Youth attitudes

The “O” level results for 2006 were released in Singapore on 9 February 2007. Naturally, there were varied results amongst the students who took this examination. These four articles exemplify in four individuals an attitude of hard work, diligence, and resilience that have carried them very far. This attitude is no doubt one we should learn from.

The first article reports on Normal (Academic) stream student, Juliana Lim. She was the highest scoring N(A) stream student, and scored five straight A’s. She admitted herself that “I was playful and blasé about schoolwork, until secondary 3, where I became more focused and had a desire to do well.” No doubt this determination is what spurred her on to such exemplary results.

The second article reports on the performance of foreign students in the examination. According to the Education Ministry, nearly half of the top students were foreigners. One example, Zhou Tian Tian, scored nine distinctions, after studying in Singapore for just two years. Over two years, she “went the extra mile” to improve her English, and through this hard work now has a strong mastery of the language. According to the Chinese embassy, the Chinese students here “are used to working very hard” and feel that “if they can master English… they will have a secure future”.

The third article reports on student David Hoe. Unlike most students, he spent six years in secondary school, and achieved a score that has let him stay in junior college. This was made more difficult by making changes to his subjects in the middle of secondary 3. Due to family circumstances, David almost gave up on his studies in primary school, after being moved to the EM3 stream due to poor examination results. However, he had a change of mindset in secondary school, and has since worked diligently to achieve his dream of becoming a teacher.

The last article reports on Oh Boon Keng, who suffers from muscular dystrophy. The condition made him so weak that he even has difficulty writing. However, his resilient spirit is to be admired, scoring A’s for all but one subject, while also a distinguished disabled athlete. He has even opted to take the shorter polytechnic course of study, as he wants to spend as much of his life giving back to community.

The character of these four individuals is definitely to be admired and respected. Their attitude towards difficulty has helped them overcome these huge obstacles. If Singapore’s youth would learn from these individuals, we would soon be a nation of people with a never-say-die attitude when facing problems. Unfortunately, when there are those with such willpower, there are also youth who all too often give up. If we could take on the perspective of these individuals, without a good grasp of the lingua fraca, or faced with family problems, or physically disabled, yet they overcome obstacles, then all of us would truly learn what is difficulty, and the attitude that we should learn.

Gun crime?

The above article recounts a public shooting by an 18-year-old student, in America. For residents of Singapore, the very idea of possession of firearms and killing of innocents would be both frightening and absurd. The article also mentions a separate shooting incident in which a businessman killed three people because "he was angry about losing money in a failed business venture".

This article illustrates two things. Firstly, the almost commonplace occurrence of public violence in America, and secondly the public attitude there towards such events. Contrast this with the average Singaporean attitude towards this, that of shock, and the much lower occurrences of such violent events in Singapore. Obviously, strict gun laws in Singapore, among other legislation, have been very effective in curbing such violence.

The general American attitude that this kind of behaviour, although unacceptable, is inevitable and to be tolerated, is a blinkered one. Many countries (those with strict gun laws) have been extremely successful in curbing extremely violent acts, such as public shootings. The article mentions a shooting because a man was “angry”. I ask you, is anger a reason for shooting someone dead? Every year, thousands of innocents die in shooting rampages across America, yet Americans still hold on to their freedom to bear arms.

Americans maintain that it is their constitutional right to bear arms, and are indeed right. However, what is disturbing is that despite the large number of gun crimes, Americans still have not taken the steps to introduce stricter gun laws, or vote on a constitutional amendment.

This article was written to honour a man for bravery beyond his call, and I concur that Officer Hammond should be commended for his action in trying to protect as many people as possible. However, the article also reflects on a disturbing side of society, America being a prime example of such social degeneration. A teenager taking to killing innocent people, should not and cannot be tolerated, under any circumstances or for any reasons.

The individual in this article, 18-year old Bosnian immigrant Sulejman Talovic, killed five people, for unknown reasons. I would hazard a guess that he was dissatisfied with his life in America, dropped out of school, and was lost and confused. Many gun crimes in America end with the shooter committing suicide.

I hope that Singapore, or any other country for that matter, will never degenerate to such a degree as can be observed in the United States of America. The idea of killing an innocent to relieve anger or stress is revolting and vile to the human consciousness, and should remain so. Rising violence in the youth of this generation is a disturbing trend that should be curbed, else it lead to the state where it is so rampant and widespread that we take it for a societal norm. I leave you with the thought of a nightmare future, a dog eat dog world, without law, where the “fittest survive”.