Thursday, August 17, 2006
Effort and reward
When a roadsweeper earnt enough for him to buy a new $200 sofa for himself, he rejoices, treating the sofa like a piece of treasure. Whenever his friends who are more well-to-do visit him and critised the design and the lack of comfort that sofa can offer, he defends his beloved sofa willingly, making a mockery out of himself in front of others.
Many parents of neighbourhood school students had told them that going to the University is the best way to secure a job with high wages and to live a comfortable life. Since the most direct route to University seems to be JC, they worked very very hard for their olevels
Many neighbourhood students worked hard and put in lots of effort to gain entry to a school like AJC. To them, it is their treasure clove, their stepping stone and the platform to their future. Having worked very hard to enter AJC, they love AJC from the bottom of their heart.
They took up s-paper, take 4 subjects, thinking that it would warrant a chance of getting scholarships. Going to University is their ultimate goal in life. It is as if that by going to a university, a higher standard of living can be guranteed and they must do all they can to achieve it. So they mugged.
The world doesn't work this way. Many who happily took s-paper had dropped them because they simply lack the intellect to take them. Some still held fast to their 4th subjects, refusing to drop it, causing AJC to be one of the few JCs with 3 subs students getting more As than the supposely stronger students who took 4 subjects. Getting a prestiguous scholarship here is almost unheard of, yet people still mug blindly.
For many, all their mugging paid off, and they are able to contribute to the unbelievable high ranking of AJC. They happily moved on to University, pondering what faculty to chose. To me, University is a place for individuals to further their understanding of their interest. To them, University is a place where they study the subject they scored the best for during Alevels. Others chose faculty based on the wages that they can get if they work in that field. Like elvin, who totally lacks the intellect or the ability to do any programming(he memorises source codes!) and wanting to study Computer Engineering in University because of the high pay, they have no passion, no real interest in their "specialised" field. Even when you get the certificate, it is a meaningless one. Nobody wants you.
When they enter the workforce, and even if they are able to find jobs related to what they studied in the University, they are just another bunch of sad Singaporeans struggling to their jobs everyday so as to earn money. In their lifetime, they can never accomplish anything, or achieve any sense of satisfaction. Working is about money.
For others, because many fields are highly competitive and studying for the sake of studying won't allow an individual to be distinct from others. An employer would prefer passionate employees as they could definitely do a better job than those educated in that particular field for the prospect of salary. Also, without passion for job, that individual is as easily replaceable as an office chair; a faceless person in a company who is not unique in any sense, as there are always others who were educated similarly by the same educational system. They are virtual clones of one another. When company wants to do a budget cut, those are the first to go.
Unaware of all these implications, life in AJC goes on as usual, with students still struggling with fmaths for the sake of "scholarships" that never came, girls continue flirting around and getting retained and our generally despised ex-councillor president still holding her head high.
Wake up.
Many parents of neighbourhood school students had told them that going to the University is the best way to secure a job with high wages and to live a comfortable life. Since the most direct route to University seems to be JC, they worked very very hard for their olevels
Many neighbourhood students worked hard and put in lots of effort to gain entry to a school like AJC. To them, it is their treasure clove, their stepping stone and the platform to their future. Having worked very hard to enter AJC, they love AJC from the bottom of their heart.
They took up s-paper, take 4 subjects, thinking that it would warrant a chance of getting scholarships. Going to University is their ultimate goal in life. It is as if that by going to a university, a higher standard of living can be guranteed and they must do all they can to achieve it. So they mugged.
The world doesn't work this way. Many who happily took s-paper had dropped them because they simply lack the intellect to take them. Some still held fast to their 4th subjects, refusing to drop it, causing AJC to be one of the few JCs with 3 subs students getting more As than the supposely stronger students who took 4 subjects. Getting a prestiguous scholarship here is almost unheard of, yet people still mug blindly.
For many, all their mugging paid off, and they are able to contribute to the unbelievable high ranking of AJC. They happily moved on to University, pondering what faculty to chose. To me, University is a place for individuals to further their understanding of their interest. To them, University is a place where they study the subject they scored the best for during Alevels. Others chose faculty based on the wages that they can get if they work in that field. Like elvin, who totally lacks the intellect or the ability to do any programming(he memorises source codes!) and wanting to study Computer Engineering in University because of the high pay, they have no passion, no real interest in their "specialised" field. Even when you get the certificate, it is a meaningless one. Nobody wants you.
When they enter the workforce, and even if they are able to find jobs related to what they studied in the University, they are just another bunch of sad Singaporeans struggling to their jobs everyday so as to earn money. In their lifetime, they can never accomplish anything, or achieve any sense of satisfaction. Working is about money.
For others, because many fields are highly competitive and studying for the sake of studying won't allow an individual to be distinct from others. An employer would prefer passionate employees as they could definitely do a better job than those educated in that particular field for the prospect of salary. Also, without passion for job, that individual is as easily replaceable as an office chair; a faceless person in a company who is not unique in any sense, as there are always others who were educated similarly by the same educational system. They are virtual clones of one another. When company wants to do a budget cut, those are the first to go.
Unaware of all these implications, life in AJC goes on as usual, with students still struggling with fmaths for the sake of "scholarships" that never came, girls continue flirting around and getting retained and our generally despised ex-councillor president still holding her head high.
Wake up.
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