Singapore - Your opinion?

Also, we have a huge influx of "foreign talents". They are simply foreign workers.

In the U.S. workforce, 15% of the workforce comprised of foreigners.
In Singapore, it is 1/3 (or 33.3%). And yes, it is increasing. Few years back it was just 25% or 30% (forgot the exact percentage). Now it's 33.3%.
 
To BlackSengs long post:

Like I said, I had no idea of something like this regarding the education.

EM1 is usually the top students; EM2 are the average students; EM3 is what most people label as "Dumb, hopeless" students.
Sad to say, I ended up in EM3 during my time because I was damn playful when I was young. My childhood died at that very day. I was looked down by society and the people around me. My cousins would even joked in front of me saying that my future would be working as a cleaner in Macdonalds. My life changed miserably during that time and to be frank, I never had a happy childhood then.

This was not very nice to read. I have no personal experience, but I think the "treatment" is a bit similar in Japan, where students have even committed suicides because of their "unacceptable" performance.
 
Hey guys, Singaporean here, i'm at the age where you do your national service (basically conscript army),18~23, i've read Blackseng's post and definitely agree with many of his points. I would just like to share my generation's viewpoint about the country and such.

Basically Singapore is all about the education system, whereby getting a degree is expected of you. The standard of living is very high and i think to live a comfortable life for a single person(not extravagant at all) you would have to earn about upwards of 5k SGD a month. From young we are taught to study really hard and have a holistic education, many parents spend a large part of the familial income on a child's tuition and other classes (violin,foreign languages,sports,etc) that are deemed beneficial for the child's development and image. You probably would have come across this if you have read
about the Tiger mum, Singapore is somewhat like that, only to varying extents.

About the women, many of them are ambitious and are willing to work hard to climb the corporate ladder, many of the "despicable kinds" are not usually singaporeans but foreigners that come from vietnam, china, etc that prowl the streets for expats and rich locals alike (thailand anyone?). I assure you they are hardly from my generation as many of these SPGs ( sarong party girls) colloquial term for local girls who go for Caucasian men are usually older and nearing their thirties. I believe the local girls here still prefer an Asian partner due to the similar values and mindsets.

If you aren't yet established i implore you not to come here and compete as the Asian culture of hard work and overkill is deeply rooted here.

I'm proud to be Singaporean. :D
 
I am a Singapore resident too. I have been living in this country from the past 1 year now and I can give you a perspective from a foreign guy.Although I must say whatever Blackseng has told is true and I agree with him .

If I were you I wouldnt choose this country to live/settle and do business elsewhere. reason being the extremely high cost of living. Day by day it is becoming more and more expensive to live here. Medical expenses are simply outrageous here, one of my friends simply had to go get an emergency contraceptive pill and she ended up shelling out $100, for a fucking emergency contraceptive pill. Food is pretty cheap though if you have it in the hawker centres. Since the singapore dollar is becoming extremely strong , it is becoming more and more expensive. I must tell you, after a while you will feel that your life is very mechanized and monotonous, but if you manage to break out of it it will be great.

Now for the good part. I am actually falling in love with this country. Everything here is so convenient, although its expensve but whatever you get its worth the money. I really enjoy the party scene and the night life here which is really good with a lot of nice places to go, although alcohol can prove to be a little expensive but you can always pre drink and go inside. There are a lot of foreigners here and you can find women from almost anywhere in the world. This is one thing I really like about this place. I have met a lot of people here from a lot of countries which is kinda awesome.

Having said that , make sure what your priorities are and the decide why you would want to move here. Overall I like this place and its a beautiful city .
 
As a past "foreigner" working in Singapore, I totally understand your frustration with the treatment they get in Singapore. As a Canadian citizen, I have to tell you that I disagree with your concept of a successful life being one with a University degree. I would say Canada is probably the perfect opposite of Singapore in terms of education. Here in Canada, more than 50% !!! of the adult population has a college degree. Education is very accessible and most of the people can go to university easily. The problem then is obvious... University degrees here are useless. Totally useless. Even worse than that, they are a huge liability (student debts). Canada has the most educated population in the world, yet the economy is based on natural resources. Most of the best paying jobs only require a high school degree (trades such as welders, electricians, etc) and there is a huge shortage of employees because nobody is interested in trades. The average salary of a MBA or MSc in engineering degree (Master degree level) is around 70,000 per year whereas the average salary of some one working in a trade such as welding, plumbing, etc. is 150,000 per year. Moreover, our amazing Canadian government is enslaving the population with extremely high income tax rates (around 40-50%) and sale taxes of 12-15% on top of it. So you end up keeping less than 40% of your 70,000 (28,000) salary to pay for all the stuff + your STUDENT DEBT... Canadian people are poor and seem to enjoy it.

I don't pity you guys in Singapore because the Canadian society is much more fucked up than yours. I would definitely move to Singapore tomorrow if I could with my many degrees, but it's quite hard to do so because the Canadian govt will do everything they can to stop its citizens moving to tax heavens such as Singapore, Hong Kong and the Caribbeans.
 
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