What is economy? Part One.

The experts on economy have many terms to play with the word economy but I believe the economists purposely created many complicated terms for the word economy because they wanted the poor to remain poor as the poor do not really understand the economic terms. Perhaps, they are trained to be the victim of the economic circle. Despite all the complications of the economic terms, I will explain it in my own way to make you understand and perhaps it can trigger a solution to some economic problems. 

Economy is 

basically about 

what we NEED 

and 

what we WANT. 

What do we need? We basically need food, garments and shelter. Do we have all of these? If we don't have it, we have to buy. Do we have the money to buy it? If we don't have the money to buy it, how can we fulfil our desire to have these basic necessities? There are some solutions to these before  the existence of money. Food such as meat and vegetables will be available to us if we have the land. We build a shelter on that land. This kind of economy is limited because the economic activities are conducted within your territory. Your economy looks very good because you have all the three things that you basically need as an ordinary human being. 

Now let us proceed with  the role of money here. Now we have the things we need. How about the things that we want? We want a good car, vacation, new kitchen, a contemporary landscape for our ugly garden, a computer and internet access to keep up with the latest issues  and etc. Do we have enough money to have all these? How can we make money to buy all the things that we want? 

First we have to look at our asset  that can generate money. When we sell the vegetables and the meat, we will make money. However, are there any buyers who are interested to buy our products? We have to get out of the comfort zone and look for buyers. When we have found the buyers, the economic activities have become more aggressive and alive because we are dealing with others to satisfy our continuous desire to have the things that we need and want. 

The examples above are very simple and can be considered very clean in the eyes of morality. However, how can economic activities become ugly? Most of the time, the main cause is the ugly competition or the buyers become manipulative. For example, when the sellers want to sell the vegetables and the meat, there many people out there who have been doing the same business. Therefore, the price that he has been expecting will somehow hurt him in the end of the business deal. On the buyer's side, the buyers may know that the seller's products are very good. However, in order to maximize his profit if he resells the meat and vegetables, this buyer will start playing with the market price and perhaps diseases to fool the sellers. This happens everyday locally and internationally if you know what I mean. 

There are basically two options for the seller. The first one is to continue improving the quality of his products or continue looking for the best buyers for his products. This is tiring but the fruit is always sweet because I believe that not all of the apples are ROTTEN. 

I guess that is all for now. Thank you for reading. 

How to improve our education system. Part 2 (teachers)

1. Are the teachers well trained by the well trained lecturers? 

Well-trained lecturers: Lecturers who have been involved in a particular subject for at least 10 years before he or she becomes a lecturer. (There are lecturers who become lecturers because of their outstanding result, not because of their years of teaching experiences) Furthermore, were they trained on how to teach effectively by their previous well-trained trainers? We should always understand this beautiful quote which reads if we expect the best, we must always learn to give the best.  

Solution: Lecturers must be chosen among those who understand the beauty of learning. University students will learn a lot in the classroom if the lecturers chose to be a motivator instead of being a dictator. Lecturers should always push students's potential to the limit to promote thinking skills among the university students or future teachers because we expect the future teachers to do the same students at secondary and primary schools. On the other hand, lecturers must also be given the freedom to express their views from many angels without fear and favour. This freedom will promote thinking activities between students and lecturers. The lecturers must also be the ones who love balance in life and practice this concept in his or her real life. We need lecturers who promote positive values in life. 


2. Have the teachers been taught properly at the university or teacher's training college on how to teach that particular subject in many different ways through innovative, creative and critical thinking skills? 

Solution: Lecturers, who are critical thinkers should guide the future teachers on how to teach a particular subject in many amazing ways. I believe that each student have brilliant ideas on how to get the students to understand an unknown subject. The variety of teaching approaches can be our asset which indeed can be considered as intellectual property.  New strategies should be welcomed not despised. Thinking skills should be a subject that exceeds any subjects if we wish to create more thinkers to develop our country, way faster than our neighbouring countries. 


3. Did the teachers learn about the importance of LIFE-LONG LEARNING when they were in universities? There are teachers who refuse to improve their understanding on their own subject due to comfort zone. Consequently, these teachers will not be able to create new teaching strategies.  

Solution: Teachers must be taught about the importance of having a genuine passion or love for the teaching profession. Teachers must understand that without LOVE, learning in the classroom will never take place. Teachers must love his or her own subject and his or her students. Love helps the teacher to fight back or to get back on track if he or she gives up when the students give up. 


4.  Does the teacher understand what he or she is teaching? A teacher must master the subject first before he or she makes others understand the subject. 

Solution: The government can't afford to send all students for overseas education. If we were to do that, we will DEFINITELY be the next GREECE. The most practical solution should be our own personal initiatives. Let me give you some examples which are my own examples. 

I have never been to any English-speaking countries to master this language. Wait and see is not a solution to this hurdle. What I did was I bought a lot of English movies, chose the correct actors (who speaks beautiful and proper English) and try to emulate their speaking style and intonation. That is how I improved myself, to learn how to express myself correctly through movies. In other words, the high quality subtitles help me a lot in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary. In terms of grammar, I created my own notes on the amount of my own understanding about a particular chapter. The notes are very simple but very understandable. University students must be able to really understand the chapters of a particular subject based on the notes given by the lecturers. At any universities, the TESL students are taught about grammar and phonetics. It is impossible for these future teachers to give any unacceptable excuses that they didn't learn about these two critical subjects. All we have to do is EMBRACE LIFE-LONG LEARNING to develop our understanding on the previous subjects that we learned in university. Allowing ourselves to be trapped in the comfort zone is completely detrimental to the progress of the quality and achievement of our education system. 


5. Does the teacher know the differences between teaching and educating? Teaching does not require connection while educating requires the deepest connection between the teachers and the students. 

Teaching has limitations while educating goes beyond the horizon. Teaching creates an incomplete bridge while educating creates all the bridges on earth. 

Solution: Teachers must be motivated continuously by the administrators and the government to teach from their heart instead of teaching for the sake of teaching. Get the teachers to experience both failure and success with the students. Get both parties to enjoy the dark and good sides of learning. Control our expectations as teachers because our main objective is not perfection but IMPROVEMENT. We should give a round of applause for the tiniest achievement before we enjoy the sweetest fruits of education. 


6. Is teaching a preferred profession among the young minds? Is it a first choice? If it is the last choice due to financial security and society's old perception, teachers cannot teach effectively. 

Solution: Are our teachers overpaid, well-paid or underpaid? We must know the facts first. If they are underpaid, increase their pay, allowances and privileges if we are really concerned about the importance of good education. As long as I can remember, the best does not come CHEAP. Bruce Lee's Jeet Kun Do's fee was the most expensive before in U.S.A. The teachers must feel that they are well respected by the society. Who wants to be a teacher if the teachers can only afford to buy a CRATE which is meant for the dog? Who wants to be a teacher if second-hand low quality car is the teacher's only choice for transportation? If we only learn to take good care of the teacher's welfare, the rest of our worries will take  good care of themselves. 

Thank you for reading. Feel free to add some more because this blog is meant for THINKERS. Your comments are highly appreciated. I always believe that those who spend more on education will always be ahead of others. 

How to improve our education system? Part One.

How to improve our education system? 

Part One. 

Title: Facilities. (Non-living things)

Let us play with these questions first. 

1. Does each school have sufficient number of the computers and internet access? 

2. Does each school have enough classes? 

3. Does each school have enough chairs and tables? 

4. Is each class provided with LCD Projector, a computer, a printing machine and a mini cabinet for teachers and students to store reading materials? 

5. Does each school have a proper field for rugby and football? 

6. Does each school have a proper training center such as badminton court, squash court, mini swimming pool, tennis court and a mini gym? 

7. Does each school have a mini theater for students to develop their acting and managing skills specifically on stage management?

8. Does each school have a proper hall for teachers and students to organize multiple activities? 

9. Does each dormitory have enough bathrooms, toilets, mattress, pillows, bedrooms, fans, and etc. to motivate students to meet our unthinkable expectations? 

Before we design or replace our education plan, these questions have to be answered first and to be dealt with the utmost priority. We will meet again for part 2. Thank you for reading. 

How to be a thinker?

I suggest we play with these questions first before we move on with the deliberation. 

Do we admire a person who is a great thinker? 

Do we want to be like him or her? 

How did they become a thinker? 

What did they do that we always fail to do? 

How should we begin? 

Let us play with these quotations first. If you don't really understand it, you can give comments. I will respond to it as soon as I can but I do not entertain anonymous because a coward is not and cannot be a THINKER.  

QUOTATIONS 

for 

FUTURE THINKERS 

or 

ORDINARY THINKERS...

1. I don't have the BEST solutions for you because YOU are the only one who has the BEST solution because we do not share the same problems. Only thinking can melt our frozen mind. 

2. As long as I can remember, those who think will always find solution. On the other hand, those who do not think, will always be trapped by their own fear and worries. 

3. Those who learn to love the subjects that they hate will always be a great thinker. 

4. Comfort zone is the main cause of extinction among the potential thinkers. 

5. Worries, if left untreated will kill all the thinking neurons that we need to develop our thinking skills. 

6. A thinker will always look for new ideas and approaches because a thinker is always hungry of being better than yesterdays. 

7. Running away from problems will never make us a thinker because the accumulated problems are just like volcanic eruptions. Those volcanic eruptions will come with casualties while accumulated problems will cause us to lose everything that we should have achieved if we learn to divide the accumulated problems. 

8. A thinker looks deep into a simple matter while a non thinker will just glance at everything. 

9. A thinker sits down because he is thinking, while a non thinker sits down because of an escape plan. 

I will give you more quotes on how to think...

See you soon. 

I hope the quotes will help melt a frozen north pole.