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Good Schools or Happy Schools. Good Toilets or Happy Toilets.

 Good Schools or Happy Schools.

Good Toilets or Happy Toilets.



Vietnam wants to make their schools a happy school, different from our ‘every school a good school’.  To a child, which is better - good school or happy school. Good school usually means good academic results, just like the ranking of world universities.    


Good does not mean healthy.  Happiness, according to the Vietnamese education minister, is a positive school culture.  Many parents would like to have their children happily growing up, with less stress.


I was in Mid Valley SouthKey yesterday.  They have 5-star toilets.  Not only good but excellent, much better than those toilets in City Square.  I tried to use the toilets but all the cubicles were full of smoke. Is this a good or happy toilet? 


(In fact, in Singapore, we also have unhappy toilets too.  Smoking is really a social problem that makes non-smokers unhappy.  So do elite schools or even a normal school, parents and children can easily become unhappy.)


In Vietnam, starting next year, their primary school students will have to attend compulsory Chinese language lessons.  Saudi Arabia had earlier implemented compulsory Chinese education in their schools.      


In Singapore, our children are struggling to learn Chinese.  Wondering whether students in  Vietnam or Saudi Arabia will become happier or not with the new Chinese language lessons? 

      

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