What it means to be 'Global Ready' editorial by Joshua Goh from NJC
During Suan Teck Kin’s speech, he talked about Singapore being a very small country, with a very small domestic market. Hence, in order for Singapore to continue growing and for Singaporeans to be successful, we have to branch out to other countries in the region – which in our case would be ASEAN.
Now, in an increasingly diverse world, we have to be able to understand the cultures of the different countries around us. The better we understand the environments in the various countries in our region, the more “global ready” we are – which is a term coined by Dr. David Ong, the Chairperson of Singapore Mentorship Committee. “Global ready” means that you are able to thrive well in other countries besides your own, with a complete understanding of the culture and language. Thus, we cannot be 100% “global ready” as having a complete understanding of the local culture of every country is almost impossible, but we should strive to be as “global ready” as possible to equip ourselves for the future as best as we can.?
Suan Teck Kin said that the big countries like US, China and Europe are important, but also emphasized on the importance of Southeast Asian countries, since they are the closest to us and we should capitalize on that as it is a region with much growth ahead of it as well as Southeast Asia being the closest region to us.
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One key takeaway I had from this walk was that if we have the chance to go overseas, such as for an internship or for a boarding program, we should take the opportunity. He also advised us to learn a third language if we can, saying that while we are young, we should strive to build up as much cultural knowledge as we can, be it from Southeast Asia or from any other region in the world. This speech allowed me to realise the importance of Southeast Asia. We should be willing to learn about the culture and environment of countries around us, because it is the region closest to us and any kind of cultural exposure is useful, no matter from what country.
Joshua Goh?
National Junior College
09 March 2024