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Sunday, May 28, 2006


Education system in Singapore. Nice teachers. My reflections.

Holidays=mugging days. The sad truth about schooling in Singapore. Information overload. Lessons going on at such an incredibly fast pace that students are robbed of the interest to learn. A very critical aspect of learning--feeling the desire to amass knowledge, being curious about how things work--is lost. I hate to acknowledge this, but that's the case in many of the students I meet.

Sometimes I ,too, don't feel the urge to learn more. I am almost losing the passion that can help me sustain through the stresses of school life. Which is why it's very important to develope your passions out of school. I mean, you can never depend on the school system to help you sustain your passions; it will only drain you of it.

I try as much as possible to treat studying as a form of training, to bring me out of my comfort zone and learn a bit of time management. It's not the most important thing in life; one has so much better to do than memorising those hard, dry facts that one will probably never need. Sometimes I get pissed off by people when they say their priority in life is to study hard, do well in school and that's it. Although it's great to do your well in the academic field, but what can you gain from it? A place in the best college in the world? A contract for a high-paying job? It will definitely get you somewhere, but the reality of life is that you don't succeed by having superb memory and aceing theoretical papers. The school assessment system is vastly different from the assessment criteria of the real world(gosh, I sound gp-ish).

I think Singaporean students these days lack the curiosity and thirst for knowledge that our predecessors were blessed with just a few generations ago. Many of my friends take schooling as a chore, while it is considered a luxury to attend school in so many parts of the world. We are a fortunate lot of kids, but hell, with the present education system it's tough to look at things in perspective.Many of us are just disillusioned(is this too harsh a word?).Hai~

Enough of ranting. On a happier note, I am proud to say that there are quite a number of quality teachers around me. I fondly recall the days where chatting with them and admiring their wisdom is such an enjoyable thing to do. I marvel at their ability to have endless topics to talk about, especially when we are just listening, nodding, and laughing at the occassional joke. It feels great to simply listen to their "preachings". I could see the passion in their eyes, however tired those windows to the soul may seem. They include jacintha chia, hamidah, peh, tee, yap(believe it or not i think he's a great mentor) and mrs chan. These are wonderful people with admirable qualities who guide us through our growing years. On the surface they look as though their jobscope is just to teach us the syllabus. But in actual fact, they are here to touch lives, and as cliche as it sounds, to mould the future of our nation. They are our foster parents at school. I've never told them upfront how much I appreciate them but they will always have a place in my heart. And I know of many others who love them as much as I do, or even more so. It's not teachers' day, but I just feel thankful that they had been there.

And currently I am still surrounded by nice tutors like xu, fong and teo. These days, or rather, almost everyday I see their dark eye circles and almost blood-shot eyes. Those tutors really need a break, I suppose. But I know they are doing much for us, preparing for our lessons and stuff. And not too long ago tian and I went to fong for some spa revision. The revision took only about twenty minutes or so, while the talking took up most of the time. She was telling us to work hard and stuff like that. It's not anything different from what you usually hear from teachers but it feels nice that she's taken time out to just nag about these little things in life, especially when there's still much work for her to complete.Ahh. I am getting all teary-eyed right now.

There are so many things in life I ought to be thankful for. Sometimes I let myself indulge in too much self-pity that I lose perspective of life. And there are too many people I need to thank and apologise to. I want to apologise to all whom I've hurt, whether intentionally or unintentionally, knowingly or unknowingly.I'm never one with a high EQ and I tend to say hurtful things. I'm really sorry.Sometimes I hurt those who love me the most and let down people who pin high hopes on me. All I can do now is to give all of my best in eveything I do. I don't want to disappoint anyone who loves me anymore. I don't know how, but I will excel in everything I do and let you peeps be proud of me. I promise.

boo!
8:13 PM