SM = Singapore Maths

This is from the article, Singapore Math: Intensive Teacher Trainings, in the Dyslexia Tutor: News Resources by Adrienne Edwards about Singapore Maths.

When the US Department of Education commissioned a study in 2005 to find out why Singapore, a country with a population half the size of New York City, ALWAYS scores No. 1 in a widely accepted comparison of global math skills, it concluded, “Singapore’s textbooks build deep understanding of mathematical concepts through multi-step problems and concrete illustrations that demonstrate how abstract mathematical concepts are used to solve problems from different perspectives.”

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Not good enough for next generation

This is from the article, Why Israel is the world's happiest country, in Asia Times Online by Spengler.

The contrast of Israeli happiness and Arab despondency is what makes peace an elusive goal in the region. It cannot be attributed to material conditions of life. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia ranks 171st on an international quality of life index, below Rwanda. Israel is tied with Singapore on this index, although it should be observed that Israel ranks a runaway first on my life-preference index, whereas Singapore comes in dead last.

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A non liberal democracy

This is from the article, City-state a role model for the world, in The Star Online by Seah Chiang Nee about the many merit of Singapore.

Well-known author Catherine Lim painted this possible scenario for Singapore in 2030: “China rises to superpower status as the US declines and is in a position to offer an alternative to the discredited Western liberal democracy.

“In its skilful blend of authoritarianism and capitalism, its (China's) system is not unlike Singapore’s.

“If Singapore and China become thus twinned on the world stage, the Lee Kuan Yew model of governance will have achieved an international acceptance that the PAP could never have dreamed of.”

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Though a model, still not good enough

This is from the article, Cyclone Nargis May Bring Change In Its Destructive Wake, Georgie Anne Geyer in Yahoo!News.

In Southeast Asia, where China has accomplished a 10 percent growth rate for several years, where Singapore has become the model of development for the world, and where countries such as once ethnically torn Malaysia have found ways to thrive, Myanmar is more and more an anomaly.

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