I hate the fact that we are just so damned obsessed with branding ourselves with a clean slate of 'A's; so much so that education is starting to look like a demerit good instead of a merit good. I don't believe that anyone doesn't recognize the value of education anymore; the problem now is that people are placing too much value in education - rather the fake portion of it.
Tuition fees are obscene, reflective of the ever increasing demand for tuition, or the fact that parents are hard-pressed to send their children for tuition because they "have no choice". (Tch. Rather, they don't trust their children's ability enough.) But this is not merely a transfer of wealth from parents to tutors, this insane pressure from parents creates unnecessary stress for children, who have their childhood sucked out of them for the sake of better grades. More of us pupils are being taken to the Institute of Mental Health during examination periods; our teachers are also become increasingly stressed; our myopia rates are among the top in the world... There are many externalities associated with such transactions.
Education has lost its meaning and significance, and most of the time, there is no room for creative thinking, no feeling, no passion, no anger, no anguish, no heart. We cram formulae that we would mostly find useless later on in life, and even GP becomes mechanical. Who says you can't mug for GP? They look for the same points, same structure, same style, same interpretations, same everything. You will only get burnt trying to wander off the same path, as did I. Whoever said you can't mug for GP just isn't trying.
We are machines operating over full capacity. Over-stretched, over-stressed, over-exploited, most of us students get so fucking caught up with droning along the production line that is the education system just so that we can stick our high foreheads out to hopefully get labelled by some old Englishmen(educated and qualified, nonetheless) half a globe away with a triple 'A' rating. Our character, our passions, even ourselves become secondary, overshadowed by the artificial importance of grades. Grades become our identity, and soon we succumb to the sad truth that we are merely products with various ratings. Is that really where our importance ultimately lies?
The way we are being labelled isn't that bad. The mother of our labels is the bell curve, the nefarious statistical tool that has the ability to decide a person's future. No matter how hard everyone tries, there will inevitably be people at the top scoring their A's, while there will always be people who, without fail, fail with an F/U grade. Even if you managed to score at least 70% in the exam, you're still going to get F/U if you are the last of the cohort
Most of us drive the nail into our heads just because every one else is doing it; if we don't, we'll only get hammered by others. Unfortunately, unlike the "AAA" slices of CDOs which were insured with Credit Default Swaps should they fail, we aren't; but even those failed too. There is just not enough room for failure, only success. So much so that there is no room for anything else: No room to be creative; no room to be compassionate; no room to care about climate change; no room to express ourselves freely. Worst of all, there is no room to be ourselves - we sad, sad generation of people. We are, after all, only human; but there's no room even to be human.
Besides, how much do we really learn from CIP - the quintessential segment of our testimonials that we decorate so blatantly with - anyway? Though there are people who truly care, how many of us actually do? Like I said, in our education system, there is no room to be compassionate simply because there isn't enough time. CIP is merely a necessary task to undertake so that we can boost our artificial identities enclosed within those portfolios. The stages where we develop compassion for others, or even a passion for anything we want to do are supposed to be in our teenage years. Sadly, most of us spend so much of our teenage years mugging so much that our EQ suffers, with no general opinion, no ambition, no life; until we devolve into a rude bunch of dull fucktards that people complain about ever so often.
Well, look at it this way:
What started off as a million dollar website for Singaporeans to be a web version of The Straits Times has turned into this GOSSIPY and LOW BROW site mostly having people snap shots of unknowing citizens participating in various disgraceful activities. Like eating on the MRT or leaning on the MRT pole. Or bad parking. Or students kissing. Stupid shit like that. -Xiaxue
STomp.com is a reflection of us trying to act all civilised to correct social "ills" which aren't ills most of the time, act intelligent and be know-it-alls who constantly troll the naysayers. Civilised? More like uncivilised bickering. I need not quote more evidence to show that we are, who we are... But hey, isn't that an identity in itself too? -.-
However, despite whatever I've said, getting to the top in the education system is still the fastest ticket up the ladder of society to get the best job that we can. If we don't follow the easiest path, we had better be damned sure about the alternative, and be pretty damned hard working at it, or we'll end up screwing yourself upside down.
Still, it is tragedy if we perceived that all there is to education as a way to get better jobs. Ultimately, getting to the top in the education system isn't everything, what matters most is the knowledge that we gained, the joy we are supposed to have while acquiring all these knowledge, instead of memorizing stuff and not learn its applications in life. Speaking of life, get one now, before it's too late.
Acknowledgements to Adeeb, friend of a friend who gave me inspiration to write this; Leong Ching from the Business Times writing about the "Edvantage". And even this, I am doing for the sake of gathering content for GP... -.-
Dante out.
P.S.
I quite like this poem. Even though it was written in a fictional context, referring to Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings, I find it quite applicable to us. :D
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king
- J.R.R. Tolkien, in his novel, Lord of The Rings
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