Evolving thoughts about USP

I've been thinking about the future of USP for a while now, and these thoughts continue from last semester.

Here are some thoughts that show the stage of my thoughts, as a result of the numerous conversations that I've had. Some of these thoughts are not new, however.

USP remains an excellent programme. The writing module, the interdisciplinary focus, and the wide range of extra-academic programmes continue to provide a compelling opportunity for highly motivated, curious undergraduates.

That said, I believe that so much more can be done at USP in nurturing the talents of students. The transition to the RC then holds tremendous promise for current and future batches of students. In order for the promise to be fulfilled, I believe that a 'strong' community is necessary. This is not about how 'weak' the current community is, but about how much better it could be. All of these is necessary for providing USP students with a different edge when it comes to their life after graduation...

All that said, there are two tensions in the continual creation of a 'strong' community.

1. The USP student community is composed of people with a myriad of skills and talents.

2. There will always be a need to cope with the yearly-changes in the atmosphere and attitude of the USP cohort, yet there also has to be some form of continuity for students and subsequently alumni to feel a connection to.

Point 1
With that in mind, there has to be a wide spectrum of platforms for students to participate in to cater to the diversity of talents, while maintaining a common focus or theme to unite the different platforms. A sense of academic rigour and an interdisciplinary focus should be the common theme to unite the different platforms. Through the participation of multiple platforms, students could then come into contact with students from different backgrounds instead of being consistently in their own cliques, and allow for linkages between different batches, disciplines and groups.

Different parties have different roles to play in the creation of these opportunities. The Admin has already done a lot in terms of international contacts, while the MC has also been on the look out for opportunities as well. Various students who are not so connected to either have also found different avenues to participate as well. The development of a vibrant community entails that institutions, individuals and groups actively contribute in the initiative and the participation of different opportunities. In this way, no single group should be marginalised or left out, with minimal alienation from the USP.

There really can be no overemphasis on the dynamism and diversity of USP students. To specifically focus on a few institutions or students makes the entire USP poorer, and that would be just plain sad, and undermines the effectiveness of USP.

Point 2
Every year, people graduate, and people come in. People go for exchanges, summer programmes, NOC... while others will return from their respective programmes... New people come in wanting to make an impact in their own lives and/or in their lives of others, while others are jaded after spending a period of time in their studies. New people come in with little knowledge of what to expect, and are eager for new experiences, while older batches remain with their expertise and experiences. Established circumstances are thus often in negotiation with new expectations, and with limitations of space and time, conflicts can and do occur.

With these in mind, there is a need to emphasize that no single institution, batch or group of people can impose their will over others, and requires the apreciation that everyone in USP is able to bring something unique to the programme; at the very least - their own presence and participation to the programme; at the very most - the giving of their lives for a worthy cause.

Also, there is a need to recognise that different batches, discipline and groups of people can organise to bring something totally different from their individual selves - more senior students as a group bring a sense of continuity into the student community act as bridges between the current student cohort and the alumni, while younger batches together can bring new energy to USP with their new ideas and as they try to find their place in the programme.

Conclusion
All that said, USP is still relatively young, only celebrating it's 9th year of existence as USP (although it has existed in various forms for a few decades now). In the current ecosystem of highly competitive undergraduate programmes both local and overseas, the life of USP as a dynamic programme cannot always be assured. This sounds cliched, but in order for USP to attract highly motivated and dynamic students batch after batch after batch, it has to branded as what it is - an interdisciplinary programme that offers students a compelling experience, with the provision of skills and additional skillsets to enhance their chances of success in life...

On a parting note, yeap, it sure sounds like SG...

Chimaera

The Chimaera in Greek legend had three heads - lion, dragon and goat. It breathed out fire, and was eventually killed by Bellerophon, with the assistance of the winged house Pegasus.

The creature fascinated me during my foolish childhood era, as I was fascinated by dinosaurs and other beasts, both real and mythical. Later on, I found out (through a CSI episode) another meaning of Chimaera: referring to individuals with genetically distinct cells. Wow - that certainly questions the nature of self, at least biologically. How could a human chimaera call him/herself?

The notion of the hybrid has always unsettled us - the imaginings of these fantastic beasts has always required a valiant hero to slay them, and be immortalised in tales and myths. There probably is no doubt then, about the captivating nature of the chimaera and other monsters.

There is however, a different kind of chimaera, and it is us. Of course, we don't have the multiple ghastly heads that the chimaera has; nonetheless, the lives lived in themselves are a kind of monstrous hybrid that are in conflict with each other. The hybrid is us, and there will be no Bellerophon gliding down on Pegasus to slay it.

This idea of our lives as this weird hybrid isn't really new. That we have multiple roles and different affiliations to different institutions - that's quite 'duh'. Needless to say, there will be times where these different roles and identities of ours come into conflict with one another - and constitutes a not insignificant amount of pain in our lives.

I wonder if the multifaceted, even multi-headed, reality of our lives is not really too far from what the chimaera is. A dragon, lion and goat - they might as well stand for the different roles that we dwell in. The imagery of the chimaera is merely an analogy of how different the various roles in our lives are. Hence the goat and the lion can all be in the same body - how weird, for a lion and a goat to be on the same body! Won't the lion eat the goat? So I guess, that's how different the various roles in our lives can be.

Imagine the male gung-ho soldier on the battlefield, becoming the affectionate loving father back at home. How different those different roles are - yet both contained within the same person, within the same being. The one who gives to life - the father who gives of himself for the child, is also the one who takes away life - the press of a trigger, the firing of the bullet. The same erudite, eloquent person in school could easily be some uncouth chao beng during reservist. Who is to say who we really are, when we are all of these different 'persons' at the same time? A contradiction exists though. Perhaps the notion of the fragmented, self-contradictory self is not so strange after all, but what the post-modernists have to contend with is that these selves are still contained within the same body, after all, some cells in the brain never get replaced again, even though the rest of the body refreshes about seven years or so.

Maybe quantum mechanics could also have something to contribute to this discussion on the chimaera. Imagine the puzzled faces of the physicists as they saw the interference pattern from the double slit experiments. How too, could a cat be alive and dead at the same time? Yet that was the inescapable conclusion from the wave equations. Aren't we then, some sort of wave function as well? Indeterminate states only known until the moment of observation - or in the human case, until human interactions - then we reveal who we want to be at that point in time. Yet like that cat, we are half in half in half - slipping and swapping between different versions of ourselves until we choose one, or a decision forced upon us; until we are observed.

Maybe once we realise the monstrosity in each of us, we might learn to accept the perceived monstrousness in others. No one is spared - the chimaera is us, and no Bellerophon will be slaying us, or rather we are both Chimaera and Bellerophon in one.

involvement in USP is not solely about USP

At this point, I find myself quite taken aback by the alignments in the various initiatives that I'm part of. The realisation of these alignments lead me to think that life is somewhat fractal...

First off, I am interested in the developments in USP - it is an emotional as much as it is intellectual as much as it is spiritual. I think about how USP could continue to nurture the talents that go through it's doors for impacts thereafter. I believe that part of this nurturing lies in creating a better student community that engages within the different groups within the community, and in engaging people beyond USP and NUS, to the less-privileged communities, and in exchanging ideas at the cutting edge of things.

The second thread in this is that I'm interested in developments in Singapore, which again, is emotional, intellectual and spiritual as well. And as I'm involved in USP, I realise that the entire experience of learning about the process of governance and politics spills over into how I think about governance in Singapore and what it means for the future. The realisation is this: that the same process of engagement in USP, of openness and collaboration, I believe, are hugely relevant to the process of governance in Singapore. Of course I'm simplifying things here, but the resonance of between these efforts blows my mind.

So I come back to the title - that my involvement in USP is not simply about USP alone. These experiences have allowed me to gain insights into the process of political engagement... And of course, all these connects into the way I think about how Singapore needs to prepare for an uncertain future, and it has been amazing that I am first applying certain thoughts in USP first.

See the fractal-ness of it? USP is almost like this small experiment I'm learning from in order to work on a full-scale project called Singapore.

So far, it's been amazing, and I am really deeply in the debt of gratitude for those who have guided, mentored, facilitated, argued, debated, discussed, conversed, collaborated ... in short, for everyone who have shared their ideas with me.

The journey has been as exciting as the prospect of arriving at the destination!

experiences from Batam

I went to Batam very recently, to build a water filtration tank there. The trip fulfilled one of my wishes, as I only realise now. Back in 2005, there was this big hooha about poverty in Africa, and I started reading about developmental economics and what was really going on with poverty. And as I kept reading, I realised that I wanted to do something about it, only to realise that the barriers for entry in the community sector was... simply unknown to me. I didn't know where to go or what to do about the ideas that I had - I guess now its so much more simpler for JC and Poly and ITE students... The gift of empowering our students is perhaps, one of the most powerful legacies that people of the previous generation can give to them, and this is a gift that must keep flowing...

Anyhow, so I was finally able to do something with my hands, to help a less-privileged community in a tangible way, perhaps by the reduced count of microbes that they are drinking. As I immersed myself there, I was thinking about the various needs that the community required, and I broadly classify them into two kinds of needs: knowledge and infrastructure. The latter needs little elaboration - the local community that we helped was running on fossil fuel generator, which is expensive, where the lights can only be used for a few hours every night - micro-, onsite, off-grid power would be immensely useful. Solar power is decent, but too expensive. One of the technical expert cum team leader has a solar lantern project going on - charge the lantern in the day, to let the kids read at night. Incidentally, one of the kids burned down the whole dormitory while trying to read at night using candle light. I can't find the link at this moment - anyone who wants to help can get in touch with me through this blog, I suppose.

Electricity is a major concern, but there are others. There are flies, some variety of houseflies that is simply pervasive, and is simply everywhere. Where they land, there might be pathogens to contaminate the food. A ecological solution might be useful - to determine what creature feeds on the flies and so on. They have a waste disposal problem - they simply burn the trash, not the best way, both hygiene and ecological terms.

So those are the broad infrastructure-based needs that they require. In terms of knowledge, they might need better teachers, better pedagogy, better books, to help them get connected to the rest of Indonesia and the world. The local community that we helped is serviced by a Catholic Church - kudos to them for being so persisting for so many years.

Broadly speaking, I believe that technology - informed, decent technology can be a multiplier of ongoing efforts. These communities do not need spanking new tech to solve their needs - they need low-maintenance, suitable tech to get them started. They need basic electricity before we can talk about connecting them to the internet, although that would be nice, but they need the skills and the knowledge to get started first before we can talk about the advanced infrastructure. And another thing, they are decent human beings too, so when we help, we must be helping them on equal terms, not us being superior and them inferior or any of that nonsense.

In addition, we aren't the only ones there - there must be numerous missions done by Singapore churches to the region. This lines up with the efforts to integrate ASEAN socio-economically, and I believe that taken together, they constitute a different kind of informal diplomacy... Could YEP be retooled to serve that function - does it need to be retooled? I think its already serving pretty much as Singapore's version of the Peace Corps - exposing young people to the world and to the less-privileged conditions of others.

And since this is only the second post of 2010, blessed new year!

Family resources or rather, what I did not receive from my family.

Family resources or rather, what I did not receive from my family.

Hey all,

This is a long message, so read the abstract to decide if you want to continue reading.

Abstract:

On previous ocassions, I have mentioned that I'm very thankful for my family, for giving me the resources that allowed me access to the different cultural contexts and even some unexpected skills and values that have proven their worth time and time again. This time, however, I would like to narrate about the values that they didn't give to me, which should segue into my interest in Outliers, and about the additional reasons why I love the book. The point is that, I realise that I might fall under the 'Outlier' under Gladwell's rubric, and my personal life-narrative compels me to find ways to address this 'Outlier' phenomena, and to find ways to empower more people to be 'Outliers' in their own right.

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In other occasions, I have mentioned the Hokkien and the values of working hard that I think my family has given to me. Hokkien is valuable in that it allowed me access to the different socioeconomic contexts that existed in SG. And of course, working hard. Enough said.

Now, however, as I was thinking through things, I realised that there were things that my parents did not give to me, that might even handicapped me somewhat even till today. Now, I say this not to bash my family, but to be honest, and sometimes it hurts. Nonetheless, I still feel its important to share this, because I think I am not unique.

I think as always, it helps to provide some context, both personal and social. The personal context is this: my parents were born in the 50s, were the recipients of the PAP's socio-economic programme, which has led to considerable material prosperity. Also came along the political constraints, and the belief in 'minding your own business and not get involved in politics'. The additional context is that my parents were primary-school educated, and so I was pretty much left to fend for my own when it came to decisions about higher education (I chose my own JC, chose my own university, chose USP by myself). Since then, I have pretty much lived an independent life, making my own decisions, and learning about handling consequences.

I realise that my parents did not exactly do the 'concerted cultivation' but that Gladwell talked about, and coupled with the 'MYOB' attitude, pretty much gave me a slow start in activism and the additional cultural capital that other people might have in some other areas (fine dining, photography, technology, concerted cultivation, personal initiative).

I guess after a while, people get stuck about their attitudes and ideologies, and if one does not learn to unlearn them, then... well, I guess that's what happened to my parents. They kinda got 'stuck'. Meantime, the world has changed around them, and so have I. I began to dabble a bit in activism, and got myself engaged in interesting conversations about the future of the country. Problem now is, parents and family don't fully understand the significance of these conversations that I've been having, and out of sheer concern, are trying to limit my attempts at acquiring those conversations...

The preceding paragraph then is a good place to start segueing into Outliers. The problem with me with Outliers is that I relate to it at a gut level. The narrative that Gladwell describes matches my own experience, except for one thing, that I did not have the complete set of cultural values to get to where I am now. If I had stuck to my parent's attitude, I could simply be another mugger at NUS doing science or engineering, trying to get good grades, just trying to earn money and all. Not that it's a less meaningful life, but a different life nonetheless. I might be more boring, but also more focused, hmm... oh well. Not that I'm successful, but seeing the past drawn out like that, I believe that one could not possibly predict, based on the circumstances of my family and past. Despite the flaws and the gaps, Outliers continues to haunt me, because of its narrative that the success of an individual can be socially and culturally constructed, that it depends on the cultural capital that the person is brought up in, but that it also depends on the individual choices that are made. Quite 'duh', but the major point is that, legacies matter, and for my case, and I'm sure the case for many people, is that those legacies still continue to haunt us, as people find ways to change and adapt in the future that is always becoming the present. The narrative that Gladwell presents compels me to think of ways of how I would like less of the 'Outliers' like myself, and instead, push for more people to be equipped with the cultural capital to allow them to live their lives to the full.