Bye Bye Singapore

[Lisafuller]

Did op ever apply for PR?

Twice I think. Both times turned down. Not sure if it was my age (was nearer 50 than 40), no kids to do NS or their thought of lack of integration. You'd think having run a business here for probably 11-12 years on the 2nd attempt that it showed commitment plus the 10 local staff I employed, but after all that I got a no.

Pretty ridiculous. Do you think your decision would be different if you had been granted PR status?

[smoulder]

I don't think it has anything to do with being Indian. I barely look Indian till the extent that I'm more often than not mistaken for not being Indian. I don't speak Tamil which is the language of the majority of Indians here.

Not sure if the fact that you’re Indian helps you fit in better too, since there’s such a big Indian population here. Not like if you were white or black, where you’d stick out like a sore thumb.

[Lisafuller]

I don't think it has anything to do with being Indian. I barely look Indian till the extent that I'm more often than not mistaken for not being Indian. I don't speak Tamil which is the language of the majority of Indians here.

Not sure if the fact that you’re Indian helps you fit in better too, since there’s such a big Indian population here. Not like if you were white or black, where you’d stick out like a sore thumb.

Hmm, are you North Indian by chance?

[smoulder]

I don't think it has anything to do with being Indian. I barely look Indian till the extent that I'm more often than not mistaken for not being Indian. I don't speak Tamil which is the language of the majority of Indians here.

Not sure if the fact that you’re Indian helps you fit in better too, since there’s such a big Indian population here. Not like if you were white or black, where you’d stick out like a sore thumb.

Hmm, are you North Indian by chance?

Partially. I don't really hang out with a lot of fellow Indians. So that is definitely not the reason I feel comfortable here.

[ukdesigner]

Did op ever apply for PR?

Twice I think. Both times turned down. Not sure if it was my age (was nearer 50 than 40), no kids to do NS or their thought of lack of integration. You'd think having run a business here for probably 11-12 years on the 2nd attempt that it showed commitment plus the 10 local staff I employed, but after all that I got a no.

Pretty ridiculous. Do you think your decision would be different if you had been granted PR status?

Oh certainly would've been a big difference. There were a multitude of reasons to leave as I explained earlier but add in the Hanging Sword of Damocles that was perpetually there it just all added up to a "we don't want you" kind of thing or "we can take your life here away at any time".

[malcontent]

Nice, Mal! You’ve always seemed to be pretty happy here. When you do return on the states, are you planning to live in your hometown or nearby where your kids decide to go to school?

Not sure about happy, but I don’t think much about it… when you’ve spent more than half of your life somewhere, it’s home.

My kids wouldn’t mind living in the Midwest and they don’t seem to mind the cold weather. However my SO doesn’t like gloomy winters and I’m not fond of cold weather. My daughter has 12 cousins, many of whom will attend university in the states. The oldest one starts at UCSD this fall. That makes Cali even more likely for the rest of them… and probably us.

[NYY1]

Not sure about happy, but I don’t think much about it… when you’ve spent more than half of your life somewhere, it’s home.

My kids wouldn’t mind living in the Midwest and they don’t seem to mind the cold weather. However my SO doesn’t like gloomy winters and I’m not fond of cold weather. My daughter has 12 cousins, many of whom will attend university in the states. The oldest one starts at UCSD this fall. That makes Cali even more likely for the rest of them… and probably us.

UCLA campus is in a nice part of town if she can get in...

[Lisafuller]

I don't think it has anything to do with being Indian. I barely look Indian till the extent that I'm more often than not mistaken for not being Indian. I don't speak Tamil which is the language of the majority of Indians here.

Hmm, are you North Indian by chance?

Partially. I don't really hang out with a lot of fellow Indians. So that is definitely not the reason I feel comfortable here.

Fair. Maybe you’ve just taken on the “Singaporean” values.

[Lisafuller]

Twice I think. Both times turned down. Not sure if it was my age (was nearer 50 than 40), no kids to do NS or their thought of lack of integration. You'd think having run a business here for probably 11-12 years on the 2nd attempt that it showed commitment plus the 10 local staff I employed, but after all that I got a no.

Pretty ridiculous. Do you think your decision would be different if you had been granted PR status?

Oh certainly would've been a big difference. There were a multitude of reasons to leave as I explained earlier but add in the Hanging Sword of Damocles that was perpetually there it just all added up to a "we don't want you" kind of thing or "we can take your life here away at any time".

The uncertainty must not feel good, especially when you feel like you’ve given so much of your life to SG.

[Lisafuller]

Nice, Mal! You’ve always seemed to be pretty happy here. When you do return on the states, are you planning to live in your hometown or nearby where your kids decide to go to school?

Not sure about happy, but I don’t think much about it… when you’ve spent more than half of your life somewhere, it’s home.

My kids wouldn’t mind living in the Midwest and they don’t seem to mind the cold weather. However my SO doesn’t like gloomy winters and I’m not fond of cold weather. My daughter has 12 cousins, many of whom will attend university in the states. The oldest one starts at UCSD this fall. That makes Cali even more likely for the rest of them… and probably us.

I remember you saying she was into the humanities, in that case wouldn’t a college on the East coast make more sense?

[Lisafuller]

Not sure about happy, but I don’t think much about it… when you’ve spent more than half of your life somewhere, it’s home.

My kids wouldn’t mind living in the Midwest and they don’t seem to mind the cold weather. However my SO doesn’t like gloomy winters and I’m not fond of cold weather. My daughter has 12 cousins, many of whom will attend university in the states. The oldest one starts at UCSD this fall. That makes Cali even more likely for the rest of them… and probably us.

UCLA campus is in a nice part of town if she can get in...

Getting in certainly won’t be easy though.

[malcontent]

Nice, Mal! You’ve always seemed to be pretty happy here. When you do return on the states, are you planning to live in your hometown or nearby where your kids decide to go to school?

Not sure about happy, but I don’t think much about it… when you’ve spent more than half of your life somewhere, it’s home.

My kids wouldn’t mind living in the Midwest and they don’t seem to mind the cold weather. However my SO doesn’t like gloomy winters and I’m not fond of cold weather. My daughter has 12 cousins, many of whom will attend university in the states. The oldest one starts at UCSD this fall. That makes Cali even more likely for the rest of them… and probably us.

I remember you saying she was into the humanities, in that case wouldn’t a college on the East coast make more sense?

Her subject combination is PMEC. They wouldn’t allow her to switch to humanities/arts after taking triple science in Secondary (didn’t ask for an exception, and she wasn’t willing to jeopardize her results).

At least she gets to take Econ. Singapore is just way too fixated on STEM. Sadly, my daughter isn’t even interested in science, she just takes it because there isn’t any other subject she is interested in. She studies for the grade, not for the learning. She is the product of the Singapore education system. Fortunately she doesn’t seem to mind.

Hopefully when she goes to college in the US she can finally find her true interests.

[Lisafuller]

Yup, completely agree. Here, there is such a disproportionate focus on stem, very little flexibility, and basically no real humanities. Sad.

[NYY1]

Her subject combination is PMEC. They wouldn’t allow her to switch to humanities/arts after taking triple science in Secondary (didn’t ask for an exception, and she wasn’t willing to jeopardize her results).

At least she gets to take Econ. Singapore is just way too fixated on STEM. Sadly, my daughter isn’t even interested in science, she just takes it because there isn’t any other subject she is interested in. She studies for the grade, not for the learning. She is the product of the Singapore education system. Fortunately she doesn’t seem to mind.

Hopefully when she goes to college in the US she can finally find her true interests.

Do you know what is the rationale for not letting her switch? I thought most H2 Humanities subjects don't have any hard prerequisites (some of the language ones do), so as long as you are comfortable with the subject you are free to take (I guess could be wrong).

If taking Triple Science, which humanities did she take in Sec 3-4? Only the combined SS+humanities elective or also take one pure humanities class?

Whether Geo, History, or Lit, I think writing and organizing one's thoughts is an important skill that is often overlooked. I also think there is some value in trying to take the same humanities class (pure) in Sec 3-4 and then continue with this as the contrasting A Level subject (for those taking PCM or BCM), although I'm not sure many do.

[malcontent]

Do you know what is the rationale for not letting her switch? I thought most H2 Humanities subjects don't have any hard prerequisites (some of the language ones do), so as long as you are comfortable with the subject you are free to take (I guess could be wrong).

If taking Triple Science, which humanities did she take in Sec 3-4? Only the combined SS+humanities elective or also take one pure humanities class?

Whether Geo, History, or Lit, I think writing and organizing one's thoughts is an important skill that is often overlooked. I also think there is some value in trying to take the same humanities class (pure) in Sec 3-4 and then continue with this as the contrasting A Level subject (for those taking PCM or BCM), although I'm not sure many do.

I’m not sure what the rationale is, she just told me that she’s not allowed to switch. Could they have made an exception if we pursued it? Possibly, but she doesn’t want to risk taking subjects that she may struggle to score in, especially considering all the effort made to score top marks in Secondary.

For humanities she took Geo (which she dislikes) so for JC she swapped Geo for Econ — a better fit for her since Math is her strongest subject.

I’m not sure how Physics and Chem are going to benefit her in the future since she has no interest in science. I suppose they’ll just be used to fulfill credits needed to get her degree.