Focus on (more than just) the Family

Last month, 28-year-old local poet and playwright Ng Yi-sheng launched a Facebook group protesting DBS’s corporate support of Focus On The Family (FOTR), a pro-family group known in the US for anti-gay messages. So far, the group has garnered over 1,000 members, many of them 25 and under. Youthinkers weigh in on the issue of [...]

Could a dorm for young adults work?

With the cost of renting apartments so high, what about dorm rooms for young adults? YouthInk writers consider the proposal.
Home is where the heart is

WHEN I graduate in a few months’ time, home is where I will gravitate to from my campus hostel.
Specially built dorms for young working adults? No, thanks – I’d rather drown [...]

S’poreans v the ‘outsiders’

Why are some S’poreans so unwelcoming towards foreigners? YouthInk writers speak up.
Contributing in their own way
SOME weeks ago, I was immensely annoyed with a construction worker from China working on the lift outside my flat.
He was shouting at the top of his voice in a thick incomprehensible accent, disturbing my enjoyment of the Olympics’ table [...]

Good English – whose line is it anyway?

To Singlish or to slang? YouthInk writers argue over the need to speak English well.
Singlish encapsulates culture
LET us abandon the belief that Singlish is bad English.
To me, it is a unique vocabulary that encapsulates decades of local culture. One could throw in the occasional ‘lah’ and jargon like ‘bo chap’ (‘can’t be bothered’ in Hokkien) [...]

Exams, rankings, stress – isn’t there more to school?

YouthInk writers wonder what it will take to bring some balance into the school system.
Why must life be a competition?
I ONCE met a trumpet player from the United States and asked him which competitions his school band had taken part in. Stunned, he replied: ‘Not everything in life is a competition.’
It was inconceivable to me [...]