Are You Wearing White this Weekend?

And so, this weekend would be the pink dot movement in Singapore where those supporting LGBT rights will be wearing pink. The religious groups who support pro-creation and fear how pink dot movement would affect society will be wearing white. Both groups believe they are doing what is right while the other group is doing harm and made assumptions.

Should I wear any of those colours? To many, they are quick to pick a colour to wear. For me, I hesitate. Why?

1) APPLYING CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

For many Christians, they would be quick to say, "ahhh... Bible disagree with homosexuality, it is obvious that we should wear white!" Then they will quote the Bible:

But is it really so obvious? Have you worn white against sexual immorality? Movies nowadays show nude scenes. Have you wore any coloured shirt to protest against it or boycotted all Hollywood movies because of that? Adultery is getting common too. Have you made any noise? Some people can be greedy wanting to win a fortune by getting into gambling. Have you worn anything to protest against it? Some Christians even gamble with greed! Are those lesser sins in eyes of God? Is there selective reading?

The Bible while complex to understand has some very simple principles too. Everything is summed as 'love':

And what exactly is 'love'? 

Many may say "it keeps no record of wrongs" and so must be accepting of all things. That is also selective reading. It says "Love does not delight in evil". Hence, if something is considered 'evil' in eyes of God, we should not support it. But it also says "... but rejoices with the truth". Have we considered the truth before placing our judgement? Are we really kind and understanding? 'Love' is often linked with empathy, putting us in the shoes of others. But have we Christians really done that?

2) RELYING ON THE TRUTH

Have you wondered why there is pink dot movement? One of the reasons was due to early scientific studies. One of the early studies was done by Bailey & Pillard (1991) which they wrote their findings that "52% (29/56) of monozygotic cotwins, 22% (12/54) of dizygotic cotwins, and 11% (6/57) of adoptive brothers were homosexual". Adoptive brothers are not genetically identical. Dizygotic cotwins have genes that are similar and monozygotic cotwins have almost identical genes. And you can see that homosexuality increases as DNA is found to be similar. This suggested that genes is one of the factors influencing sexual orientation cause if one twin is homosexual and the other is, then it cancel out environment as a likely cause especially if they were raised in different families (in cases of orphans). The sample size for this research is small and hence cannot really generalise but you can see the pattern. 

Another much bigger sample size research was done by Långström, Rahman, Carlström & Lichtenstein (2010) in Sweden on 3,826 same-sex twin pairs. Genes were found to explain 34-39% of the differences in sexual orientation while individual-specific environment explains 61-66%. You might then be quick to say "see, genetics is only moderately the cause while environment is the main cause hence they chose to be so". Is it? Did you get to choose where you get born into? Did you get to choose your family? No. Even if environment is the main cause, it doesn't mean you can choose freely. Dr. Bailey warned that 'environmental' does not mean 'socially acquired' that suggest individuals have full control. Also, 34-39% is still quite a big number.

Another research done by University of California in USA recently suggested 20% due to genetics but it is of a much smaller sample size of 37 sets of twins (so questionable on the validity to suggest the whole population would be 20% also). There are plans however to do a much bigger research on a bigger sample size. To say it is mostly by 'choice' and justify any discrimination is way too premature.

I used to debate with people on such issues over at least a decade ago standing on the white shirt camp and I lost the argument. I recalled reading a research done on twins raised in different families that when one was found homosexual, the other is as well and together with other researches, they somehow suggested there is a 'gay gene'. I could no longer recall which research nor can I find it now. Nevertheless, I did not support it. Few years ago I also debated with a Professor during a Summer School when the topic was being raised by him. I argued from sociological point of view that people can be socialised to certain sexual orientation and while I am not against LGBT people, I'm not in favour of it being promoted or publicised in anyway as kids can be influenced and may affect population growth (the extent of it is questionable though) etc. Still, I'm not in favour of wearing white. I'll explain why later.

3) RELYING ON EXPERIENCE

To convince people to wear white, some leaders may argued that it is a mess in USA now that transgender can choose to go to gents or ladies publicly as based on their assumed sexual orientation and gave the impression that majority agrees with it. This is false! It applies only to public schools in USA. And 11 States sued Obama administration for this new policy.

Update: Some church leaders wanting to convince people to wear white saying that because Americans did not make a stand hence the bathroom bill got passed. This is false again. The Bathroom bill was partly a response to North Carolina's state bill to prevent any anti-discrimination/LGBT bill from being passed in the state's cities (which was also a response to an initial ordinance passed by Charlotte City Council, a city within North Carolina). Your so-called 'making a stand' will just escalate any potential conflicts and create unnecessary conflicts. Don't believe this as what happened instead of what those misinformed church leaders said? Read this news article here. Leaders have more power to influence and need to be careful with what they say and be responsible. People look up to them. When I argued against what was said by leaders, people criticised me and believe everything said by leaders. Despite my years of education, when it comes to faith, all these are discounted. Even if I'm trained in social sciences to know the possible impact of actions, all are discounted.

Then they also brought out that because of legalising it being liberal, Europe is in a mess that toilets can be found in public that everyone can see you peeing openly even for ladies! Is that true? Below are two photos of some of such toilets I found from google:

They are not so open that you will be exposed as was suggested. It was exaggerated that such toilet is in the centre of a mall and it is common! That is nonsense. I have lived in UK for a year, travelled to Iceland, France, Netherlands, Germany and Italy and I did not see it common at all! And all these toilets seem to be gents only. The more common toilets are such paid toilets that I found from google:

They warned against legalising such movement as it will end up many people being influenced and people would openly perform certain acts with everything in a mess. Having been living in UK for a year, I did not see what they claimed. I did not see a mess. While there are such cases, they are not far above what happens in Singapore and definitely not above what happen at Changi Village at midnight despite we have laws against it! It is totally fear-mongering without basis.

4) RELYING ON REASONING

It seems like quite a few Christians suggest that they have a choice. I argued above that even if it is environment as a cause, it does not mean you have control or a choice. Ask yourself if you are straight why do you get attracted to the opposite sex? You would say "because she is so pretty" or "he is so handsome". And why are you only attracted to beautiful things? You just cannot explain. You have no control over what is biological which may also be shaped by environment (e.g. virus do mutate based on environmental changes).

Have you considered what benefit is there in being a homosexual? They get ostracised. Who in the right mind would want to be ostracised? And people still think it is mostly a choice so they label them as 'sinners' being guilty because they chose to as the 'judges' would claim.

They face hardship and as Christians, shouldn't we show love and hence empathy to them (this is also why straight people supported pink dot movement due to society ostracising them too much)? While we cannot agree to their movement because of religious beliefs, do we have to wear white and go head on? Some argued that this is not head on but to create awareness to the Government that majority do not agree. You think Government stupid or what? Government has already made clear that they are not going to repeal Section 377A of the penal code to legalise such movement. Yet, they will also not enforce it to criminalise such movement. Government is aware of the thoughts of majority (NUS Institute of Policy Studies did a survey study where majority of over 70% still do not accept so why need you to even wear white to create awareness to the government?) and if any change in legislation will have to go through parliamentary debates. If you want to raise objection, you could do it then if such bill is being developed! Why create conflict unnecessary, making so much noises? 

What good is it to society when two camps fight one another under the same excuse of 'just creating awareness'? It only leads to polarisation that attitude towards you by the other camp will be even more negative thinking that you are not understanding and unwelcoming then they will turn even more aggressive and more will join them when they find you unreasonable. Then your camp will see it as a real threat and increasingly so and start to convince more people to wear white. Then everything just escalate all because of self-fulfilling prophecy and unwise decision made.

CONCLUSION

Instead of wearing white, you can still make your stand like what I did with my Professor that I acknowledged that genetics is a cause and that it is not fully a choice. But to promote it may cause other problems too. When you reason, there is a higher chance to convince people and when you show that you understand the hardship they go through, they are also more open to what you have to say. If you just wear white, who knows what you were thinking when wearing that? They will just find you unreasonable; harden their hearts further and what good have you done that created the image that Christianity is unloving? Don't believe such initiative is being seen as bigotry? Just read the comments found here.

Be like Christ who in front of the crowd that tried to stone the adulteress chose not to condemn her but kindly corrected her with love and not activism. And note that this is Singapore, a home belonging to all. It does not belong to Christians alone so don't use the Christian values to push down to everyone's throat forcing them to accept your values and beliefs. You can speak up but to go into activism is a bit too much I feel. 

Still want to wear white or pink leading to polarisation and social unrest with the excuse of 'creating awareness'? I see no good reason and want no part of these.

An update: I saw this video by 3:16 church in Facebook which I want to promote as a far wiser movement. It recognises the struggle that LGBT group have to endure instead of assuming it is a mere choice of lifestyle. It is also far more welcoming showing that the cell group cares for such person that love of God could be seen. Imagine all Christians share such video in Facebook instead of merely wearing white, which is more effective and more aligned to Christian principle of love? This video has the message of love yet made its stand. Wearing white made your stand but does not carry with it a message of love. Instead, it suggests bigotry and intolerance. Have a look at the video at the church's main page here. This church even have a special service tomorrow at 4 pm featuring testimonies from those struggling. For more info, look at their Facebook page here.

The Mentality for Success

It has been a while since I wrote about something in my blog.

In recent months, I came across some comments in SIM Confessions that is so negative about the future career prospects of distance learning degree holders like SIM-UOL and the complaints about discrimination against distance learning. It is annoying to be frank that they are creating negative impact on others while you have been volunteering your time to help improve things for them and create a better image of the community.

Here are some common complaints:

1. Pay lower than Diploma holders
2. Could not get pay equivalent to local graduates
3. Could not get the expected salary hence decided to keep on looking

In my mind is like "hello... wake up your idea". To address those complaints, here are my arguments on those complaints in hope that mentality will change:

1) Pay Lower than Diploma Holders

Which diploma holders are you comparing with? They read news articles that claim average diploma holders post-NS earns like $2.5k and argued what is the point of studying a degree? 

Hello... do you know what does 'average' in statistics mean? It is the 'mean' which is affected by outliers. You should look at median, the 50th percentile which is around $2,250! 

And have you ever wondered why would any employer bother to pay $250 extra to someone just because they have done NS? Employers are not doing charities! It could be that they give NS recognition pay because they are Government-linked or their NS experience is relevant to their job. And you are using a private company that does not have NS recognition pay and a job that has nothing to do with your NS role and compare with that? Is it even a fair and reasonable comparison? 

If you can't even reason or understand statistics, why should employers pay you high when you do not have the abilities to analyse and understand things to make yourself worth that much?

2) Could Not Get Pay Equivalent to Local Graduates

Earning less than local graduates generally is expected. Local uni graduates are consistent performers. If you are an employer, be objective and ask yourself this: would you place your trust more on someone who is consistent or one that is not? And so your answer why local graduates earn more. 

Sure there are discrimination (unjustified) against distance learning degree holders but do you rather complain and wait for good jobs to drop from the sky (which won't) or buck up and show the world that you can do it too? Some sacrifice at the start (like earning lesser but gaining relevant work experience for your career like I did as explained here) is nothing when you have the eagerness and passion to strive, and with the use of strategy on your career path, you still can excel better than those hares that look down on the tortoises in the long run (I'm a tortoise myself but I am back on track now and faster than some hares)! Listening to the story of the hare and tortoise countless times in childhood seems like it means nothing to them.

3) Could Not Get the Expected Salary Hence Decided to Keep on Looking

Ya... as if jobs will drop from the sky and bow to you solely because you have a degree. If you can't match the requirements, who cares you have a degree? Plenty of degree holders out there who are eager and show that they are contributors and not with entitlement mentality. Keep on dreaming and the longer you are jobless, the less bargaining power you have over salary while all your knowledge just depletes as you do not use them and your worth just drop as time goes. You know, I went to some of the local universities for their career fairs as an employer (I'm in HR role) and there are even students so willing to take a gap year just to get internship! If you are not hungry enough, just keep on waiting...

Employers usually will mark down your salary when the gap between your last job and current applied job is too big. If after 2 months no invitation to interview yet, you have to do something already. Change your CV format base on what the employer really wants (look at here for ideas and market yourself well as mentioned here) or even lower expected salary!

Why I'm a Little Upset

I do not see people being eager to network (there are some minorities that are and I did see some who turned up at University of London's 7th Apr 2016 career networking session at Singapore which is delightful and I believe these are those that will excel in their career). Some thinking of the registration fee for lifetime member at the Alumni Association as high. For fresh graduates, I can understand that. But for those already working for quite some time, $50 is really nothing. They just did not see the value of networking that I have mentioned here. You ask some of them to consider joining alumni, some argue it is elitist group that they feel out of place but then they complain about discrimination and the inability to get good jobs and excel. 

I have shared with two of my juniors today after the career networking session of my intention to become a lecturer not at poly but at private uni because I do not see it as mere teaching but as someone that's transforming the life of another, giving them hope and when you see them successful, it is a great feeling! I wanted to be in the corporate world, gain relevant work experience and be up there first before lecturing so that I can show myself as a role model of 'been there, done that'. Many people who entered private uni in Singapore will feel discouraged because they could not enter local uni, believing they are 2nd class citizens. That was the case for me too in the past but I bucked up and worked my way back on track! I wanted to show people that you as a private uni graduate can excel too! All you need is just to buck up and work on it!

However, many are saying "none of my friends got good jobs, got into Big 4 accounting firms or get good pay". But surprisingly, my surrounding friends do get good prospect. One went to LSE got distinction and went Chicago Booth for her PhD. One went Oxford for his Masters and working in London now. One went LSE and in EY now (got EY even before LSE with his 1st class). One went LSE and in IDA getting very good pay. I, myself got into a graduate programme in a Forbes Global 2000 company. How come? You see, you are applying convenience sampling that is not representative of the true nature of the population. Sure, people who excel are rare and not common. But when you mix around with the right group (e.g. the Alumni who usually are filled with eager people who has a goal and vision), you will just hear more success stories, be motivated and even gain ideas from those who are successful on how to excel. You are equipped with the knowledge that LSE students get at London campus itself and you do not use the critical thinking ability to think for yourself?

Hello... if you do not fight for opportunities, will jobs drop from the sky?

Think again.

Generational Curses, is it valid?

Personally I don't quite agree with the message of generational curse as its not totally biblical or logical.


BIBLICAL CONTEXT OF GENERATIONAL CURSES

Sure, you can quote Exodus 20:5-6, Numbers 14:18 or Deuteronomy 5:9 which mentioned generational curse (which are also the only context where generational curse is mentioned!). But note, it also mentioned generational blessing!


LOGIC OF GENERATIONAL CURSES & BLESSINGS: EACH ANSWER TO THEIR OWN SINS

So the question is if say my great grandparents did something wrong but my grandparents did something right, are future generations to be blessed or cursed? If say all done wrong in eyes of God but in my generation we did what is right, are we to be cursed or blessed? If my ancestors did something right which my generation ought to be blessed but we did what is wrong, are we blessed or ought to be cursed then? So it does not really matter what my ancestors do any more because ultimately it still depends what we do personally!

This is confirmed by Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 18:1-32) that each is to answer their own sin that no other generation shall be made guilty that they shall suffer because of it (Israelites created a proverb complaining generational curse is unfair but God said if future generation does what is right, they will be blessed, not cursed and if that generation sin, regardless of what earlier generation do, they will still be cursed anyway or something like that).


GENERATIONAL CURSE MESSAGES ARE UNHEALTHY?

The so-called 'generational curse' may just be a social influence rather than like something inherited. If parents smoke, there is a higher tendency for the children to observe and following thinking its cool or its normal to smoke that if you don't want yourself to be out of place. Of course, there can be bad genes inherited but this probably has nothing to do with curse. Even good people can inherit bad genes.

Why am I against generational curse messages? Most parents love their children dearly. If something undesirable happen to their children, parents may attribute it to themselves as something bad they have done that led to their children suffering this or that. Why put parents into unnecessary pain and heartache? Sure, you can say pray for deliverance but what if its not a curse as you claimed it to be and the prayer does not help? Many will be quick to say "ahhh... cause the parent is not sincere enough" then it will just lead to even more attribution of fault to self (the parents) causing even more unnecessary pain. Is such practice of Christianity healthy or even biblical in the first place? Instead of saying prayer for deliverance from generational curse, label it as prayer for miracle, for solution to a problem. Sometimes there is too much fundamental attribution error in churches and very rigid judgment made that if anything wrong, it must be the person's fault as if no other causes can exist. This is very easy to occur because you cannot really tell if something is a curse as its not something observable. You can only see the problem but hard to identify the real cause! Also, remember Jesus corrected his disciples of this fundamental attribution error (John 9:1-3)?

Instead of blaming yourself for problems your future generation may face, correct your ways and if corrected, stop blaming yourself as you should no longer be faulted if repentance is there. Should future generation suffer anything, problem may just be created by themselves! That problem may not be caused by you or themselves but other social influence or genetics influence that you do not have full control over also! So instead of finding someone or something to blame, teach future generation righteousness and guide them to it! Wouldn't such positive message be even better?

How to get into LSE Masters?

LSE is a well sought after University. In the UK domestic ranking, LSE usually falls just behind Cambridge & Oxford being no. 3. Globally, LSE is consistently top 15 in the Social Sciences & Management as ranked by QS, THES & ARWU. In fact, QS ranks LSE as no. 2 in the world in this area!

LSE is also famous in Singapore given that our former late Minister Mentor Lew Kuan Yew studied there for a term (before moving to Cambridge), one of the founding fathers the late Dr. Goh Keng Swee, current Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister Tan Chuan-Jin and some other Members of Parliament are LSE graduates (have a look at the LSE Alumni Association Singapore's Hall of Fame). As part of the LSE Alumni, in Singapore, you will also be a member of the Distinguished Universities Alumni League where you get to have the opportunity to network with graduates from Harvard, Stanford and other elite US & UK Universities (who because of their background likely to be given more opportunities by employers which such network may be beneficial for you as well). No doubts, LSE gets the publicity and being well sought after among Singaporeans.


For myself, as mentioned in my first post, I went to take up my LSE Masters is because of overcoming the barrier in an elitist society. I needed an elite University's degree to open up opportunities not easily available for distance learning degree holders. This also will help to path way for far future plans. Because that I managed to get in, some people asked me how did I do it. So I thought of creating this post to answer the question that others may equally have as well (to lessen work for myself as well so I can just post the link of this blog if someone asks the same question again lol...).

I seriously do not know all the reasons. These reasons that I am about to mention are based on someone respectful I know who was from high up in the LSE who gave me some advices during my application (so not all credits go to me) and some based on personal assumptions (as well as based on HR experience of how we pick people).

Here are the reasons:


I. STRONG REFEREES

Not this type of referee though!

Try to get lecturers who have PhDs as I was told. They may carry more weight in their reference letter. However, be sure to pick one who knows you well (so that they have more to write about you) and one who taught you on a subject that you did well. If they hold important position or even is from LSE (who must have taught you), even better as what they say carry even more weight and the person from LSE knows LSE system and can evaluate if you can perform well in LSE itself!

And how to ensure your lecturers know you well? Participate actively in class while you are still a student! Ask intelligent questions and show eagerness to learn (please sit at the front). Have visibility and naturally the lecturers will all know you.

For working adults that have graduated for quite some time, you can get professional referees in replacement but please get permission and agreement from LSE before doing so.


II. RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE

Perhaps your overall grades are not that fantastic. I got a low (or rather not so high) Second Class Upper Division Honours (2:1) and got rejected by Manchester Business School for that reason. It is very surprisingly why LSE still accepted me, not once but twice (I rejected initial offer and reinstated it). I believe relevant work experience did help. LSE did also mention they do look into work experience anyway.

This is a possibility because relevant work experience can bring insights of the real working world. This is valuable to LSE as well as yourself in your research that will help you to do better in your study. It may also give ideas to LSE academics on what to research about too. As my dissertation supervisor suggested, working adults may know more than academics about the real working world phenomenon and suggest research areas applicable for the real world and such is valuable to them. Having relevant work experience also enables you to relate to what you study better and hence able to perform better too.

Anyway, working first after your undergraduate study may help you to know whether to pursue further study in this area, helping you to make an informed decision. Postgraduate study is not cheap!


III. GOOD PERSONAL STATEMENT

In your personal statement, you must describe your academic interests as well as your purpose in undertaking the graduate study and specific programme. The personal statement is for LSE to evaluate your suitability. Hence, you got to convince that you have thought through proving to them you have a sense of direction, know what you want and that the programme is a means to your goal. You also need to state your qualities to convince them that you can excel in the programme.

As I highlighted in an earlier post that HR selects people based on both passion and abilities, I believe LSE does the same. You need to show your interest in the programme not only by stating relevant academic interest but with evidence that you have researched well (if not interested, you will not even do a thorough research before making a decision).

How I wrote my personal statement with advice from the respectful person who was from LSE was this. Like essay, I started with the 'answer' which is which are the two programmes I wish to apply for.

For second paragraph, I addressed why the two programmes. I went into the details of even selecting specific modules and explaining why them (which I picked based on relevance for my HR work and the current trends that require those knowledge I could gain from those modules) and supported with real life examples. When I described why I wanted "Cross-Cultural Management" module, I explained that Mergers & Acquisition across borders is getting common and companies merge or acquire one another to acquire technologies, to have synergy or even have economies of scope and scale. I gave the example of Sony Ericsson, a joint venture (in a way, it is like a merger of parts of two companies) where its an interaction of two cultures (as two companies of different home country) can make merger challenging where clash of culture if not managed well can make the whole initiative fail.

For the third paragraph, I explained why I wanted to take up graduate study in HR. It is mainly to enhance my HR knowledge cause my undergraduate is a general Business degree but I wanted a HR career (I did not suggest that I picked a wrong undergraduate course as I explained I took Business degree to explore the area to specialise on later on). I even explained why I came to like HR and want a career out of it. To convince the reader that HR indeed is the direction I want to go, I gave evidence for it which is a part-time Diploma in Employment Relations that I took. The Diploma may address the lack of competencies in HR but I also highlighted that I wanted to get into lecturing in the field of HR in far future which I will need a postgraduate degree. I had also highlighted why I picked LSE, mentioning that it is one of the best Social Sciences school in the world (evidence that I have done my research about LSE too and desire to enter).

On the fourth paragraph, I went to highlight my relevant characteristics (those that aid my learning performance as well as can contribute to the learning environment for others) being diligent, earnest to learn, helpful and always questioning the status quo and having a critical mind. I do not just claim so but gave evidences (or examples) to support my claims.

On the fifth paragraph, I highlighted what I would like to research on (as there is dissertation research for the programmes I chose). I gave real life examples of 'problems' faced in workplace where I am interested to find out why they exist and possible solutions to solve them. It has to be an area not well researched so that it has value to them. By giving country specific scenarios, that is also valuable to them.

I then ended with a thank you note.

The key is be convincing that you are the right person to pick.


That is briefly about it. On the other supporting documents required, you can refer to here. I wish you all the best for your applications!

The Value of Networking

You probably have heard about networking, getting to know people. However, do you know exactly what is the value of it and its purpose?

I am definitely not a networking expert and I am rather shy in meeting strangers (I usually will only network with people whom I share some common grounds) so not the right person to give much advice on networking. Nevertheless, I will share what I have learned about networking through my studies and work experience and explain why I bother about participating in my University Alumni Group especially the University of London International Programmes.


THE VALUE OF NETWORKING

According to Prof. Lynda Gratton, she mentioned in her book "The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here" that in preparation for the future of work, one has to build three types of capitals. They are Intellectual (both knowledge & skills), Emotional and Social (networks). It is very common for many countries to start moving away from manual work and focus on the knowledge-based economy which makes intellectual capital very important. As the world becomes more interconnected, we are exposed to people of various cultures which makes emotional capital (i.e. EQ & Cultural sensitivity) very important as well. And as individuals we are limited and we are not able to capture all information and knowledge available. This is where networks come into the picture.

Social Network is a form of resource (information, ideas, advice & etc.). It provides knowledge as you can gather information from the right people you know. It also creates business opportunities as you communicate with one another and then realise there is opportunity to work together and even create synergy! It also provides employment opportunities and many other advantages.

These examples suggest that Social Network is indeed a form of Capital as it provides returns (e.g. career opportunities, reputation of being well-connected or people knowing you favourably or even happiness).

Being well connected also increase your chance of being successful as your network becomes your aid in whatever you need to do. Do not forget, in whatever things you do, you need resources!

In big companies, it can be so big that you may not even know who is in charge of what. But the moment you know people from various departments, all you have to do is ask your friends to help link up with the right people! It does speed things up really fast.


NOT WHO YOU KNOW BUT WHO KNOWS YOU

There is a saying that it is not who you know but who knows you. In a sense, that is partially correct because if that person does not know you, he/she will not bother about you. But you also need to know that person in the sense who he/she is and how he/she can help you.

While you seek help, think of a mutual beneficial relationship. If you always expect help and does not contribute back to the person, the relationship will not last. No one would want to be manipulated. If you keep on manipulating others for your benefits, your reputation will be damaged and the network may know about you sooner or later.


CONNECTING TO WHO?

If you can, connect to the leader of a network. This can grant you access to all others. However, it is best to continue networking with those under the leader else if he/she is no longer in that network, you can lose everyone in that network overnight!

And if you are a leader, it is also best that you network with your team to be the central figure. This will make things much easier to manage and get things done well. This also means you need to know your members well and that they can trust you. This will grant you the ability to influence. It is not difficult to see that teams with leaders as the central figure in the network tend to perform better (Balkundi & Harrison, 2006; Hutchins & Fiedler, 1960).


EXAMPLES ON THE VALUE OF NETWORKING

Just more real-life examples to convince you on the value of networking.

Back then when I was still studying with the University of London International Programmes (UoLIP), I was very helpful in the Virtual Learning Environment (still is but not as active due to work). People there got to know me (including an administrator). Some went to LSE Study Weekend and spoke about me. Someone high up in the LSE Office for UoLIP then got to hear about my name and met me in person while in Singapore Institute of Management. This person taught me a subject during UoL revision workshop and eventually we established a relationship and willingly became my academic referee for my LSE Masters application! My other academic referee was also someone high up in Singapore Institute of Management who also taught me before and during the class, I participated actively, created a good image and awareness of my existence.

After graduation, I worked hard in my workplace and I got to know very helpful colleagues. This network became my source of information for my Masters dissertation research. I used a snowball convenience sampling method and their network became part of my survey participants as well!

While at LSE as well as in University of London International Programmes, I met people from various countries. They became my source of information for travel in their country! (I also become their host when they travel to Singapore). They also went into various industries and jobs. For my career planning, I do seek advice from them. I also help to link my friends up with others which further build stronger friendships.


JOINING UNIVERSITY ALUMNI GROUP

I hope you can now see how valuable is networking.

I did try to convince some of my friends to join the alumni but some replied saying that it is for the ambitious or the elites. All these are misconceptions! You do not have to ambitious to network. You can network to make more friends who you can be a help of or can seek help from. Everyone does network just how big and how active. It is not for the elites.

As graduates of a distance learning degree, we already do face some discrimination from some employers. This is a fact and should we still short change of ourselves of opportunities? If you want to compete, increase your resources to aid your journey. This world out there is not just about grades. The working world is not a school.

It is a waste not to join the alumni or its activities. There are successful graduates out there that went to prestigious universities for masters, got into good jobs and some even in senior positions. The alumni is a channel where we can build recognition for ourselves and help one another. Why waste these resources? For such reason, I try to be active in the alumni and volunteered as one of the alumni ambassadors. Do not expect to build relationship just by going to activities once or twice then add that person in Facebook and assume a relationship has been built. Just because you are both 'friends' in Facebook do not really mean you have that sort of relationship! You got to invest in a relationship. That is all for my sharing.

Be active with the alumni regardless of your University. It is a good source of resources. Be connected!

Study Strategies

Ever since I was featured in London Connection, the online magazine of the University of London International Programmes, I start to receive emails from University of London International Programmes students or prospective students asking for my study strategies to be able to do well enough to get into London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) for Masters programme etc. To save time, I will just note down my study strategies here so whoever wants to know can just read it and I will not have to repeat myself constantly.

A word of caution though. There is no such thing as one best way of studying. It depends on individuals. My method is very time consuming and I literally do not have much life. So take my methods only as a reference and pick what suits you best.

And a misconception many have on me is that they assumed I got First Class honours hence I got into LSE. This is not true. I attained Second Class Honours, Upper Division. This is the minimum criteria for most LSE Masters programme. You do not need First Class Honours and other than grades, LSE do consider other factors like relevant work experience and etc. So my method will not guarantee you a First Class honours (although many factors contribute to one's grades, not only study method).

For University of London International Programmes students under the EMFSS programmes, I advise that you refer to the booklet "Strategies for Success" that can be found in the Virtual Learning Environment under "Supporting Your Studies" tab. I used that to formula my study strategies back then and incorporated what I have learned from Elements of Social & Applied Psychology to boost memory power and some economics principles to maximise time for study.

I will address some of the common questions people ask me such as how I manage my time, my study methods, whether I study alone or with groups, what is my exam preparation strategy and my strategy towards module selection.

TIME MANAGEMENT: ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Time is limited. So I try to minimise travel time to school so as to have more time for studying. Back in Singapore Institute of Management, we get to pick our lecture class. What I usually do is to group 2 lectures in a day with a gap of 2-3 days before the next 2 lectures (we have 4 3-hr lectures per week). In this way, I will minimise travel time to 2 days, save transportation fee and will not overwhelm myself with too many lectures in a day (max you can fit in is 3 but that is too much and it will still end up with 2 days of lectures anyway). The gap of 2 days is for me to revise lecture notes as well as to prepare for the next lectures.

As advised by the University of London via "Strategies for Success", you will need a minimum of 210 hours on average per academic year per full course. This includes lecture hours and revision hours. If you are weak in that area, cater more time for it. What I will do even before the start of every academic year, I would set aside at least 840 hours (for 4 full courses) and only allocate the remaining hours for leisure and etc. I do study at weekends as well (hence not much life).

STUDY METHODS

I will usually prepare for lectures beforehand, take down notes before and after lectures and will apply Mnemonics. More details below.

Lecture Preparation

Before every lecture, I would first read the subject guide. The subject guide is just a guide book, not a replacement of your essential textbook. It will highlight the Learning Objectives telling you what you should learn about and focus on. Examination questions will be based on these. So have a look at the objectives and focus on them while you study ensuring you meet them.

I would read the subject guide first and follow the instructions. If it ask me to read the textbook, I would do accordingly. As I read, I will think about what I read if I do understand anything. Whatever I am in doubt, I would note down any questions I have. I keep a list of such questions and bring it to lecture and see if they are being addressed in lecture. If not, I would approach the lecturer directly during breaks or after lecture to enquire further. Sometimes I would google about the topic beforehand and verify my understanding with the lecturer as well. Whatever is the answer, I would note them down. After the lecture I will create proper notes in good order.

Notes Taking

So how do I take notes? Many will use mind maps but personally it does not help me much. What I do is to take down notes in point form in Microsoft Word in a logical order. Being logical, it aids in memory and reasoning. It allows me to see patterns and being it is in Microsoft Word, I can always rearrange the order when I have more information and categorised the relevant information together.

A very good thing about having electronic version of notes is that you can use ctrl + f to search for key words. This is very useful during examination preparation period where you want to find all related information to be able to link up topics. My notes per full course can be like 100-200 pages so it is very time consuming method but fruitful.

Having so many pages, there is no way I can remember everything as well. Hence I would utilise Mnemonics.

Memory Power: Mnemonics

I would utilise Mnemonic in any word that is familiar to me to retain information better. For example, in Management, you would learn about the 5 bases of power (French & Raven). They are Coercive Power, Reward Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power and Expert Power. I simply remember them as R2ELC. RELC is the examination body for Singapore on behalf of UoL. It is something I can remember easily during examinations as I will see this name that will refresh my memory. A common Mnemonic for the external environment of a business organisation is P.E.S.T. which stands for Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural and Technological environments. You will see cockroaches everyday and this will remind you of PEST then you can elaborate what it is about. Everything you get to recap and keep in your memory without much effort. You need to keep on getting expose to something to retain it well in memory as if it is second nature. However, do not just memorise without understanding. You still got to read the textbooks to know what is going on.

STUDY ALONE OR IN GROUPS?

Personally, I prefer studying alone as when in group, I often get disturbed as classmates either will end up chatting or will be asking me a lot of questions disrupting my study. My advise is that if you wish to do it in groups, meet up only for discussion. Mere reading can do so at home. Meet up to do practice questions is more effective as you get to share answers and thinking but not for studying/reading in my opinion. However, for some people, they do not have motivation to study alone and hence they will need a group for it.

EXAM PREPARATION

As the University of London International Programmes is distance learning with minimal academic support, there is not much feedback opportunity. What Singapore Institute of Management does is to allow students to have mock examinations in February every year where the papers will be marked by LSE academics or those academics that they appoint. Students should not miss this as you need feedback to know what you have done right and wrong.

How do I approach mock examinations? Usually there is no way I could finish up studying the whole syllabus before the mock examinations. What I do is being selective on some topics and study in depth for them. It is better that I get feedback on a topic that I am well prepared for than to study bits and pieces of everything which is not much better than submitting a blank piece of paper. In this way, I can get much valuable feedback.

After the mock examinations, I would touch up my notes based on the feedback and continue finishing up the remaining parts of the syllabus I have yet to finish. And I would also have a look at the examination structure to strategise my revision.

Most essay-based examinations would be to do 4 out of 8 questions and a syllabus may have 12 topics. So what I do is to study/revise in depth only for  8 topics. Reason is simple. If you study only for 4, there is a risk all 4 do not come out as a question. If you study for 8 topics, if 4 do not come out, you still have 4 prepared topics to do the examinations. Studying all 12 topics will be too much to handle for memory. I do read everything in the syllabus at least once though so that I know which topics are related to one another and would have related topics included in the 8 topics in case there is a question that is consists of more than one topic.

During this period, I would practice on past year papers based on the selected topics I decide to focus on. I would write essays all in point form and in logical flow. Only if I have time I would write at least a full proper essay (with 45 minutes per essay max as there are 4 essays to be written in 3-hour examination and summarise the essay near the end of 45 minutes and move on will score better than spending too much time on one essay neglecting others). I would give the writing plan to academics to ask for feedback as well.

There are revision workshops in Singapore Institute of Management for its students I do attend both the workshops hosted by LSE academics or LSE appointed academics as well as local lecturers. This is to clear any further doubts and improve my notes for revision.

SELECTION OF MODULES

Many students kept asking me which modules/courses are the easiest to score. I often say go for those that are useful and relevant to your career path. If you are interested in certain career path, you will be motivated to study relevant topics for it. If you are motivated, things will become easier as well cause you will put in much more effort! What for study something easy but useless for work? Perhaps with good overall grades, you can get into interview but if the interviewers ask you questions relevant to the job you applied for, can you even answer those questions when you do not even have any relevant knowledge?

Sure, many people will say what you studied does not apply in work. This is true to certain extent but such statement may be from someone who does not know how to apply what they studied. Research findings are often based on certain situations. Some people just study blindly and use the findings and suggestion as a blanket statement as if it works in all situations. Of course that theory will not work! If you apply it wrongly, how would it work? The problem is not with the theory but the person applying it. It does apply in work if you know how to apply it.

Imagine two persons of the same in everything except that one studied something relevant with 2:1 overall and the other gets first class but random courses. The employer looking at the transcript will see that the former knows what he/she wants and the latter as someone without any clear indication of what he/she wants. As an employer, who will you hire? I would hire the former as he/she gives me more confidence that he can perform well. He/she has the relevant knowledge and the motivation to perform. The latter only has good grades but no relevant knowledge nor the motivation (due to lack of direction). I would not have the time or motivation to train someone from scratch.


All right, that is all of my study tips. Good luck in your studies!

Another Myth About Obama Spreading Again.... -_-"'

Responsibility of Leaders

I do hold leaders with more responsibility over what they say because they have more influence on others. However, some are not careful and anyhow spread rumours that is not well supported. They tend to have selective reading and confirmation bias (believing that Obama is the Anti-Christ and one that is out to destroy Christians) in which they will pick words said by Obama out of context to say whatever they want to support their own views!

The Rumours

What is the rumour this time round? The claim that Obama is getting Americans to implant chips which is the Mark of the Beast as mentioned in the Book of Revelations. This is a myth! You can read it more here. Another rumour is that Obama declared USA as a Muslim country or plan to make it a Muslim country. Hey... stop being insensitive! We live in a multi-religious society, stop seeing it as a you-vs-me kind of thing. Read the context! Obama did say USA  given its huge population of Muslims may be one of the biggest Muslim countries in the world. You can refer to his speech in 2009 (yes, 2009, not 2014!) here. There is a reason for saying that. Perhaps he phrased it incorrectly but his intention is never to threaten Christian community and a pre-dominated Judeo-Christian American Society. The intention is to minimise the misconception people have about Islam and to draw Middle-East and the West closer together to minimise conflicts. People living in their confirmation bias will be quick to raise the alarm and create more fear and panic thus leading to even more conflicts. An article did highlight Obama's intention and perhaps his wrong phrasing of words too. You can read it here.

Beware of False Prophets?

Some people are so engrossed with End Times messages and do you know that something is mentioned about End Times? Bible mentioned about false Prophets misleading many. Think about it. False Prophets are our own people or people from outside? If it is from within, should we not be more careful about what we hear and not anyhow spread rumours? I do not mean leaders deliberately want to mislead. Sometimes when we are not careful and accepted rumours, we ended up being false teachers too without knowing it! I noticed that humans tend to be overly optimistic that its always others that will be misled but never ourselves. Christians in early days did convert to other religions following other leaders and this continues even today. Do not assume we are invulnerable.