Temasek Polytechnic Library InfoWise January 2007

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Are we competitive enough for the globalised world By Seow Hwee Ling As many as 80 students were treated to a mind-boggling talkshow forum at the Library Podium on 24 November on the topic, "Do Young Singaporeans Have the Competitive Edge to Compete in a Globalized World". Organised by CCD with Radio Station 938Live, the forum was chaired by five panelists from all walks of life: Michael Palmer, Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris Punggol GRC, Martin Tan, Executive Director of Halogen Foundation, Sally Chew, Director of International Relations and Industry Services (Temasek Polytechnic) and Nicole and Tabitha Tay, national gymnasts who won gold medals in the 2005 SEA games. The radio programme was hosted by 938's host, Mahesha Thenabadu, for the "Campus on 938Live" series. Passion and drive take the cake Young Singaporeans have the competitive edge, they just need to be gutsy, said Michael. He explained, "Competition is not just about winning and making it big. It involves failing and picking yourself up in order to succeed." In his opinion, it all boiled down to passion and enjoyment of the "career" at hand. Martin added that younger Singaporeans already had the qualities to succeed, one of them was good education. However, he was sorry to say that they lacked drive. He emphasized, they needed to go out to the world and try things out. In fact, Martin was no stranger to a world of tryouts – he had chosen "a road less travelled" to start up a non-profit organization (Halogen Foundation) in his mid 20's, even though pressure was humongous as he had just got married and his peers were all building high-flying corporate careers. He had chosen to fulfill his passion instead, and had never looked back since. skills, were limited to a select few, and could not provide the opportunities that were important to be competitive. Another student, Sheila, shared her views on how Singaporeans had always "followed the crowd", to the extent that unique opinions were suppressed. However, two students felt otherwise. Samantha said that young Singaporeans needed to be proactive and seize opportunities for themselves while Shareen commented that young Singaporeans should learn to capitalize on their strengths and advantages and venture out. Competition – when and how A burning question that came out of the discussion was: how young should Singaporeans be exposed to competition then Zoe, a student, felt that Singaporeans should be exposed to the unknown much earlier than at tertiary level, preferably in secondary schools. Panelist Michael felt that it was not a matter of exposing the young to competition, but rather, to teach them to be creative. He elaborated further that schools "can decide where they want to go. For example, schools can offer robotics and not only formal curriculum". Towards the end of the talkshow, catch phrases used by the panelists still reverberated: "Just do it!" by Martin and "Winners are not those who never fail but those who never quit" by Nicole and Tabitha. Mixed responses While the panelists wowed the audience with their experiences, there were mixed responses from the students. Michelle, an Account and Finance student, felt that young people had long been imbued into them that scholarly pursuits were important and this meant that creativity had to be sacrificed. Another student, Morris, agreed and added that TP's overseas programmes for students, which boost social and business 2 •
Edmond Khoo, TP's Deputy Principal (third from the right), launched the Reading Corner with Joseph Conceicao, Director of Singapore Press Holdings Foundation (second from the right). DAILY NEWS AT LEVEL 3 By Puspa Yeow and Loh Hui Hong Getting your daily dose of news is even easier than before with the commencement of the Newspaper Reading Corner on 1 November! The Newspaper Reading Corner is an initiative by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Foundation to encourage Singapore youths to keep abreast of current and social affairs, heighten their awareness of local & world affairs, and cultivate the habit of reading news daily. The official launch took place on 22 November at TP on behalf of the five polytechnics - Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic and TP. To quote Edmond Khoo, TP's Deputy Principal, who graced the launch ceremony: "I am happy to note that we can partner with SPH Foundation in this initiative to make news real and in this way help our students to be well-informed and well-read individuals." Tuty Reyhana, a third-year BUS/CMM student, agreed, "It's a good initiative to get students to read more." She explained that students generally do not read newspapers, but with the Reading Corner, students are likely to do so between classes. According to Ginney Lim, General Manager of the SPH Foundation, the launch at TP Library "marks the first of many Reading Corners which the Foundation has committed to sponsor in educational institutions island wide." The papers at TP Library's Reading Corner are additional copies to the newspapers to which the Library currently subscribes. Said DP Khoo, "With the additional papers that are sponsored by the SPH Foundation, our students can now walk to our poly library and easily pick up a copy of the Straits Times or Business Times and also the language dailies – Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian, Tamil Murasu." Included in this list are the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times, the latter being sponsored by its namesake. In fact, since the reading corner was first set up on 1 November, there was an immediate positive response with the newspaper readership increasing significantly. Mrs Esther Ong, Director, TP Library, added , "With this sponsorship, we are able to offer more copies of our local newspapers and it's very enlightening to see all the papers taken from the rack and our students deeply engrossed in reading them." Indeed, the Library is ever committed to promoting life-long learning in students. Setting up of the reading corner is part of TP Library's effort to promote life-long learning and to further cultivate a culture of interest in news and current affairs among TP students. The newspapers are cleared every evening at 5pm and transferred to the Feedback counter near the Library exit for free distribution. Previously published in Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog http://singaporelibrariesbulletin.wordpress.com/ • 3
Page 1: search smart, not hard JANUARY 2007
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Temasek Polytechnic Library InfoWise January 2007

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