Above all else

Went to a few secondary schools for their open house this past weekend.   In the words of George W Bush, the phrase which best describes how I felt after visiting a top school, which shall go unnamed, is “shock and awe”.   I don’t know whether to be dumbfoundedly impressed or hysterically panicked.   The open house appeared to be substantially organized and run by the students themselves, who looked between 14-15 years old.   They were confident and eloquent, easily held a conversation with adults, clearly able to exercise leadership and organization, and obviously, very intelligent and supremely driven.   The odd thing was that so many of them seemed to be cast from the same mould.   You know, normally in a cohort, there will be some smart ones, some whimsical ones, some eccentric ones, some quiet ones, some sporty ones.   And I’m sure that if I got to know the students better, I would see that.   But what came across very clearly was their...

The mid-year exams are almost over, thank goodness.   Have been feeling very sorry for the kids, who have to study so hard.   The questions these days are insane.   My reaction to most Primary 5 maths questions is “seow arh?   So difficult!!!”.   The education system is really going bonkers.   My daughter is in school from 715 am to 1 pm.   But almost every day, she has supposedly “supplementary classes” at school until 3 pm plus.   And every day, she has homework which can often stretch to 10 pm plus.   And if you know my daughter, this is not because she is lazing around and taking her time.   She is really working. And the maddest thing just happened – we got a letter from school informing us that for the first week of the holidays, there will be supplementary lessons for all students and all four subjects from Mon-Fri, from 0730 to 1200.   Basically, no holiday for that week lah.   ???!!! I  think this is what ha...

I recall once reading about an argument as to who’s the real man.  Some think it’s the guy who satisfies 10 different women in a week.  But really, don’t you think it’s the guy who has met the much much tougher challenge of keeping the same woman satisfied her whole life? As we head into Mother’s Day weekend, I’m reminded to be grateful for my amazing wife.  I’ve often been asked by younger friends or colleagues, how do you know when it’s the right person?  Whatever love songs may say (Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years comes to mind!) the only honest answer is that no one can be sure.  But what everyone certainly can do, is to make up our mind that it is the right person.  That’s the whole point of marriage.  It’s saying that no matter what, even if I can’t know for sure that you are the right person, even if I get upset in future that you don’t seem to be the right person, even if you never ever change the habits I don’t like now and the h...

A month or two ago, I came across a video interview of the great Bill Russell, who is today 79 years old.  For those of you who don't follow NBA basketball, Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics in the 50s and 60s, and is most well known for having won the most championships of any player in history (11).  Even Michael Jordan only won 6.  It was an interesting interview, and I took away a couple of things from it - particularly how this great champion kept referring to his Dad (whom really no one had ever heard of), instead of talking about his own astounding sporting achievements. 1.  Do the right thing - don't be conformed to the world's low expectations. Bill Russell's mother passed away when he was a young child. This is the point at which, for many families, the father decides it's too much, and the kid gets fostered out or something.  But Bill Russell's father decided to quit his job and take a lower paying job to look after Bill.  Reme...