Basket.

http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm

Very interesting article... perhaps the major world religion these days did not come about quite as simply as they would have you believe, hm.

My father is at last learning to use the Internet... well, with all that buzz about life-long learners and stuff, I guess I've got a case study right here in my house. The joys of email, search engines and web browsers... aah.

Well, October is upon us, barely before we know it. I remember how slowly time seemed to be creeping by in February; now in a flash it is eight months later with Prelims over and A-Levels just one month hence. I remember we were all saying "don't think about it" as we watched the J2s of the year past file into the hall for the exams in September 2003; now ours is over. Always "don't think about it" - escapism is never a solution.

And so it seems all things are drawing to a close. October has always been the month I traditionally regard as signalling the year is closing; before October there is plenty of time left, after it, not so much after all. Somehow I feel this is the calm before the storm... the interlude before the tempest. Ominous? Well, our fates are out of our hands. Never been in them before, if you ask me.

Four days to 18. Well.

Seems an eternity since I last wrote anything down here. Well, I've been busy.

Last Thursday my A-Level subjects ended, and tommorrow S-Paper will be over. That notwithstanding, we went out and had a lot of fun on the former date. I realised how long I hadn't watched a movie that could make one laugh and have brainless fun for nearly two hours and just forget about it all for just an instant - it felt good.

Following that, I re-acquired one of our household's oldest computer games - SimCity 2000, original release date (for DOS, anyone remember DOS?) 1993, and which I first played nearly a full decade ago. Running it again sure brought the memories flooding back... not just of an amazing game that I spent so much of my childhood on, but of a cleaner, more "rustic" (so to speak), innocent era. Say I need to get a life, but this computer programme is a symbol of my childhood. To boot, one of the greatest games ever made and for sure my favourite city-builder simulation of all time. A very cheap thing indeed to purchase for $18.90.

(And Gamespot gives it 7.2. They can go fuck themselves, the filthy Blizzard worshippers.)

Yet now back to reality must we all go.

Well... 4 more papers and that is the end to it. Or so I wish it would be.

If only one could live an entire life in a deluded, dream-like state... plenty of people claim it is possible, but personally I have tried and it isn't. Everything that feels good has consequences. Life just sucks that way.

You know, I really don't mind taking exams. It's getting them back that is the trouble.

But yes, like it or not, it is exam season once again. The time when all of Singapore's school-going population must cram themselves full of largely-useless knowledge for the sole reason of getting transient and intrinsically-worthless grades which ironically we are told are getting less and less important as time wears on.

Yes, you have to say it aloud to realise how ridiculous the paper chase can be. We scramble and sacrifice, design and devise, arrange and advertise, just to get that elusive... letter. Yes, just a letter. The right letter and the door to eternal happiness is opened; the wrong one and it is everlasting damnation.

Humanity and our living habits are enough to make many "swear and play the [misanthrope]."

Everyone thinks they know how Julius Caesar died. A great number of us have, of course, done the eponymous play which details the downfall of this great man. Caesar was unopposed dictator in a state with a great republican tradition, a group of republicans were dissatisfied with him, he was warned but ignored all of it, including the soothsayer Spurinius and the more famous Artemidorus, the conspirators stabbed him to death on the Ides of March, 15 March 44BC. Yessir, everyone is familiar with this good, old story.

The truth, an excellent documentary I today had the good fortune to catch, suggests the truth is not quite so simple.

Apparently, on closer examination of the evidence (though by virtue of the long time period between then and the present day is necessarily largely circumstantial), the stunning conclusion that one can come to is that Caesar knew of the plot to kill him, and walked willingly into it, manipulating the conspirators to his own ends.

Of course, they aren't wholly convincing, but it is something to mull about. What is not commonly known is Caesar was a very sick man then, afflicted with worsening epilepsy that was increasingly causing him psychiatric problems. He certainly had reason to hope for death, and it is unlikely that he did not know of the plot against him, given his power and clout in Rome, and the number of warnings he received. It is also rather unlikely that he, a shrewd man and skilful general and politician who for sure had enemies and knew who they were, would have completely ignored all of these reports. His actions before the big day also seemed to suggest he was deliberately provoking the conspirators - for instance, the famous refusal of the crown and the disrespect shown to a group of senators who came to announce his deification.

Plus he had much to gain from this; he was effectively immortalised by the dramatic assasination, and his heir Octavian (who suspiciously became heir only months before Caesar died) was to become Augustus Caesar. Caesar's name was to be forever remembered. Rather than dying old, sick and undignified, he has been memorialised down the ages. Perhaps that is exactly what he wanted.

Caesar more cunning than most give him credit for? Very intriguing indeed.

Three years ago today occured one of the most horrifying terrorist attacks in history, as the World Trade Centre in New york City crumbled to dust and the Pentagon suffered severe damage after being struck by airliners captured by Muslim fundamentalist hijackers. 3,000 died, and it is no exaggeration to say the world would never be the same again.

Although it is disgraceful that the Bush Administration has used the deaths of over 3,000 of its own innocent citizens to pursue an agenda based on greed, and put to brutish and irresponsible use the power granted to it by virtue of being the world's sole superpower, today is a day when we should just put all such thoughts aside and remember, instead, all the innocent victims of conflicts past and present. This event encapsulates the futility of existence, of a never-ending vicious cycle of assault and retaliation. 3,000 died in New York; uncounted thousands were to die in Afghanistan, then Iraq, as a result. It is enough to turn one into a raging misanthrope.

Sit back, reflect and realise that if anyone in this world is going through hell on earth, it isn't us.

Today we dropped in and I got a look at my newest relative, my month-old (exactly, today) baby nephew. I was offered the chance to hold him, but declined because I really do not know the first thing about babies and that's some priceless cargo there. Anyway, at least he is a decent bit younger than me; my eldest nephew and niece are both in RJ. One year and an entire generation apart.

Anyway, it is Wednesday with Thursday fast approaching. Sure is fast, isn't it. Not had much else to do than, well, what is obviously pressing at the moment. Life is routine as usual.

Maybe that is why we should enjoy it while it lasts.

The headline for today's edition of The New Paper really caught my eye. Apparently, there are a few bold new changes that have been suggested to better our education system. Intrigued, I immediately flipped the page to find out exactly what daring new changes are going to be introduced, nay, can possibly be introduced, to an already world-class system.

The article failed to disappoint. I was very impressed by the innovative and intrepid changes brought up, one of which was "reduce the number of subjects". "Why not assess the students by project work instead of tests and examinations?" Wow, we are crossing brave new frontiers here, people. The idea that we should reduce the number of examinations and subjects is not a banal idea that has been brought up for years and years already without the MOE doing anything about it. No, it isn't at all. It is fresh and original. It is the brightest new brainwave since sliced bread and mindmaps.

The article also demonstrated conclusively to me how such changes will undoubtedly aid our young in establishing themselves in a world that is constantly in flux, to meet the demands of a knowledge-based world economy and to maintain Singapore's competitiveness amidst a region that is constantly improving and developing. As such, it gave me great new hope not only for change that will further improve our already-sublime education policy, but also to ensure our "little red dot's" secure place among the top industrial, economic and technological powers of the world.

In other words, the changes and their effects are neither bold, nor going to be beneficial.

I have always wondered, do the people at MOE lie to themselves and the nation, or do they really believe the drivel they spew out? Do they really think Project Work is a great success? Do they really believe the new, shamefully ridiculous slogan "Teach Less, Learn More"? Or do they just go about their daily work with a sense of resignation and a "Don't ask any questions, I'm just here for the money/to serve my bond/because this is the safest job in such dire economic times/no one else is going to ever hire me?" Which is it, exactly? Because it is difficult to fathom how they can continue to simultaneously introduce initiatives that can only harm students and teachers and believe that these initiatives actually benefit them and the nation at large. Then again, maybe not, because Singapore is basically one huge bureaucracy with four million metaphorical hamsters running metaphorical little exercise wheels in metaphorical little cages to generate metaphorical benefits for a metaphorical "benevolent" master.

The article actually introduced four changes. I shall list them.

1) Reduce the syllabi and/or number of subjects.
2) Have only principals that are married and with families.
3) Include scouting as part of the academic curriculum (ie all students become boy scouts)
4) Overhaul the Chinese syllabus completely, such that it becomes modular and there are no tests and examinations for it. Instead, students will learn about Chinese culture, history and the language itself, and no pupil will be left behind.

I am in no position to comment on number two, personally. But the rest...

1) Sounds good on paper. But to replace it, guess what the "experienced educator with over 30 years experience" suggested? That is right, P-R-O-J-E-C-T W-O-R-K. Has any eleven letters strung together in a particular arrangement provoked a more potent mixture of fear, dread and barely-controllable rage within the very soul of a group of people, namely those who have had the ill-fortune to have to do Project Work as an A-Level subject? No, this is not going to work, at all. There will just be more stress placed on students and teachers alike, because Project Work assessment is not only more subjective (presentation judgings), but can be just as rigid as any written examination out there. Remember the swathes of forms, reports, drafts, surveys etc we had to fill in and hand up by this and this deadline, in exactly this and this manner? Give me a goddamn written examination any day, any time, over that frustrating experience. At least with that, you know exactly what is required of you. Here, you just come up against a brick wall of bureaucracy, or drown in the ocean of paperwork. One has to be a real cretin to expected a rigidly structured system to encourage creativity. But that is exactly what MOE believes will happen.

The solution? Just cut the goddamn syllabus. Period. Reduce the number of A-Level subjects, nationwide, to three. Nay, limit it stringently to three, with those who wish to take four having to get special permission that is only granted very, very selectively, but leave S-Papers open. However, let S-Papers not affect anything, at all, so that those taking would do it out of interest. Let people study what they want to study. That, now, that, would be a bold new change, not this watered-down bullshit.

3) I can only use expletive to describe this suggestion. Plainly put, this is a fucking stupid idea. The Boy Scouts are an imperialistic organisation, brought here by a British imperialist in the good old days when the sun never set on the British Empire. They have no place, no tradition, in Singapore, and attempting to create one is foolish. if this happens, it will be another "Project Work" - more burden and pressure on the students and teachers, without any gain whatsoever.

4) This is incredibly naive. It won't work. The flow to Perth will continue. Too many question the very need to even study Chinese at all. For years, I hav accepted that, as Chinese, we should know our own language, but now I am beginning to question why Singapore students must learn Chinese, or a so-called "mother tongue" at all. We are only ethnically Chinese, and far removed from China. Who still feels an attachment to China, hands up. No one, I wager. Generations and generations ago, we were Chinese. Now, we are Singaporean. If the government is striving so hard to create a "uniquely Singaporean" identity, why cling to these remnants of a culture that hundreds of years ago ceased to be ours?

If you really want a Singaporean identity, stop suppressing Singlish. It is a language, and our language. Of course it isn't good English - it isn't English at all.

Changes. Bold? New? Hardly. Workable? No. Then again, this is none of my business. MOE can continue fucking up for all I care.

Fired up the old codger of a personal computer two days previously. Some files I wanted were on it. I transferred and used them, and a rush of nostalgia enveloped me as it brought me right back to halcyon pre-millenium days again. When I used it to type narrative essays, play Worms and Starcraft, or even just to listen to MIDIs. When I used it to do I-Learning using that pathetic excuse for software called Commontown. When Netscape Navigator was actually a good web browser. Yes, those were the days, a more innocent era, they were; all the memories of primary school and lower secondary brought right back into my mind's eye once more.

Happens now is another perfect time for nostalgia, as the curtain is poised to fall on yet another stage in our education. Next year is a morass of uncertainty. The best thing one can then do, I guess, is to follow Percy Bysshe Shelley's advice and to "fear not for the future, weep not for the past". Live for the present.

Fifty-nine years ago today, the Japanese delegation signed the official surrender document aboard the USS Missouri, bringing to a close a war that aguably had lasted eight years and left at least fifty million dead throughout the world. Fought over three continents, World War Two was the mankind's greatest and most destructive ever conflict, and thankfully still the only one where nuclear weapons have been used.

Pray a conflict of such magnitude never happen again.