Studying Overseas - An Option?

I am an advocate of accumulating good habits, good values through education.

 A good education should bring about positive change to the person being educated. We have to ask ourselves these questions, "Is he a better person today than he was a year ago? Is he a better person now than he was yesterday?" "Has change taken place?"

Change does not just happen overnight. There may be changes in your children that you hope happen. There may be certain habits that you hope they can correct. Often times, if you fight for the changes on your own, it can be very painful and a struggle. This is particularly so, when they are teenagers and every word you utter does seem like a "nag", although you barely said it only twice. It can be really exasperating.

Does that mean that there is no hope but to just wait for the change to take place supernaturally? Does it mean that you just let things be? Does it mean that you start blaming yourself for not teaching him or her when he was little and it is now too late? This is all part of parenting pains.

Our children pick up habits when they see us in action. They basically learn their ways from us. Yes, we may have been careless with our words, with the way we have or have not reacted to things and with the way we have handled our emotions. Subtlely, the children pick them up from us.

Besides picking up habits from parents, our children's make-up can also be influenced greatly by the environment we subject them to. When we let them mix with friends who are brand-conscious, they grow to be brand-conscious. When we over-provide for them, they do not know what it is to be in need.

So, how does studying overseas come into the picture? How does it help our children? How does it help us? How does it help the country?

Studying overseas is a very palatable option if you want your children to change for the better. It is as if, you are saving up the hefty tuition dollars and invest in an overseas education which through the journey, your children pick up important values, habits and perspectives. But be careful, you have to choose the right partner to help you with this. You want a very excellent guardian who sincerely wants to see your children succeed.  This guardian must appreciate that you want to help your children, but you have your constraints. She must feel your hearbeat and she wants to see your children change for the better. She must fully understands the growing up pains and the parenting pains, a guardian who can be your trusted sub-contractor.

In life, when you find yourself not being able to handle everything all at once, such as your work, your spouse, yourself, your children and their education, learn to outsource. I am not advocating that you let go of parenting. What I am suggesting is, at certain stage in life, by allowing a third party to help you, you are pulling back a little, while being in control of the situtation. Your children will grow fonder of you, they will appreciate your presence even more, they learn that parents are the best gifts God has ever given to them until the day they have their own children.

At Channel Education, we are strict with our students and we train them in developing thrift, in being dependable, in being responsible, in remembering the lesson behind their mistakes, in being resourceful. Our program and curriculum are designed to benefit greatly the students under our care. We absolutely recognize how awesome that responsibilty of being a second parent to the students can be. 

So, how do we do it well? We focus on understanding the background of the students, the intricate details of his/her make-up and discharge our duties accordingly. Being Asian, the management specializes in helping parents from the Asia Pacific region. We want our name to be remembered for being different, for being special, for being able to step into your shoes and execute the part of parenting you wish you were better at.

Studying overseas is indeed an excellent option when you find the right partner to hold your children's hands.

Canada - Is it just snow and hockey?

When you hear the word Canada, what comes to your mind?

Maple leaves? Hockey? Snow?

Yes, hockey is the national game but there are also many other sports that Canadians engage in, such as baseball, basketball, soccer, skate-boarding and skiing. The number of sports that are played here is directly proportional to the number of communities living here.

Canada is an amazing place. It is a melting pot, where many immigrant families from South America to South Africa, from China to Singapore, from Australia to UK, come together, live together. Besides its official langauges, English and French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Persian, German, Italian, Punjabi, South African dialects and many others are also widely spoken here.

The major cities and their population are Toronto (5.5 million), Montreal (3.8 million), Vancouver (2.3 million) and Ottawa (1.2 million).

My Black-American business associate once told me, that all Chinese look the same to him. Similarly for me, I feel all Koreans look the same and all Blacks look the same. Somehow, this is the feeling one gets when you first start out in Canada, a land of such diversity. Does one ever wonder how everyone with such different looks, colours and backgrounds, seem to have the same resolve of making Canada their home?

All the immigrant families leave their countries or their comfort zone for a reason - in search of a better life.

So, Canada - is it really a destination of choice?

I'll list the strengths of this country and let my audience make their own conclusions:

(1) Canada invests heavily in education - in fact, it is among the leaders in G8 in investment in education

(2) Canada adopts a highly flexible education system - besides facilitating eligible graduates to attain permanent residence, it also allows eligible students to work in Canada while and after studying in Canada. International students are exposed to opportunities to work via cooperative or internship programs.

(3) The systems of education in Canada are recognized internationally and programs offered by Canadian universities are widely accepted.

(4) In the World Happiness Report (2012 United Nations survey), Canada ranked 5th.

(5) According to the Global Peace Index (2012), Canada is 4th on annual ranking of world peacefulness.

(6) In the United Nations' list of Best Countries to live (1990 to 2012) - consistently ranks in the top 10.

Personally, I feel that the majority of people here are very accommodating and are ready to welcome ideas, opinions and cultures of other people. It is a multicultural society, yet so  homogeneous in loving Canada. Most importantly, for me,  I love the space, the cool weather, the pace and the richness of life here. 

Singapore Education - How to Cope with it?

It was not easy to pull my roots from my country of origin. It was a fabulous city with arguably, the best and the most industrious workforce in the world. I have so much to thank Singapore for, particularly, now as I look at my Chinese counterparts, who have to go through ESL classes, I am definitely at a clear advantage. I had very good training in Maths and in Accounting. I must say I enjoyed my days as a student, right up to the time I graduated from university.

I was blessed to land myself a much coveted bank trainee job in the largest banking group in Singapore, immediately upon graduation. I worked in the heart of Shenton Way, the most expensive part of the business district. It was like walking down the lane of glamour every day I went to work.I really enjoyed those days. Oh yes, to add more flavor to it all, I had my fair share of "office romance" where I ended up marrying the person I dated at my first job.

Then reality struck, Singapore has since grown at a phenomenal rate. With growth, the pace of life got faster. People were buying more luxurious cars, more branded stuff, more expensive houses. As a nation, its GDP growth was something that the government should be really proud of. The education system too, became more complicated and competitive. There were more variations to the way children were being streamed and the way schools were being ranked. I guess the biggest victim of a nation's growth is ironically the children, whom the advancement should benefit ultimately.

I have my children during this huge phase of growth. The things my children (one from HCI and the other from RGS) learnt in school were way ahead of what children from other nations were learning. This is very good for the children and put them in really good stead to compete on the world arena. Singapore has to move in this direction. It is not wrong for the government to steer the education in this direction. In order for Singapore to make its mark, it has to effectively use its only valuable resources which are the brains and attitudes of its people. They have to start from the schools.

The only problem with this is the stress it can create on parents and teachers overall. I realized that I was almost going crazy trying to cope both as a high-flyng banker and a dedicated mum. So, it was through much deliberation and prayers, I embarked on the journey to Canada. 

Coming to Toronto, was a risky move but thankfully, things have turned out to be very good for the children. We are benefiting from the move.

I am doing relatively well because of the advantage that Singapore system has prepared me for. It is now for me to give back to Singapore. Many parents have the same dilemma. They want to keep their jobs yet they have to effectively help their children with their studies, which is no mean feat. We are after all human. The best thing we can do about the situation is to outsource. So, many parents ended up spending tons of money on tuition. But is the tuition dollar really well spent? Do your children pick up any values from the tuition classes?

If parents can spend the amount of tuition dollars, they might as well save them up and invest in an education in Canada, a very safe country, where there are many top to mid-range high schools, colleges and universities. This in itself, requires a whole blog post, which I will leave it for another time.

Why Journey 2 Canada?

Channel Education has chosen its web address to be www.journey2canada.net.

Why Journey to Canada? 

Education is a personal journey, a journey which should make the individual a better person. In the course of my business, parents often express their fear of separation from their children and they feel really disturbed at the possibility of their children falling ill in a place far away from home.

Moving out of our comfort zone, resulting in a lack of familiarity, often brings about a lot of anxiety. The thought of feeling threatened and unsafe is what causes separation anxiety.

Embarking on a journey requires the individual to cope with new situations. Fear of not coping well, such as not adjusting and adapting are part and parcel of starting a new chapter in life. These fears are practical and real. Yet, being too comfortable sometimes stagnates our growth. So now, should we let fears rule our hearts and cripple us? 

There are two things that most people dread - waiting and getting started. Starting a journey requires research, planning and looking into the details or what we typically term as, a process of preparation. Going through the thinking processes during the preparation phase is in itself a meaningful development in the right direction. Starting a new chapter, going to a foreign land, is no mean feat. Preparation is what will set one apart. It is all about preparation, be it mentally, physically or financially. Choosing the right party to hold your hand, to guide you through, is critical to one's success in his journey here.

This journey is about accumulating experiences which enrich one's life. Record, remember and share these experiences. If I could provide a solution for coping strategy, I would encourage my clients to use the eagles' vision, which is strong and focused. The eagle stays committed to its course no matter what the obstacles he gets into along the journey. The eagles likes the storm, as it uses the pressure of the storm to soar and glide.

At Channel Education, we want our clients to ride their "Journeys to Canada" "On Eagles' Wings", which has been aptly chosen as our slogan.