Boring? Let’s take a page from popular culture

YouThink writers share pointers on how learning one’s mother tongue need not be a chore
Relate lessons to everyday life
THE most interesting Chinese lessons I’ve ever had relate otherwise boring words and phrases to everyday life.
Once, in Secondary 2, I had a Chinese lesson where my teacher brought bamboo leaves and glutinous rice to teach the [...]

Parent-support law: Necessary or not?

Amendments to the Maintenance of Parents Act could compel recalcitrant children to provide for their parents. Do youths need such a law to get them to do their filial duty? YouthInkers give their take.
Remember their love
ON A recent outing with my friend, who had been married for a year, he dropped a bombshell: He is [...]

The challenges Singapore faces

Earlier this month, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong posed 10 challenges for the next generation to Cabinet ministers, families and the young. YouthInk writers choose the challenges most pertinent to them and tell us how they’ll deal with them.
Genetic sequencing for all
SM Goh: Can the Health Minister stamp out diseases linked to an affluent lifestyle, [...]

The Cs that guide us forth

What are the new Cs that will guide today’s youth caught in the world’s deepest recession since the Great Depression? YouthInkers give their two cents’ worth on the shift in values
Build on health and abilities
TO QUOTE a cliche: Youth is wasted on the young. Why? Because we spend so much time and effort chasing the [...]

Streakers get the boot: fair or not?

Be creative in punishing them
I MET the punishment meted out to the streakers with incredulity. Why such harshness when no one was hurt, albeit a few pairs of eyes?
Expelling them from their hall is similar to suspension from secondary school, in that they are both usually the last resort and the easiest option available.
The guilty [...]

Clipping Cupid’s wings

Job first, love can wait
VALENTINE’S Day may be just around the corner, yet I cannot even fathom its significance, having neither a significant other nor a full-time job.
Socialising is expensive in this downturn, particularly on a part-time salary of around $50 per day. For instance, dinner at a French restaurant in the CBD area could [...]

Encouraging people to clear up after eating

Want me to return my dirty tray? Here’s how, say YouthInk writers.
Merely following the crowd
IT IS interesting to note how naturally I return my food tray after a meal when overseas, yet not in Singapore.
When I was studying in England, it was common practice for students and faculty alike to take their trays to collection [...]

The young and the reckless?

How far will youth today go for ‘thrills’ such as illegal driving or underage sex? YouthInk writers speak up.
A result of poor parental supervision?
IN ANY age, youth will always rebel against authority and seek thrills for the fun of it.
My generation might go for such thrills as illegal driving or unprotected sex, but I am [...]

NDP: Has it lost its relevance to youth?

Gen Y writers reveal what the National Day Parade means to them now.
An empty celebration
THE constant urge to pursue materialistic needs – not the National Day Parade – is what bonds Singaporeans together.
The sights and sounds of the parade itself have overshadowed the sense of nationhood it is supposed to invoke.
While messages of [...]

Do clothes maketh the man?

The way young people dress has recently been making headlines. Are we really what we wear? Is it wrong to be flippant over corporate dress codes? YouthInk writers make their case.
Judge the work, not the wear

PERHAPS due to a phobia of wearing school uniforms after doing so for a good 10 years, I tend to [...]