Mindspeaker Returns

I saw a letter in the Today paper last Friday that mentioned bullying in school. Then another one in today’s New Paper too.

Both of these letters seem to suggest that teachers don’t seem to know or don’t seem to care that bullying is happening in their classrooms.

I guess its easy for the letter writers to say that teachers are not putting any effort into ending bullying cases. Yeah easy peasy. Tell you what…instead of writing letters to Today paper or whatever papers out there, why don’t you DO it instead?

Come and join the teaching profession. They’re showing the “floating pencils” and “dinosaur stomping” ads on TV again. It means that the Ministry of Education is recruiting! So if you feel so bloody strongly about bullying, come and join the teachers. Show all these bochap teachers how to do the job properly. Don’t just sit around on your asses and typing out letters and hoping that your letter can change the world.

Read this blog and see how “free and easy” teaching life is. In fact, I think the MOE should advertise this blog for their recruitment drive instead of showing us pencils that float in the air.

As I read this article: No Go For CPF Reversal Bid, I couldn’t help but remember what my ex-colleague said to me once.

"I’m the last batch of teachers from the pension scheme. After me, all the other teachers have CPF"

I’m not sure if she was from this same batch of people who want to revert back to the pension scheme. Long ago…back in 1973, civil servants were given the option to convert from the pension scheme to the CPF scheme. The GOOD thing about the CPF scheme was that you can actually use your CPF to pay for your housing! WOW!!!

So these people, thinking that the CPF is better than the pension scheme signed up for it. Now…they want to revert back to the pension scheme. Why huh?

Is it because with the pension scheme, they will get a monthly sum and lifelong free medical charges? That sounds a lot better when than the ability to pay for your housing loans.

Now I wonder…if these people are so desperately trying to revert to the old pension scheme, what about people like me who have no choice in the first place? 

Does this mean that the CPF is not as good as the pension scheme? Then how come we are using CPF now? So that I can pay for my house? You mean without CPF cannot pay for my house? Then what is it about the CPF which makes it better than the pension scheme huh? Its got to be better right? Since we’ve dispensed with the pension scheme and we’re all now using the CPF? Right?

*Blink Blink*

But how come those old people want to revert back to pension huh? And how come my ex-colleague is proud of the fact that she’s on the pension scheme instead of the CPF?

New guidelines on Fair Employment
I was reading this article by mrbrown regarding employers treating employees unfairly and the article above and here are my thoughts.

I simply don’t understand why they are trumpeting the fact that employers are no longer allowed to ask whether you’re married or not, whether you can speak Mandarin, whether you’re male or female etc. etc.

Oh so we can hide all that information from the employers FOR NOW, but can we hide them forever? Will it change the mindsets of the employers? So they’ll invite you to go for the interviews. Once they see that you’re a woman or gay or lesbian or cannot speak Mandarin or are pregnant, they’ll just go through the motion of interviewing you. And then they won’t select you. Its as simple as that. They don’t have to divulge why you’re not suitable.

In the old way, at least they slam the door shut BEFORE you go for the interview. Now…unemployed people can waste their money needlessly on transportation to the interviews and then get rejected.

The problem is not the hard copy of the questionnaires. Its the soft tissue in the area inside their skull. I don’t see this as a solution to the problem at all.

Its like this: After all the effort put in. Photocopy educational certs, testimonials, wedding certificate, birth certificate, paste passport photo onto application form (sometimes two!), write cover letter, produce CV, buy HUGE envelope to put everything in, buy lots of stamps to ensure that the envelope won’t disappear in the mail room. Then you wait and wait and wait for them to reply. Then you go for the interview. And you get rejected.  

I think employers HAVE to tell people why they are not accepted for the positions. Heck, some companies don’t even bother to inform the people that they are not accepted.

So what happens to the two photos I sent? Why don’t you return it now that you don’t want me to work for you? You keep for what? Put in your wallet is it? I could use it for my other applications. I don’t have to spend more money (since I’m unemployed) to take more passport photos. And return all my photocopies as well. That’s money too, you know. Or is it because you have to pay for the bloody stamps?

I’m not saying this because I’m unemployed. I’m saying this because I was there once. I spent many months looking for a job, going for interviews and getting nothing in return. Its very, very frustrating. There’s so many issues to deal with but nothing is being done about it.

And here they are…being proud of the fact that they’ve managed to get companies to delete the unacceptable questions from their application forms. Whoopeedoo! I did something good today!