YThursday, November 30, 2006

Singapore's Education System

I have just come upon a chilling realization. As of this moment, my greatest academic achievement was graduating from the PAP kindergarten at Shunfu Road. I don't even have PSLE. (It's a long and completely uninteresting story.) Isn't that incredibly sad? Let me create a hypothetical situation. I fail my O Levels after a freak accident at the marking centre in England. Upon receiving my results, I being to suffer from depression, I spiral downward into the deep dark abyss of drugs, alcohol and violence. As a result, I do not further my studies. When I final shake of the depression, I'm already 25.

Out of necessity, I go looking for a job. Now, wouldn't that be a most interesting situation? A 25 year old man, who greatest recorded academic accomplishment was to beat 5 year old children. I think it would make a hilarious comedy.

Value. Added. To me, this phrase makes very little sense. Whenever I pass by a school, with banners hung on their walls or fences, proudly proclaiming "We are Value-Added... Again!!!", I can't help but laugh, roll my eyes, or pass remarks with disdain. Human beings are not numbers. People develop at different levels, some earlier, others later. You can't predict a person's ultimate level of intelligence from results obtained in primary school. I have some friends, who are were in the "Gifted" program, who are now, not doing as well as me, an "Express" student. I have other friends, whose results weren't as good as mine in secondary one, but now, unfortunately for me, have surpassed me. Singaporeans may not have much creativity, but we are not quite as predictable as some may make us out to be.

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Blogged @ 12:00 AM

YMonday, November 27, 2006

Yea... First Post

So... yea. I started a blog. The thing is, that I have until this point, always been one to dislike blogs. I do not enjoy reading about some teenage girl's mundane day to day life, neither do I enjoy reading massive 1000 word paragraphs of "^_^LOLZ!!!111!! hahaz! omgomgomgomg! lyk dis iz so 2pid!!!111".

Yet here I am, working (if this can be considered work), somewhat slowly, in my lazy and carefree way, on my very first post. There are three main reasons for this. First of all, I am so very, completely, incredibly bored. I just finished my O Level exams, and after months of monotonous, if not constant, memorising of utterly useless facts, my current state of not having to do anything at all seems rather boring. Thus, this blog was formed to use up a sizable amount of my time that is not utilized in a meaningful manner.

The second reason, is of course, a desperate attempt to boost my ego by getting more people to care about my life. I would say most, if not all of you who have stumbled onto this blog would probably be familiar with a fellow Singaporean blogger, who has somehow or rather, eked out a living based on having complete strangers read about her uninteresting life. Yes, you know who I'm talking about. That little girl who touches up her face with photoshop in order to look more attractive. Now, my thinking is, if she, a talentless 20+++ woman can do it, why shouldn't I, a similarly talentless 16 year old boy be able to do so as well?

The third reason. I need a place where I can gather all my thoughts, organize them, so that in future I will be able to see my previous thoughts, whether I have changed in any way shape or form, and whether it is an improvement or not. A journey of self-observation, if you will.

So that's about it. I know I still have a lot of work to do, with the basic crappy layout and all, but I'm sure I can get help from my blogging friends. This blog is still a work in progress, and I'm not quite sure what I want to do about it. Who knows what possibilites are in store for me.

Blogged @ 9:30 PM