Dr Goh Keng Swee is the second Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore.
He was also the Minister for Education, 3rd Minister for Defence, 3rd Minister for Finance, 1st Minister for the Interior and Defence and 1st Minister for Finance.
Dr Goh was a key member of the PAP's Central Executive Committee, and later became its vice-chairman.
He initiated the setting up of the Economic Development Board which was established in August 1961.
The next year, he started the development of the Jurong industrial estate on the western end of the island which was then a swamp, offering incentives to local and foreign business to locate there.
Goh admitted that the Jurong project was "an act of faith and he himself jokingly said that this could prove to be Goh's folly". Nonetheless, Goh also felt strongly that "the only way to avoid making mistakes is not to do anything. And that ... will be the ultimate mistake.
There was a clash of fundamental principles, both political and economic, notably on the issue of Malay dominance, communitarian violence in 1964 was inflamed in Singapore by Malay and Chinese activists Dr. Goh played a crucial role in orchestrating the subsequent secession of Singapore from the Federation on 9 August 1965.
Upon independence in 1965, Dr. Goh became Minister for the Interior and Defence until 16 August 1967, assuming responsibilities for strengthening Singapore's military and domestic security capabilities.
Goh encouraged the establishment of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in 1968, and on 11 August 1970 he was reappointed Minister for Defence.
In 1971, he put together the Electronic Warfare Study Group, a team of newly graduated engineers who had excelled in their university studies which was headed by Dr. Tay Eng Soon, a university lecturer.
Goh was also responsible for projects that sought to improve Singaporeans' cultural and leisure life, such as the Jurong Bird Park, the Singapore Zoo and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
He backed the construction of the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre in his constituency as a venue for Chinese opera performances. He was also instrumental in introducing rugby in the Singapore Armed Forces and later in schools.
Impressed by an oceanarium in the Bahamas, he contacted the Sentosa Development Corporation and convinced them to have one. Underwater World Singapore opened in 1991.
On 12 February 1979, Goh moved on from the Defence Ministry to the Ministry of Education, where his Goh Report greatly influenced the development of Singapore's education system.
He set up the Curriculum Development Institute, and introduced key policies such as religious education (subsequently discontinued) and, in 1980, the channelling of students into different programmes of study according to their learning abilities, known as "streaming".
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Poem on my school life
School is fun,
School is knowledge,
School is experience,
School is life.
School can be a nightmare or a place call heaven,
but it comes to the student to choose which they think school is.
The lucky thing is
I chose heaven.
I remembered the days in primary school
when my friends and i were still young.
Boy! We were as innocent as a young puppies
and of course naughty as usual.
Ringgg!!! This was the sound we anticipated.
Balls zoomed past the air,
We would play soccer
And the balls will zoomed past the field like a sprinting cheetah.
Classrooms were the place of knowledge
and also a room that drains your energy.
Piles of works will be on your table
and for a primary school kid, they are buildings that will collaspe anytime.
In secondary school
things changed.
No more fooling, no more joking
and the worse part is the buildings on your tables have became skyscrapers
School is knowledge,
School is experience,
School is life.
School can be a nightmare or a place call heaven,
but it comes to the student to choose which they think school is.
The lucky thing is
I chose heaven.
I remembered the days in primary school
when my friends and i were still young.
Boy! We were as innocent as a young puppies
and of course naughty as usual.
Ringgg!!! This was the sound we anticipated.
Balls zoomed past the air,
We would play soccer
And the balls will zoomed past the field like a sprinting cheetah.
Classrooms were the place of knowledge
and also a room that drains your energy.
Piles of works will be on your table
and for a primary school kid, they are buildings that will collaspe anytime.
In secondary school
things changed.
No more fooling, no more joking
and the worse part is the buildings on your tables have became skyscrapers
Hyperbole- exaggerated statement
Metaphor- to describe something as another thing
Personification- give something or an object human characteristic
Symbolism-using a representive figure to carry additional meaning
Simile-"like" or "as"
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
1. "lonely as a cloud"
The poet used symbolism in this phrase.
The poet described his loneliness as the clouds in the sky which means that he/she is very lonely.
2. "A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
Metaphor- to describe something as another thing
Personification- give something or an object human characteristic
Symbolism-using a representive figure to carry additional meaning
Simile-"like" or "as"
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
1. "lonely as a cloud"
The poet used symbolism in this phrase.
The poet described his loneliness as the clouds in the sky which means that he/she is very lonely.
2. "A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
The poet used personification in this three lines.
The poet described the daffodils as a host that is everywhere beside the lake, beneath the trees dancing and fluttering like a person in the breeze.
3. "never-ending line", "the margin of a bay", "Ten thousand saw I at a glance"
The poet used hyperbole in this three phrases.
The poet is trying to say that there are so many stars in the sky that when he glance once he can see ten thousand of them and if they are in a line the line will be never-ending.
4. "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance"
The poet used personification here.
The poet is trying to say that the skies in the sky are tossing their head so wildly that cause the sparkling in th e sky.
5. "The waves beside them danced"
The poet used personification here.
The poet says that the high tides have caused the waves to look like they are dancing happily.
6. "And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils"The poet used personification here.
The poet is trying to say that in a state of loneliness now, trying to imagine that you are accompanied by the natural surrounding will make you feel very happy.
I like this poem because it is easy to understand and it uses many figurative languages. This poem is trying to say that the person is so lonely that he thought of the natural surrounding being his companion the stars, the daffodils, the waves. This poem did not really emphasize on the effects of being lonely instead it emphasize on a person trying to make herself not lonely. The descriptions in the poem were clear and easy to understand. The ending of the poem and the beginning of the poem was completely opposite it begins with loneliness but it ends with happiness so it kind of give a little “twist” at the end which is nice.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
My thoughts and view of lowering the percentage in PSLE for chinese
I personally think that lowering the percentage for chinese is not a good idea.
Students will think that chinese is less important and this will even cause some of the students to give up on chinese.
Have i 3 points to share with you why I think learning chinese is important:
- Makes you bilingual
- Live the legacy
- Help you in the economy
Being bilingual does not bring you any benefits when you are still a primary school student. However when you start working in business you will find that being bilingual is really useful. For example, if you are sent to china for a conference but you are unable to speak chinese what will you feel? Anxious? Scared? Nervous?
Learning chinese is also a method of preserving the significance of the chinese. Language is like staple food it is very important for a race. If you do not learnt chinese our chinese ancestors will be deeply disappointed and their hardwork to create a language is useless and wasted.
Helping you in the economy. In the economy China is now coming up. It is one of the strongest country in the economy. Learning chinese will surely benefit you. For example, a boss wants a person to go to china to meet the client but none understands chinese except you, the boss will surely be pleased with you and will definitely reward handsomely.
Of course learning chinese is hard and tiring and stressful. However this is only cause by a lack of interests. If teachers in school or even parents and help to make student interested, motivated then what is the need of lowering the percentage?
Students will think that chinese is less important and this will even cause some of the students to give up on chinese.
Have i 3 points to share with you why I think learning chinese is important:
- Makes you bilingual
- Live the legacy
- Help you in the economy
Being bilingual does not bring you any benefits when you are still a primary school student. However when you start working in business you will find that being bilingual is really useful. For example, if you are sent to china for a conference but you are unable to speak chinese what will you feel? Anxious? Scared? Nervous?
Learning chinese is also a method of preserving the significance of the chinese. Language is like staple food it is very important for a race. If you do not learnt chinese our chinese ancestors will be deeply disappointed and their hardwork to create a language is useless and wasted.
Helping you in the economy. In the economy China is now coming up. It is one of the strongest country in the economy. Learning chinese will surely benefit you. For example, a boss wants a person to go to china to meet the client but none understands chinese except you, the boss will surely be pleased with you and will definitely reward handsomely.
Of course learning chinese is hard and tiring and stressful. However this is only cause by a lack of interests. If teachers in school or even parents and help to make student interested, motivated then what is the need of lowering the percentage?
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