YOU would think politics and social issues would be topics of discussion when about 180 bright teenage girls from around the world gather for a convention aimed at moulding them into future leaders.

The girls, who are here for the Raffles Girls' School (RGS) International Convention for Youth Leaders, showed that talk of boys and complaints about school work still trump debates on world affairs.

It was refreshing to find out that between talks with female diplomats and psychoanalytical tests to uncover their leadership styles, the girls found time to indulge in gossip.

I was ready to stereotype them as brainy and driven youths who cared only about winning that debate or getting full marks for tests. But I had to eat my words.

The girls, who hail from countries like India, Vietnam and Australia, turned out to be delightfully human.

They chatted about their hobbies, interests and complained about school work and teachers. And of course, they asked one another if they had boy friends.

I asked them why they decided to spend their holidays at the five-day event.

And the reason was simple. They wanted to make more friends.

RGS student Thng Yu Xing, 14, said: "We don't get many chances to meet youths from so many countries. I hope that we will become good friends and would like to keep in contact with them via email or MSN."

Don't judge a book by its cover.

I'VE ALWAYS counted my blessings for making it through to university.

I wondered many times how I would have turned out if I were not suited to Singapore's education system.

For the less studious, the pressure cooker is the bane of their lives.

I had friends in primary school who struggled mightily to pass their Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).

If only there was some way to avoid the plunge in self-confidence and diminishing of self-worth they suffered with each failed test.

I am glad that now, less academically inclined students need not experience what my friends did.

Assumption Pathway School will take in students aged 13 to 16 who have failed the Primary School Leaving Examination, next January (2009). It aims to give students a foundation in the basics and equip them with technical skills.

Importantly, it is a place where students can discover talents beyond school books.

Year one student Odilia Seraphina Soh, 14, said she twice failed her PSLE exams. She describes Assumption Pathway as the answer to her troubles.

She said,  "I tried hard to study but I could not pass Maths. It was so hard. I asked myself what can I do since I'm not good at studying? Now at the school, I learn job skills. I know I have a future and I've found that I am good at cooking."

Mr Adam Lua, 40, said it is important that struggling children, like his son Fadrick, have other avenues to discover their talents.

"I scolded and hit him when he failed his secondary one exams the first time. I stopped when he failed it the second time. I saw how he had lost his confidence. I think this school can be a place for him to regain his confidence as he finds out that he has other talents."

While it is early to gauge the success of Assumption Pathway, its creation is a milestone for Singapore's education system.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.

I would think to myself: “My mother would never let me go out of the house dressed like that”.

The issue of school dress raised its head recently when the The Management Development Institute of Singapore started cracking down on students, banning mini-skirts, tube tops, facial piercings and flip-flops among a host of other things.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a member of the fashion police.

I don’t think my university attire, which comprised mainly of jeans and t-shirts, qualifies me to judge.

But I think sloppiness is unacceptable.

I asked my friends who stayed in residence why they turned up for classes in what looked like sleepwear. Think threadbare t-shirts, running shorts and plastic slippers.

They told me they saw no need to dress up as they had no one to impress in school.

I disagreed. As the saying goes, clothes make the man. It says a great deal about how you view yourself if you turn up everyday looking bedraggled. It shows a lack of interest in learning as well as a lack of respect for your surroundings and classmates.

However, it was not all bad. My classmates and I started to dress better after we returned from a six-month internships during our third year in university. From our interaction with our colleagues as well as meeting other adults in the work force, we learnt the importance of looking presentable.

Many of my lecturers said they look forward to seeing the annual transformation of their students from sloppily-dressed youths to polished adults.

The Management Development Institute of Singapore does seem to be coming down hard on its students. I hope school officials will lighten up a little in the time to come.

But I feel in the long-run, students will benefit from the new dress code. Learning to take care of their image will put them in good stead when they enter the workforce.

Read the full report in The Straits Times today.

Minutes later, when raindrops appeared on the screen, the girls said they could almost feel the downpour.

But the lesson does not end there.

Principal of Crescent Girls' School Mrs Eugenia Lim (left) sat with her students and guests during a demostration of i-Connect@Crescent, an hi-tech initiative which allow pupils to see 3-D visualisations of riverbed erosions in Geography lessons.
ST Photo: Terence Tan

Crescent Girls' School student Khoo Li Yan, 15, communicating with her peers from both her school and fellow Geography students from China during a video-conferencing session.
ST Photo: Terence Tan

Huddled around a web cam, they started a video conferencing session with pupils from China.

This is a regular day at Crescent Girls’ School, which has been designated by the Education Ministry as a “future school”, or place that will be a testing ground for new gadgets.

Technology is rapidly transforming learning and teaching in classrooms here and students are jumping onboard.
Secondary two pupil Toh Yan Ting said: “Sometime it is quite hard to understand the concepts because we have to visualise them in our minds. Now we can can actually see what the concepts mean.”

Secondary three pupil Ann Nivedha agreed.

“We used to only be able to find out about other countries by reading books and going onto the Internet. Now, we have the chance to talk to other people living in other countries and find out for ourselves what we learnt in books means to them.”

The girls tell me they cannot do without their trusty tablet computers, which store everything they need from timetables to course outlines to homework.

Using instant messaging and file sharing technology on their computer, they can communicate with their classmates and teachers to get feedback on assignments.

Isn’t it exciting to be a student now?

But all these impressions changed after meeting CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity art teacher Nur Ilyana Mohamed Anwar who for the last three years has been teaching her students to use PowerPoint to create art pieces.

The girls created mini masterpieces with the tools like auto shapes and 3-D shading.

Coloured with the delightful array of hues provided by the programme’s colour palate, the pieces were feasts for the eyes.

Title: Hop Hop Hop
Artist: Jamie Chow, 11

Title: Oink
Artist: Alicia Chan, 12

Title: Pet Shop Dance
Artist: Marcella Chua, 11

Title: Three Delicious Looking Pies
Artist: Marcella Chua, 11

Title: Who Stole My Cheese?
Artist: Vera Sng, 12

Title: Under The Sea
Artist: Tan Yi Ting, 12

The reactions of the students while they were doing their art work was priceless.

They were smiling in delight as they clicked their mouses to change the colours of their pictures. Crowding around their classmates computers, they got into in-depth discussions of what colours would suit the teddy bear the best.

PowerPoint allows everyone to be an artist.

You do not need good sketching skills or need to have steady hands.

With a click of the mouse, you immediately can get a perfect circle which you can fill in without worrying about colouring beyond the lines.

And the best thing is that it is installed in most computers.

I think I will be trying my hand at creating some art work with PowerPoint soon.

Read Amelia's full story, Turning PowerPoint into an art.