Thaddeus Tan 3E3 

My impression of South Korea has changed quite a lot over the past few days in terms of their cleanliness of their surroundings. This is because I remembered the last time I was here in South Korea it was not as clean as now,  a lot has changed ever since. One example was when I was at the airport at McDonald for breakfast people cleared their trash after consuming their food systematically. This shows that the government had well-educated the public on managing its cleanliness of the surrounding.

 In my opinion I would like to share two similarities and two differences between Singapore and South Korea. The similarities are that both countries are very typical about cleanliness of their society and would bring measures to ensure cleanliness. Secondly, they are also very environmentally friendly as they would use means to try and help save the Earth to make it into a better place. The differences are that South Korea experiences different climates throughout the year while Singapore only experiences one which makes it really warm due to difference in temperatures. Secondly, Singapore has a multi-ethnic society which consists of the Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians and many more whereas, South Korea only has one race which is the Koreans themselves.

After the trip to South Korea I would like to share with everyone three of my most memorable experiences. The first one was my trip to the Safety Theme Park in Daegu where I was taught on different measures use when encountering with a disaster or in times of an emergency. This experience has taught me to stay vigilant of my surrounding as anything could happen and I should learn how to manage the situation. Next is my visit to POSCO steel manufacturing company which is a third largest steel manufacturing company. Over there I was brought around to see the manufacturing process of steel with detailed explanation which makes it very interesting as it seems that steel occurs everywhere in our daily lives. It was a really good experience as I was showed on how Steel was originally developed and what measures the company took to prevent lesser harmful emissions to the atmosphere. Lastly was my visit to POSCO high school where I made two really good and interesting friends who I think I would not forget. Although the period of interaction was short the time spent together was very memorable for both parties. It was the best experience i had throughout the whole South Korea trip and I would cherish the friendship that I made with my two Korean friends.

After the whole South Korea experiential learning I have learnt three things with regards to me and my life as a student. I have learnt that, I should learn to accept myself for who I am, learning how to resolve conflict between your enemies despite the hatred for each other and also develop mutual respect for one another despite of the race or religion. Being a student, I realized that I am very fortunate to be able to study in a fun and entertaining environment which makes learning really interesting. I have also learnt that I am able to communicate properly and respectfully to my teachers. Lastly, I learnt that in school  I am able to have my choice of foods that I want due to the different race and religions which provides me with a wider choice of food to purchase.

All in all, I am really grateful that I am given this opportunity to go for this South Korea experiential learning trip which has broaden my knowledge by a lot more.

POSCO High School

Daegu Safety Theme Park

As a global citizen, why is it important for us to understand risk management?

Global citizens can be categorized into mainly three groups, which are the business man, citizens working overseas and students studying overseas. Business men are citizens who are daring enough to venture out of Singapore to other countries and do business without migrating. Thus, they earn money from that country and bring it back to Singapore. One example of the country we can venture out to would be China. They have cheap labour and land space and hence, they spend lesser money on manufacturing of products and yet still are able to produce the same quality. As a result, those daring global citizens would be able to gain more profit to boost the economy of Singapore.

The government has been encouraging Singaporeans to work in other countries so that they could learn new skills and bring them back to Singapore. In addition, they would also bring back the money which they have earned in overseas. This would allow them to spend the money earned within Singapore and hence boost the economy of Singapore.

There are many risks which we could face and manage that are related to global citizens. These risks could be natural disasters and human disasters. Human disasters are caused by mankind. Example of human disasters could be like the clearing of land through burning of the forest as well as terrorisms. Natural disasters are caused by nature. These include earthquakes, floods, typhoon and forest fires.

In Korea, there is a safety theme park in Daegu. The objectives of the safety theme park are to provide an avenue to educate the public about the various disasters that have taken place in Korea as well as measures taken to overcome these disasters and how to react to the disasters.  Unlike Korea, there is no specific location in Singapore where we can raise the awareness of disaster management and educate them. Hence, we therefore strongly suggest that Singapore should have a safety theme park as we think that it is important to raise the awareness and to educate the public.

Currently, there are hand-on campaigns in Singapore to teach the public the basic skills of managing disasters with the assistance from Singapore Civil Defence Force. The government is also trying to educate the citizen through advertisement such as posters and and TV advertisement. We could also allocate a day in every two months to raise the awareness of the public on risk management. In addition, companies should also make it compulsory for all the workers to learn skills to manage disasters. One of the examples is to extinguish fire using the fire extinguisher. Singapore is a small country and without all these risk management, Singapore's survival would be threatened.

Business men in overseas would also be able to take precautionary measures against setting up businesses near disasters prone zone. They can also avoid travelling to disasters areas and having the skills and knowledge to react to disasters when being encountered.

In conclusion, it is important for global citizens to understand the importance of risk management. Everybody is responsible for their own life. The consequences would be worsened if everybody doesn't know what to do. Many lives would be lost as everybody would be panicking then.

Done by:
Tan An Qi Shirley
Crystal Chiok Hwee Fong
Joey Yee Yen Yin
Michelle Tan
Santhya Sivaraju
Audrina Teo Huang Xin

As a global citizen, why is it important for us to understand risk management?

On the 31th of October, we went to Daegu Safety Theme Park. We felt that this place left a deep impression on us as it is really meaningful. For example, we understand how to cope when there are emergencies, such as explosion or terrorist attack. We also learnt how to evacuate from subway (train in Korea).

As global citizens, we travel around the world to different countries to work, to set up businesses or to study for a period of time. Thus it is important that we must understand the possible threats or danger at our residential or work location and the vicinity. This will help us to carry out safety precautions effectively to ensure our safety and to minimize loss of lives and properties in the event when a disaster occurs.

With the raise in awareness, we will be able to stay calm and make wise decisions when emergency happens. For example, we should bend down when there is smoke. In addition risk management is one of the important factors to consider when we plan to set up businesses overseas.

Since it is so important for us to have the knowledge on safety, should our government set up a Safety Theme Park in Singapore?

We strongly feel that it is an advantage to set up a Safety Theme Park, due to several reasons. The theme park will allow Singaporeans to be educated on the importance of taking safety precaution against natural disasters or terrorist attack. It will also be another place for Singaporeans to learn about safety and civil defence through fun and engaging activities.
However, there may be some challenges faced by the government if the theme park is set up. One challenge the government may face is the difficulty to draw regular crowds to the theme park. This is because Singaporeans may lose interest in going to the same place repeatedly. Thus, the place will become a white elephant in the long term. In addition, not all Singaporeans may think that it is worthwhile to pay for the entrance fees to the theme park for the purpose of learning about safety because we may not regard it as a priority in our daily lives. The low priority to learn about safety may be due to the fact that Singaporeans do not experience serious disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. In general, most Singaporeans take safety and security for granted.

Done By: Super Students
Guo wei, Joel, Wei Yi, Jewel, Hui Min, Jolene

What can Singapore learn from Korea to prepare for ageing population?

Hello! We will be discussing about the measures Singapore can learn from Korea to prepare for ageing population.
Based on the pre-trip assignment from Group 2, the measures taken by Korea to counter ageing population are similar to Singapore. For instance, the issue of retirement age and increasing birth age. In fact, the measures taken by Singapore are much better as compared to Korea. An example is to increase the  retirement age whereby Singapore has plans to raise the retirement age to 67 years old and even no retirement at all as the current retirement age in Singapore is 62 and the retirement age in Korea is 58.  However, there is one measure Singapore can learn from Korea which is in the field of medical technology.
In Singapore, majority of the citizens hire domestic helpers to help them in their daily life. However, not all these domestic helpers may  be able to take good care of elderly as they are not well trained and well skilled. Moreover, taking care of elderly requires a lot of patience. For example, most of the elderly have sickness, thus domestic helpers have to monitor them 24 hours everyday, which is almost impossible. Maids might be inefficient in taking care of the elderly and would result in the injury of the elderly. As a result, it is really important to have medical technology in Singapore so as to provided better care for our elderly.
From our point of view, it is always better to have  the children of the elderly to care of them. This is because the children will know them better and are able to give more love and care. However, due to the aging population and some other factors, such as Singaporeans adopting a one- child trend and for some who make a choice not to have any child, these groups of people will have to be dependent on medical technology as their children might not have the time to take care of their parents due to the fact that they are working overseas and are very busy to visit their parents.    
With the help of medical technology , children can monitor the health of their parent. For example, when the family with single child or children who do not have time to take care of their parents, the medical technology can help ensure the safety of their parents. The working adults would not have to worry about their parents and this allows this group of working adults to concentate on their work. With the safety of the elderly being secured, there would be fewer cases of elderly who would have their lives endangered after being left alone for some time . Having medical technology would also ensure that the elderly will not have the idea of them being a burden to their child. As a result, the Singapore government will not have to spend so much money on the safety of the elder, instead the government can focus more on the economic growth and welfare of the nation.
Medical technology can also help improve the quality of life of the elderly. Due to the advanced medical technology, it can help speed up the action of the elderly and also aid them in their movement. This would allow them to be less dependent which can allow them to be more independent when there is no one around to take good care of them. With the help of various medical technologies, these would hence make the elderly lives more comfortable. Because of the development of medical technology by Singapore, countries that are also facing similar ageing population problems might be attracted to invest in these medical technology products and also purchase these products. These products developed for the ageing population in  to the rest of the world  can thus be a source of income for Singapore which will help to boost our economy. 
In  conclusion, even though Singapore has some measures which are better than Korea,  Singapore has to improve their medical technology as it is an important factor for the safety of the elderly. Singapore should adopt the Korean medical technology to improve it so as to suit the needs of the elderly in  Singapore.
Group 3: Steffi, Tracie, Amzar, Geraldine, Thaddeus, Brandon

How does POSCO ensure having a quality in labour force?

Hello! This is the kimchi gang! Today we have visited the POSCO Steel Industrial and POSCO High School. During a presentation at POSCO Steel Industries, we found out that it is actually an extremely large company that operates 24 hours a day and requires 17 000 workers to carry out their daily functions. Additionally, POSCO also requires a highly-skilled labour force due to its sophisticated operations.. This is why it is necessary for POSCO to sustain its labour force to make sure that their company would not malfunction due to the shortage of quality workers. Also, POSCO needs to find ways to prevent brain drain to ensure a continuous supply of labour. POSCO does so in the following ways: providing education for the employees?children, maintaining quantity and quality of workers and developing a sense of loyalty to the company.
As mentioned earlier, POSCO requires a large workforce to carry-out their daily functions. This means that they need to create a constant supply of workers. To ensure that their demands for labour are met, POSCO actually provides education for the employee's children. In fact, 60% of the students of POSCO high school are POSCO employees?children. One example would be Evelyn's buddy, Yeon Ju whose father is working in POSCO. As we all know, POSCO is the largest steel industry in Korea, it would definitely be the parents?wish to send their children to study in schools of POSCO. Especially since POSCO hires 100% of students of POSCO High School, this becomes a very good incentive for employees to send their children to study there.
POSCO maintain its quality and quantity of the workers by ensuring a place in the POSCO company and train them with the required skills. 40% of the students studying in POSCO high school came from top schools in Korea. Since that they had been trained since kindergarten till university, this meant that they are well-equipped with knowledge required in this industry, POSCO high school students study 4 sciences ; biology, chemistry, physics and space science. After the students completed their education, they would proceed to the work force with a certain knowledge which will aid the POSCO industry. It is said that 100% of the students graduated from the POSCO University would have a place guaranteed in the POSCO company. As a result, this will ensure a good supply of number of workers entering and leaving the company.
POSCO's educational structure might be well-developed. However, the company needs to be mindful of brain drain, which means that the company needs to ensure that the workers they have painstakingly trained remain loyal to the company. To do so, POSCO education foundation (POSEF) provides 5 different levels of education. There are kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, and university. Being under POSEF for many years and having spent a large amount of time together, this would have bonded them making them feel like part of the POSCO? family.  Additionally, 60% of the employees?children are in POSEF and 75% of the school fees are paid by POSCO. This will help to prevent brain drain as people are attracted to stay in POSCO due to good future prospects.
There are many lessons we can learn from POSCO. By improving and planning for a good workforce, this strategy ensures that the labour demands are met. However, Singapore's population size is too small and we do not have many industries that need such a large work force. Thus, it is not feasible for Singapore to copy labour strategies directly from POSCO. However, need to be equally forward-looking. In fact, we have already been doing so with the building of our NEWater plant, which is part of a collective effort to increase our water supply, and to make Singapore self-sufficient. This is because Singapore does not have natural resources and we need to plan ahead to ensure our survival.
Done by:
Melvin Teo, Ang Shi Ya, Evelyn Tan, Ng Shu Fang, Tan Zheng Deok Sophie, Tracy Tham

How does POSCO Industrial remain its competitiveness?

Resources are limited, Creativity is unlimited? this quote comes from POSCO which is one of the top three largest steel industries in the world. Despite focusing on heavy industries, POSCO has found ways into the everyday lives of Koreans. POSCO was set up in 1968 but how does POSCO manages to stand above the crowd and to remain a competitive player in this world?  The following are some methods adopted by POSCO:

Being forward looking

POSCO remains competitive by being forward looking. POSCO creates win-win partenership with various countries like Japan and Mexico which aids in its expansion programmes in the future. POSCO is able to expand smoothly into foreign countries and ensure its capability to remain competitive.Smooth expansion will help POSCO to gain investor's trust and expand more as such it can grow and expand faster ensuring its competitiveness in the industry.Thus, POSCO is able to remain competititve by being forward looking.

Acquistion of talents

POSCO remains competitve by nurturing its own local talents.POSCO operate their own school which consists of an elementary school, middle school and high school. POSCO  is able to identify and groom the best talents in Korea.These talents would prove to be an invaluable assest in POSCO's quest to remain competitive. This way, POSCO creates loyal and effective workforce that increases its capability to remain competitive. This is also more cost- effective as compared to hiring foregin talents. Most important by grooming its own talent, it can meet its needs globally.
By attracting foreign talen from China, Madagascar and India,etc, POSCO is able to maintain its competitiveness internationally.Currently, POSCO's labour force consists of  30% of foreign workers who are multi-lingual. An example would be our POSCO day guide. She is from China but is able to speak fluent English, Korean and Chinese.By having foreign talents, industries would be able to have an advantage over other industries and be a cut above the rest.They would thus remain competitive.

Clean and Green POSCO

By being eco-friendly, POSCO is able to produce high quality steel products.FINEX technology is a POSCO exclusive technology which produces steel plates with a eco-friendly method that ensures that practically no damage is done to the environment. This fits in Korea's ambition to be a green and environmnentally-friendly country.This helps POSCO remain competitive as companies and investors are more willing to form partnership with green companies. In addition, the locals would support POSCO fully.Being able to form more partnership with other companies and investor means that POSCO is able to expand and grow faster. Thus, POSCO is able to remain competitive by being eco-friendly.

Strategic Location

POSCO is also able to remain competitive due to strategic location.POSCO has two branches, one located in Gwanyyang and the other in Pohang.Both are near the sea  and this will facilitate the transportation of steel. This will reduce unnecessary travelling time and hence, minimize cost. Moreover, being near the sea, they use desalinated water to cool down the machineries. This thus helps POSCO to be environmentally friendly.

Conclusion

In order for Singapore's industries to improve and grow faster, they could learn from POSCO in bringing in foreign talent besides grooming local talent. Even by having POSCO Schools to provide them with the necessary manppower, they still have to depend on foreign talent. With a small population, Singapore has greater need to attract foreign talent. Hence, we should accept foreign talent as it is an important factor to boost Singapore's ability to remain competitive in this fast-paced world.

Done by: Shiny, Jun Yang, Xaverie, Shi Jie, Ming Tong

Wise Words from the Wise Ones (And you know it's true!)

Good evening everyone and greetings from Korea. This is Mdm Koh, Mrs Lee and Ms Lim speaking. Just in case you were wondering why the teachers are blogging today, that’s because the students are busy preparing for their dikit barat performance at POSCO High School tomorrow. And so, in their place, we’ll be rounding up the eventful day for you.

We’ve just concluded a very exciting day at the Daegu Safety Theme Park and the Daegu Senior Convention Centre. The Koreans are truly very hospitable and sincere hosts. Both times we’ve visited these institutions, and we were warmly welcomed by a giant banner. We suppose their excitement comes as no surprise because we are the first overseas school to visit them. The director of the Daegu Safety Theme Park even made a special trip to meet us on his day off, and even donned a scary ghoul mask in conjunction with Halloween.

The teachers, excluding Ms Lim because she is still very young, got a glimpse of their golden years at the state-of-the-art gallery. The intstitution was started to accommodate the growing needs of an ageing population, and touts futuristic gadgets and equipment designed to enhance their quality of life.
It’s getting late and we’ve got to lock-in our beauty sleep before meeting the POSCO personnel tomorrow. The kids will be checking in with you tomorrow and update you on their eventful exchange with their student counterparts.