"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." Socrates

Y'see? NBS and I have widely differing opinions as to our expected end results for KI students. No doubt we both want them to eventually become wise beyond their years, but we seem to be disagreeing on what to consider as progress milestones.

For me, I look at the culture schoolkids are raised in today and I see an environment in which kids are taught to shut up and accept "knowledge" from whatever higher authority. Kids don't go to school to ask questions; but rather, they go to answer them. So after 10+ years of such conditioning, kids believe that answers are more valuable than questions; and if they don't have immediate answers, they think they're screwed for life.

The education system tends to be prescriptive. It doesn't encourage curiosity, but instead gives the impression that whatever isn't in the syllabus isn't important, and therefore there isn't any need to find out more than what's in front of the nose. Questions probing beyond tend to fall somewhere between "impertinent" and "irrelevant," and more often than not are quashed by a teacher's icy glare.

The child's eventually learns to recognize what are potentially inappropriate and/or embarrassing lines of inquiry and self-censors verbal articulation of thoughts that need clarification or further explanation, though such questions may hold valuable keys to gaining a better understanding of the concept being considered. This self-censor -- which has the power to save "face" -- is unfortunately also the biggest stumbling block to a child's learning ability.

The self-censor is an important socialization tool. It prevents misunderstanding between people, and it alerts us to sensitivities of the concept under discussion. But under repeated conditioning it kicks into overdrive and we can't be bothered to argue with it any longer. We take the easy way out and stop questioning altogether.

Most of us live under the tyranny of the self-censor for the rest of our lives. We're too afraid, too embarrassed, too polite to ask questions any longer. We remain quiet, content to absorb information but not engage it, and so our learning ends once we leave school. The KI student works to overcome this fate, taking back control from his/her self-censor so that he/she can reclaim the freedom to question and be curious once again.

As for our field trip to Parliamant House on Wednesday, our KIds showed the will and the audacity to ask about things they didn't understand, or about discrepancies between their expectations and what they actually observed. The questions may not have been profound abstractions showing off how smart they were, but rather admissions that they didn't know what was going on and yet they wanted to find out anyway. This, to me is what learning is all about. The answers they got to their queries were quite satisfactory, and compared to their seniors who tended to just sit quietly, I'm sure the KIds got more out of the visit.

NBS isn't wrong about wanting to be more ambitious for the KIds. As we progress, they will learn to raise the level of their queries. But after having had only 1 term with us, they are already starting to become curious about their world again. That, to me, is a stumbling block removed. Heh. Between NBS and me, I think we're going to see our 1st batch of KIds through ok.

Considering I've had about 3 hours of sleep between yesterday and today, I still feel pretty good. For one thing, the latest edition of NY conneX is online! And for another, I'm anticipating that apart from a couple of administrative chores tomorrow, I can get some make-up rest time in the afternoon. Oh, wait, there's still a pile of essays left to wade through. Whatever. There are only 24 hours in a day after all.

NBS and I have very different opinions about how our field trip to Parliament House went this afternoon. Because Parliament was in session -- today they were debating the budget for MoM -- we got to sit and observe the proceedings for about a half-hour. It wasn't exactly a full house, but a number of recognizeable people were present, including the PM and SM, and Mr Chiam too.

During the 'education' part of our visit, while the JC2s remained quiet, our KIds jumped right on the Q&A session and pestered our patient guide with question after question. NBS lamented that their questions weren't particularly intelligent. They were mostly procedural and speculative questions and perhaps they seemed like a waste of time to answer.

But to me, the level of questioning wasn't important. The fact that they were asking, and treating the guide as if he would give them answers (which he did) rather than tell them to shut up (which he didn't) showed that they were actively engaging the content, if not necessarily the substance, of the learning experience.

So instead of sitting and absorbing like sponges like everybody else, they pushed ahead and sought out further information than was immediately obvious. If they picked up this confidence from just our first term together, then I think we're moving KI in the right direction. And I'm quite proud of the KIds after today's session.

Had dinner at Miss Clarity, recommended by Yee 'cos it's right downstairs from his new workplace. A bunch of us were there just to unwind and sample the set meals on offer. Even Avril, who's gone over to the Ministry, joined us for a little light-hearted evening company.

Sets here range from $8.80 to $15.80. I had a lamb chop set at $12.80. 3 chops of tender, juicy lamb, though this little lamb seriously needed counseling at Weight Watchers. Wonder how Vince's lamb was?

It's nice to see how at home June is with everyone. Doubt I could fit in with her colleagues in the same way. And I was really amused that she knew stuff about other people in other departments on campus that even we didn't know about. She has her sources!

So glad to have the opportunity to chill out with the guys. We're all so busy in the daytime, it's great to be able to spend a couple of hours just hanging out and chatting about inconsequentials over food. Cheers, ppl!

Considering we live in a region and a through a history that is so volatile and so civilization-threatening that it takes a cool, confident, tenaciously committed team of thinkers and do-ers (for example, Raja and his colleagues in the MFA) to even dare take the lead in keeping a lid on things; and in an economy that is so literally cut-throat it defies common sense to even think about surviving in (as the brains and entrepreneurs of STI have chosen to face head-on regardless), you have to wonder what our fate is going to be like in 20-30 years time when these whining, overwrought, stressed-out, burned-out kids start taking over our industries and our political machine, and we are too old to work any longer.

Please don't write a sentence like this in your GP essays. Be kind to your tutors. Thank you.

Here's a bonus for us car drivers: a video clip of a jaw-dropping display of synchronized driving, apparently from the early 80's. Here.

Last night was the Chinese society's drama presentation. A double-bill generally featuring dead people. Must be the latest trend or something.

The first item centred around a retarded boy. Or rather, because the boy was retarded, attention went to him by default. Maybe it's just my bias, but I'm fed-up of the tendency to milk the character of the 'retard' for sympathy and cheap drama. It doesn't take a lot of skill to literally "play the fool." Just act irrationally by randomly and abruptly changing behaviour patterns, and absolutely refuse to engage the script except in response to such stimulus that triggers off the most basic of reptilian brain functions.

It would have been better if the script had at least tried to develop some complexity to his character, but instead all it led up to was his inexplicable self-defenestration. Basically, he was stupid, therefore he fell out the window. That's one way to put the audience out of our misery, I suppose.

The second piece was an improvement from the earlier one. A delinquent kid gets pretty much into everyone's bad books. His little girlfriend discovers the grief that lies behind his unmotivated hyperactivity (ooh, ooh, oxymoron), while his superstitious granny makes him confront it, bringing him back into society's fold once again.

A more coherent plotline in this one, more realistic towards human behaviour and experience. The interaction between delinquent and granny had its amusing moments, especially when granny attempts to exorcise spirits from him, and the moments between him and girlfriend were quite sweet.

Strange choice of set placement in which the park set is smack centre-stage flanked by living-room set on SL and dining-room SR. It looks like there is a park in the middle of the apartment, when the two locations start alternating with each other. Visually confusing but one gets used to it after a while.

And, yes, there's still a tendency to rely on the blackout, but at least scene changes are much faster, reducing wait-in-the-dark time to a minimum.

Chinese Society's annual "Bai Yun Gang" event has its own identity and a very strong support base of students and alumni. It was nearly full house in LT4 last night, and it's sold out tonight as well. Hope NYeDC can capture similar commercial success, as well as critical success this year. Break a leg, guys!

Field trip: NEWater plant with NBS and a few KIds. Hadn't counted on there being a primary school group on the same tour, and a bunch of senior high school exchange students from India as well. 80 little monkeys, a handful of trying-to-be-dignified-in-their-blazers-and-ties teenagers, and then there's us and our kids, casual as they come.

The tour, of course, catered to the lowest common denominator; the below-10 crowd. Hence the Barney-style presentation with toilet humor thrown in to keep the small boys happy. But the kids were the life of the tour, regardless of how I usually feel about them. They were lively, responsive, curious, and rambunctious. Without them, and the tour leader displaying remarkable skill, patience and good-nature in dealing with their shenanigans, the tour could have devolved into the #1 cure for insomnia. Well, maybe not. Perhaps the presenter might have been prepared with a repertoire of adult jokes for an older audience?

Oddly enough, there wasn't time in the presentation for a proper Q&A session. Many times the little ones' hands popped up but they were never allowed to ask their questions because the content material just kept steamrolling along. Is that why when they get to college level, noone bothers to ask anything any more? Too much content to memorize because there is no other avenue on which to engage the material? Noone to ask of because "you're supposed to know the answer already! What have I been talking about for the last half-hour?"

Guess that's my key take-away on this trip: the difference between GP and KI. Conventional GP kids make it their job to know the answers. KIds make it their job to regain their curiosity and start asking questions again. Hmm... if that's the case, then perhaps all college kids should have a dose of KI first, since GP seems to be the more advanced stage of this two-step process.

Mimi sits, guarding my 'blading equipment. Her cough seems to be subsiding, thanks for asking.

Since I was at the petanque courts to photograph the kids in training, June and I took the chance to catch "Underworld:Evolution" at the Eng Wah across the street.

Cool movie. Almost non-stop violence and gore as werewolves battle it out against vampires, from medieval times to the present. Not much of a reason given as to what they're fighting about, though. Then when the vampires run out of werewolves to fight, they fight amongst themselves. Last ones standing get to kick the last (who also happens to be the oldest, biggest and baddest) werewolf's butt. Brilliant!

And some stylo costumes mostly in the scruffy leather category. It's a treat to see Kate Beckinsale run around in her cat-suit. It's even more of a treat to see her out of it. Heh. ;)

Got my GP tutorial working on writing up proposals for the use of the 'Opportunity Funds' being allocated to all schools from this year's annual Budget. The idea is to boost the finances of neighbourhood schools so that they don't lose out so much against the better-off self-funded institutions in terms of providing enrichment programmes for the students.

Some schools are considering using the money to subsidize out-of-country field trips and IT expenses for kids from families which can't afford such luxuries (some call them necessities) outright. Other schools want to expand their library collections, and introduce programmes that offer training in non-academic lifeskills. You get the idea.

I wondered what students themselves might come up with if they had a say in the application of these funds, hence the proposal-writing exercise. While there were a couple of groups in which the membership just coudn't decide amongst themselves what they should propose to buy, there were a couple if interesting ideas that surfaced.

Use the funds as seed money for each class to use as capital to set up and operate a small business, perhaps for a finite period of time and in competition with one another. The other suggestion was to equip and train a group of students in the fine art of clowning. I thought these ideas were excellent! So much potential for independent, self-motivated learning in many aspects of life.

Schools are making their own decisions as to how to use the bonus income. Some schools want to consult parents as to how to spend the money. But since the money is meant to be used for their sake, shouldn't the students have a say too?

Had to make a decision. Consulted the Journalists and they agreed that a weekly publication was indeed too stressful to write for. Decided we can focus on delivering more quality if we published every fortnight instead. We'll have time to look through the stories in more detail and correct factual errors and other oversights. Perhaps investigate things further without the added pressure of meeting impossible deadlines, and do homework, and mug, and de-stress all at the same time. Next ish comes out in a week's time, then.

I've for a long time wondered what the etymology of 'milo dinosaur' was. I ordered one today at lunch and took the time to observe it. It looked larger than the regular milo, anyway, which could account for the size association, though that's a bit of an exaggeration.

A milo dinosaur, for the uninitiated, is a large iced milo sprinkled over with a respectable mound of chocolatey milo powder, forming a little brown mountain at the top of the mug. As the milo powder comes into contact with the cold fluid milo, it petrifies -- that is, it clumps together and hardens into rocks of different sizes.

Soon, the lumps of milo 'rocks' fill up the gaps between the ice cubes and the concoction becomes increasingly difficult to stir.

Like the bones of an extinct dinosaur get trapped and frozen within layers of geology, so too does a milo dinosaur become bogged down in a sticky quagmire as the chocolatey sediment settles and hardens inside the beverage. And maybe that's where the 'dinosaur' can be found.

There are days on which I feel the same way. Stuck in a rut, immobilized and clinging to the old days, while everyone else has already gone ahead. The trick is not to be a dinosaur in a fast-paced, ever-changing world. The call is to move on, move on; adapt and change, or stagnate and die. To the world, it makes no difference whether you do or you don't. To you, of course, it does.

Since she had her teeth done yesterday, Mimi's developed a pretty horrid cough. She coughed through last night and late this morning she started coughing up some nasty phlegm that scared us enough to take her back to the vet to find out what's up.

We found out that part of the procedure for administering anesthesia during her dental work involved the insertion of a tube down her throat that might have caused some irritation. It didn't help that when she came to, she started barking the place down -- frantic because she couldn't identify a familiar face nearby. In fact, the vet called me an hour before the appointed time to collect Mimi and Kaiser, 'cos Mimi was "very stressed."

Today, the vet gave her an anti-inflammatory shot and an antibiotics shot, and prescribed a codine-based cough mixture as well. Oh, and 2 weeks worth of antibiotics tablets too. That's a lot of medication for a little dog to handle. Hope we know what we're doing.

Poor Kaiser. Took him to the vet for The Operation. June had to work this morning so it was left to me to handle him and Mimi who had a dental appointment.

We felt quite sorry for Kaiser because the last tom we took for fixing came back quite bloody and looked like he was in pain when we released him back to his hangout place behind our usual coffee-shop. But Kaiser doesn't seem to be feeling much of the after effects of such a potentially traumatic procedure. Apart from sleeping a little more than usual, he seems quite like his old self. No blood, for one thing, and he can already jump to the top of the TV by himself. Maybe it's because he's still technically a kitten and doesn't know what really happened to him this morning. Well, we've got 3 days' worth of pain-killers for him just in case.

Mimi's dental health is quite terrible. She had to have 5 teeth extracted, and unless she gets a regular dental regimen she's going to become a toothless little old lady soon. We got a small package of doggie toothbrushes and toothpaste from the vet, and I hope when Mimi goes home, someone will actually take the trouble to see to her brushing "at least 3 times a week" like the doctor ordered. He will review her progress in 3 months' time.

Finally, after a month and ten days since I placed my order, I finally collected my new contact lenses from Mr Leow. About time too, as my current pair are starting to feel quite grungy. While at the shop, I got a spur of the moment SMS invite from Anthony to join him at Yishun SAFRA for a spot of bowling. Since he was already there on business, he thought of using the lanes as well.

So it was that only 2 of the Boyz only had time to bowl only 2 games each, just for old times' sake. The reality is, looking at our present schedules, I'm quite pessimistic about the Boyz ever getting back together and staging a comeback at the Ministry's bowling league this year. Too many duties, too many commitments, to much responsibility. I guess in 2006, the Boyz finally grow up.

Of course, I didn't realize how much I've personally grown up until I returned home after dinner -- and realized that my brand new contact lenses had gone missing on me. I searched everywhere for them but they'd vanished. I thought that perhaps I'd left them in M2, but M2 didn't have them either. $300 lost, and still having to wear grungy lenses for another who knows how long. Then it all came back to me. I'd stuck them in my back trouser pocket on my way up from the parking lot in the first place, for safe-keeping. And there they still were, safe and sound.

Somewhere along the line, I've jumped past middle-age and gone straight to senility.

In the dim recesses of my memory [no lah, actually I looked it up], I recall a number of 03A2 people were part of the PUS team in '04. As a PUS newbie, I'm shouting out for any advice you guys can give me from your perspective as actual participants in the event.

Advice on how you feel you should have been prepared, the stresses you faced, how to keep this year's batch motivated and happily working together, group dynamics, equipment and other logistical requirements , pretty much anything that can help me recruit and gel a team of diverse roles, interests, genders, and talents together will be much appreciated.

Let's see, Mei, 'rah, 'sif, Fifi, Iqbal and Drama Club alumnus, Sam W, a little help over here, please?

BTW, the latest issue of NY conneXions is online with a new look and a new server! Still got a few design issues but I guess it's going to have to be a work-in-progress. The news don't wait for nobody! Credit for the cover photo goes to Amy :) which got me wondering if we should offer a small token every week for any NY student who submits the 'photo of the week'? Just thinking aloud. Click here.

The task for my other co-curricular activity has finally come to light. I'll be taking 30 kids into NUS during the June hols to participate in the PUS. Yes, the annual week-long JC presentation attended by big shots who want to know how our youth view the upcoming future for themselves and for the nation.

At a briefing session this afternoon, our college got the part of the presentation that generally focuses on how we can:
1) adapt ourselves to meet the challenges of the 21st Century,
2) shape our foreign policy to open up new frontiers of exploration and make new friends along the way (shades of Starfleet!),
3) take advantage of I&E and R&D to keep ourselves relevant and in tune with meeting the needs of tomorrow's markets,
4) keep intact our ties with our traditional values and heritage, and
5) leverage on education to prepare our young for the future.

But the main question for us is to see how traditional businesses can continue to survive and thrive in the new KBE. Yes, the question seems to stereotype our college, considering the old running joke associating us with oil lamps. Whatever.

My problem with the question is that there isn't really any particular business that we can call "traditional." We might associate a product, or a process, or a business model, or even a management model with being "traditional," or some combination of the above; but the business itself either keeps reinventing itself -- it moves with its extremely fickle customer base -- or it dies, plain and simple. So why beat ourselves up over the loss of "traditional" businesses? In the capitalist (open/free) market that we have chosen to deal in, there is no room for sentimentality; only the fittest will survive.

The kids will have to resolve this dilemma, framing their solution within the 5 main points above. They only have 15 minutes to make a presentation and 30 minutes to address questions from the audience to do it in. This task will prove quite... challenging. Especially since I haven't got 30 kids yet and the presentation proposal is due in 9 days or so.

Attended an investment seminar organized by CitiBank this evening. The fact is, our savings are meagre and we're spooked that if we continue to keep our spare cash under our pillows (not literally, of course) instead of investing it for higher returns than the bank's fixed deposit or CPF, there just won't be enough for us to retire on [yes, we're thinking far in advance for once] and still maintain our current lifestyle.

Ideally, what we should have is a stash of wealth that will last till the day we croak, and perhaps some left over to tidy up the mess we've left behind. We also have to hedge against the inflation rate and the GST, which won't stay at a mere 5% for long. Then there're those geriatric medical expenses to think about; and for the moment we don't even have kids to plan for and already the finances look like there won't be enough to go around if there were any more of us.

When you talk to an insurance agent, as we did sometime in the past week, your financial life is always going to look bleak.

Hence, today's seminar which we decided to attend to evaluate our options apart from buying yet another life insurance policy. We heard about building a portfolio of investments that balances risk with growth. That, for best results, we should diversify our equity as far as possible in terms of the proportion of stocks and bonds we own; across different industry types; and across different countries in the region and worldwide.

In other words, bet on a whole bunch of horses so that the winnings of at least one horse will cover the losses of the other horses and leave a fat profit besides. The bank's fund managers are there to help us to intelligently pick which horses to bet on so that we don't risk all on a stupid, random crap shoot.

Too much info to absorb all at once. Didn't help that both June and I zoned out during major portions of the presentation. Still, the idea of putting some money to work to generate more money seems like an idea worth considering...

Alternating between high energy and being wiped out. Last night I was brain dead. Watched my first ever “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” while in that state.

Meantime, June busied herself in the kitchen baking fruit tartlets and banana cake. My fellow staff (and hers) are going to be happy!

JY was sick today, so she didn't go 'blading at Bish Park like she usually does. That left Mr and Mrs Popular 'blading solo; no, make that Mr Popular 'cos Mrs Popular was still resting her injured knee and decided instead to walk Q-tip around the park.

So none of the other 'regulars' turned up either, except for Chewy who, likewise, was still resting her injured knee. The 2 girls and dog ended up chatting under a cafe umbrella at the 'blading rink. I believe they were swapping horror stories about the service at local bridal boutiques.

'blading solo meant that I could pick up the pace a little, and in 3 orbits I was about as tired as our usual 4-5. Must have been daydreaming too 'cos a kid on a bike rang his bell once to warn me he was right behind me, and I totally lost control, wiping out as he overtook me. That was embarrassing, just as I was thinking I was getting good, too.

Oh, and on an unrelated note, it's M2's birthday today! How quickly they grow up!