Few days ago I came upon this hoo-ha, which involved a minister mentioning that 'every school is a good school', which then a vice principal remarked something like 'How many of our leaders or top officers who say that every school is a good school actually enrol their children into an ordinary school near their residential place'.
Well, first i have to applause this indian vice principal for this bold remark. Well it is very true, but at the same time, it's pretty much of a known fact by everyone. Just that people just lived with it. Actually about the minister's remark, I agree and disagree. Agree in a fact that, you put a teacher from RI OR a teacher from a lousy neighbourhood school to a smart ass student, the student will probably still produce some good results. So the school does not really matters in my opinion. HOWEVER, i disagree in a sense that, i find friends company and stress level do affect the condition of a student. Well we all know it is easier to turn bad than to remain on a right path. So if you place a smart kid into a class of Paikias or dont-give-a-fuck students, he'll most likely get influenced if his resilient skills are not up-there. I experienced it myself before so i know. if you really want to study, nothing can stop you. If you really chose not to, you'll be able to find thousands of things to blame for your bad grades. So in my opinion, the school really doesn't matter.. BUT the company and stress does matter.
I digressed. My point of this post is not to justify the minister's statement. I am going to say something sensitive, which i normally keep to myself but i really think it's true. Sometimes things should just be the way they SEEMS to be. Anywayyyyyyy yeah the statement that minister made i really don't find it such a big deal. Hell, didn't they always mentioned that everyone is equal, everyone should be treated fairly, with equal chances and blah blah blah bullshits? But are they really doing this? Is everyone equal? are all people from different races/nationality/religion the same? Are people of different background/education levels treated the same with equal chances? Nope. I find this situation more prominent after I started serving NS. A few things I learnt:
- ITE or lower educated people will never get into command school (OCS/SCS)
- PR(especially malaysia/indon) & Malays got much lesser chances to go OCS
- Malays & PR who get into SCS/OCS mostly get thrown back to Tekong
- People of different calibre are separated after their first 2/4 months, and get different pay
- Police tend to screen malays more often (statistically proven that they're more prone to crimes :/)
I could mention much more, i had more in mind previously, but that's all for now. So yeah my point is unfairness DOES EXIST. But we should just face it, no point whining and making a fuss about it. I believe I have a more privileged background, and i'm born with maybe slightly above average talent (BuayHiaoBai), So i'll probably be scrutinised if i say that i find these unfairness justified. But yes it is. Just imagine what would happen when you put people of different calibre together.. Sorry but to say the slower one will definitely be a burden and drag the whole team down. inefficiency. Simple analogy but can be applied to real cases on larger scale. Here's it:
2.4km training.
Is it better if you put a group of people running at different speed ranging from 9mins to 13mins and train them together to target for 12min,
OR
Is it better if you separate people into 9;10;11;12;13mins category, and train them to aim for 8;9;10;11;12mins respectively?
Well that's rather straight forward. That is why we see categorisation everywhere in our life. Since primary school, you got EM1/2/3, then NT/NA/EX/SP, then you got triple sci/combi sci/basic sci, then you go different JC/Poly/ITE with a score you earned, then NS you go Man/Sgt/Off. Okay some man are due to health conditions so that i wouldn't include. Anyway from my experience in BMT, i worked with different types of people so I really have to say this.
Yes education level have no influence to a person's soft skills (attitude/leadership/emotions/etc). But it DOES to significant extent, relates to how people think and plan. Some people are really just, slower. People can argue that education =/= smart, it can be through hardwork. I agree. But remember, good grade may means that person is smart/hardwork/both. Bad grade will always mean a lacking in either one or both. Sounds materialistic but it's a harsh fact. People are just born differently. The more gifted ones are given more chances to shine, because they're potentially more important to the society.
So why bother to make it seems 'fair' on the surface when everything is unfair..? Well, duh, to ease people's mind. See how much government throw into the construction of AMK ITE. All to make public accept less gifted students. Let them feel that they're not useless, keep their motivation strong, so as to contribute to society in every way. All these are necessary to effectively run a country.
To conclude. No big deal about the minister's words.. We all know he doesn't mean it. The society judge the book by their cover. No point whining over it and should just accept it and see what can be done to raise your value in society.
