Lack of information

I feel unsettled. There's this one thing that I would like to find out more but somehow, the facts just elude me. To put it more accurately, they are simply not released by the source. And it is this burning urge that drives me crazy, consuming more of my rational self with each stroke of the clock. I've felt like that before. Once, I guess, nothing more than that. It took me a few days and piles of work to distract me.

Alright; I'm nuts. So let me go on babbling about some other totally unrelated, unimportant and seemingly pointless events.

I embarked on a journey of cleaning out my room some time last week. I would pick up any random item that littered my room and ask myself, "Do I need this? Will I use this in the near future?" If the answer to both is a firm "No", then the said piece of item will be banished to the murky depths of the rubbish chute. For paper, they get to stay in my room a little longer; they will reside in a pile under my bed until I decide to send them for recycling.

I have two purposes in this operation. First and most obviously, to tidy up my room and discard unwanted stuff. Second, to locate items which I had misplaced. I figured out that if I went through all my stuff, everything will be uncovered, regardless of how deep I buried them. I envision a day where my room contains nothing but the absolutely neccessary items. All my things will be neatly arranged and there will be no stray items lying around. It's a tough goal but I think it can be achieved.

OK, I know what. I'm too tired. I need rest and sleep. Enough of my senseless but meaningful nonsense.

Labour market gauge

In a conversation last night, I casually mentioned how the once-ubiquitous advertisements on the "joys of teaching" are now lacking on the primetime slots on TV. Heck, there isn't even a single one during the non-primetime slots. Has the Ministry of Education finally fulfiled its quota? Or is there a bigger reason behind?

It then dawned upon me that it could be the worsening job market. Teaching, although a noble profession, was not something that many Singaporeans want to do. It's definitely not a job that will enable one to possess a condominium apartment, luxury car, credit card, wads of cash and a wonderful career - all at once. The only reason, or rather, only two reasons are, passion and lack of jobs.

I guess the lack of jobs has created a sudden influx of teachers wannabes for MOE. Suddenly, hordes of potential teachers and out-of-job graduates are engaging in a slugfest to land themselves a somewhat stable governement job. With seemingly endless queues of people desperate to get a job, it's little wonder why MOE has ceased transmission of its advertisements to "inspire people to mould the future of our nation".

Despite what the press has been saying about the "improving" labour market, I think it's quite evident and sufficient to judge the accuracy, based on the frequency of MOE advertisements. Of course, many Singaporeans are willing to be deceived, disinformed and disillusioned by whatever the press presents. Truth hurts, so does reality.

Bottomline is: If there are MOE advertisments on air, there's a forecasted shortage of teachers, due to the better job offerings elsewhere. If there are no MOE advertisments on air, there's a forecasted influx of teachers, due to the grim labour market.