felix ker's blog » Life’s like that

Thoughts of a UOL-LSE International Programme student in Singapore

Felix Ker — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:14:20 +0000

Suddenly, I had the urge to share something longer than 140 characters which is much more than what twitter supports.

For any of you reading this and do not know me, here’s a brief introduction. I’m a full-time undergrad pursuing my Bachelor of Science at University of London and London School of Economics (LSE) (International Programme) in Singapore. Not going to mention where I’m doing this program as they’re doing well (not that UOL/LSE isn’t good).

What’s bad is the culture here. I’m unsure if this only happen in Singapore. No one talks in class. I’m not referring to chatting in class, but the two way communication between the lecturer and student. Over here, the lecturer will speak for almost 3 hours (duration of the lecture (and tutorial), minus 10 minutes break time). Yes, most lecturer will talk throughout tutorials (included in the 3 hours lecture).

I do see that some lecturers are trying to change the system or change the way they do tutorials by trying to make students at least talk alittle, but this isn’t really helping. Students here still keep everything to themselves.

Perhaps, I started feeling this in the recent years with the world spinning; changing the world to become more social. Just look at websites, even they’re evolving to become web 2.0 (though just a model) – allowing more communication (not just 2-way).

Don’t ask me why I’m diving into this programme without doing much research and end up learning that this programme just isn’t to my liking. I guess at first I thought it was fine, but through time, I changed and realised I’m not suited for this. I’m doing my final year, and of course, I’ve to keep going!

But you will question what’s good about the programme? I feel the British programme trains me for 1-shot-1-one kill, like a sniper. If you fail the paper, you’ll have to re-do it the following year. Just like going for an interview, you only get a chance to impress. How can you not prepare for it?

---
Related Articles at felix ker's blog:

Have you visited the Expo 2010 Shanghai?

Felix Ker — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:22:28 +0000

After spending some time browsing through the official website for Expo 2010 Shanghai China, I got more understanding about whats going on.

After spending 5 days touring places of interest in SuZhou, HangZhou and YiWu, we’re back in Shanghai for more fun! Later in the afternoon, we’re finally going to visit the Expo. It’s planned that we’re only going for the late afternoon until night time. I don’t know if this is sufficient or not actually – will update after visiting!

It’s almost impossible for us to finish visiting all the pavilions this time. The total surface area is over 5km². That’s really huge.

If you have visited the Expo, are there any pavilions really worth visiting and MUST visit?

P.s. HaiBao is cute!

---
Related Articles at felix ker's blog:

Make Up Does Wonders!

Felix Ker — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:45:19 +0000

Three years ago, I posted a picture here. Today, I got another photo of a girl from Singapore.

Yes, another before-and-after photograph of her.

Surprised, aren’t you? Share your views in the comments section.

---
Related Articles at felix ker's blog:

So you study in Poly/SIM and you expect cheaper travel fares?

Felix Ker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:32:25 +0000

I recently got invited into Facebook groups like PETITION AGAINST HIGH BUS FARES for POLY STUDENTS and Travel Concession for FULL-TIME SIM Students, a plea for common sense but I didn’t join. What’s the point?

The creators of the groups wrote stuffs like:

It is obviously unfair that SMRT and SBS charge polytechnic students adult fares while JC students only pay 45cents per trip. Are we not of the same age as JC students? Do we NOT travel as much as JC students do? Are our families any better off than theirs? The general answer is NO, Polytechnic students are in fact just average students. Yes, there are elder students who are already working and capable of supporting themselves, but they still hold a very much smaller percentage as compared to the young students fresh from secondary school. I do believe SMRT and SBS are smart enough to not make decisions based on stereotyping thinking, and i certainly do believe that they are capable of being fair and unbiased, so i take it this fare difference was due to negligence in decision discussion and making. A higher fare would very directly affect the students’ moods about school, discouraging students from poorer families to continue with their studies. This could impact the Singaporean economy as the majority of people studying go to polytechnics after their O levels, and a high fare would discourage workers from coming back to polytechnics to upgrade themselves.

and ..

I’m sure many of us feel the need to be recognised as full time undergraduate students who deserve concession for public transport too, just as much as our peers in the public universities. I heard even students, if it is indeed true, of LaSalle College of the Arts get approved as tertiary students who deserve concession.(Pardon me if I’m wrong) So why not us too?

But you think your voices are heard when you write so much on Facebook? Ministers don’t use Facebook (am I right?).

My suggestions

Riots won’t be allowed in Singapore, so don’t even think about it.

I would suggest we all target our school’s students’ union. Let them voice it for our behalf. If not, what’s the students’ union for?

If your school’s student union isn’t doing anything about this, write in to your school’s student affairs. Remind them that you’re (we’re) all not rich.

Now I know its not easy, but contact the media. Let the media know that you got a few thousand people here that aren’t happy. (Few thousand for a poly isn’t sufficient. At least find 20% of the school population.) Form a group of 10-30 people first, camp at food courts daily to gather signatures and NRICs/Student ID. Let the media know what you’ve got and that they should voice it for you.

And again if this doesn’t work, go suck thumb.

Oh or if you’ve got a better suggestion, let me know. I completed my 3 years in poly and I know, if they wanted to implement what you suggested, they would have done it years back.

… again, good night.

---
Related Articles at felix ker's blog:

SingTel disappointed me, again.

Felix Ker — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:23:30 +0000

This is the 5th day I couldn’t connect to the Internet on a 3G connection. Terribly disappointing.

I seriously wonder if I’m the only person complaining about this problem. If not, why do they sound as if they don’t know what’s going on. Or maybe they’re trying to hide the problem and make it sound as if there’s no problem and its just your fault. Whatever.

I called up SingTel customer support. Pressed 1 for English, Keyed in my number 9XXXXXXX followed by #. Then pressed 0 to speak to Customer Service, and pressed 3 for other matters. This is how familiar I am now. Learn it. Next, when someone picks up and says who he/she is, you need to tell him or her your problem, identify yourself (owner of the line & IC number). How hard can this be? “Ok Mr So and so, thanks for verifying.”

Now you describe your problem. I couldn’t connect to my Broadband on Mobile. I could get the 3G Signal, but just its stated connection failed. Without fail, if this is the first time you’re calling regarding this, they will tell you to do a restart of your USB modem when you know obviously the problem doesn’t lie there.

Improvement #1: Customer Service offers need a much more flexible guidance book in front of them.

After that, they explain that for Broadband on Mobile, it’s actually on Shared bandwidth, thus you may be experiencing lag. Yes we all know. But I paid for nothing?

Improvement #2: Don’t oversell.

But again, that isn’t my problem. I cannot even connect in. Damn. Changing the APN won’t help too. Lastly the officer told me to switch to a GSM network (without 3G) – NarrowBand on Mobile.

Good job done: You found me a way to get onto the Internet which I cannot even load my Gmail.

I am making a guess. Did the problem just happened because you’re having some network or hardware failure which you cannot fix in time and thus you’re trying hide and not let us know?

Improvement #3: I don’t know, but I hope when you got a problem, at least let us know. We can be really considerate since we know it isn’t permanent.

If not, please unsubscribe me from this service and waive all the rest of my fees. I am not going to pay any penalty since I didn’t enjoy the service at all. I didn’t even utilise it to any extent!

Improvement #4: Don’t let us pay for nothing, especially when you got a service downtime, go by some SLA that waives our fees for the day or week. Learn it from some web hosting companies. In fact, they provide 100x better service.

Now, proposals to hire me go to my e-mailbox (felix[at]ker.sg). I should be able to help you improve. At least I think from a client’s perspective.

Improvement #5: I don’t sleep at 12am. And I always encounter problems after 12am. You need a team on too. Don’t tell me you are trying to cut costs too? 12-8am is another shift. Make more jobs. The government will love you more.

Now good night.

---
Related Articles at felix ker's blog: