Saturday, November 29, 2008
I had a chat with a friend from JJC 2 nights ago, and it left me wondering about the mentality of most Singaporeans when it comes to the academic aspect of their lives. One cannot deny the fact that paper qualifications are important in this society of ours but it's definitely not the most important thing. You should be happy if you've obtained a good score for your PSLE, O Levels and A Levels etc. This is the "normal" path that most students take in Singapre and we tend to stay within our comfort zones and seldom venture out into the unknown. To leave the mainstream schools for schools like Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts or any music or design schools is to gamble with your future. Personally, I respect people who stayed true to their principles and dared to pursue their dreams.
This friend told me that she was ashamed of going back to the college to visit our teachers because she didn't obtained good results for her A Levels and is not studying in one of the private universities in Singapore and not one of the 3 local universities. I can totally understand how she felt when she said that and even though I tried my best to convince her it doesn't really matter which school you're in, it's not going to be an easy task. Having been in her shoes before back in my O Levels days, I would say my future was pretty gloomy after seeing the scores on my result slip. Deciding between the jc and poly route was easy because I wasn't sure of what course to pursue in poly and I was still too young to decide on my career path. The most important reason was that I wanted to finish my tertiary studies after secondary school fast and 2 years in jc was the best solution to it (I prefer sticking to the tried and tested jc route too).
There was no guarantee that I would make it to university after the 3 years in poly unless I belong to the top 10% of the cohort and I wanted to finish up my 2 years of NS fast too. In my ns days, I've come across a few individuals from the top 5 jcs and their A Levels results didn't allow them to pursue further studies in a local university. It was either the overseas route or choosing to study in one of the many private universities here. It really left me thinking back then, "Does being in Hwa Chong, Raffles or National guarantee you a place in NUS for example?" The answer is definitely no. What's done cannot be salvaged and it's better to look forward and see how we can further progress ourselves instead.
That was one of the main points I was trying to put across to this friend of mine. I've always wanted to go to ACJC for my jc education and honestly, it was one of the main regrets I had in life (the price to pay for not studying hard enough for my O Levels). I realize one has to be pretty consistent in secondary school and you don't start studying for your O Levels only in Secondary 4. It sounds crazy but it starts from Secondary 1 (it's a building up process). However, I see it as a blessing in disguise that I was posted to JJC to see out my 2 years of jc studies. There were good and bad days there but I'm not going to go into that right now. I just wanted her to know who really cares about your past results when you're in university currently. So what if you're the top scorer for PSLE in your primary school days and but now languishing in some lousy jc?
You can either choose to sink it in or move on and the decision is pretty simple. It took me close to year to get out of the denial mode after my promotional exams. After that, there was no looking back. It's going to be a bit tough to help this friend of mine but I believe determination and the fact that I can literally say "I've been in your shoes before and know how you feel" will hopefully help her sort out her thinking.
