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Saturday, March 29, 2014
[Think about the future...]
What I am about to write today, I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. Something happened at work a while back and got me thinking about this. It took me a long time to think about how I should frame this. I have many thoughts about this, and they are all over the place. I don’t know if I’ve gotten them all organised yet, but I am going to give it a try.
I had a conversation some time back with a young man at my workplace. I don’t know exactly how old he is, but I think he should be below the age of 20. Before going further, some context would help. He’s an ITE graduate and is currently taking a “forced sabbatical” from his studies. From my prior conversations with him, I learnt that his results were not stellar and he is unsure of what his future lies, education-wise.
We were talking about how much it costs to watch football on TV at home these days, and how insane the pricing for the World Cup is. Some of us recalled how cheap it used to be, and how BPL matches was available on free-to-air TV. This young man had this to say:
“I’ve given up hope of being able to afford to watch football at home for the rest of my life. I’m just going to watch the games at McDonald’s or at the coffee-shops.”
For reasons I could not fathom at the time, I was taken aback at his sudden revelation. It took me a while to understand why.
We, as a whole, place a lot of emphasis on studies. When we were young, our parents want us to study hard, get into good schools, get a degree, find a good, stable, and well-paying job. It’s either that, or we end up as road-sweepers. I’m sure everyone’s parents have told them something to that effect.
To understand why our parents told us this, we need to consider what our parents, or indeed, their entire generation, and what they went through. I won’t go into the details here, as I think it is quite obvious. Most of them were not well-educated, the ones who had a bit more education usually ended up exponentially better than the rest.
In today’s context, this may not necessarily be true. There is certainly more than one route to success. Having an education gives you more options, but there are drawbacks. For example, because I have a degree, it makes sense (and it is possible) for me to find a stable, decent-paying job. I know people who have far less formal education qualifications than I, making more money than I do, because they have no choice but to take the roads less-travelled and things went well for them. Sure, I have the same option as they do, but people in my position usually do not take such risks. Why should we? It’s so much safer to take the road well-travelled.
However, the mindset of old has persisted. So much so that, in this young man’s case, because he hasn’t gotten the desired formal education qualifications, he has already given up.
Maybe this is a one-off case. Maybe it’s prevalent. I don’t know.
The problem with our education system and society is that it is a zero-sum game. Winner-takes-all. You’re either a winner, or you’re a loser. They can frame it however they want, but this mindset will probably not change for a few generations.
There is something very wrong with our system if a young man, yet to reach 20, has already given up hope on his future.
^^^ by Locksley @ 6:44 PM.
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Wednesday, March 26, 2014
[Mmm...]
^^^ by Locksley @ 6:46 AM.
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Saturday, March 15, 2014
[Ramen Play!]
^^^ by Locksley @ 8:46 PM.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2014
[Yum!]
^^^ by Locksley @ 9:57 PM.
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Tuesday, March 04, 2014
[Good news, bad news...]
The bad news. I'm on course today, and I ate something that gave me food poisoning. Not too serious, though.
The good news. The shoes I was wearing finally gave way. It happened at the void deck, on my way home.
^^^ by Locksley @ 8:09 PM.
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Monday, March 03, 2014
[Over six years...]
^^^ by Locksley @ 11:11 PM.
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