Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts

July 1, 2012

We Won't Bury You; Americans Have Buried Themselves

Below is a comment I wrote on the Street Prophets' diary, Christ, Nessie, and teaching children to love lies.

We need to figure a way to educate our children to function in a crowded and challenging world.

I really wanted to write a facetious answer at first, but I'll play this one straight. A friend recently wrote on Facebook:

Outsourcing is outsourcing, Mitt Rmoney, not 'Offshoring'. 'Offshoring' implies the paychecks are made out to Americans. They aren't. In fact outsourcing is taking a paycheck that once went to an American, and giving away to someone else in another country.

To which I originally responded:

To which we all in Asia say "Thank you!" ;)

Naturally, he was a little miffed at that answer, so I responded:

I'm not a fan of outsourcing in general and I do sympathize with American workers, but... Outsourcing is not simply due to lower wages in other countries. In fact if I were to list all the factors that I thought contributed to the reasons why American companies outsourced jobs overseas, I'd rank lower wages compared to American wages down near the bottom of my list, especially with respect to Asian countries.

One of the factors that has helped spur on the growth of outsourcing is the fact that educational systems outside of the US are frequently superior to that of the American system. These jobs don't just go to people in other countries simply because of lower wages, they go because these other people are qualified to perform that work. They have the education, the skills, the experience to get the job done. In fact, because of the large numbers of qualified applicants, competition for jobs can be quite intense and not very easy to succeed in getting if you don't have the requisite qualifications, no matter what they are. (Here's a LinkedIn discussion in which I had to tell a younger guy how he was going to need to upgrade his language skills because, otherwise, he was going to lose out on job opportunities in which a second language is vital for getting jobs in Singapore.)

The world is crowded and challenging, and other countries are benefiting from stupid American attitudes with respect to the educational system because /we/ don't make those same mistakes. We don't have an attitude of "let's break the public school system because it offends our sensibilities." No one homeschools here. And what we do do is send our kids to enrichment classes during the evenings and weekends so that our kids can compete better, whether it's with other Asian children or American children. (I, a white American man, have a three-year-old daughter who's learning her third language - Chinese - and my wife suggested this morning that we get her into a second weekly class in that language so that she can improve faster. On a program about India that aired the same day I wrote the above comments to my friend on Facebook, there was a segment where the host interviewed some street girl, about 13 years old, in Calcutta - who spoke perfect English. He asked her what her favorite subject was, and she said physics. Why? Because it's her easiest subject. She wants to be a physicist. How many American kids would say that?)

The fault for outsourcing and a declining economic situation in America is not the rest of the world's. It is America's fault, for its backwards attitudes and lack of competitive drive in its people. I almost feel like Nikita Khrushchev now, except it's not "We will bury you!" but that Americans have buried themselves.

Good luck with that.

December 1, 2011

America's "Arrogant Ignorance"

The following appeared in the November 19th edition of the Arizona Republic. I completely agree with Dr. Michael Crow's assessment of the situation in the United States. Dr. Crow mentioned the idea of Americans resting on their laurels; in my opinion, not only is this true, but the problem is exacerbated by many Americans' believing in "American exceptionalism." I can tell you that not only do other people around the world not believe in the idea of how "exceptional" the United States is, but that they are working as hard as possible to be better than Americans in all sorts of fields: education, commerce, industry, and so forth. Too many Americans would rather be fat, stupid and lazy, then complain about why the rest of the world is passing them by and taking "their" jobs. Dr. Crow's message should be a wake-up call to Americans that they need to rethink how American society should operate before the so-called "American exceptionalism" turns permanently into "American mediocrity." The United States is already on its way there.

More than 200 people at a Peoria conference got a jolt of reality along with their caffeine from Arizona State University President Michael Crow, who said a collective "arrogant ignorance" holds the nation back.

He cited an education system that's not innovative enough, a lack of awareness or acknowledgment of global competition and lack of long-term vision.

Crow, the morning keynote speaker Thursday at the city's second annual Positive Action through Civic Engagement conference didn't mince words in his hourlong address, taking on what he called the "800-pound elephant sitting in the room."

The state of the economy.

Crow said the country needs to work toward a common goal of economic success and global competitiveness, which would help achieve other goals of social, cultural and community development.

He outlined "realistic assessments" of the United States, often forcefully, thumping the lectern on stage at the Arizona Broadway Theatre.

The ASU president said the country is resting on its laurels, which is not enough to come out of the economic morass.

"We don't understand the rise and the development of the rest of the world as competitors; we feel it but we don't understand it," he said. "We are going to have to look ourselves in the mirror, pull ourselves together as a community and literally re-think many, many things."

Crow said looking to the federal government for all the answers is not the solution. He urged the audience, comprising business, education and community leaders, to understand that the solutions to problems come from communities.

"Communities and states are the laboratories of democracy," he said. "We are the means by which solutions will be derived, new pathways will be engineered."

Crow also criticized the K-12 and higher-education systems for being "insufficiently innovative," and stifled by the "model of the past."

He said the focus should be on how K-12 schools are doing, "not compared with the school down the street or the school up in Flagstaff," but with schools internationally.

"We're not where we should be," Crow said.

He took on his peers, other research university presidents, for thinking narrowly only of the elite students and educators. They must be more inclusive to better educate the country.

"The level of arrogance among these individuals and these institutions is beyond belief," Crow said.

He spoke of the need to think big, not in the narrow prism of growth within a city or company but regionally, to compete not with Tempe or Tucson but with Singapore or Shanghai.

For that, he singled out the need to think about growth in the context of the larger Sun Corridor in Arizona, one of 10 megapolitans identified as hubs for growth because of their collective infrastructure and resources. The corridor stretching from Prescott to Tucson, across Yavapai, Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties, has a collective economy the size of Finland, Malaysia or the United Arab Emirates, he said.

To compete globally, leaders would have to take the long-term view and make decisions regionally.

Crow said it doesn't help to just focus on dealing with people who no longer have jobs and how to keep them going in the short-term with unemployment benefits. Leaders must focus on how the unemployed are being prepared for the jobs that need filled going forward.

"By being economically competitive, we can build from that the societies we want," Crow said.

The speech impressed several audience members.

AARP Arizona volunteer Virginia Correa Creager told Crow she would work to spread the word. "It's incumbent on us not to just listen to you today, not to just take notes from you today but it's incumbent upon us to reach out into the community and spread the message that you gave us today," she said.

The message of working collectively for the larger cause of economic prosperity hit home for Sandy Mendez Benson of Washington Elementary School District. She said that's something she works on at the local level, "trying to pool resources and ideas" between schools and the local businesses and community residents.

April 8, 2010

Math Teacher's Shadow Trick

A well-done bit of fun by a math teacher during his lecture just before the start of spring break. Check it out!


Math Teacher Shadow Trick During Lecture - Watch more Funny Videos

October 29, 2009

New Links for my Web Pages

Due to the recent cancellation of Yahoo's Geocities free web hosting service, I've had to transfer a number of my webpages to a new site. The webpages that have been moved include a long-neglected index page and a color chart for webpages and blogs. The two big websites that have also been transferred are my Titanic website and the website for my high school class. (Both of these sites normally get a lot of traffic; the Titanic site usually provided about 1/3 of my daily total of hits.)

The individual pages for these two sites are listed below:

Titanic:
Titanic Web Pages
James Cameron's Titanic vs. R.M.S. Titanic (p. 1)
James Cameron's Titanic vs. R.M.S. Titanic (p. 2)
The Hands of Titanic
What Happened to...?
What Happened to...Chief Baker Charles Joughin?
Recent Titanic News: Titanic Sinking May Have Been Quick
Recent Titanic News: Last U.S. Titanic Survivor Dies at 99
Recent Titanic News: "I'm Going Down With Something"

SHS '79:
Home
Class Roster
Faculty & Staff
Memories
Updates

August 15, 2009

Movie Sunday: Animal House

This blog is very heavily visited by college students looking up information for their assignments and term papers, so to welcome everyone back to school (it is mid-August after all), we'll do a Movie Sunday post on the classic 1978 movie, Animal House. What's so striking to me about this movie is not just the comic material, but what would become an all-star cast (other than the big names at that time of John Belushi and Donald Sutherland). Two actors made their film debuts in Animal House (Karen Allen and Kevin Bacon), and a number of others have had very long and successful careers since then (e.g., Bruce McGill and Tim Matheson). The fact that the score was written by Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven) is icing on the cake.

Trivia:
  • Donald Sutherland was so convinced of the movie's lack of potential, that, when offered a percent of the gross or a flat fee of $75,000 for his three days' work, he took the upfront payment. Had he taken the gross percentage he would have been worth an additional $3-4 million.
  • Although the film takes place in Pennsylvania [and was filmed in Oregon], a Tennessee flag is shown in the courtroom. This is because the set decorator was unable to find a large enough Pennsylvania flag for the scene, and the blue Oregon state flag wouldn't work because it had "State of Oregon" text on the upper part. So the set decorator used the most generic flag he could find, which turned out to be the Tennessee state flag.
  • All of John Belushi's behavior in the cafeteria was improvised. He was not told to pile all the food on his tray and when he did the director urged the camera operator to "stay with him." The infamous "zit scene" was also improvised. The reaction from the cast is genuine.
  • The scene in which Bluto smashes a bottle over his head to cheer Flounder up took 18 takes because Stephen Furst kept laughing.



    Dean Vernon Wormer: Greg, what is the worst fraternity on this campus?
    Greg Marmalard: Well that would be hard to say, sir. They're each outstanding in their own way.
    Dean Vernon Wormer: Cut the horseshit, son. I've got their disciplinary files right here. Who dropped a whole truckload of fizzies into the swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode.
    Greg Marmalard: You're talking about Delta, sir.
    Dean Vernon Wormer: Of course I'm talking about Delta, you TWERP!



    Pinto: Before we go any further, there's something I have to tell you. I lied to you. I've never done this before.
    Clorette De Pasto: You've never made out with a girl before?
    Pinto: No. No, I mean, I've never done what I think we're gonna do in a minute. I sort of did once, but i was drunk...
    Clorette De Pasto: That's okay, Larry. Neither have I. And besides, I lied to you, too.
    Pinto: Oh, yeah? What about?
    Clorette De Pasto: I'm only 13.
  • July 16, 2009

    Creative Excuses 101

    Just remember, kids, to always take some homework with you when you're driving like a maniac (or a cowboy) through the city streets. That way, Officer Friendly might take pity on you and not give you a ticket. Of course it helps if the homework is genuine and you're driving toward your school when school is normally in session. Don't count on Officer Friendly's help when you're plastered out of your mind at 2 in the morning. Oh, and don't ask Officer Friendly to do your homework for you. ;) From Richard Green's Real Estate and Urban Economics Blog:

    I just wanted you to know that this assignment got me out of a traffic ticket this morning.

    La Cienega was shutdown due to an accident and I was trapped. So, I made a u-turn which included driving over a curbed median. A motorcycle cop pulled me over and gave me a lecture about how this isn't Texas (I have Texas plates) and "cowboy driving" is not acceptable....whatever that means. So I told him that I had to get to campus for the mid-term and I had a limited amount of time to complete the homework assignment. I pulled out assignment #3 to make my story credible and he took it with him when he went back to his motorcycle.

    When he came back he told me that it seemed like the assignment was going to be enough punishment and he let me go.

    April 5, 2009

    Summer School for Klingons

    Cute video, especially the kids' birthday party scene. But as one who's taught for a number of years now I find the quotation near the end to be very true: The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.

    January 14, 2009

    Another Reason to Stay in School

    One of the most common reasons given why young people should stay in school is that the more education they have, generally speaking, the higher their income level will be. For example, a person with a graduate degree should make more money than someone with only a Bachelor's degree, a person with a Bachelor's degree should make more money than a high school graduate, and so on. Of course there are exceptions but, in general, this statement is fairly accurate.

    Another reason to stay in school is that the more education one has, the more likely one won't be unemployed. The proof? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes a monthly report called The Employment Situation. In this report the BLS slices and dices the employment and unemployment numbers in a number of different ways, one of which is to look at the employment and unemployment numbers by the level of education people 25 years and older have (Table A-4). What the report shows is that there is a consistent pattern in terms of the unemployment rate vs. the amount of education people have. The more education one has, the lower the unemployment rate. In December 2008:

    • Those who had less than a high school diploma had an unemployment rate of 10.9%
    • For high school graduates with no college education, the unemployment rate was 7.7%
    • For those people who either had some college education or an associate's degree, the unemployment rate was 5.6%
    • For those people with a Bachelor's degree or higher (Master's, professional, or doctorate), the unemployment rate was 3.7%

    Keep in mind that the overall unemployment rate for December was 7.2%.

    I get a lot of hits from businesses and universities because I tend to write on topics that are of interest to them; for these people I'm preaching to the choir. (Although, if you're in college but considering dropping out, don't! Obviously the odds are better for you in these rough economic times to continue to stay in school until you at least get your Bachelor's degree.) For those of you who are in high school (or teaching high school students, get the message out to), stay in school! Go on to college if you can. It's far easier to ride out a recession if you have a job and are making money than not. The odds will be in your favor.

    April 21, 2008

    Good Fathers Read to Their Sons

    One of my sisters mailed me a copy of Jim Trelease's book, The Read-Aloud Handbook, originally published in 1979 and now in its sixth edition. Trelease's thesis is that by having parents -- including fathers -- read stories or books aloud to their children, that the child's reading comprehension and academic achievement will increase dramatically. The book is well researched (the following passage alone contained five footnotes, which I've omitted), but many of the facts presented are eye-opening -- and disturbing -- to say the least. The problem is that many American families have placed the burden of the parent reading aloud to their children on the mother. Not that this is completely surprising; after all, mothers are the primary care givers to children under five, regardless of whether she works or not, and he almost always is the primary bread-winner. But that doesn't mean that he can abdicate all responsibility toward his child's intellectual development. There are ways a father can encourage his child or children to read. One of my brothers-in-law, the husband of my sister who mailed me this book, takes his four children to the library once a week, every week. My own father was another bookworm who often read for pleasure, whether it was fiction or non-fiction. As a child, I remember my mom telling us kids (on numerous occasions) that dad wasn't going to wake up soon because he had been reading until two a.m. And, of course, my sisters and I were always encouraged to read. (As a teenager, I often read from our World Book encyclopedia or its various yearbooks for pleasure. Yeah, I know, I was a strange kid, but I've never lost while playing Trivial Pursuit either, so there! ;) )

    The following passage comes from a section entitled, How do I convince my husband he should be doing this with our children? (pp. xxii-xxiv of the Introduction). What's surprising and scary is how much American boys have slipped behind girls academically since 1970. For years, we've read articles about how the number of female students has grown in American universities, but usually within the context of a single department or degree program (e.g., law school, medical school, etc.). But apparently the problem is much more widespread. Even looking at my own university's data (Fall 2006 statistics), female students outnumber male students for both undergraduates (53%-47%) and graduates (54%-46%). (For the Honors College, the gender ratio is the same as the graduate students' ratio, 54%-46% in favor of females.) So if you parents want your sons (and daughters) to do well at school, start reading to them now... even if they're teenagers.

    The second change is a huge gender gap among American schoolchildren. Since 1970, there's been a steady gain in female achievement, accompanied by a steep drop in male performance. ... In 1970, male enrollment in college was 59 percent, female 41 percent. Three decades later, it's almost completely reversed -- 57 percent female, 43 percent male.

    The top 10 percent of high school classes is 56 percent female, 44 percent male; among high school graduates who maintain an A average, 62 percent are female, 38 percent male. Three out of five high school National Honor Society members are girls, and they outnumber boys 124 to 100 in Advanced Placement (AP) classes. As recently as 1987, boys had outnumbered girls in those classes. ...

    We know what caused the rise in the girls' scores -- their mothers' value systems about education changed thirty years ago. Mothers now expect more of their daughters intellectually. But how do we explain the nosedive on the part of the boys since 1970? Is it a coincidence that in that same year, 1970, we saw the birth of a national TV phenomenon called Monday Night Football? Prior to that, Madison Avenue pretty much thought it was a waste of time trying to advertise to men late at night -- they were all asleep in their La-Z-Boys. Then along comes MNF and they've got millions of guys doing high fives on their chairs at 11 p.m. It didn't take long for the networks to catch on that sports at night could bring in a boatload of advertising dollars and thus was born ESPN, then ESPN2, followed by channels for golf, rodeo, NASCAR, wrestling, extreme sports -- you name it, all sports, all the time, 24/7.

    The impact on the young male of seeing his dad worshiping daily and nightly at the altar of ESPN, has to have played a damaging role in male attitudes about school. Girls read and write; guys hit, throw, catch, shoot, and fish. By 2000, moms were "taking their daughters to work," but dads were still taking their sons to the stadium.

    The father who can find his way only to ball games with his kids is a "boy-man," whereas the father who can find his way to a ball game and to the library can be called a "grown man." Unfortunately, we have a growing shortage of grown men in America today. Once I asked members of an audience in Decatur, Georgia, if they thought they'd ever hear a president of the United States make a statement like that to the American people, and a woman replied, "Yes -- as soon as she's elected!"

    The strange thing is that this "dumbing of Daddy" seems to affect families at all education levels. In a study comparing poverty-level families and university-educated families, fathers in both groups read to the children only 15 percent of the time, mothers 76 percent, and others 9 percent. That could change if we publicized studies like one conducted in Modesto, California, which showed that (1) boys who were read to by their fathers scored significantly higher in reading achievement, and (2) when fathers read recreationally, their sons read more and scored higher than did boys whose fathers did little or no recreational reading. When the dads were surveyed, only 10 percent reported having fathers who read to them when they were children.

    March 13, 2008

    Six Pieces of Advice Meme, For Boys

    Last month, I was asked by Aaminah (in one of the comments on Izzy Mo's blog) to do the "Six Pieces of Advice" meme, but for boys. I've been rather busy the past few weeks (the end of the current school term finished yesterday), but I hadn't forgotten about doing it. Now, as I've thought through this meme, I came to the conclusion that all of my advice applies not only to boys but to girls as well, so listen up, kids, Uncle JDsg has somethin' to say to you:

    The Rules:
    1. Post these rules before presenting your list.
    2. List 6 actions or achievements you think every person (or in this case, young women/girls) should accomplish before turning 18.
    3. At the end of your blog, choose 6 people to get tagged and list their names.
    4. People who are tagged write their own blog entry with their 6 suggestions.
    5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged.

    Number 1: Learn to touch type. Doesn't sound like much, but it's one of the best pieces of advice I can give any teenager, boy or girl. When you get to college and you've got a dozen or so reports to write each semester, ranging anywhere between two and thirty pages long, you're gonna wish you had taken that typing course your high school offered when you had the chance. "Hunt and peck" takes for freakin' ever, so learn the language of the fingers while you have the chance. And if you have the opportunity to take a longer typing class (my high school offered both a half-year and full-year course), take the class over the full year. Not being the most nimble of fingers at the time, it took me about 3/4 of the school year to get the hang of touch typing. If I had taken the half-year course, I might never have gotten the brain-finger coordination that's needed. One other thing: boys, remember, typing class is where all the girls are! ;) No kidding. In my class there were four boys, including me, and about 26 girls. (A guy I knew when I was a teenager used the same logic when registering for a home ec class, but that's a different story.)

    Number 2: Become fluent in a second language. Considering the number of times I've written on this topic on my blog, it should come as no surprise that I'd bring it up again. But seriously, don't just think, "I'll never leave the U.S." or "I'll never have the chance to use another language." This is not true. Especially if you're an American teenager living in certain states, like California, Arizona, New Mexico or Florida, a second language like Spanish is going to be immensely helpful for you to get a job or expand your career horizons. (American Express in Phoenix was always advertising for Portuguese speakers who could work with their Brazilian offices and customers.) A second language (and even a third) is absolutely vital if you have any interest in living or working overseas. (And, of course, if you're a young Muslim boy or girl, one of those languages should be Arabic.)

    Number 3: Start becoming an expert in three subjects. This is something I picked up from Tom Friedman's book, The World is Flat. I once read that the half-life of a college education is five years. Meaning, in five years, half of what you learned at school will become irrelevant, and in ten years 75% of what you learned will be irrelevant, and so on. The sad fact of the matter is that it's true. If you have any desire for a decent-paying job, you need to accept that you've got to keep learning for the rest of your life. You may not necessarily have to go back to school, but you'll have to learn in one way or another. (I, personally, will buy and read through college textbooks on subjects that I think I should know or should refresh myself on.) Friedman's point was that you always need to keep rotating your areas of expertise. You become an expert in one topic; as that topic starts to fade in terms of importance, you start becoming an expert in a second topic. And then you begin learning about a third topic, one that you think may become important for the future. And then you keep on adding and dropping topics to learn about as you progress through your career. The topic may not necessarily be a full-blown subject like "psychology," but can be something as small as a specific job skill (e.g., knowing how to use a computer program). But you continue to learn new things over your lifetime that will help keep your career and job skills relevant.

    Number 4: Join a band or a chorus. I'd have included this one anyway, coming from a musical family as I do, but another interesting point in Friedman's "The World is Flat" is that people who belong (or belonged) to musical organizations, such as bands, drum corps, choruses, etc., are more rounded individuals and are better able to interact with other people. Friedman discusses how Georgia Tech's retention and graduation rates improved dramatically when the university began emphasizing the admission of musically-gifted students. (Remember, Georgia Tech is known as an engineering university!) So, if you don't sing or play an instrument yet, by all means do so. (Just don't make a fool of yourself auditioning for American Idol. ;) )

    Number 5: Start learning about personal finances and how the money and capital markets work. The simple fact of the matter is, you're going to have to learn this anyway. Earning and spending money is the easy part; trying to save your money and invest it wisely is much more difficult. Start with the basics: learning how to balance a checkbook, putting 10% of every paycheck into a savings account and learning how to live on the remainder, learning how to read the financial section of the newspaper and what all those numbers mean. Then start learning about the different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.) and how they're bought and sold. (If you're Muslim, you'll also need to know which investments are halal or not.) This is not the sort of topic that you can read about overnight; most of us take years to fully understand it all (and understanding the financial jargon is half the battle). But plug away at it, try investing in some mutual funds and, above all, remember, "past performance is no guarantee of future results." :)

    Number 6: Become a hafiz. Milady's suggestion was that Muslim teenagers should read through all of the Qur'an, from one end to the other, a minimum of three times. It's a very good suggestion, but I'll go one better, become a hafiz (or hafizah for the girls). It's so much more difficult to remember things as you get older (trust me on this), but when you're younger, it's much easier to remember (and retain knowledge of) whatever it is you're trying to memorize. And what's more important than memorizing the Qur'an? So crack open that Qur'an (after doing wudu, of course) and start memorizing those surahs.

    Now, whom can I make moan and groan this time? ;) How about Abdurrahman Squires at Mere Islam (who doesn't write nearly as often as he should), Abu Sinan~Sayf (welcome back!), Bin Gregory (for his second meme), the inimitable Dr. M, Rob Wagner (who's not Muslim, but should be), and Brother Saifuddin, who helps me spread the word over at Street Prophets (along with a few other Muslims, like Amad, Dervish and Rockinhejabi).

    March 2, 2008

    A Note to One of My Students

    It's wrong again... I know.

    Yes, it's wrong again. So? Are you making an effort? Are you trying to learn? Are you trying your hardest? Grades in the long run are meaningless. What I'm really concerned about is effort. You know that I'm a Muslim? You know what the real meaning of the word "Jihad" is? It means "struggle." As long as you commit yourself to a jihad over Accounts (or any other subject, or any other endeavor in your life), I can't ask for anything more.

    Keep up the good work. I wish I had more students like you.

    December 14, 2007

    Ask an Expat

    This is a diary I wrote for Street Prophets' "Ask a..." series. You can go to the original diary by clicking on the title above. This is actually the second "Ask a..." diary I've written there, the first being "Ask a Muslim," written back in June. I'm more than happy to entertain questions here on this topic, but I think you're more likely to find many other questions being asked and answered over at Street Prophets, so please visit there as well.

    For this "Ask a..." diary, I thought I'd go over ground that's not necessarily religious or political, but should (insha'allah) be of interest to people. I've been an expatriate for over six years now, having lived in two countries, South Korea and Singapore. I was in South Korea for a little over one year, and have been in Singapore ever since. (I've also visited Malaysia a number of times, and have gotten to the point where I feel confident traveling around Kuala Lumpur.) I am now a Permanent Resident (PR) of Singapore, equivalent to the US's "Green Card," and am expecting to receive a letter in the mail sometime this month from the government, offering me citizenship. (Singapore will grant citizenship to PRs who have lived here for two years; this month marks the second anniversary of my PR status.) I get a fair number of questions from people who are interested in where I live (or have lived), what it's like, what it takes to become an expat, and so on. I thought I'd write up a small FAQ of my own, and then answer any questions y'all may have.

    So, how do you like Singapore?
    This is perhaps the most common question I get here, especially from taxi drivers. Being a Caucasian, I'm very much in the minority, ethnically speaking, so it marks me out somewhat. Most taxi drivers will know that I'm a PR (especially if they pick me up in front of my apartment block; I live in a very "heartlander" type neighborhood). What they don't know is how long I've lived here. And because I've been here a long time, S'pore has become "home." It's a nice place; it has its ups and downs, just like any other place, but there are more good things here than bad, at least for me.

    An alternative question I get is "What's it like in Singapore?" The short answer is, "Hot, wet and green." (This is the jungle, after all.) Another alternative question is "What's the weather like there?" And the short answer, once more, is "Eternal summer." Seriously. There's only one season here all year long.

    How did you become an expat?
    I had gotten into a disastrous online relationship with a woman in Europe. Everything had gone well up until the point I met her at the airport; after that it went downhill. So I returned to the US with a brand new passport and a reawakened interest in traveling. I had always loved traveling, doing quite a bit of it when I lived with my parents. But I hadn't gone hardly anywhere for most of my adult life. And I felt like my career had stagnated. So I asked myself, do I want to resume my career? Or do I want to try something completely different? I chose the "different." I had come across an ad for English teachers in Korea. On a lark, I sent my resume to this agency, which responded very quickly. Yes, they were willing to help me find a job. And, in fact, they worked rather hard trying to land a position for me. Two schools were interested in hiring me, but things fell through. Then a third school became interested, and they contacted me. (Called me at three o'clock in the freakin' morning. My aunt: "J, someone's calling you from Korea!" Told her the next morning that I was thinking of working there. Her response: "That's crazy!" But she had said the same thing when I told her I was a Muslim, and that had worked out just fine, too. :) )

    However, in all honesty, I had been really struggling with the idea of whether to work overseas in those weeks when I was waiting for a job to come through. One week, I would be, "Yes, I'm absolutely going to go work in Korea," and the next week I would be, "There is absolutely no way I am going to work in Korea!" I asked quite a few people for their opinions. Finally, I talked to my Dad. "What do you think?" And he said, "Go!" He had been stationed in Japan in the '50s with the Air Force, so he knew somewhat about being an expat, especially in Asia (granted, his knowledge of Japan is completely out of date with what it's like there now). But his main argument was that, by going, I would grow, intellectually, from being exposed to the new culture. And that was very much the case. (Interestingly enough, when I talked to my Dad's twin brother a few years ago, asking him what he would have said, my uncle said that he'd have said the same thing.)

    So I arranged a flight to Korea - and then 9/11 happened. I was scheduled to leave the US on the 14th or so. But with the disaster, I had to rebook my tickets, so I actually left for Korea around the 22nd. The flight to Korea took 14 hours. I flew into Incheon in the evening, and was rushed to another plane by some woman from the agency. I was the last passenger on my next plane (they had held up the departure so I could get on board). From Incheon it was a one-hour flight to Busan, where I was met by several people from my new school, including a young American teacher who was acting as the "HOD" (head of department). And we drove into Busan, where I got a room at a "love motel" (the other teacher actually recognized one of his female students coming out of the motel - alone), and then we went to a coffee shop for a couple hours where I started to get my bearings about what life was like in Korea.

    How can I become an expat?
    Find a job overseas. Seriously. Unless you have a small fortune tucked away (usually a quarter-mill at the minimum), the only way to live as an expatriate is to work for a company in another country (that is, until you get your PR status). The two most common routes for finding work overseas is either by working for a multi-national or to become an English teacher. Surprisingly, the latter strategy is not a bad option. Teaching is the type of job that's in fairly high demand around the world (especially in eastern Asia), and can be fairly rewarding, both professionally and perhaps even financially. You won't get rich working as a teacher but, depending on the country and its cost of living, you may be able to save a significant portion of your paycheck. (I saved a heck of a lot more money working in Korea than I ever did from working at my jobs in the US.) Working as a teacher can also lead to free travel around the world. Many schools offer free airfare to and from their country for their expat teachers, in addition to a 13th-month bonus if they complete their contract. One colleague and his wife (and their dog) went from country to country, seeing the world while he worked for a year in each country.

    What's the food like?
    In Korea, Korean food is by far the most common type of food available. A lot of restaurants specialize in a very limited menu, even as low as two or three dishes. So if you're feeling like eating a specific type of food, you have to go to the restaurant that serves it. One other thing that was unique to Korean restaurants was "service." Many restaurants and coffee shops gave "service" after a meal, meaning, you could get your choice of a free cup of green tea or coffee, or a small container of ice cream. (Actually, speaking of "service" as we normally use the term, many of my colleagues thought that, if we should ever open up a restaurant in our home countries, that we could make a fortune if we ran the business like the Koreans do. The level of service that Koreans provide, even at the tiniest restaurants, is far superior to anything you'll find in the US or Canada.)

    In Singapore, the type of food available is much more wide ranging, as would be expected from such an ethnically diverse country. Because the country is primarily made up of ethnic Chinese, Malays and Indians, those three types of food are extremely common here. A lot of food is also served here at "hawker centers" or by "hawker stalls," which are tiny hole-in-the-wall kitchens that, once again, serve a very limited menu.

    Three other things to note about food: In both countries, spicy food is extremely commonplace. Koreans tend to favor red pepper paste; Singaporeans (and Malaysians) chili sauce. Also, seafood is much more common here than in the US. Squid is highly favored in both countries. Koreans often eat dried cuttlefish with mayonnaise and red pepper paste. Finally, if you just gotta have western food, that's also fairly common in both countries. The tentacles of McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut and a whole slew of other American fast food restaurant chains are spread throughout Asia.

    Do I have to obey the law there?
    This is a controversial question, for some reason, that some people find hard to grasp. The obvious answer, of course, is "yes." If you commit a crime here, you will be tried, sentenced and then (probably) deported after you've served your sentence. It doesn't really matter that you're a foreigner; you'll go through the legal system just like any local citizen (and the embassy almost certainly won't help you either). Each country has its own set of laws and punishments, and some of those laws and punishments can be very severe. If you should have, for example, over a certain weight of drugs in your possession, Singapore (and Malaysia) won't hesitate to execute you. Singapore (and Malaysia) will also cane prisoners for certain offenses, as Michael Fay found out in 1994, and the caning often produces permanent scars on the prisoner's buttocks. Moreover, various countries have certain taboos that will cause legal problems. For example, in Thailand, it's illegal to deface a portrait of the King. Last December, a Swiss man drunkenly spray-painted over the Thai King's portrait. He was caught, tried, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. This past April, the King pardoned him after he spent a few weeks in jail, and he was deported. Moral of the story: Do as the Romans do.

    When are you going to come home?
    I have no idea. I have no plans at the moment to return to the US, and fear that, the next time I do come back home, it will be for someone's funeral. Other than that, I'll probably be here for a long, long time. (Insha'allah.)

    December 8, 2007

    La Lune! La Lune!

    Austrolabe has a humorous video of a man, Henri, who appeared on the French version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Henri's question was rather simple, "What rotates around the Earth?" The potential answers: the moon, the sun, Mars, or Venus. Henri couldn't make up his mind, so he asked the audience for help. Now here's the real shock. The audience percentages were: for the moon, 42%; for the sun, 56%; for Mars, 2%, and for Venus, 0%. Mon Dieu, over half of the French audience thinks that the Sun revolves around the Earth! Copernicus must be rolling in his grave. What are they teaching those people in France?! ;)

    What's also funny is that, in the Austrolabe comments, another French guy, Michel, is asking them to remove the video on the grounds that it's "racist." Sorry, bud, this video is no more “racist” than the stumble three months ago by Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, who humiliated herself with that strange, rambling answer. Don’t want to look bad on TV? Don’t get on it in the first place.

    BTW, Henri won 1,500 Euros for his trouble.

    September 8, 2007

    Electric Chair Barbie

    IZ Reloaded has a link to an unusual science project that was done by a teenage girl when she was in middle school. On the webpage, "jessyratfink" wrote:

    This is a science fair project that I did in middle school and completely disgusted the entire female staff of Benton Middle. The purpose of this project is to show how the electric chair works and discuss basic electricity - currents and conductivity.

    This is perhaps not the most politically correct science fair project, but it definitely gets attention. And although it is more based on presentation than science, most people find it very interesting to learn how an electric chair works. :D

    Down in the comments, she gives a little more information on why she chose to put "Barbie" in the hot seat:

    I admit that if anything, this was my way (in middle school definitely, and perhaps now just a little) of showing my dislike for Barbie and everything she represents. I always hated Barbie as a child. The stereotypical pretty girl with lots of money and looks a real person could never match.

    This is more just a way to knock Barbie down from her pedestal. Nothing involving violence against women, that's for sure. I just think the use of a Barbie is much more shocking due to the fact that less women have sat in the chair than men, and also because she's the last possible person you'd think of ending up in the chair. It was all about the shock factor in middle school!

    August 26, 2007

    Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 - Say What?

    Is this a case where blonds should be seen and not heard? ;) (Update: Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss Teen South Carolina, ultimately came in fourth place.)

    May 14, 2007

    "I Spent Yesterday at a Muslim School Where Kids are Taught to Dominate"

    There's a very nice diary written by an American Buddhist teacher who took his primary school's chess team to a tournament at the Granada Muslim School in Santa Clara, California. Check it out!

    Some quotes:

    As I walked through the school it was clear that it was just like any other school in the area, the walls covered with student paintings illustrating one theme or another. There were absolutely no in your face religious themes, just mentions of things like Muslim politeness or Muslim behavior on posters with the list of the same sort of rules you see in any other school. First impressions were that it was exactly the sort of school where any kid could get a great education, and the facilities were generally superior to those in the elementary schools where I teach.

    I must say, however, that I have never seen a school cafeteria quite like the one at Granada. The food was fresh cooked, healthy, and had plenty of stuff that kids like, including pizza and a wide assortment of ice cream. Beverages included the usual assortment plus a wide range of coffees and energy drinks. The kids and their parents both seemed happy, though some of the prices reminded me more of a mall than a village school.

    ...

    With all the American paranoia about the madrassas out there creating a bunch of future terrorists, people should all visit the Granada Muslim school to see some of the reality at least here in America. The kids at the school are being taught to become fine citizens with good educations and solid academic skills. It is at exactly what a school all to be.

    Though I am no fan of organized religion, to put it mildly, I was very comfortable at this religious school and got no sense at all that these kids were somehow being brainwashed with values are foreign to my American ideals. And seeing all these kids of various religions and ethnicities enjoying a day of playing chess together makes me wish there were more schools like this.

    April 25, 2007

    Pathetic Western Education

    Another good article I'm stealing from IZ. The following geometry diagram comes from a British exam for college freshmen:


    Now, compare that problem with the following problem, from a Chinese college entrance exam:

    That's right, the Chinese test is for kids trying to get into a university, the first is for dunces who are already in their university.

    BBC, where this article first appeared, says: "A glance at the two questions reveals how much more advanced is the maths teaching in China, where children learn the subject up to the age of 18, the society says.

    "It has sounded a warning about Britain's future economic prospects which it claims are threatened by competition from scientists in China."


    Gee, ya think? Tom Friedman says the world is flat. No, the world is tilting to the east, to Asia, and at an accelerating pace. The west is quickly becoming a has-been (read my previous post) as educational curricula - especially in the sciences and mathematics - become watered down for students who wouldn't make the grade otherwise. (See below.)

    And you know things must be really bad in Britain when the Royal Society of Chemistry has to offer a £500 prize to see if anyone can solve the above Chinese problem.

    ----------------

    So, how pathetic is education in the West? The BBC also reported that British schools are encouraging students not to take A-level mathematics courses: "...as maths was a difficult subject, schools feared examination failures which would threaten their standings.

    ...

    "'Schools and students are reluctant to consider A-level mathematics to age 18, because the subject is regarded as difficult, and with league tables and university entrance governed by A-level points, easier subjects are taken.'

    ...

    "'Increasingly, universities are having to mount remedial sessions for incoming science undergraduates because their maths skills are so limited, with many having stopped formal lessons in mathematics two years earlier at the GCSE level.'"


    Also,

    "Since 2002, there has been a 15% fall in the numbers taking maths at A-level in England, while those taking physics fell 14% and computer sciences 47%."


    At least some people in the UK recognize that the problem needs to be solved, although some of the suggestions are mixed. On a positive note:

    "'We are changing the curriculum, creating a new entitlement to give more pupils the chance to study separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs and piloting 250 science clubs for 11 to 14-year-olds.'

    "Some £30m was being spent over the next two years on recruiting 3,000 extra science teachers and encouraging more students to study sciences..."


    However, a third BBC article states that a report by the Council for Industry and Higher Education recommends that "A-level students should be paid for passing exams in science and maths... ...a payment of about £500 might be enough to encourage students to stick with Stem [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] subjects."

    February 28, 2007

    The Beautiful Religion

    I occasionally post on other forums about Islam (although not nearly as much as I used to). Yesterday, I wrote the below comment regarding the so-called "hijacking" of Islam by terrorists, and I thought that this analogy was decent (although by no means perfect).

    I've had mixed feelings about addressing your post. Much of it is based on a misperception, and some of it doesn't make any sense. (What, for instance, is a "Koran Killer?") But I just saw a headline that gives me an analogy to try to explain what I think about this topic. The headline addressed the violence associated with soccer (e.g., the recent death of a policeman in Sicily after a Serie A match). The point of the article was that, if there is all this violence associated with soccer, why is it still called "the beautiful game?"

    Soccer as a sport is played by thousands, if not millions of people around the world. Likewise, it is watched and supported by hundreds of millions of people. (FIFA has more member countries than the UN!) Yes, there is violence and racism associated with the game worldwide, and that is truly unfortunate (and the various leagues and FIFA are trying to eliminate this as best they can), but do we say that soccer is being "hijacked" by the hooligans and racists? No. For the vast majority of soccer fans around the world, soccer is and remains "the beautiful game."

    The misperception so commonly held today is that Islam has been or is being "hijacked." This isn't true. Islam is practiced correctly by well over a billion people around the world. Yes, Islam does have its "hooligans," all the more dangerous because of their access to weapons. However, Islam itself is not the problem. The problem is, in part, the deviant interpretations of Islam with respect to certain topics. This is why, IMO, questions like, "Should all the major scholars and activists of all the Muslim factions and sects and schools get together in a great reform council for the Ummah?" are irrelevant. A "great reform council?" For what? This assumes that Islam is the problem and is need of reformation. I completely disagree. The key to solving this problem is largely one of education. Two countries that I'm aware of (Yemen and Singapore) have used this approach to help rehabilitate Muslim radicals who have been jailed. Imams have gone into prisons to discuss the Qur'an and Sunnah with these men, trying to educate them, show them their errors of thinking, bring them back to a proper way of thinking about Islam. "Islam is perfect, Muslims are not." Call it, "the beautiful religion." We know there are people who do not act as good Muslims should, just as we see people of other religions not living up to their creeds. We try very strongly to educate our own about our religion and, for the vast majority, we have been successful.

    January 23, 2007

    Morning Musume English Lessons

    I came across these videos at the S'pore blog iZ Reloaded. This is not quite how my colleagues and I taught English in Korea, but the videos do bring back a sense of nostalgia for me. Actually, the one thing that strikes me about the young women in these videos is just how badly they all speak English. When I was in Korea, most of my students were college-age, and while a few had poor speaking skills, most did not. Moreover, in the late 90s, the Korean government had required the primary schools to begin teaching English to the children at an earlier age. There was one time while I was visiting a beach in Busan when I ran into a group of kids who were able to maintain a conversation with me for about 45 minutes. Considering that these kids were about 10 years old at the time (and that most Korean kids at that age could only speak a sentence or two in English before they used up all their vocabulary), I was quite impressed. The Japanese girls in these videos are nowhere near the level of those Korean kids. Run times: 9:42 and 9:59.



    March 21, 2006

    Explain America to Chinese University Students

    The following appeared on Daily Kos. As a lecturer here in Asia, I've been asked very similar questions to the ones posted below. If you have an account with Daily Kos, please go ahead and answer any of the questions there. If you don't have an account (and DKos has a 24 hour waiting period on new accounts before that person can post a comment), I'd be more than happy to transfer any comments from here to there.


    Hello to my American friends (or friends living in the U.S.),

    I am teaching a course in American Culture (it is a survey course about the U.S.) at a university in China and I have received some questions from students. I am hoping to draw upon your first-hand experience of the U.S. to help me answer at least some of these questions. Respond to as many questions as you like, even if it's just one. Any answers I get will be useful. I have typed in the questions in the students' own wording and spelling so there is a bit of Chinglish in some of them and some questions have assumptions built right into them. Just reading the questions gives you an idea of what Chinese students want to know about the U.S. and how they think.

    I appreciate your help. Thanks!

    1. Why do most Americans think that the war of Iraq is right?

    2. What's the biggest difference between English and Americans?

    3. What is the function of the bank? Is there a most important bank who controls the whole economy of the country and what is it? If there is, how does it works? What functions does it have?

    4. What kinds of crime did a person commit can sentence the person to death?

    5. Who is the most influential philosopher in US history? How did he affect the US ideology?

    6. Do most of the Americans like George W. Bush?

    7. I wonder who it is that support Bush Administration firmly; and why? Because they have seen how badly Bush is and what indeed did Bush do to the world especially the Iraq. It's hard to understand.

    8. Can Arnold Swasinger (California state master) be the next President?

    9. What do the Americans usually do after work?

    10. Do Americans usually go to a cinema for films?

    11. Why soccer is not so popular as basketball in America? What is their general attitude toward soccer?

    12. Why American government allow citizens to sell and buy guns?

    13. Do most Americans have race prejudice?

    14. How do most Americans think of China? Do they think China has many places to travel to visit?

    15. What's the attitude of Americans towards the Chinese living in America?

    16. What kind of person do most American people like?

    17. I want to know something about their attitude toward the other country.

    18. What's the American's attitude towards Japan?

    19. American's attitudes towards their children's independence when they are 18 years old?

    20. How about the attitude to the lives in America?

    21. How do Americans think about fashion and individual character?

    22. We have a kind of bias that American people tend to be utilitarians. Are they?

    23. Heard that there is certain religion worships Satan. And their ceremonies and activities are very exclusive and crew (cruel?). Why they're not genocided?

    24. How do they learn history?

    25. Will most Americans get further education after they get BS or BA?

    26. How to apply for a USA university and what would the application cover?