Facebook is Evil..


      Yes. I am talking about the social networking site which most of us use. A report in Wall Street Journal found that the phenomenal amount of personal information shared by Facebook members might be sold extensively to marketers, advertisers and data collectors.
       It is estimated there are 500 millions users in Facebook. And there are hundred thousands of applications in Facebook. When you connect to any of the application, you agreed to share your information with them. I am sure many of us are familiar with FarmVille, Pet Society, Bejeweled, Mafia War, etc. These are some of the most popular games in Facebook. Once you connect to those apps, your personal IDs and profile will be shared to them.


     I also got a shock when I went to one of the website. I just need to supply some basic information without password, I can see whatever I have posted in Facebook - photos, status, comments,.. I still wonder how on earth that website able to get such information.

     When you put your photo, your profile, personal information on the internet, you will need to bear the risk of exposing your privacy. Although it is the website or company's responsibility to protect your privacy, you yourself have to be careful as well.

     Most of the kids nowadays have accounts in multiple social networking websites like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. It is worrying that their privacy might be compromised. Kids might unknowingly exposed their identity to strangers. So, as parents, I guess it is important to guide your kids.


Some of the tips that you can advice your kids:
     1. Do not post your latest status too clearly or the things you going to do, e.g. "Going to watch movie at Cineleisure tomorrow".
      2. Do not know actual name or spell your name in full.
      3. Do not 'connect' to unknown apps in Facebook.
      4. Remove/Delete the apps if you are not using anymore.
      5. Try to befriend with your kids in Facebook. This will help you to know what have they posted or how frequent they use Facebook.

     As a parents, you will have monitor, guide and protect your kids and their privacy. If you have any tips, feel free to share.

     This month and next are the tough time for many students. There are year end exams and other important assessment like PSLE for primary 6 students,  O-Level, A-Level in Singapore, PMR and SPM in Malaysia.

It is the busiest month for the parents too.


     Nowadays some of the parents are more nervous than the students! The parents will stay up late to do last minutes preparation with the kids, take week off to teach their kids and some even quit their job to prepare the kids.

   On top of that, Singapore newspaper reported that $820 millions was spent on private tuition in 2008. This is not something new. The students are burdened with tuition classes after school. Students have to attend tuition in English, Maths, Chinese, almost all subjects, every week. Imagine if one subject requires 2 hours per week, it will be 6 hours per week! Reported in another article that in 100 students polled in 2008, only 3 students do not have any tuition at all.

    This is worrying!

 
     Are the parents spending too much on the kids' tuition? Are we burdening the kids with too much tuition classes, enrichment classes on top of their school?

    With the highly competitive society, most parents think it is necessary!
Most parents are not hoping their children to be high flier or high-income earner. They just want their children to have a competitive edge and able to find a decent job. According to NUS admission statistic, there are 25984 undergraduates enrolled for 2009/2010. This is just one university, there are three local universities. There are about 60000 per year! Not to mention, graduates from overseas universities!

     Will you want your kids to be left out??