not one, not two, but four posts!

well. fourth post and counting.

not much today. free, so thought i'd update.

u know how awhile back... ok actually like, two posts or so back. u can just go see it. but anyway, awhile back i was really sian of studying, and talked about how i tried but its hard and all that?

guess what, its still true.

lol. seriously though, studying is sian, and always will be. and thats whats different. i've made my peace with that. rather than be a fish who complains about the flow of the river, i just go with it. but the thing is, is this part of losing myself?

look, i've been a staunch member of the ASCIKIAGLOH. the Anti-School-Cos-It-Kills-Individuality-And-Gives-Lots-Of-Homework. now, u may dismiss this as bullshit, but look around u, and i'm sure u will find someone who's like that. the ASCIKIAGLOH is actually only a subgroup from the main body, the IHSIG (I-Hate-School-In-General). i'm glad to say we have 90% of the student population under the IHSIG flag! (the other 10% wears high socks. ) oh and btw, i bet u tried pronouncing ASCIKIAGLOH. in fact, statistics say that in the face of an acronym with more than 3 vowels, the average person will attempt to pronounce it.

ok, but point is, i've always seen school, especially Singapore's, as a giant melting pot. that maybe a good thing (see America), but i think it sucks. i'm all up for individuality and uniqueness. i believe everyone is born unique. everyone has a unique talent. for instance, i have a unique talent for pissing people off. its god-given. i can look at u, and guess with 85% accuracy what will piss u off.

but seriously, right? everyone's born unique. but our schools hardly take this into account. take Economics for instance. do u think it takes into account ur unique perspective? no, it crams a format, fixed content, a fixed structure as far down ur throat as it'll go, gives u pen and paper, and grades u on how much of that crap u can spit up in a set time limit. what we learn in class isn't how to put our own views and understanding of the world economy into prose that inspires new perspectives, its how the education system wants u to write so that u'll get an A. i mean come on, am i the only one who sees this? we go to an education system, it teaches us how to write so we'll get a good grade from its own exam, and seriously, we come out not having learnt anything of practical use. i got this image in my head right now. education is this giant talking head, and its saying "i'll force u to learn completely irrelevant stuff for 6 years or more so that i can give u this certificate and u can go get a job". and u have no choice. because society is that fucked up. how should, a job that counts on ur ability argue for the rights of ur client, got to do with freaking differentiation? yet we have to learn it.

it is at this point that i find myself taking up the commonly-perceived as childish argument that we should be allowed to take the course we want from young. why go to secondary school and JC just to learn the same thing as everyone else and get melted together? honestly, i believe my practical education ended at p6, when i learned how to read and write both english and chinese, and enough maths to order my own meal without bringing too little money.

why can't i choose to be a writer and focus on that from the age of 10? because i won't be mature enough to decide? fine, give me the option to switch when i find that its not working out then. cos thats what education is about, isn't it? we should learn things we're interested in, not learn things some guy in parliament thinks we should learn. this is my idea of a perfect education system.

we get basic training how to read, write, spell, talk, count... all the basics of life. basically primary school. then we go to educationary school (see how i made the pun, with the education plus secondary, cos i think this is the real type of education and not... ah forget it.) we pick from an entire list of subjects and the description of the subject will include what taking that subject will help u become. for instance, one such subject description should look like this.

Further English.

This is a subject which educates u extensively in the art of the english language; its execution, its style, its practicality and its beauty. its history is optional. people who want to be Lawyers, Writers, Actors, Songwriters, Poets Etc, should take this subject. people who want to be Accountants, Mathematicians, Scientists, Businessmen Etc should fuck off and die. (i'm joking. i dun get the draw of those jobs, but i respect ur choice:) )

then we go on and take the subject. then we can take any amount of subjects we want, like lawyers can take further english, further history, further chinese, further debating etc etc to help him in his job. this goes on for 2 to 5 years, depending on the subjects u choose. then u go onto pre-work education. where u actually choose specific training in ur job. like if u want to be a teacher, u go to teacher school. u want to be a writer u go to writer school. u want to be a tele-marketer u go to really-annoying-people school. etc. then after u complete that, u have a choice to further ur studies in further education, which allows u to go overseas andstuff etc etc to learn more. and if u feel that ur chosen line isnt really that appealing, u get a choice to try again.

to me, i think that would be the perfect education system. i mean, u force me to take 2 sciences and 2 arts in secondary? for nuts? if i aim to be a writer, or an english teacher, why the hell would i need to learn science? isnt that a waste of manpower and time? honestly. u want well rounded? then how come the economy isn't like that. (i take a breath here to give a warning. economics stuff coming up now. if u're allergic to any form of economics, please skip ahead.)how come singapore doesn't produce our own crops, make our own water? because its inefficient and stupid. if we can get all this by trading, then we can all specialize then everyone gains. but our education system insists on wasting our time with trivial and irrelevant stuff. seriously. if u're a doctor, knowing whether or not singapore relies on exchange rate or interest rate policy isn't going to help u.

the education system does streamline throughout the years, but way too slowly. and even at uni, ur final stop, it still only gives u subjects. it doesnt give u career choices. sociology? sounds interesting. the study of human behavior? cool. what am i going to be with a sociology degree? um, i dunno. thats how it is. its interesting how they can give u such an in depth look into what it is, how they will teach it to you, how u can excel in it, how u can learn the same subject but in different countries, but they never tell u what job it'll help u get on the brochure. isnt that what education is for? for u to get a job?

the biggest irony though, is that we often dun get the job out education aims us at. like i heard about once, i forgot who, but he got a degree in economics, and ended up being a primary school teacher teaching english and science and arts. huh.

but going back to my point, i've accepted all this and now work doesn't seem to so evil and oppressive now. i tell myself, after i graduate and hopefully go university(hopefully hopefully hopefully), i'll really pursue my dreams. but is this acceptance the first step to becoming one of the mindless fish that swims out of the river of education into the sea of practicality? (ok that was quite bad, sorry). i dunno. and i dunno what scares me more, that accepting all this and continuing to study may make me into a brainwashed product of our education system with no individuality, or that even after typing out all this, i want to accept because its easier.

anyways, i dunno bout u, but i think that was a whole load of horsecrap of what i feel and think about the education system. if u feel i've wasted ur time, i'm sincerely sorry and will try to write better stuff next time. :) hope it wasn't too bad and cya next time:)