Generalist or Specialist?

Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist in today’s working world?

What is your opinion?

 

In today’s competitive world, the ecosystem of business becomes more specific than ever, therefore specialist are easier to be hired than generalist. However, our world is not only competitive but also changing very frequently as well. In this case, being a generalist will be more competitive than a specialist because of wider job variety, better work performance and the ability to see a wider context than generalist. Which in my point of view, in this ever changing world, being a generalist is better than a specialist.

Generalists can apply jobs from different field therefore having a much secure future. For instance, a graduated engineering student with great culinary skills, good writing can apply for kitchen helper, writer other than just engineering jobs. During recession, generalists can temporary work for another job while waiting for a more suitable job. Conversely, a specialist can only wait while finding a job which matches his speciality. So being a generalist can earn bread and butter easier as they can choose different jobs in the insecure working environment.

As a generalist, different skills can be co-operated together into their work for better results. Presentation of a generalist can be more vivid than a specialist because the former may introduce different skills and elements into their work. Other than that, generalists tend to think more creative and innovative than specialist because of the wider exposure to different areas. All of these advantages show that generalists performs better than specialist in terms of working.

Last but not least, with a society of specialist, all these knowledge and skills will never be fully utilize without generalist weaving them together. As generalist have broader perspective rather than in depth understanding, generalist sees the bigger picture than specialist. Apple former CEO, Steve Jobs creates many successful products because he understands the need of consumer and combines it with technology and design. As a result, Apple creates beautiful looking electronic products while being useful in the same time. This shows that generalist also plays an important role in our society especially on the top of an organization.

In short, having the advantages to be employed while performing better in working environment as well as understand the bigger picture, generalists earn a solid stand in today’s complex working environment.

The Existence of Museum

Nowhere in the world has the issue of museum’s progress been so much debated as in society. What do the government should do about this?

In our current society, information about a culture or history can found in the internet or books in the library, museum has seem to become useless for some.However, in my opinion museum is still a great place for education purpose and preserving the relics. While the government should collaborate with the museum by ensuring the museum have enough fund and help increasing the visitors number through tourism.

First of all, museum is a great place for education about history and local culture by teaching through informal way. Students will have a more vivid memory of a past event because they can observe from different angle to the smallest details on the artifacts. For example, the fine drawings detail on the Qing Dynasty Porcelain can only be found in the museum. Students who see the Porcelain themselves will have a deeper impression of the remarkable arts compare to learning it through textbook. All in all, museum is an ideal place for learning especially history and culture subject.

Although in our modern society, information can be obtained within our reach, museums are still the best place to preserve the culture and history knowledge. Despite the advance technology we have, we still cannot replicate the artifacts or artwork from master 100 percent. Hence, museum will be the place to keep these item for study purpose while opening for public to enjoy. For example, a newly discovered tombstone can be sent to the museum for exhibition while the researcher can work inside the museum because the museum have the required storage facility and tools. Consequently, museum is the best place to preserve history and cultural items.

Daily expense can be huge burden for the museums even for those which collect entry ticket. Other than keeping the relics and paintings in a safe environment, these items must also be kept under a certain temperature and humidity to longer its storage life span. The government can provide fund for the museums to apply. Only those who reached the standard of preserving the relics will be given the fund. By doing so, the government also ensures the quality of the museums in the same time. Museum should be given financial support in order to manage the collection exhibition cost and open for others to study.

Last but not least, the government can include museum into tourism industry and advertise them as well. Tourist can learn the culture and history of the country by visiting the museum. For example, the Malaysia National museum have a wide variety of collections related with the history and culture of the past Malay, Chinese and Indian lifestyle. Tourism will eager to visit the museum because it has a rich culture and history value. For this reason, government should develop museum as a tourism spot by helping them through advertising to increase the visitors number.

In short, museum still retains its role in the society because of the need for education and preserving culture and history of our civilization. Government should help the museum through financial aid and advertise it as a tourism area.

Old and Young People

In some countries, old people are highly valued while in some culture, young people are highly valued. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

 

News about elderly being abandoned or suicide in certain countries has been frequently reported but there are also elderly who enjoy the welfares given by their nations. Youngsters, on the other hand, are highly valued in terms of resources, education, salary. In my opinion, in countries with ageing problems and culture which emphasis on respecting the elderly value their elder citizens while the youngsters energetic personality, however, either in different countries or cultures, old and young people should be equally important due to our aging population.

Old people are respectable in certain countries with ageing population problem. The reason is because they are needed to contribute to the work force to suppress the shortage problem of manpower. In Singapore, old people are encouraged to continue working after their retiring age so that they can also be the trainers to pass their skills to the younger generation. In return, the government of Singapore provides elderly care service and healthcare subsidies to them. This is an action that can ensure a joyful retiring age as retirees have less financial burden and sound health. As a result of the growing aging population, the old are not the group should be neglected and must be respected according to their personal traits and qualities.

Moreover, the culture of a country also affects the importance of the elderly. Asia countries which are heavily influenced by filial piety in Chinese culture respect their elderly. This culture values the efforts and sacrifices the elderly have made to raise their children to become a well being. Hence, it is presumed that the younger generation takes care of the elderly. If the government members are also influenced by such culture, benefits such as social welfare, accommodation and medical subsidies policy will be provided for the old as part of the nation’s development. By doing so the younger can show their gratitude to their parent even .

On the other hand, young people are valued higher in some cultures mainly because of their energetic and creativity personality. Comparing to their parents, young people can learn faster and adapt to new environment easily. This is an advantage when companies culture of working in fast pace are hiring. For instance, a university graduate can easily accommodate to the company working style because they are still a white paper while which makes them more flexible. Older generation may find it harder to get used to as their formal etiquette, culture, style will affect their workload. Under such circumstances, young people will be more important than the elderly.

From my point of view, both old and young generation share the same value because both generations are complementary. For instance, youngsters lack of the knowledge to fulfill their dreams although being energetic and passionate, older people can provide them the suggestion, social network, advice, and experience which has been accumulated through their working years.  For this reason, whether in which country or culture, both age groups should be emphasized equally.

In a nutshell, in some countries old citizens are valuable mainly because of the ageing problems and the influence from the majority culture which respect old citizens. While certain culture thinks young people are important is likely because they have the energy to learn and adapt new environment.

 

Foreign Language in Teaching

Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school. Do the advantages of this outweigh disadvantages?

 

Starting in September 2014, learning a foreign language became compulsory for all primary school students in the UK, where the most spoken languages in the world originated from. In my opinion, the advantages of the primary students’ brain structure as well as the benefits of creating a better society and broadening student’s world view in early stage overwhelm its disadvantages.

First and foremost, children’s brain in primary age is suitable for learning a new language as their neurons are actively making new connections due to the still growing brain. On the other hand, secondary students’ brain are already fully or half matured, which makes new connections harder. What’s more, compared to science subjects, learning foreign languages is easier to establish neuron connections in their brain because it does not require extensive analytical mindset but still provide cognitive exercises for the growing brain. Hence, primary students may out shines to the other age groups.

On the other hand, teaching students foreign language at younger ages is killing two birds with one stone method as it alleviates the racism issues and improve the next generations’ competitive ability. Primary students are easier to accept friends from different races because of their pure characteristics and lack of mental barrier. Besides, the minorities races will gain the chance to blend in with others if their children make friends with other races. Eventually, they gain mutual understanding by sharing their culture among each other. When children came back from school, they share this mutual concept with their parents. Therefore, children represent a bridge for their parents to get known with each other well and resolve any misunderstanding.

In addition, during the process of learning a foreign language by writing, reading, speaking and listening, not only do students learn these four basic skills of a language but also get in touch with its culture. For example, in Chinese, my mother’s brother is called ‘Jiu Jiu’ and my father’s brother is “Bo Bo” while in English both of them are called “Uncle”. This shows that Chinese culture emphasizes in family bond and pronunciation as each of the family relatives has their specific naming method. As a result, as students are expanding their language skills they will also gain a broader view of the world’s culture.

However, the UK new education policy faces a major challenge which is the lack of qualified teachers. According to British newspaper, The Guardians, despite schools are given 8 years of preparation, school investment in foreign language training were interrupted and funds were reallocated into general school budget. Thus,teachers are not ready in teaching their students to learn well. Especially when students don’t get excellent results in a foreign language test, students may give up continuing their study in secondary stage. In order to solve this problems, policymakers can simply redirect the required financial aid to schools to make good use in teaching foreign languages. This cases shows that even equipped with the best nail in the world, without the right tools the nail remains unusable.

In conclusion, learning foreign language in an earlier education stage brings more benefits than harm because primary students’ neuron growth give them the dominance in language learning and solving racism issues, improve students global culture exposure at the same time. However, only students who are learning in a well prepared environment will fully use of primary students nature advantages. Otherwise, it will become a burden for students and teachers.

Teacher and Sucesss

Some students succeed because of their teachers, other succeed with or without their teacher while the rest succeed despite their teacher.

Discuss what based on your understanding from this statement and your take from it

Success may means someone who is rich and famous or simply changed the world in a great way. In my opinion, successful people usually have a great teacher or mentor to lead them to success. However, there are also other cases such as succeeding with or without the help of teachers or succeed in spite of their teachers influence.

Many successful people like Google founder, Larry Page and famous poet, Su Shi were inspired by their teachers or lectures during their study. Not only do students learns academic knowledge from their teachers but also students characteristics are influenced by teachers through the interaction and advice given by their teachers. Teachers usually have a better understanding of the students weakness and strength through observation as a result, they can give suitable advice to the students which may lead them to success.

While there are some who still succeed with or without the help of their teachers. They may lack of suitable teachers to learn and obtain advice but have the urge to become successful. In this case they will turn to other resources such as books. In Africa, education is rare but William Kamkwamba, a 14 years old boy built a windmill which generates electricity from knowledge he learned from books in the library. His creations has lead him to become famous and inspired others as well.

Last but not least, there are whom the action of success is not influenced by their teacher. Many famous dropouts such as Mark Zuckerberg, who came out with an idea to make social interaction through the internet. Mark created Facebook during his study in Harvard, it became famous and he discontinued study to run his own company. Mark’s success had little relationship with his teachers but rather came from the universities environment. Hence, students success may not be related with their teachers even they studied from them.

Conclusively, the process of success is affected by many elements, one of the elements is the education from teachers.