Game of life: Must success always be about good grades and jobs?
In Your Opinion Podcast Game of life: Must success always be about good grades and jobs?
Synopsis: Every month, The Straits Times takes a hard look at Singapore's social issues of the day with guests.
In this special edition of In Your Opinion - filmed in front of a live audience - two youths share their experiences in starting up a business, and whether school grades would determine success at the workplace.
About 100 people attended two recordings at indie cinema The Projector at Golden Mile Tower on the evening of April 15.
The special In Your Opinion podcast live recording was organised in partnership with the National Youth Council (NYC), in support of the SG Youth Plan – an action blueprint created by youths, for youths and the world that they will lead.
About 100 people attended the live broadcast at indie cinema The Projector at Golden Mile Tower.
PHOTO: JASPER YU
The 45-minute dialogue (including a 15-minute Q&A session) was a part of The Straits Times' In Your Opinion podcast. Hosted by ST assistant podcast editor Lynda Hong, the podcast features two young entrepreneurs - Ms Adella Yeo and Mr Nabill Shukury.
The session on April 15 is the second instalment of ST Podcasts Live.
PHOTO: JASPER YU
Currently an account manager at a software company, Ms Adella Yeo Rae-Nyse had co-founded MatcHub, a startup that matched fellow NUS students to find suitable job roles based on their personality.
A part-time student with SUSS studying marketing, Nabill Shukry Johary juggles school with a business he started up in 2021 with his father - Cheekies, a home-based delivery service of healthy meals for the Muslim market - in a bid to help his family move out of their one-room rental apartment in Tampines.
Highlights (click/tap above):
1:56 Journey to entrepreneurship
7:35 The point of going to university is not just for the paper qualifications
10:28 How academic grades play a part post-school
16:15 Challenge the conventions of success
27:10 Advice for youths to forge their own success
The audience were also treated to finger food and free merchandise.
PHOTO: JASPER YU
Every voice matters, and if you want to share ideas and have your voice heard, you can do your bit in the SG Youth Plan Quest at: https://go.gov.sg/sgyp-mc
To find out more about NYC's upcoming engagement sessions, you can head over to: https://www.YouthPlan.gov.sg
Read ST's Opinion section: https://str.sg/w7sH
Host: Lynda Hong (lyndahong@sph.com.sg)
Produced and edited by: Hadyu Rahim
Executive producer: Ernest Luis
Follow In Your Opinion Podcast here and get notified for new episode drops:
Channel: https://str.sg/w7Qt
Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wukb
Spotify: https://str.sg/w7sV
Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg
---
Follow more ST podcast channels:
All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7
ST Podcasts website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa
---
Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section:
The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB
Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX
---
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
34 minutes ago
- Straits Times
‘Significant declines' in some species after deep-sea mining: Research
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Bottom-dwellers such as sea cucumbers, marine worms, starfish and crustaceans could see 'significant declines in abundance immediately following mining', research found. SYDNEY - Deep-sea mining could impact marine life stretching from the tiniest bottom dwellers to apex predators like swordfish and sharks, a major piece of industry-funded research found on July 3. The Metals Company – a leading deep-sea mining firm – paid Australia's government science agency to pore through data collected during test mining in the remote Pacific Ocean. Huge tracts of Pacific Ocean seabed are carpeted in polymetallic nodules, bulbous lumps of rock that are rich in metals used in battery production – such as cobalt and nickel. The Metals Company is pushing to be the first to mine these nodules in international waters, striving to exploit a remote expanse known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Australia's government science agency released a series of technical reports on July 3 detailing how mining could be managed. Bottom-dwellers such as sea cucumbers, marine worms, starfish and crustaceans could see 'significant declines in abundance immediately following mining', research found. Some of these species would partially bounce back within a year, but filter feeders and other tiny organisms that feast on seabed sediments showed 'minimal recovery'. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore $500 in Child LifeSG credits, Edusave, Post-Sec Education Account top-ups to be disbursed in July Singapore Over 40% of Singaporean seniors have claimed SG60 vouchers: Low Yen Ling Asia 4 dead, 38 missing after ferry sinks on way to Indonesia's Bali Singapore $1.46b nickel-trading scam: Ng Yu Zhi's bid for bail midway through trial denied by High Court Singapore Pedestrian-only path rules to be enforced reasonably; focus on errant cyclists: Baey Yam Keng Singapore Jail for 'sugar daddy' who gave minor cash for sex, threatened to post her explicit videos online Singapore Train service resumes across Bukit Panjang LRT line after power fault led to 3-hour disruption Singapore Is using Gen AI for schoolwork and tests cheating? 'On the seafloor, our research shows that there are substantial local impacts from different mining operations,' scientist Dr Piers Dunstan said during a briefing. Deep-sea mining companies are still figuring out the best way to retrieve nodules that can lie 5km or more beneath the waves. Most efforts focus on robotic harvesting machines, or crawlers, which hoover up nodules as they rove the ocean floor. The Australian scientists looked at how sharks and fish might be harmed by plumes of sediment discharged as mining waste. In some scenarios, apex predators could see toxic metals start to build up in their blood after prolonged exposure to these plumes. 'Long-lived top predators, such as swordfish and large sharks, accumulated the highest simulated metal concentrations,' scientists noted in one report. 'Risk of harm' Simulations showed blood metal concentrations would not exceed international health guidelines, and impacts were less pronounced if sediment was discharged at a greater depth. 'This project helps ensure that if deep-sea mining were to go ahead, there is a clear approach to understand potential risks and impacts to marine life and ecosystems,' Dr Dunstan said. Canada-based The Metals Company is striving to start industrial deep-sea mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone within the next two years. The International Seabed Authority – which oversees deep-sea mining in international waters – has yet to adopt long-awaited rules governing the industry. The Metals Company has indicated it could forge ahead even without the authority's approval, pointing to an obscure US law that says American citizens can recover seabed minerals in areas beyond the nation's jurisdiction. The firm paid Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – or Csiro – around US$1 million (S$1.27 million) to compile the reports. Csiro stressed it was not for, or against, deep-sea mining – but that its work would help to measure and monitor impacts should it go ahead. Energy transition expert Professor Tina Soliman-Hunter said it was one of the 'most comprehensive' pieces of research on deep-sea mining to date. 'Without such research, there is a risk of harm from mining activities that can persist for generations,' said Prof Soliman-Hunter, from Australia's Macquarie University. Found in international waters between Mexico and Hawaii, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is a vast abyssal plain spanning some 4 million square kilometres. AFP
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Boeing and Justice Department seek judge's approval for deal opposed by crash victims' families
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The deal would allow Boeing to escape oversight from an independent monitor for three years. Boeing and the US Justice Department on July 2 asked a US judge to approve an agreement that allows the company to avoid prosecution despite objections from relatives of some of the 346 people killed in two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The deal enables Boeing to avoid being branded a convicted felon and to escape oversight from an independent monitor for three years that was part of a plea deal struck in 2024 to a criminal fraud charge that it misled US regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 Max, its best-selling jet. Boeing argued the executive branch solely has the power to decide whether to bring or maintain a prosecution. 'Because it is entirely within the government's discretion whether to pursue a criminal prosecution, an agreement not-to-prosecute does not require court approval,' Boeing said, asking a judge to reject objections filed by the families and grant the government's motion to dismiss the charge. 'Disputing the government's considered assessment of litigation risk, the calculation of the maximum fine, or the appropriate mechanism for compliance oversight, do not demonstrate - even remotely - that the government was clearly motivated by considerations contrary to the public interest.' The Justice Department said in a court filing it acted in good faith and in accordance with the law, agreeing to dismiss the case for an agreement 'that secures a significant fine, compliance improvements, and a substantial victim compensation fund.' The families cited Judge Reed O'Connor's statement in 2023 that 'Boeing's crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in US history.' They argue dismissal is not in the public interest and obligations imposed on Boeing are not enforceable. If the government declined to move forward with the prosecution even if the court rejected the deal, Judge O'Connor should appoint a special prosecutor, the families said. Boeing and the Justice Department both asked Judge O'Connor to reject appointing a special prosecutor. Under the deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional US$444.5 million (S$566.1 million) into a crash victims fund to be divided evenly per crash victim, on top of a new US$243.6 million fine. Boeing in July 2024 agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Under the non-prosecution agreement, Boeing will pay US$1.1 billion in total, including the fine, compensation to families and more than US$455 million to strengthen the company's compliance, safety and quality programs. The vast majority of the families have settled civil suits with Boeing and collectively have been 'paid several billion dollars,' the Justice Department said. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
South Korea's Lee pledges 'bold' economic policy after martial law crisis
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech during a press conference to mark his first 30 days in office at Yeongbingwan of Blue House on July 3, 2025 in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Min-Hee/Pool via REUTERS SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung vowed on Thursday to implement a "bold" fiscal policy to boost a flagging economy after the country's martial law crisis and to tackle challenges posed by looming U.S. tariffs and North Korea. Lee, who was elected on June 3 in a snap election, said it was his top priority to improve the lives of the people, whose faith in government had been greatly shaken by "a national crisis" that hammered Asia's fourth-largest economy. "It is a time when the proactive and bold role of national finance is more important than ever," Lee, who has pledged to implement expansionary fiscal policy, said in his opening remarks at a news conference to mark 30 days in office. Lee's predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, declared martial law in December, shocking a nation that had come to pride itself as a thriving democracy having overcome military dictatorship in the 1980s and triggering an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Lee's administration has proposed $14.7 billion of extra government spending to support sluggish domestic demand. Parliament controlled by his Democratic Party is expected to vote on the budget bill soon. The president also said in his opening remarks that he was doing his best to achieve a "mutually beneficial and sustainable" outcome from trade negotiations with the United States. South Korea is hoping to contain the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened punishing tariffs that could weigh on an export-reliant economy with major semiconductor, auto and steel industries. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore $500 in Child LifeSG credits, Edusave, Post-Sec Education Account top-ups to be disbursed in July Singapore Over 40% of Singaporean seniors have claimed SG60 vouchers: Low Yen Ling Singapore Live: Is using Gen AI for schoolwork and tests cheating? Asia 4 dead, 38 missing after ferry sinks on way to Indonesia's Bali Singapore Jail for 'sugar daddy' who gave minor cash for sex, threatened to post her explicit videos online Singapore Train service resumes across Bukit Panjang LRT line after power fault led to 3-hour disruption Singapore 17-year-old youth charged with trespassing on MRT tracks; to be remanded at IMH Business Microsoft cutting 9,000 jobs companywide in second major wave of layoffs this year US TARIFF TALKS Lee said tariff negotiations with the United States had "not been easy," and he could not say if an agreement was possible in time for Washington's July 8 deadline when tough reciprocal import duties are set to kick in. During high-level trade talks last month, Washington raised issues related to South Korea's non-tariff barriers, as Seoul already imposes nearly zero tariffs on U.S. imports under a free trade agreement, a senior South Korean trade official has said. Lee, a liberal former human rights lawyer, said the alliance with the United States was the cornerstone of his foreign policy, but pledged a pragmatic approach as the basis of a speedy effort to improve ties with China and Russia. Peace with North Korea was not only a national security priority, but a crucial part of a "virtuous cycle of peace and economic growth," he said. Lee said tension with Pyongyang has had a real negative economic impact despite South Korea's strong military capabilities, funded by a defence budget larger than the North's total economic output. "Even if you're at war, you have to have diplomacy and dialogue. To completely cut off dialogue is truly foolish," Lee said when asked about his plans on relations with Pyongyang. The two Koreas remain technically in a state of war under a truce that ended fighting in 1953. He said he had been surprised by the swift response from North Korea after he suspended loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts directed across the border and said he would take additional steps to ease tensions. Under Yoon, who took a hard line against Pyongyang, the two sides scrapped a 2018 military agreement that sharply escalated hostility. REUTERS
