Five Promises
Today, as with most weekends, I've invested a fair amount of time thinking about the future of Singapore.
When one thinks about the future of a nation, one invariably thinks of the youth & young. Why? Because they represent our future, and foreshadow what the potential & promise of that future might be. All things being equal, how Singapore will perform in 2020, 2040, 2060 will depend a whole lot on the youth & young of today, their children, and their children's children.
Today's Thought-of-the-Week entry is entitled Five Promises. Why "Five Promises"? What are these "Five Promises"?
Our first PM Lee Kuan Yew (b. 1923) is currently 87, our second PM Goh Chok Tong (b. 1941) is 69, our current PM Lee Hsien Loong (b. 1952) is 58. If we take the average of their ages when they assumed Prime Minister-ship, which comes to ≈ 46, our future "PMs to be" for Singapore in 2020, 2040, 2060 will be born approximately around 1974, 1994, and 2014 (give or take, let's say 5 years, or a term of political leadership, which sounds reasonable... given that PMs LKY, GCT and LHL all became PMs at rather different ages).
For the youth & young of today, who will (i) be the backbone of Singapore's Craft of State, Art of Society, Science of Economy, who will (ii) be responsible for keeping all 3 aspects humming along smoothly (iii) whilst accelerating strongly forward, what are some of the promises which we can provide them?
Let me turn you the reader to five promises which work. They are: (1) Caring Adults, (2) Safe Places, (3) A Healthy Start, (4) Effective Education, and (5) Opportunities to Help Others. We'll need for our very young, our young and our youth to start life early by experiencing and enjoying strong doses of each of these "Five Promises".
Why? Because they work. And it's good for them, their future, our nation, and our nation's future.
Read more on these "Five Promises" here http://www.americaspromise.org/About-the-Alliance/Five-Promises.aspx .
Research has shown (and I quote from the web-link above) that:
Children who receive at least four of the "Five Promises" are much more likely than those who experience only one or zero Promises to succeed academically, socially and civically. They are more likely to avoid violence, contribute to their communities and achieve high grades in school.
Receiving at least four of the "Five Promises" also appears to mitigate gaps across racial and economic boundaries.
To experience the full power of the Promises, young people must experience these critical supports throughout their lives --- in their families, at schools and out in their communities.
For many of us, the "Five Promises" will indeed be an eye-opener. This is because our instinct "erroneously tells us" that a good upbringing, a loving family, and an effective education are the only conditions required (i.e, they are the only conditions necessary & they are sufficient in themselves) for the flourishing of our youth & young.
What the "Five Promises" and its emerging body of research show is that there are other equally important & vital conditions, which too, will need to be deemed necessary & sufficient for our youth & young to thrive, to flourish, and to achieve --- and to do so in a responsible, sustained and community- & nation-contributing manner.
