Monday, August 7, 2013

A slim serious-looking woman wearing glasses entered Toa Payoh Vets and introduced herself. She was the Raffles Institution teacher who placed two Sec 4 interns at Toa Payoh Vets and presented  today at around 12 noon. She introduced herself and asked where the two interns were. "They have not arrived yet," I told her that the younger generation of interns at Toa Payoh Vets nowadays are not punctual and that is the culture. So I do not get upset. She was much surprised as the interns had been briefed on punctuality in internship. If they are late, they are to inform me, produce a parent's letter of explanation or a medical certificate.

One boy turned up half an hour later saying the other was seeking medical treatment. It is very difficult to be a teacher placing interns. Interns who are not punctual jeopardize the opportunities for future interns as the veterinary practice  may not want to be involved in giving them places.

So I can understand the teacher's concerns about placing Sec 4 interns in various industries for 2 weeks to give them exposure to future careers in veterinary medicine during their holidays. Actually, the interns worked 8 days as the other 2 days are part of Singapore's National Days and they don't work during public holidays and on Sundays.

"Teachers are emasculated by complaining parents nowadays," I said to the teacher. "Some vocal parents of top don't want them to work during Sundays and public holidays. So, the Singaporean leaders of tomorrow grow up thinking that the world owes them a living and they are entitled to work only during office hours. This can't be helped. The young will learn the hard way when they start work and if they are ambitious." 

I told her that I have accepted that the younger generation of interns are not usually punctual for internship at 12 noon to 8 pm. Even if they are from the top schools, this behaviour seems to be widespread.

This seems to be a culture of youths who sleep late and can't get up in the morning if they don't have to. Singapore is an affluent country and with that, the hunger of the young students is no longer present unfortunately generally with interns working at Toa Payoh Vets.

However, if these interns can produce good educational video, they make a difference in educating pet owners and vet students. One young man uses a tripod to create the video on ascites and I look forward to watching this movie as he takes a lot of trouble to produce it, together with his classmate.

Perhaps a dog's life is saved when the viewer researches and checks out the videos related to his or her pet's healthcare and seek early treatment. And that is what matters more to me than being punctual.  Performance counts in real life and in internship. But being punctual is part of a good personal integrity. It reflects a person's commitment and sense of responsibility expected of top scholars.

The videos produced by interns are at:  Veterinary videos to educate vet students & pet owners

This is a dedicated teacher as she does checks on the students as well as on the company. "How old is she?" I asked one of the boys. "She is 2000 years old!"  I was surprised to know that there is a 2000-year-old teacher in my old school.

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What is the best software for video production?  My interns use the Windows Movie Maker and the Apple's iMovie. Both are free. Some experts tell me it is Final Cut Pro. It is expensive

Some discussions of the best video production software is at:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=78546.0

Much time is needed to produce a video and I am most grateful to the interns for collaborating with me on producing veterinary educational videos. A few of the videos are very good. Collaboration is the way to go for the future as one vet cannot produce such a diverse range of videos no matter how creative he or she is. The vet has much to do to sustain the profitability of his practice and manage the staff.  Video production with interns benefits the vet as veterinary medicine and surgery is re-visited and the practising vet's continuing education is enhanced through the patient task of guiding the interns to produce good content and entertaining videos.   

Final Cut Pro software is probably a top notch complicated software. Some interns use their free software other than the WMV or iMovie. This results to a wide interesting diversity of vet educational videos produced at Toa Payoh Vets. Viewers are never bored as each new video from various interns is presented in different styles!