fun at nus among other things
so its the exams and my favorite time of the season.time is suddenly freed up and you feel that you have
much more time to exercise and actually study better.
unfortunately, it seems like this is not the case
and that makes my life as a student miserable.
you see, i came in with the idea of a good time. after
all i dont expect life to be difficult after my
'generally truthful' teachers told me that it would be
a much better time than the A's. so, we learn the lesson
that teachers have a different idea of a better time
than students ;) heh heh
right but the point would be why the heck am i so piss-offed
about school right now, given that i'm usually sanguine when
my expectations are not met since i'm such a laid back
guy after all. well its somewhat about my usual streak
of not bucking the trend, in the parlance of good old
game theory, i defect. lol so anyway back to the point
i just think nus students have a warped sense of achievement.
but hey, hush, we cant say that because if people start
asking why they'd have to examine the sacred cow of meritocracy.
you see this powerful gauge of having the "best" man for the
job means that you are measured according to your grades
which supposedly shows how much you know and how "intelligent"
yo really are. wow! amazing but true, so what are the
effects of that on students because the professor
"can't possibly give everyone A's", yeah even when they
deserve it. what do i mean by that? even if everything you
have done so far makes you as equal as the next guy.
somehow, due to some hmmm "internal deliberations" based on
"an objective guideline" (maybe like if you wear skirts
or if you're really ugly) tah-dah you get a grade.
ok, ok, so things dont really happen like that but you
see, coupled with (insert all systemic factors you can
think about here) and (insert all personal factors you
can think about here) you get this result
the students are stressed not because they don't know
their work, for which, of course, they deserve a lesser
grade ;) (which is the function of our dear system initially)
but because they might not get an A or do better
relative to their peers!
now thats rubbish as much as its the system. i better what
we are trying to distill from the student body is competency
rather than a sense of "better than thou-ness". so in a
sense what keeps me up at this time at night is the thought
playing in my mind that if i were more "normal" if following
the crowd was normal, and that the crowd is normal. then
perhaps i should be like them and hit level 6 of the central
library and study my ass off which is definitely what i am
NOT inclined to do. so therefore, i will be selected against.
which i am quite fine with, in case you are thinking that i'm
gonna whine and ask for sympathy and would have to get out of
some elite's uncaring face. its just that the anticipation
of being kicked out of the double major program which kinda
sucks since i'm having a good time learning all the interesting
stuff, for INTERESTS SAKE. oh come on, lemmie be idealistic here.
the lecturers may be boring if you had a bad experience but
its your own lack of creativity if you cant make the material
come alive for you. and thats the (your)problem.
if something is interesting and you increase your scope of
research you spend more time on things that are NOT TESTED!
so if you dont have photographic memory or if you have some
sort of life like friends or activities which you would like
to do, then you have to make a choice on what to sacrifice?
assuming that you want to sacrifice something else for this
"noble" pursuit (interesting study material lah).
oh well so this wrecks the happy mood i usually have during
exam season. which explains my blurry-eyed surprise when
i'm hitting the keys at 5am in the morning in a drunken haze.
hrmph i'd probably say more if i intended for no one to read
this, too bad my government doesnt believe in privacy, or
truly free expression because some members of this world
cannot control themselves and may make trouble. read: physical
violence, unruly behaviour, maybe jihad. i dont know what else.
but i sure as hell agree that only with the maturity will
they realize that expression improves things, like when you
get issues in the open that can be addressed and that it
is precisely views that one doesnt like or disagrees with
that opens up a whole new path, to a relationship to understanding
the other person, group, whatever or to be introduced to another
way of thinking. and that is truly tolerance. it isnt the end
of the world like some (its just an example, but probably the
most vivid and drives my point home) muslims would lead you
to believe when you hmmmm you get my point. seriously, will
allah fall off his throne, choke to death with erm anger
because you drew a picture of the prophet having a bomb or something?
no! if he is god he is more dignified than that. a god would
not have vengeance through the actions of people. he's too
weak to be called god if thats the case. you should probably
worship his clerics who would have your head if you didnt
afterall such fanatical devotion have given them this power.
hmmm right privacy and i get into this tirade
the post seems long enough but hey if i add a little
bit more i'm pretty sure fewer people will trawl through this.
ahhh thats the idea for a long post right? like long readings?
we make people's life miserable by hiding what is essential
amongst a heap of verbiage, verbosity... <-lol
so one of the issues of interest these days would be the farce
over our new president, mas selamat, as you can see, his pictures
are everywhere. and he's gay and narcissistic so we put his
double beside him instead of his wife (he's straight and NOT
the president of singapore, for those impressionable kids who
might get "educated" after googling this site) so anyway,
so it seems like our mr wp.low got outsmarted by mr pap.lee.
again. whats new? problem is ah low has a point but put across
in a bad manner allowing xiao lee to avoid the idea altogether.
(lights, camera, action. bad guy part 1)
in our crony-istic government house, as long as you tow the
party line, get good grades and be a perfect yes man i.e. dog
you will do well with the master. bascially we look out for
our own. no matter what, right or wrong, we will cover your
backside so that we will always seem to be in control.
we will divert public opinion and say that things are sensitive
and have to be carried out behind the scenes. we will
discipline, just trust us. so you want us to be accountable?
wait, we plan how to stage it and all the responses we can
make so we will look sey. must be professional ok
(yah of course the above didnt happen lah, movie un-stan?)
(lights, camera, action. good guy part 1)
hey we have a situation here, how do we solve it?
we must go through it together, cannot fire good, honest,
capable people because it is not their fault and it doesnt
solve the problem or prevent future problems. (well, thats
a hit, its so rational i just have to accept it)
ahhhh the movie is not playing out, i'm kindda getting
un-drunk so inspiration is leaking out like a hole in
the tank. so i'll put out the idea in short.
this is one of the few times if not the 1st time where our
perfect, demanding, draconian, authoritarian, no-nonsense
government has screwed up, at least publically. and theres
actually someone to blame and be responsible for it. naturally,
all who have suffered under the ruling party of the state
want to see, if the same measure applied unto the hoi polloi
is similarly applied to those in authority as well. retribution,
schadenfreude whatever you call it. so it really isnt about the
minister resigning. its to see how the government punishes its own
even when they are not at fault like they punish people who are
not at fault because they need someone to take the fall or be
answerable for the act. i believe in their thinking it does
justice for all the times in which they were told, who answer
when you screw up? not you what, me! so there.
accountability and answerability are the traits of responsibility
we would like to see but its human nature to want a witch to hang.
how should he have posed the question then? whether it was for the
minister to resign? i dont think so.
and hopefully i'll find the time to straighten this convoluted post
posted by green unseen @ 1:54 PM
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