so much was the mind that my chibi
teacher did my class a rather
interesting assignment to do she told us
to come up with a response beginning
with the words I wonder and so being the
kind of smart aleck I had also since I
was kind of running out of time to send
in the suitable answer I sent in this
and so what was surprising to me was how
coincidental this query of mine was in
line with the theme of this event which
leads me to introduce to you this key
topic of wandering or more specifically
functional 301 me say that we need to
carry a sense of wonder in life in order
to take chances and that’s me it’s
spirit of functional curiosity the dice
in the gray area between chance yes and
it can be defined as a sense of
inquisitiveness kind of wandering about
everything around us and then putting
your speculations to the test custardy
curiosity has been of great importance
to me as it has opened my eyes to
Pastora
of new discoveries and insights I was
born in the UK and raised there the
first few years of my life before being
whisked off to Singapore and the age of
10 where my family now stays so I’m
actually considered to be quite lucky
you may think because in a sense being a
dual citizen allows me to analyze the
differences in how the east and the west
view fostering we are especially in
students so one of the starkest
differences that I have noticed between
the Singapore and UK education system is
that of the importance they put in place
and you see whenever I remember play I
always think of the time during the
Christmas period when I was young at
that time I was yeah there I am
small fish shepherd boy over there but
when I was young I performed in the
Christmas Day it was about the Nativity
story it was a very interesting royalty
the role the shepherd because they have
very few lines to see they’re just
tending sheep nothing like that but you
know being that over fever I memorized
the entire play and stick every single
line even when it was an item and you
might you might be wondering yourself
the the expression on my parents faces
when I did that and now you may be
thinking what does this even have do you
how does this even stay on topic I’m
glad you asked because in a sense
fostering curiosity was done to me in my
UK environment through play which
encouraged fun fun through maybe bowling
going through drama or the play are you
becoming and put right run about three
three sets because it frees the mind to
think to imagine to run fire when no one
can stop you no one can say that you are
wrong in that moment three which I had a
lot of in the UK encourage
experimentation hands-on activities they
helped me to foster a keen sense and
ultimately curiosity okay what about
Singapore well one of the Singapore
education system does have its merits I
mean I would say that usually these
three three phrases standardized testing
tuition and enrichment classes do
describe it best compared to maybe going
into a school play going for drama been
catch or even having a future as a best
friend so
yes it is true sometimes but um if you
think about it for a minute most of us
but you will agree with me on the fact
that the Singapore education system felt
really good at the cleanest of learning
within us and rather it conforms us to
certainly educational standards that the
country themes in positive us we’re all
familiar with the same curiosity killed
a cat but have we Singaporeans taken the
same to find our general and willingness
to consider new and alternative
perspectives or even experiment with
novel ways of doing things a closer
examination of the Singapore education
system magnifies absence of curiosity
well think about the reprioritize
knowledge accumulation of a questioning
how things work then they are in a
classroom to sit down right memorise
practice time what do we do this for
guess what it’s to get the right answers
now don’t get me wrong it’s not that I’m
happy it’s not I’m not happy either
Singapore has given me the chance to
have another type of education and how
it should be done I think about it for a
minute isn’t it more important to
intentionally cut with curiosity as
students rather than having all of these
kind of restrictions on our learning
allowing for exploration and allowing
for failure so now what what’s next for
us well compared to other countries like
Finland who in a sense take education
and different perspectives we want to
learn from them through the less small
approach in Finland finished education
it helps a lot on minimal editing
minimal school hours
minimal assessment and also more bricks
and more bricks do more bricks to
actually take trying to reflect about
what we have learned
you know take time to understand what
has been taught in class and this is
very important because the Finnish
education system actually helps to
emphasize on things like critical skills
and elliptical skills that help us in
our learning well one thing that the
Finnish education system does starkly
different from us leasing of office the
fact that they are able to go the
natural environment to learn about
everything from simple things like
autograph to more complex matters like
science and math and they’ve also given
time to have ownership for their
learning through self-directed projects
which foster a genuine love for learning
and and fosters function curiosity in
our students so for us Singaporeans what
can we do allow me to share three
suggestions for us firstly we need to
reflect now the act of resection can
usually be associated to deliberation or
meditation 300 hours an hour but if you
think about it for a minute I mean for
myself over the nine years of experience
I’ve had students do a reflection has
taught me this very important thing that
is to understand the world better we
need to reflect especially with our
hectic fast-paced life styles we often
to get to reflect but easy thing is like
having a Thanksgiving journal that what
high school principal share about a
holiday or even staring to blank space
awkward sponsor reflection but you may
be thinking what do these do to us well
by reflecting on an issue
it helps us question the whys and how’s
of anything that we think of and it
opens a mic this bag of thoughtless
steps a curious nature in action in
order to bring up all about something
secondly we need to keep questioning the
things around us and never feel
satisfied if the way things were now
intellectual skeptics like Aristotle the
Greek Greek philosopher Steve Jobs the
founder of Apple understand that by
using this
in in sexual statuses of is a form of
functional curiosity we are able to
think take on new and alternative
perspectives that help us to generate
thoughts into understanding everything
around us
now this yeah we apply to us differently
especially for different groups of
people young people like myself you take
this procedure of thinking firstly we
identify the issue at hand but think
about and what’s so contentious about it
this is because by having a clear go and
what you want to think about it helps
you to be focused and still make when
you’re thinking about whatever you want
a few that is significant second of all
find out why the issue that you are
thinking of is so significant this is
because if you think about it if you are
trying to wonder over pointless things
like they are not even related to how
you view then we need a waste of time to
think about such pointless things and
last of all you need to consult others
find people of the same interest issue
and find people that have more expertise
you so that when you go in enquire with
them you are able to gain knowledge
because knowledge is power and knowing
more about an issue at hand allows you
to better understand and better
appreciate why you’re thinking about and
now for those of us who are wooden I
haven’t forgotten about you though
semester although we want to take this
different perspective of thinking I mean
for the first step it’s kind of the same
where you need to find out what so
contentious about issue but then the
second thing that you might need to do
is you might want to reflect about any
events in your life that have helped
shape of thinking of the issues think
about how your past is help you create a
better understanding of what you are
thinking of right now and then lastly
you need to go and experiment on your
theories then speak up there to
challenge the way things work
thank you go up look at the system’s
right in the eye
and challenge them why because despite
it despite maybe it being a failure or
even a business success you will still
come out of the experience learning
something new from it the last
suggestion I want to give to you is that
we need you to wrap yes my friend is
very good but just like how a giraffe is
tall slender and easily identifiable
like maybe myself
we need to stand out from others we need
to tickle why the perspective of the
world and we need to have the
willingness to learn new things I mean
though our conservative society may
suppress our attraction learning we
still need to have this curiosity and we
still need to stand out from other
societies so that we are able to stand
up to make a change and to understand
about everything that is going on around
us and so now after talking so much
about curiosity how it be curious let me
bring you all back to where we are right
now in the tech conference if that
wasn’t obvious enough the other day I
was reading about the history of tech
and I came across its motto ideas worth
spreading and it got me thinking that we
as young people use or whatever society
we want apart have actually been given
the opportunity chance to change the
systems that our world is built on we
are living now in a new age of
technology and innovation and it has
empowered us to stand up for what we
believe in most of us know that social
media like Facebook Twitter YouTube have
been giving us the chance to express
ourselves in a way that we can’t even
imagine
and also one would assume that nowadays
soft skills are more important in hard
skills
let me give you an example I expect like
innovation over theory and likewise just
over always getting the right answers
and so I like to give you all with this
code in closing that I’ll hand off
during a TED talk that I’ve watched the
other day on education in creative by
Sir Ken Robinson and this is what you
have to say that it’s not waiting to be
wrong you’ll never come up with anything
we are all unique in our own place and
so let’s try to use our unique and
curious minds to change the world
[Applause]
teacher did my class a rather
interesting assignment to do she told us
to come up with a response beginning
with the words I wonder and so being the
kind of smart aleck I had also since I
was kind of running out of time to send
in the suitable answer I sent in this
and so what was surprising to me was how
coincidental this query of mine was in
line with the theme of this event which
leads me to introduce to you this key
topic of wandering or more specifically
functional 301 me say that we need to
carry a sense of wonder in life in order
to take chances and that’s me it’s
spirit of functional curiosity the dice
in the gray area between chance yes and
it can be defined as a sense of
inquisitiveness kind of wandering about
everything around us and then putting
your speculations to the test custardy
curiosity has been of great importance
to me as it has opened my eyes to
Pastora
of new discoveries and insights I was
born in the UK and raised there the
first few years of my life before being
whisked off to Singapore and the age of
10 where my family now stays so I’m
actually considered to be quite lucky
you may think because in a sense being a
dual citizen allows me to analyze the
differences in how the east and the west
view fostering we are especially in
students so one of the starkest
differences that I have noticed between
the Singapore and UK education system is
that of the importance they put in place
and you see whenever I remember play I
always think of the time during the
Christmas period when I was young at
that time I was yeah there I am
small fish shepherd boy over there but
when I was young I performed in the
Christmas Day it was about the Nativity
story it was a very interesting royalty
the role the shepherd because they have
very few lines to see they’re just
tending sheep nothing like that but you
know being that over fever I memorized
the entire play and stick every single
line even when it was an item and you
might you might be wondering yourself
the the expression on my parents faces
when I did that and now you may be
thinking what does this even have do you
how does this even stay on topic I’m
glad you asked because in a sense
fostering curiosity was done to me in my
UK environment through play which
encouraged fun fun through maybe bowling
going through drama or the play are you
becoming and put right run about three
three sets because it frees the mind to
think to imagine to run fire when no one
can stop you no one can say that you are
wrong in that moment three which I had a
lot of in the UK encourage
experimentation hands-on activities they
helped me to foster a keen sense and
ultimately curiosity okay what about
Singapore well one of the Singapore
education system does have its merits I
mean I would say that usually these
three three phrases standardized testing
tuition and enrichment classes do
describe it best compared to maybe going
into a school play going for drama been
catch or even having a future as a best
friend so
yes it is true sometimes but um if you
think about it for a minute most of us
but you will agree with me on the fact
that the Singapore education system felt
really good at the cleanest of learning
within us and rather it conforms us to
certainly educational standards that the
country themes in positive us we’re all
familiar with the same curiosity killed
a cat but have we Singaporeans taken the
same to find our general and willingness
to consider new and alternative
perspectives or even experiment with
novel ways of doing things a closer
examination of the Singapore education
system magnifies absence of curiosity
well think about the reprioritize
knowledge accumulation of a questioning
how things work then they are in a
classroom to sit down right memorise
practice time what do we do this for
guess what it’s to get the right answers
now don’t get me wrong it’s not that I’m
happy it’s not I’m not happy either
Singapore has given me the chance to
have another type of education and how
it should be done I think about it for a
minute isn’t it more important to
intentionally cut with curiosity as
students rather than having all of these
kind of restrictions on our learning
allowing for exploration and allowing
for failure so now what what’s next for
us well compared to other countries like
Finland who in a sense take education
and different perspectives we want to
learn from them through the less small
approach in Finland finished education
it helps a lot on minimal editing
minimal school hours
minimal assessment and also more bricks
and more bricks do more bricks to
actually take trying to reflect about
what we have learned
you know take time to understand what
has been taught in class and this is
very important because the Finnish
education system actually helps to
emphasize on things like critical skills
and elliptical skills that help us in
our learning well one thing that the
Finnish education system does starkly
different from us leasing of office the
fact that they are able to go the
natural environment to learn about
everything from simple things like
autograph to more complex matters like
science and math and they’ve also given
time to have ownership for their
learning through self-directed projects
which foster a genuine love for learning
and and fosters function curiosity in
our students so for us Singaporeans what
can we do allow me to share three
suggestions for us firstly we need to
reflect now the act of resection can
usually be associated to deliberation or
meditation 300 hours an hour but if you
think about it for a minute I mean for
myself over the nine years of experience
I’ve had students do a reflection has
taught me this very important thing that
is to understand the world better we
need to reflect especially with our
hectic fast-paced life styles we often
to get to reflect but easy thing is like
having a Thanksgiving journal that what
high school principal share about a
holiday or even staring to blank space
awkward sponsor reflection but you may
be thinking what do these do to us well
by reflecting on an issue
it helps us question the whys and how’s
of anything that we think of and it
opens a mic this bag of thoughtless
steps a curious nature in action in
order to bring up all about something
secondly we need to keep questioning the
things around us and never feel
satisfied if the way things were now
intellectual skeptics like Aristotle the
Greek Greek philosopher Steve Jobs the
founder of Apple understand that by
using this
in in sexual statuses of is a form of
functional curiosity we are able to
think take on new and alternative
perspectives that help us to generate
thoughts into understanding everything
around us
now this yeah we apply to us differently
especially for different groups of
people young people like myself you take
this procedure of thinking firstly we
identify the issue at hand but think
about and what’s so contentious about it
this is because by having a clear go and
what you want to think about it helps
you to be focused and still make when
you’re thinking about whatever you want
a few that is significant second of all
find out why the issue that you are
thinking of is so significant this is
because if you think about it if you are
trying to wonder over pointless things
like they are not even related to how
you view then we need a waste of time to
think about such pointless things and
last of all you need to consult others
find people of the same interest issue
and find people that have more expertise
you so that when you go in enquire with
them you are able to gain knowledge
because knowledge is power and knowing
more about an issue at hand allows you
to better understand and better
appreciate why you’re thinking about and
now for those of us who are wooden I
haven’t forgotten about you though
semester although we want to take this
different perspective of thinking I mean
for the first step it’s kind of the same
where you need to find out what so
contentious about issue but then the
second thing that you might need to do
is you might want to reflect about any
events in your life that have helped
shape of thinking of the issues think
about how your past is help you create a
better understanding of what you are
thinking of right now and then lastly
you need to go and experiment on your
theories then speak up there to
challenge the way things work
thank you go up look at the system’s
right in the eye
and challenge them why because despite
it despite maybe it being a failure or
even a business success you will still
come out of the experience learning
something new from it the last
suggestion I want to give to you is that
we need you to wrap yes my friend is
very good but just like how a giraffe is
tall slender and easily identifiable
like maybe myself
we need to stand out from others we need
to tickle why the perspective of the
world and we need to have the
willingness to learn new things I mean
though our conservative society may
suppress our attraction learning we
still need to have this curiosity and we
still need to stand out from other
societies so that we are able to stand
up to make a change and to understand
about everything that is going on around
us and so now after talking so much
about curiosity how it be curious let me
bring you all back to where we are right
now in the tech conference if that
wasn’t obvious enough the other day I
was reading about the history of tech
and I came across its motto ideas worth
spreading and it got me thinking that we
as young people use or whatever society
we want apart have actually been given
the opportunity chance to change the
systems that our world is built on we
are living now in a new age of
technology and innovation and it has
empowered us to stand up for what we
believe in most of us know that social
media like Facebook Twitter YouTube have
been giving us the chance to express
ourselves in a way that we can’t even
imagine
and also one would assume that nowadays
soft skills are more important in hard
skills
let me give you an example I expect like
innovation over theory and likewise just
over always getting the right answers
and so I like to give you all with this
code in closing that I’ll hand off
during a TED talk that I’ve watched the
other day on education in creative by
Sir Ken Robinson and this is what you
have to say that it’s not waiting to be
wrong you’ll never come up with anything
we are all unique in our own place and
so let’s try to use our unique and
curious minds to change the world
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: