Story 5 Care for elders and young ones
Story 5 Care for elders and young ones
We Are the World
30
years ago, 1985 a charity single "We Are the World" was recorded by
the supergroup USA for Africa World to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in
Ethiopia which killed
about one million people. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
and produced by Quincy Jones for the album with the same name. It has been described as "an
appeal to human compassion".
We are the World,
we are the children.
We are the
ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving.
There's a choice we're making, we're saving
our own lives.
It's true
we'll make a better day, just you and me.
90
years ago, Tianlun
song is the theme song of the 1935 feature film "Tianlun" produced by
Shanghai Lianhua Film Company, written by Zhong Shigen, composed by Huang Zi,
and sung by Lang Yuxiu
Care for my elders and others’
elders,
care for the young and others’
young ones.
Service and sacrifice, service and
sacrifice,
self-sacrifice for others without
discrimination.
The mighty river, the mist and
white clouds,
the solemn universe has existed
forever.
Universal harmony and love, sharing
familial joy.
Despite
the vast differences between the West and the East cultures, both songs
proclaimed the cosmopolitan
kinship, extending beyond human relationships to include nonhuman entities and
the environment. In this framework, kinship is understood spiritually or
ethically, emphasizing empathy and care for the earth and its materials. Such
perspectives challenge anthropocentric views and suggest that kinship can be
cultivated through shared responsibility and interconnectedness with the
natural world, rather than solely through familial or national ties.
Our world has lots of challenges
such the wars in Europe and middle East, Covid-19 outbreak had little impact on
me because of my personal philosophy which is a synthesis of the East and West
ethos. I have been keeping a happy and healthy life style, calm and analytical
in processing numerous information the news media, also open to and prepared
for changes. Growing up in Hong Kong in the ‘50s – ‘60s, I went through
Christianity lessons in schools, concurrently learnt about Confucius teaching
in Chinese Literature classes and Buddhism-cum-Taoism beliefs at home. In the basic degree and graduate degree
programmes plus professional development training, I learnt the ethos of
ancient Greek and Roman, and various theories of human psychology, education,
social work, counselling and psycho-therapy. My personal philosophy leads to my
Vision - Universal Harmony; Mission - Care for elders and young ones;
Passion - Universal love; and Value into Action - Lifelong Service learning
Lifelong
Serve-Learning
The seed of volunteerism was
planted deeply in her when she signed up for a summer camp as a “student
counsellor” in her SPCC
Senior Middle School Year 2 (17 years old) in Hong Kong. In addition, due to
her early exposure to the tender loving care given by my grandma, grand aunts,
aunts and uncles, and the social climate of care and respect for the elders, I
developed a professional interest in social service for the elders, and this
passion has fuelled my service-learning pathway over the past 6 decades.
Being able to serve others is
actually a privilege, as it is in giving that we also receive. And this often
is not just receiving in monetary terms, but also in the intangibles such as
kindness, love, friendship, companionship, which is worth so much more than
dollars and cents. “Service-Learning” is more than a teaching and
learning method that connects meaningful community service experience with
academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility. Based on my own
personal encounters in Michigan State University in the 1980s, Service-Learning
actually has another important component, i.e. career exploration or education.
In her article “Chairing the SAGECC – A lifelong service-learning experience”
she summarized and reflected in her long term commitments (half a century ) in
SAGE, its helpline, counselling services, elders’ village and many other
programmes and activities. At the conception stage of SAGE, the Chinese name “ 乐龄”
( Le Ling) was coined by her to stress the importance of healthy and gracious
ageing which leads to a “ Happy Age”. She continues to advocate happy and
healthy ageing as well as “Learn to
Serve and Serve to Learn”.
In
1967, Chinese University of Hong Kong Chung Chi College my Social Work first
fieldwork was at Nulle Stone Street St James Settlement elder service
department. My second fieldwork was in the children and youth services
department of Hong Kong YWCA at MacDonnell Rd in 1968. St. James' Settlement was founded
by the Rt. Rev. Bishop R.O. Hall of the Anglican
Church as a club for children in 1949. In 1963, it started to extend
its service group to teenagers, the elderly and those with mental health
problems. Founded in January 1976, its Chinese reader for the
elderly, "The Voice" was the world's first and most
"long-lived" and globally distributed. It began the Online
circulation in 2008.
In
1971-72 in the Lady Trench’s Training Centre’s early childhood study, I had my
very first exposure to research using direct observation thro’ the one-way
mirror. I’m grateful to Mrs Chen Liu Mu Lan for the Asst Training Officer
appointment in this Centre which attributed to the success in my application
for the same post in the Training and Research Unit, Ministry of Social
Affairs, Singapore in 1974, and a year later recruited by Dr Ruth Wong Hie King
to serve as a Social Work Lecturer in the Institute of Education. Dr Wong advocated
for the inclusion of guidance, assessment and intervention in schools, with the
Guidance Clinic and the Remedial Reading Clinic being established in the
Institute of Education in 1974. Following the Teachers’ Training College's
merger with the Ministry of Education Research Unit to form the Institute of
Education, she became the director of the new institute in 1973.
Pioneers in Educational R&D
Prof Sim Wong Kooi, the fourth Institute of Education (IE) Director from 1981 to 1991, is a forerunner of educational research in Singapore. In 1986 he founded the Educational Research Association of Singapore (ERAS) which is a non-profit society for the cause of educational excellence in Singapore and the region via the conduct, promotion and use of relevant educational research. In the late 1980s, Prof Sim led a research team in the Institute of Education to develop the computer-aided interactive career guidance software for secondary school students in Singapore “JOBS” (Job Orientation Backup System) . Project Manager was Dr Esther Tan, leader for Educational Guidance module was Dr Tan Wee Kiat and I was the leader for Occupational Information module.
From JOBS floppy disk to JOBS2 CD, the project was so successful that it
was running for some 15 years and then upgraded to a web-based interactive
orientation system for career: “OSCAR” (Orientation System for Career Guidance)
and launched in October 2004. Five years later, “ecareers.sg”
e-portal was designed & localised for Singapore schools system by the
Centre for Education and Work, University of Wisconsin for Singapore Ministry
of Education. As part of the service
agreement under the MOU between NIE and University of Wisconsin School of
Education, the new portal has incorporated OSCAR’s data base of close to 300
occupations. For several months, Ms Kara McCarty (University of Wisconsin) and
I worked diligently on the migration of data. And then since 2016 the
government e-portal “myskillsfuture.gov.sg” has been used till Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) to
be established in the third quarter of 2026. It consolidates the functions of
SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore, focusing on career, employment,
and training matters. The agency aims to provide seamless support for both
workers and employers, adapting to the rapidly changing global environment.
Before the JOBS
project, Prof Sim Wong Kooi launched a BvL pre-school years study in the early
1980s. the first phase of a research study entitled "The
Cognitive and Social Development of Pre-School Children in Singapore"
focus on the language, numeracy, cognitive, and social development of
approximately 3,000 Singapore children between 1983 and 1986. I was glad to
know NIE LIB has 7 copies of the book edited by Prof Sim, dr Ko Peng and Dr Ho Wah
Kam, Growing Up in Singapore: The
Pre-School Years. Institute of Education (Singapore). Bernard Van Leer
Foundation, Longman Singapore , 1992, HQ792.S55 Gro.
Founded in 1949 and based in the
Netherlands, the Bernard van Leer Foundation focuses on early childhood
development (ECD), supporting children up to age six and their caregivers
worldwide. After his death in 1958, his son Oscar van Leer refined the foundation’s
focus toward young children, education, and disadvantaged youth. It’s a sheer
coincident that the NIE career e-portal’s title OSCAR coined by me in 2004 and now
by a web-search then I realise Bernard van Leer’s son is Oscar.
Thanks to NIE Library colleague Ms
Pauline Ang’s help via emails, I got to recollect that on June 1-7, 1986, the 4th
Asian Workshop on Child and Adolescent Development was chaired by Prof Sim Wong
Kooi, and co-chaired by Dr Seng Seok Hoon; co-sponsored by International
Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, International Development
Research Centre and Bernard van Leer Foundation. 4 copies of this workshop
report (LB1135 Asi 1) are available in NIE Library. In addition, there was an IE-BvLF Project
Seminar: Together we grow…how to develop your child’s potential, Singapore in
on 23 Oct 1988 where Prof Sim presented a paper: Singapore pre-schoolers: How
much do we know about them?
Fast forward to 21 August 2024, I attended the first of three planned symposia at
Rochester Commons, marking the launch of LOVING (Learning about Our behaviour
is Valuable for Increasing Nurturing relationships and healthy Growth) pilot
project in NIE, NTU. It is one of the largest parenting intervention studies in
Singapore and focuses on families with preschool children. The programme
examines how to support sensitive caregiving. how parents notice and respond to
their child, and what impact this has on children’s development. Two years
later, unveiled on 4 May 2026 a significant milestone with the launch of the
LOVING study, the nation's largest randomised controlled trial focused on
parenting interventions. It seeks to explore how enhancing parents' sensitivity
and responsiveness to their children's needs can profoundly influence
emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Spearheaded by NUS Yong Loo
Lin School of Medicine's Departments of Psychological Medicine and Paediatrics,
it collaborates with NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, A*STAR's
Institute for Human Development and Potential, KK Women's and Children's
Hospital, and NTU's National Institute of Education. Led by Associate Professor
Anne Rifkin-Graboi, the study represents a collaborative effort among top
Singaporean institutions underscoring the role of higher education in
addressing societal challenges like family well-being and child outcomes.
This program explores digital delivery of Video Intervention to Improve Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP) to increase reach, using vicarious video examples, with versions tailored for older and younger children, emphasizing local language and health contexts. The key biggest contrast of BvL and LOVING studies lies in research tools: “cassette recording of interviews” v.s. “digital delivery of video intervention”; and the focus was shifted from early childhood education curriculum to parenting education & intervention, also from “care to discipline” to “sensitive discipline”. All in all, educational research and development is like a treasure island of 50 years’ collective wisdom. “The new is silver, old is gold.”
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