepreneurship is important, we want it to be part of the subjects taught in schools.
Recently, we seem to feel that national unity and patriotism is at stake, therefore we demand that these subjects be included in the national curriculum. It goes on endlessly.
We have actually lost sight of what education is all about and what its true objective entails.
Education is not about teaching particular “subjects”. Neither it is about the number of subjects taught in schools. It is about nurturing a human being to be a “good man”.
Modern students today are certainly taught more subjects, but that does not mean they are actually “good” or know more; nor does it mean they are better equipped than those before them.
Compared with students of the Athenean Middle Ages, who only studied three subjects at the trivium and four subjects at the quadrivium, for example, today’s students should perform better, considering their intellectual growth.
But this is not the case. Many a time an interview panel is frustrated with the performance of our graduates, despite their having spent more than a decade at the primary and secondary education levels and approximately four years at the tertiary level.
They certainly “studied” hundreds of subjects and, yet, they do not know the basics, have no confidence in speaking, no critical and logical thought when arguing, have no common sense, rational thought and so on. Why?
Because they had never been taught to think, how to use reason or how to argue during their entire “formal” education.
The only reason they have succeeded thus far is, perhaps, purely because they were good at memorising data – not that their intellect has been developed.
The findings of child development psychiatrists and research workers have emphasised the deep impressions early experiences have on children and the lasting effects of such impressions.
Comenius, in The School of Infancy, Montessori, in his The Secret of Childhood, and countless others have stressed the importance of right education at an early age.
In Islam, emphasis is given even when the parent is still searching for his spouse, seeking only for one with upright religious bearing since their children will be affected by their parents’ character.
At their early stage, children should be taught the proper use of the tools of learning before they begin to apply these to “subjects”, which should only be taught at a later stage.
At the foundational stage, they should only be taught three things, the trivium: Grammar, Logic (Dialectic), and Rhetoric.
This is quite similar to the traditional Islamic primary education where children at an early age should be taught, among other things, the Qur’an, language, literature (adab), ethics (akhlaq) and logic (mantiq).
Only at the secondary or university levels perhaps whatever subjects suit the national interest and the contemporary age may be introduced.
In general, children in Malaysia are reluctant to go to school, unlike children in the developed countries who exhibit eagerness and enthusiasm.
Children in Europe find school very interesting, and their teachers to be very loving and friendly. In Malaysia, even before going to school, we have a hard time with our children.
Teachers are assumed to be fierce because of their demeanor, like “teacher-cum-police” officers.
They also envision being bombarded with too much information that they are required to know, not to mention writing.
But their ability to reflect, think and ponder is not being groomed and developed. They are required to memorise data where all the answers are given.
Our education policy makers should sit down seriously with educationists and “experts” to come up with a better education policy for the sake of our future generations.
We have had enough of the same old moans whenever review of our education system is mentioned. Nothing substantial has been done thus far. Even the perennial issue of heavy school bags has not been effectively resolved yet.
Hopefully the “people’s Prime Minister” will look into this matter more urgently.
Need to produce thinking students
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 13:08
There has to be a system able to educate and equip the people with all the tools necessary to face the complex pressures of modern society.
IKIM views by Nik Roskiman Abdul Samad, The Star
WE celebrated Teachers’ Day a few weeks ago. Talk of education always brings to my mind a speech given by Dorothy L. Sayers at Oxford in 1947, which was later printed in essay form bearing the title The Lost Tools of Learning.
Although Sayers was not an educationist, but rather a novelist, her profound critique of the modern education system has initiated a classical education movement in the US and Europe.
I first came across her ideas several years ago, and those ideas have stayed in my mind. And I find them to be relevant more so now as our government is planning to review or revamp our education system and curriculum.
It is indeed timely for the Government to introduce a new education system that is able to really educate and equip the people with all the tools necessary to face the complex pressures of modern society.
This is the crux of Sayer’s critique of the modern education system: the inability to produce educated people equipped with the necessary tools of modern life.
Our national education system has failed, the public has said. They are clamouring for a better education system to replace the present one. Our system is accused of being exam-oriented and produces trained “parrots”. Why?
One of the reasons is that our system today is burdening students with too many subjects. Since there are too many subjects, teachers are not able to concentrate on developing personalities and individual characters. Their focus is on completing the entire syllabus of every subject, otherwise the students may not be able to answer questions in the coming term examinations.
No time is spared for inter-personal discussions, counselling or informal advice-giving sessions between teachers and students. The situation in our country is worsened by the attitudes of some of our ministers or politicians, who want to have their say with regard to the education system.
It is as though every minister deems he has the right to have his say in deciding what subjects should or should not be taught in our schools, without being duly qualified.
When we feel that the trend is towards Information Technology (IT), we want subjects related to IT to be taught in schools.
Later, when we dispatched our angkasawan to the moon, we wanted Astronomy to be part of our curriculum.
When we feel entrepreneurship is important, we want it to be part of the subjects taught in schools.
Recently, we seem to feel that national unity and patriotism is at stake, therefore we demand that these subjects be included in the national curriculum. It goes on endlessly.
We have actually lost sight of what education is all about and what its true objective entails.
Education is not about teaching particular “subjects”. Neither it is about the number of subjects taught in schools. It is about nurturing a human being to be a “good man”.
Modern students today are certainly taught more subjects, but that does not mean they are actually “good” or know more; nor does it mean they are better equipped than those before them.
Compared with students of the Athenean Middle Ages, who only studied three subjects at the trivium and four subjects at the quadrivium, for example, today’s students should perform better, considering their intellectual growth.
But this is not the case. Many a time an interview panel is frustrated with the performance of our graduates, despite their having spent more than a decade at the primary and secondary education levels and approximately four years at the tertiary level.
They certainly “studied” hundreds of subjects and, yet, they do not know the basics, have no confidence in speaking, no critical and logical thought when arguing, have no common sense, rational thought and so on. Why?
Because they had never been taught to think, how to use reason or how to argue during their entire “formal” education.
The only reason they have succeeded thus far is, perhaps, purely because they were good at memorising data – not that their intellect has been developed.
The findings of child development psychiatrists and research workers have emphasised the deep impressions early experiences have on children and the lasting effects of such impressions.
Comenius, in The School of Infancy, Montessori, in his The Secret of Childhood, and countless others have stressed the importance of right education at an early age.
In Islam, emphasis is given even when the parent is still searching for his spouse, seeking only for one with upright religious bearing since their children will be affected by their parents’ character.
At their early stage, children should be taught the proper use of the tools of learning before they begin to apply these to “subjects”, which should only be taught at a later stage.
At the foundational stage, they should only be taught three things, the trivium: Grammar, Logic (Dialectic), and Rhetoric.
This is quite similar to the traditional Islamic primary education where children at an early age should be taught, among other things, the Qur’an, language, literature (adab), ethics (akhlaq) and logic (mantiq).
Only at the secondary or university levels perhaps whatever subjects suit the national interest and the contemporary age may be introduced.
In general, children in Malaysia are reluctant to go to school, unlike children in the developed countries who exhibit eagerness and enthusiasm.
Children in Europe find school very interesting, and their teachers to be very loving and friendly. In Malaysia, even before going to school, we have a hard time with our children.
Teachers are assumed to be fierce because of their demeanor, like “teacher-cum-police” officers.
They also envision being bombarded with too much information that they are required to know, not to mention writing.
But their ability to reflect, think and ponder is not being groomed and developed. They are required to memorise data where all the answers are given.
Our education policy makers should sit down seriously with educationists and “experts” to come up with a better education policy for the sake of our future generations.
We have had enough of the same old moans whenever review of our education system is mentioned. Nothing substantial has been done thus far. Even the perennial issue of heavy school bags has not been effectively resolved yet.
Hopefully the “people’s Prime Minister” will look into this matter more urgently.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thank God for selfless teachers
I was born on Teacher's Day, which is pure coincidence as both my parents were teachers. I suppose I was a present for them then.
I want to give credit to all the great teachers I have had in King Edward VII (Primary and Secondary), my MACPA lecturers as well as the lecturers in Maastricht School of Management.
This story is for you all.
(Uncle Bernard Khoo aka Zorro, weren't you a teacher too?)
Thank God For Teachers
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"
Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make?
(She paused for a second, then began...)
"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I make an A student feel like winning the Thomas Cup.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Nintendo DS or DVD movie. You want to know what I make?"
(She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)
I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to write and then I make them write.
Keyboarding isn't everything.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.
I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Rukun Negara to the Malaysian Flag, because we live in this great country called Malaysia.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.
(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)
"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant.... You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
What do you make Mr. CEO?"
His jaw dropped, he went silent.
I want to give credit to all the great teachers I have had in King Edward VII (Primary and Secondary), my MACPA lecturers as well as the lecturers in Maastricht School of Management.
This story is for you all.
(Uncle Bernard Khoo aka Zorro, weren't you a teacher too?)
Thank God For Teachers
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"
Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make?
(She paused for a second, then began...)
"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I make an A student feel like winning the Thomas Cup.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Nintendo DS or DVD movie. You want to know what I make?"
(She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)
I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to write and then I make them write.
Keyboarding isn't everything.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.
I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Rukun Negara to the Malaysian Flag, because we live in this great country called Malaysia.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.
(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)
"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant.... You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
What do you make Mr. CEO?"
His jaw dropped, he went silent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)