How does your school ‘brand’ you?

Values, not brand name
I SPENT my junior college days in Hwa Chong, a notably premier institution whose achievements include having produced 49 President’s Scholars – a record among junior colleges here.
But what matters more to me are the values it inculcated in me.
My identity stemmed greatly from its can-do mindset, and I was constantly encouraged [...]

Facebook? There’s nothing like face to face

NO, I do not have a Facebook account.
It is Friday night and I am catching up with a group of old friends whom I have not met in a long time. As we start to chat, the first question they ask me is: ‘Eh Bryan, why can’t we find you on Facebook?’
‘Because I don’t have [...]

Busy Singapore youth find little to cheer

Fulfilling expectations of others
SOCIETY demands that we get good grades, get good jobs, lead good lives.
We are being forced into courses we don’t like, such as law, economics or medicine, just because it’s a ‘good’ course that can score us a ‘good’ job when we graduate.
How can we ever be happy if we’re doing things [...]

Spare us the dinner-time economics lecture, dad

THERE is a new dish during dinner time at my home: Economic Recession.
It has become a daily staple and comes in a variety of flavours. Some days it is sprinkled with hints of Credit Crunch, other days it is dressed with Job Loss.
The recent recession has not left anyone untouched, including my parents, who feel [...]

It may be time to rethink how we relate to foreigners

One in four Singapore residents is a foreigner. How are Singaporeans grappling with new stereotypes? Youthinkers weigh in.
Can’t tar all with same brush
IN THE hostel where I stay at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), female students share a toilet, and I have spent two of the past three years cleaning up after the Chinese nationals I [...]

What charity really means

Help needy overseas or focus on those at home? YouthInkers wonder where it begins.
Overseas trips a form of inspiration
SOME people believe that overseas community projects are either a form of self-gratification or an absolute waste of money.
I disagree. I believe they serve to widen the horizons of participants, inspiring them to take further action for [...]

Textbook route to romance?

YouthInk writers respond to news that the Social Development Unit is hoping to offer romance lessons in junior colleges.
Where’s the romance?
THIS programme is an insult to the youth of this generation.
Dating is an age-old art with different approaches to attract the opposite sex. How can such techniques be reduced to a formula and [...]