Four-five rocks!

Newspaper review 3rd


Title: Preschool Staff [Teachers or nannies?]

Summary:
We don't get much respect and we don't get much pay. We teach one minute and clean bottoms the next, says preschool educator, Lu Xiu Ye, of Just Kids Learning Place.
That is the collective sentiment of preschool teachers, at least going by a Sunday Times survey. Issues like low pay, lack of skills upgrading and poor self esteem have resulted in a serious problem- a high staff turnover. On the other hand, 200 more childcare centres will be ready by 2013. This is to meet the demands of working parents and those seeking early childhood programmes.
In a survey of 5000 preschool teachers done by the Education services Union last year, 34 percent wanted to leave their job within 12 months. Their main grouse was the low pay.
Former preschool educator said many parents see preschool teachers as maid replacements. They don't toilet train their children or bother if their kids come to school soiled. They expect teachers to do all the work.Others said the schools should operate the way primary schools do, so as to command due to respect and oppropriate benefits.
To raise standards, industry entrants from next year will need five O-level passes, instead of three now, and a diploma. The length of the course will also be doubled from 18 months to three years.

Thoughts:
Preschool teachers are not nannies and they should be respected. Nowadays, lots of parents think that preschool staff are teachers as well as babysitters who should be the ones taking care of their children. Preschool teachers have such low pays and they don't even get the basic respect from other people. How can you expect people to sign up for these kind of jobs? And, the government is building more and more childcare centres despite insufficient staff members. I think that not only the government but the society have to change their views about preschool teachers. I do agree with the fact that if the government set higher requirements in teacher education and standards, the pay of the preschool teachers will improve and rise. The reasons why the public don't respect preschool staff is that they think its easy to get this kind of jobs and the low qualification of preschool teachers. Being a preschool teacher is not easy at all, young kids can go wild and crazy in this stage of life and hard to control. Thus, preschool teachers should get the same pay as primary and secondary school staff. All of them are teaching young kids of the society. So, why should they be paid lesser than the others? Most importantly, preschool staff are the ones laying the foundations of learning of your kids. Parents should give them respect for what they are and even more.




Newspaper review 4th

Title: How safe are the rides?

Summary:
The managemant of the Singapore Flyer said yesterday that it is working with tenants to draw visitors back to the attraction. On the cards is a free concert on wednesday at the waterfront Flyer Theatre organised by one of the tenants, Love The World. The 165m tall giant observation wheel was closed , after 173 people were trapped in it capsules for about six hours, following an electrical fire that cut off power to the wheel. It is likely to remain closed until New Year's Day. Meanwhile, business has plunged for the 25 tenants in the terminal. They include restaurants and retail shops.The passengers were freed by rescuers from Dive Marine Services, a private company hired by Singapore Flyer, and the Singapore Civil Defence Force. Eleven passengers were lowered to the ground by rope harnesses, whilee the rest got off when the flyer resumed movement. In the light of the Flyer incident, the Sunday times checked out their safety procedures.

Reviews:
Other than the Singapore Flyer incident which happened recently, there were also past mishaps of some rides in Singapore too. For example, the G-Max Reverse Bungy ride. In 2006, three tourists were in the cage of the reverse bungee when one of its two ropes broke just as the cord was stretched for the cage to be pulled on. But as the cage was locked on the ground at that time, no one was injured. Can you even imagine if the one of the cords break just as the cage is catapulted into the air at the speed up to 200kmh? When i first read this article, i was surprised to see so many past mishaps which have happened to the rides in Singapore. I thought that the rides in Singapore are extremely safe to the point where no incidents should have ever happen. Well, i was wrong about it. After this Singapore Flyer incident, I'm not sure if the tourists would gain confidence in these rides again. Without the support of the tourists, i'm afraid that the Singapore Flyer would go out of business. I think they should seriously reconsider their safety precautions and measures. You can't expect people in the rides to wait for 6 hours before being rescued to safety grounds. The Singapore Flyer needs a more efficient plan when it comes to the safety precautions.

Munyi