thinking of....what Jia just said...

i agree with her.. maybe that's the stumbling block of s'pore's education. in this crazy rat race to attain results, we have abandoned our thirst/need for knowing affairs that are remotely related to us. take me for an example..

my thought process which are similar to many other students might go like this :

" The newspapers? oh i have to read them because i have to score for gp(general paper/ a-level paper). Otherwise fail arh! Luckily my teacher already tell us what to read. then the rest i don't have to waste time. Anyway it doesn't benefit me. My results wouldn't exactly improve by reading 'useless' information happening on the other side of the world"

sigh. that's a typical ignoramus for you. sadly due to the o'levels i might just to turning into that. :(

anyway, i'll just talk about something else to take my mind of things. Jia recently lent me a book of short essays and poems by 11 girls fron scgs.
i must say the works really impressed me with the knowledge that they are around my age.

jia likes a poem called,"Flower" which somehow conveys the concept and consequence of commercialisation (is there such a word?)

i haven't found one that i really can connect with one yet. will post if i do..

LASTLY, i would like to talk about the CASINO issue ...

for those who know or not know, the idea mainly centers around the issue of whether the s'pore govt. should allow casino industry to enter s'pore's market..

lets talk about the..

PROS: economy will shoot skyhigh----tourism will increase---more revenue=better infrastructure=higher standard of living

&

CONS: (my say, actually)
i don't know about whether the crime rate will increase however i feel that such an act might single-handedly ruin the clean-cut and safe image s'pore has been working towards to since its independance...

others will probably say this is not about undermining our society's values, ethnics. but actually moving onto a higher level of citizen responsibility and building trust in the society. not only will s'pore citizens get more independant and less protected by the govt. but boosting our economy before we grow stale and cease to attract tourists.

i beg to differ.

Tourists come to s'pore because of the fact that it is a safe city. unpolluted by greed and vice (what casinos seem to represent). by introducing a casino wouldn't we be losing our target group(families looking for a safe holiday spot or generally 'normal' people trying to escape from their busy lives) and replacing it with far more 'dangerous' and shady characters which appear in casinos, sure, they might have more money, more ready to spend.

even so, other nations in our region already have existing casinos. malaysia, batam.. and thailand being infamous for its sex industry. therefore, s'pore has placed itself in an beneficial position being the green and 'safe' nation of the region and the tropics. wouldn't we be giving up this position and exchanging it for one which will require compeition and years of reconstruction?

What exactly would be the reactions of those overseas who hear about this?

Would the society really stand to benefit from this?

I'm in no position to say, but i hope that others who do have the final say will take into consideration all factors.