Good morning to Prof. Chong, Mr Benedict Cheong(Mr. Genald Yeo), staff members of Temasek Foundation International, distinguished guests and fellow scholars. My name is Li Yanzhang, and I am from Zhejiang University, China. I’m an inbound exchange student to SUTD. And this is my 44th day here.
Today, I will be sharing on what I learnt from my community service in Singapore and what I learnt about the Differences between SUTD and ZJU.
Firstly, what did I do for my community service in Singapore?
As volunteers, we participated in the Handicaps Welfare Association Flag Day to raise funds for the wheelchair bound and volunteered in Tampines West Community Centre to mentor the children at YEAH programme. These 2 experiences made me rethink about the society’s welfare, the education and even the social milieu.
During the flag day, I was astonished by the people’s generosity. I was just standing there, holding my can while smiling at passer-bys beckoning them to donate. There were people walking up to me to drop coins and dollars in the cab I was holding. Many people gave more than 2 dollars and one even offered 10 dollars.
So during the day, I was reflecting about the reason behind Singaporean’s generosity. Are they really so wealthy that do not care about their daily meal’s expenses?
By observation, I thought there were 2 reasons which could explain this. One is that the reward system works well. Rewarding people with stickers is really interesting and useful. In this instance, I saw parents using this opportunity to educate children to give. And this becomes a habit and many students come to donate on their own.
But the other reason, the real reason, is that people do trust the fund raising system. They believe the money they donated will be used in a right way, and the systems in place discourages fraud. Imagine that if there is no such a system or welfare, people will not be able to discern which charity is genuine or honest. I searched online and discovered that Singapore has a really strict law on the raising funds. Parties are required to obtain an approval from the Singapore Police Force or the National Council of Social Services to obtain a fundraising permit.I think that China still has a long way to go on the education of giving and laws to govern this.
at Yeah program, I also reflected on my mentoring experience with the children and, compared that with my previous volunteer and teaching experience in a remote village in western part of China.
I found some differences. Singapore is a developed country with good education system. Hence those children whom I mentored are basically all well-educated. Even though they call us ‘mentor’, we are mostly playing the role of a friend to company with them, playing games and sports together. While in the rural western part of China, where schools and educational resources are scarce and the local economy is underdeveloped and primordial, children really need good teachers and people from outside the community to bring hope and new ideals. Otherwise, most of the youth will graduate from school and back home to help out in the family animal farms.
However, I do feel that though the children here are better educated, they may not be happier than those in the west part of China. Some of the children shared they are stressed because of exams. This is very similar to the big cities in China, where enrolling a good school is the students only aim.
The study journey is alike a competition because there is only one destination. In big cities, you can only choose those jobs, and as population grows and people keep migrating into cities, we either choose to use our innovation to create new jobs or compete against others in order to survive.
Last week at the learning journey, we were asked what problems we would face with in 2050, I think the future development of cities and residents in the cities may remain a question for us.
The last thing I would like to share is the vast difference between SUTD and universities in China. I realised the difference between the big cities in China and Singapore is that the race and religions here are more divergent, thus the interaction between people may be different. People from the same countries, race or religions will tend to gather in groups and students of course will do so.
However, to fix this and encourage people to communicate and interact, I think SUTD has done very well. SUTD is small, so it sets many places like the exhibition area in the library and the rooftop accessed three main buildings, where students, staff and researchers can meet to discuss and communicate freely. These were shared with me by a professor I met in SUTD’s library, when we are both watching the exhibition there.
One other interesting thing I learned about is that before students graduate from Zhejiang University and most of the other Chinese universities, we complete a graduation thesis or design work on our own. But in SUTD, students have to finish a capstone project in teams in order to graduate. These teams are randomly allocated using an algorithm, so the team members may not know each other. And they are basically from different pillars, which increases the difficulty of communication.
Some students may think this is a terrible idea, placing them in a setting, not familiar with anyone in their team. However, in my opinion, it is a wonderful way, which obligates the students to communicate, connect, and walk out of their comfort zone.
The last thing is about the communication, connection and friendship brought by TFI. Since I came to Singapore, I made new friends among the exchange students, the SUTD students, the TFI scholars, even with staffs and professors. Everyday, I gained new knowledge and insights from communicating with them, and practice my Singlish as well lah.
I have only been in Singapore for a month and a half, and yet we are learning so much!
On behalf of the exchange students here in SUTD, I would like to thank the TF Intl for the generosity and support to provide us with this learning opportunity.
My sharing ends here and I would like to invite Ling, student of Royal University of Law and Economics, Cambodia to share her experience. Thank you!
Slides
TF LEaRN Programme @ SUTD 