THE STRAITS TIMES: FORUM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2004

“THANKS FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP, NOW TO TRY FOR A BETTER ONE”

I would like to narrate an incident which left me in consternation, and which cast doubt on the efficacy of the scholarship selection process, the values our youth are being inculcated with and Singapore’s future.

The following is a conversation at a dinner party, where I was conversing with a former student of my junior-college teacher friend.

Me: Doing your national service? What are your pans after that?

Youth: I’ll be studying in France on a scholarship. But I’m still applying fro others.

Me: Even though you’ve already got a scholarship? What happens o the current one then?

Youth: Oh, I’ll drop it. It’s only $1,000.

Me: Someone else (more deserving) will be deprived of the scholarship then?

Youth (with a shrug): It’s a competitive world.

Me: Let’s say you don’t get another scholarship; when you graduate, would you be serving Singapore with devotion?

Youth: Probably.

Me: Not good enough.

It made me wonder what was going through the young man’s mind as he revealed these disturbing thoughts to me, almost a stranger, and with such nonchalance. Let’s hope that such sentiments are not widespread.

It may be good to be pragmatic, but surely qualities like honesty and integrity are important?

Perhaps an emphasis on the humanities might serve Singapore better.

A couple of questions arise: How did he manage to convince the scholarship committee of his sincerity in serving the bond Is the selection process so porous, or is Singapore so lacking in talented youth?

If the people filling top positions in the public service possess such a mentality, it does not augur well for the future.

Surely $1,000 is still a rather substantial sum in these times to be dismissed so carelessly? More importantly, the responsibility and privilege of a scholarship should not be taken so lightly. Scholarships would have lost their meaning and purpose if this were so.

It is ironic that scholarships are awarded to those who can afford the expense of tertiary education – those who would have least need for them.

DANIEL CHUA CHIA HOE

* * *

If I were to ever meet that selfish multi-scholarship bastard I would probably give him the finger and tell him to fuck off. I won’t beat him up as yet as his cronies who think he deserves welfare, being a “scholar”, will come to his protection. I bet he is damn fucking rich to say that a thousand dollars is no big deal. At least you got your scholarship, asshole. Why don’t you shut up and take it? Or you shouldn’t have applied for it in the first place, because you didn’t like the money they give you. So just let somebody who really needs the scholarship more than you take it.

I can’t believe that us taxpayers are paying for this kind of shit to go and further their studies and when they come back, they act even more shit and give us a hard time. And on the part of the scholarship selection committee, what kind of sweet stories did they hear, or did they think this guy is great because he scored A’s for all his subjects so he ought to get the scholarship.

Has the world gone mad?

Not too long ago this young lady who scored A, B and C for her A levels wrote in and lamented that the scholarship review committee that received her application threw hers out of the window within 24 hours. Someone else wrote a response with the implication that “scholarships should be for the best of the best” and that taxpayers should not pay for people who didn’t scored all A’s, because the all-A’s people deserve the money for their academic achievement.

See, it all boils back down to academics again. Let’s stop all the bullshit about considering other factors. Face it, academics is still the big fish. No all-A’s and no S papers, forget about the scholarship. It’s as good as cruelly denying people a chance to complete their education.

Talking about the PEARLS system in the JCs… It is a damn screwed-up system, whereby there is rigidity about what is to be counted and what is not to be counted. Don’t expect to participate in as many activities as you want and doing well for them, because not all are going to make it into your PEARLS record. You must strategise your participation in order to gain the maximum number of points possible. Isn’t it ironic? You are judged by your shrewdness and not your active support. You’ll only see people learning to scheme against one another, trying to backstab one another so that they’ll get the top committee post they are vying for and the poor soul loses his chance to gain points. Yeah, to quote that asshole, it’s a competitive world. But the dog-eating-dog habit has seriously gotten out of hand. Singapore looks like a harmonious, multi-cultural society, but in the workplace, ethics are forgotten and you will likely to see multiple faces. There will be the true loyalists; there will be the Iagos; there will be those who don’t care for anything in the world except themselves and will go all out, without reserve, to ensure that they get their gains.

“Let’s hope that such sentiments are not widespread…”

Wrong, Mr Chua. It happens in my college. And talking about studying humanities, I’ve seen it first hand in my arts class. These people study the humanities as well. They don’t seem to pick up any lessons.

These people, we call them the muggers. Sure, there are two cliques of muggers (the third, last and non-mugger clique is our Pipiland). The TK Gang and the Chick Clique, so-called because its members carrying a fluffy chicken soft toy on their pencil cases. In fact, these cliques broke up towards the end of the year, after the Prelims and close to the A levels. There was also intense rivalry between these two. There was a case of defection (one clique member leaving to join the other side, despite the fact that the two cliques were once involved in a heated dispute with the others), and even within one of the cliques the group split into two factions (think of the Russian Communists, where there were the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks). Obviously these cliques didn’t come together on the basis of friendship, but the need to feed on someone smarter and of high calibre in order to obtain their ill-gotten gains.

And these cliques show no integrity and responsibility. Often, weeks (almost a month) before a major exam, these people will excuse themselves from school. Our class’ row is often a pathetic one at morning assembly, with mostly half present at any one time (mostly from the Pipilanders, because we always come to school, no matter what, unless disabled by illness). The other arts classes don’t face such a problem; in fact our immediate neighbours are almost often in full attendance.

There was once when Pipiland decided to skip a lecture because, with almost half of the class gone from school, no one was interested in sitting in the lecture theatre to make up for the absentees. It made us very disgusted that we had to be their proxies. The whole clique just refused to go to the lecture theatre when the time came, and hid in the library instead in an angry debate about what we should do. We were so frustrated that we decided to skip half the day’s lessons the next day. There was an economics test, which the rest of the class would come (they only came for tests), and so would become our proxies instead. The Pipilanders were prepared to forgo their economics test.

But already for this day we got into trouble with our civics tutor, because the Literature lecturer was angry that only three members of our class turned up, and went to complain to the former. We were asked to come up with individual explanations to justify our absence. This made us dislike the muggers even more. I’m not using the word hate, because I’m reserving that for the incident the next day:

Our clique went ahead with the plan to skip classes. Unfortunately we made our absence too obvious by disappearing as a clique in its entirety, raising the suspicions of our civics tutor (she is aware of the clique situation in the class). The calls started coming through to our cell phones while we waited at McDonald’s at the Bedok Interchange, discussing plans for the day. It marred our wonderful gathering and outing together. A plan was hatched: some of us would return to school with the excuse we made, while the others would go home and play sick. It was all very discouraging. Us guys returned back to school angry and betrayed. Duchess would join us later on the pretext of illness that forced her to attend school late.

We rejoined the class during our civics tutor’s lesson. Instead of teaching, she made us sit directly in front of her - a face-to-face, hammer-it-all-out talk.

“Why do you all hate each other so much?” came the sharp enquiry. I cannot recall if it was the exact question, but it was something along this line.

There was silence for a moment, then someone from the mugger clique spoke up. The Pipilanders who were present kept quiet throughout the entire interrogation.

Then came the question of: “Why do you all not come to school for lessons?”

Here’s the disgusting part. We were hot and angry by the end of the session, because the muggers told a whole lot of bullshit, and worse still, blackmailed some of our teachers. They said they felt that lessons were a waste of time, and some of our teachers couldn’t teach as well as their own mugger clique friend could. We were very, very angry upon hearing such statements. And when our civics tutor asked for feedback about her lessons, they sucked up to her and praised them for being useful and enjoyable. Most probably they think otherwise deep down inside, and when out of her sight. I remember each one of us Pipilanders refused to be pacified that very day.

Why am I telling you all this? Because these people without a sense of morality are the very ones who know how to get their own gains. They want a scholarship, they want a foreign university education, they want their career and to retire rich. In the process of doing so, they don’t spare a thought for other people. They can tell the scholarship selection committee a whole pack of tall stories, and when they do actually finish their education, they become a menace to society despite their talents and knowledge because they lack good values. They will continue to backstab and worm their way through the “competitive world”, and those who are not shrewd enough will be replaced by these bastards. I do not know why we should actually be helping them with their future financially. Honestly, some of them are very rich. Their parents drive big cars; some even own cars and afford a driving license. The scholarship is for the prestige, not necessarily the money to help them tide over economic difficulties which arise from further studies.

Of course, there are those who are really very down-to-earth, despite the achievements that they have. These people earn my respect and admiration. We really have too few of these people who balance achievements with principles. They are the ones who deserve a scholarship, not some fucker who takes taxpayers’ money and in return, snobs at them when they finish their higher education. Talk about giving back to society.  ¶ 3/24/2004 08:20:00 pm