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.