To my ex-students: The truth about the ‘A’ levels.

Sat, 3 Mar 2012
4 min read
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(This was written by Ivan Gn, an ex-colleague of mine and has been edited slightly for style.)

I wanted to use a S'porean/Asian picture but everything I got from 'getting exam results singapore' looked so subdued!

I know that many of you are having the jitters about the impending release of the ‘A’ level results tomorrow.

So am I, for I – like you – have no idea what your results are like.

Nevertheless, I want to share with you some things I learned since I took my ‘A’ levels.

***

Tomorrow, you might find that you did well for your ‘A’ levels. Or you might not.

Either way, I hope you accept the reality of your results as they are and deal with it maturely.

Cry. Tears of joy; tears of sadness – let it all out. It was a tiring two years (for some, three). At the very least, you deserve a pat on the back for sticking it out.

You may not do well for the ‘A’ levels, but you’ve gained many other things like friends who will be there for you for the rest of your life.

If you do well, be the pillar of strength for the friends who haven’t. They need you now.

But remember – this isn’t the end. When the tears have been wept and the emotions have died down, all of you will need to find the strength to take the next step.

So don’t be left behind. Don’t let the results of an examination run your life.

***

Many of my friends who didn’t do well for the ‘A’ levels turned out to be the most successful in life.

One of them is a millionaire running his own business. The other is a social worker who was featured in the Straits Times some years ago doing “the most fulfilling work of her life”.

Many of them are earning more than me, or are living a happier and a more carefree life, simply because they had a great attitude and wanted to succeed regardless of their results.

They never gave up, even though they didn’t succeed at the ‘A’ levels.

They all took different paths to success, many of which might be unfamiliar to you right now.

University and higher education might not be your options tomorrow – but neither are they pre-requisites of success.

Some of these ‘failures’ worked hard in night school and worked hard to earn their dreams.

Others took it upon themselves to build an empire instead.

A few decided that life sucked and lingered in the darkness.

Who will you be?

***

If you do well, be humble and remember that a piece of paper is by no means a ticket to success either.

No one really cares about your results beyond the university you apply to or your first job offer.

Compared to your peers, your results might open more doors. But whichever doorway you step through is a very important choice.

Ask yourself what you want in life, and do something you’ll enjoy. Life’ll be more fun and meaningful down the road.

Don’t read a subject just because it’s cool or because your parents want you to.

Make an informed decision about your choice of course and live with it. From here on, no one is going to babysit you like we did.

Enjoy your life in university.

Do things you never had a chance to do, or things you never will do after you graduate.

Because this might be your ONLY chance to do these things, don’t live to regret not doing what you could’ve done.

Be open; make more friends; see the world.

Have a good attitude and if anything, remember these words from someone who’s been there and done that – things will always turn out fine.

On keng-ing – with a valid reason.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012
2 min read
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I received a comment on my previous post which I don’t agree with entirely.

Nevertheless, I’m publishing it because it presents a counter-argument to the topic of keng-ing ICT:

Do consider that people can be held back from obtaining jobs and/or career advancements because of an ICT they have to attend.

Not everybody’s boss is as understanding about ICT and as willing as other bosses to give up their human resource.

Not every line of employment allows for work to be cleared from home, offsite or after a few weeks.

And not every unit is as kind or as understanding when allowing for deferment of an ICT for work purposes.

In the not uncommon case, consider the scenario when – mind you, it’s when, not if – one gets called up for ICT during the period of a major event such as a trade show.

If deferment is refused, one can kiss his advancement or even job security goodbye.

In a much more common scenario, one may just be refused at the point of hire because of an impending ICT or one’s NS liabilities.

So what’s fair and unfair?

What would you do to put bread on the table, especially when you know you need to be looking out for yourself?

Because our country sure ain’t gonna do that and not everyone is in this wonderful position where he can go for 21 days of ICT and expect to come back to the same job and income.

I, too, hope for changes to the NS system but let’s not play the moral police and demonize all who ‘keng’ for their myriad of reasons.

NS is military conscription. The citizen is not provided with an option or choice.

One cannot be faulted for simply wanting to find a way out from this arrangement.

PREVIOUS POSTS:

  1. Back to normal programming – but at what price?
  2. Back to normal programming – but at what price? (Part II)

Back to normal programming – but at what price? (part II)

Tue, 28 Feb 2012
3 min read
2 Comments

Compromise is not an option. But chao keng is.

Someone from my unit couldn’t join us for this year’s ICT, but he had this to say in response to my post [1]:

First, congrats on the ATEC evaluation [2]. I heard that the unit’s results were great, so kudos to all of you. I really wish I could’ve been there.

Anyway, I read your blog post so here are some of my thoughts on the matter.

Let me start off by playing the devil’s advocate:

  1. It’s your own fault for not keng-ing too, and
  2. How equal is equal? What should be the level and the kind of compensation that would justify service?

On the matter of keng-ing
Unfortunately, I think the first statement is one that people who keng (and trust me, many people come to mind) will immediately respond with, and I don’t think that it is a necessarily bad option.

The fact that this statement can be made suggests that the system rewards those who keng; that is to say, the penalties for keng-ing i.e. not enjoying tax benefits for a financial year are not punitive enough.

To be even more cynical – given that this is Singapore – perhaps what we need are more sticks, not carrots, to get people to serve.

Parity and compensation
This leads me to the second point about parity: you served 2.5 weeks whereas I served none.

So what kind of measures would ensure our contributions were equal? If I did community service?

Unfortunately, the system again seems to be rigged, because those who can keng are those with the wherewithal to do so – be it finding a new job or studying overseas, or paying off a specialist to write letters so that they can get out of serving.

When the system seems to be so rigged, is there any way we can wring any kind of equivalence out of it?

***

I remember my colleagues and I once discussed this matter over lunch.

I naively wondered out loud if we could pay people who served their ICT a quantum over NS make-up pay.

Hence, servicemen would not only get make-up pay to ensure no loss of wages, but also an additional quantum on top of that based on a couple of factors such as rank, ability to be deployed in the field, etc.

Of course, my peers and bosses told me I was silly and that no one would pay for it.

But that’s the Singapore mentality, isn’t it?

Because they don’t care who does the work as long as it’s done, for a nice low price.

Hence, people who are stellar performers like [redacted] get earmarked to do more and more, and people who keng fall through the cracks.

The point I’m trying to make is that unless the current model of NS changes – and changes dramatically, at that – these systemic problems of inequality will be perpetuated.

And for that kind of change, we’ll need political change.

***

In any case, I feel bad about missing the ATEC evaluation. I really do.

And when it comes to my turn to make up the training I’ve missed, I know I’ll have to go to some other unit and train with perfect strangers.

And that’s a part of the price I have to pay, and it’s a price I’ve accepted.

But I don’t think that this kind of sentiment is common.

I don’t know, really.

Maybe I wrote this long message out of guilt because I missed the ATEC evaluation with you guys and your blog post was a convenient starting point…

LINKS

    [1] …in response to my post:

    [2] the ATEC Evaluation.