Unwitting Participants of a Ponzi Scheme?

Man, I'll bet three months ago you would not know what is a Ponzi scheme. But thanks to Bernard Madoff, we understand that a Ponzi scheme is a "fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned." (per Wikipedia).

It seems that with the economic downturn afflicting the global economy, a great deal of attention has been placed on issues that previously are never really caught the limelight. One of them is the health insurance issues plaguing the United States. Physicians on the Medscape's Physician Connect have alleged that "commercial, for-profit health insurance is one of the greatest Ponzi schemes ever foisted on the public". As I understand it, patients do not pay directly to the doctors for treatments and prescription, but the insurance will handle it. Dubbed to be consumer driven health care, the American health insurance is a billion dollar industry. What this means? Read here.

I would like to believe that good health care should be the rights of all, especially in the self-dubbed greatest country on Earth. But it does look like the basic economic principle of "those who can afford, gets it; those who can't afford, forget it" is still at play here. Many have hung their hopes that the Obama administration will do their utmost to resolve this issue. I sympathise with the Americans who skimped on drugs that their insurance companies balked to cover or those who can't afford it, as they are the ones who are the greatest hit by the economic downturn and hope that Mr Obama and his crew will manage a miracle on this.

Malaysians should be grateful that they can get decent health care at Government hospitals with minimal payments for treatment and prescription. Even those who work in the private sector is still partially subsidised by the Government even though they pay more than civil servants. Those with diabetes and hypertension who needs long-term medication to control their condition, should they know the true price of the drugs they consume, would be a little more appreciative of the efforts of the Goverment.

Granted there is room for improvement, especially in terms of service delivery and time turnovers, but at the very least, you do get treated. Unless of course, if you decide to trust the medium/bomoh/tok dukun who promised you the cures of all ailments from cancer to baldness. Then, by all means, go to them. Let other people benefit from the Government hospitals.

Eggs for Sale?

Women are oftentimes the first and hardest hit during economic downturns. They can act as the barometer of financial weather: look for numbers of women getting the pink slip and pay cuts. Believe it or not, there are still employers who do so with the draconian idea that women always have a man to look after them; hence, it is okay to lay off the female workers first.

However, for many single parent households, it is the women who are the sole breadwinners. Married women contribute to the financial health of their family. Often times, you hear daughters setting aside money for their parents, but quite often you hear that sons do not do the same: they have their own nuclear family to support and cannot afford to do so.

There are reports that in this time of economic crisis, women are resorting to selling parts of their body. No, not the oldest profession (although motherhood is the oldest job, and to this day, still no hazard pay, pension or days off), but selling their eggs. Egg harvesting is risky, painful and financially rewarding. A sperm donation is worth only USD 60 at fertility clinics, but eggs can fetch up to USD 10,000. Many young college women have been lured with the promise of paying back student loans with something that their body discard monthly anyway. They put not just their future fertility on the table, but also their health and life. Stimulating ovulation puts undue stress on the body and the long term effect is not known, as the practice of egg donation started as recent as 14 years ago.

But seriously, what a tempting offer.

Can We Afford to be Moral?

In times of painful economy, it appears that ethics is about to take a flying leap out the window. In New Zealand, at least.

Oh, boy.

Cock of the Walk

While being driven to work this morning,I confessed to my parents this morning that I have a blog and am actively writing in it. My father's comment?

"Stay away from political and religious issues. You don't know enough about religion to comment on it."

At which point I had to smugly point out that my e-mail to Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the ex-mufti of Perlis had been placed in his website as an e-mel pilihan (insert giddy cackle). I continued on to explain that the e-mail was a long(-winded?) commentary on the sad state of the religious education for our young.

I held court in the car to my captive (literally) audience on how no one should blame the sad state of the Malay Muslim youths' moral judgement to the lack of religious education. Seriously, the national religious education curriculum (of which all Muslim children are subject to at all Government schools) is a rigorous one and covers all the basics that a Muslim should know: from aqidah, fardhu ain, sirrah nabawiyah and tauhid. There are even practical classes on how to pray. I remember being scolded by my ustazah for failure to bring the requisite telkung to school for the practical.

So why is it, with the well-crafted religious education curriculum that is taught from Primary One to Form Five, do we still say that our social ills are due to lack of religious education? Is it because our religious teachers adhere to the medieval teaching style whereby all dissent will be awarded with hell? Or the lack of a sensitive and well thought-out approach to inculcating our religious values?

Man, I could go on and on. But I had already arrived at my lab.

To Sir, with Love

Whoever said, "Those who can do, those who can't, teach." ought to be shot and mounted on a wall with a plaque declaiming "Judgmental Idiot". As someone who have been involved in the teaching industry for nearly eight years, let me tell you: teaching is not for the faint hearted.

It takes a lot of hard work, courage, determination, ingenuity and patience to be a good teacher; whether you teach pre-schoolers or university students, science or arts. You think it's easy to face 20-odd students and try to impart knowledge to them with your heart in your throat and cold sweat running down your back? It's facing stage fright every single day. Not just surviving it, but flourishing through it.

You gotta have passion for it. Respect and real appreciation for the students; be it the class sloth who sleeps everyday in your class, the slow one who doesn't seem to grasp the concept after you explained it for the dozenth time and the star who outpaced everyone including you. In my experience, the best part of teaching is when you see the lightbulb go off in their head and you know that they will carry whatever it was you showed them when they walk out. How long it stays in their head, doesn't matter, even if they lose it right after the exam result comes out.

The Schulich School of Engineering of the University of Calgary came up with Iron Science, a challenge celebrating science teachers, which is loosely based on Iron Chef, the Japanese cooking television series. I don't know how well this helps to improve science education in Canada, but it sure is a fantastic way to acknowledge science teachers and their creativity.

There is a reason why people keep making movies about teachers. Think about it.