11/23/2012

New ethos, In celebration of Mediocrity




A little girl was huddling in the corner of the school hall after the PSLE result was announced. She was looking anything but happy. No one is talking to her or interested in her. Could have failed the exam I supposed. Then a couple approached her, presumably her parents, and looking angry. ‘Why are you standing at the corner alone? Didn’t you do well in the PSLE?’ The little girl started sobbing and shaking her head. She shoved her result slip to her mum who was looking more annoyed by her dismissiveness and lack of confidence.

289! The mother screamed. While everyone was getting the attention of the media and the principal and the school staff and the whole cohort, this little girl was left alone in a corner of her own. No one was supposed to know her, what was her score or her grade. The mother started to wave the result slips, ‘See, see, my daughter is the top student!’ But no one bothered to turn her way. Everyone had been briefed not talk to or about the top student. Even the media refused to interview her. They were happily talking to the number 6 and number 7 students to write an article for the media.

By then the little girl started crying. All the effort to be the top student in the PSLE examination was like a non event. They quietly left the school knowing that they were not welcomed and shunned by everyone.

After decades of meritocrazy, this is the result. Meritocrazy is now an embarrassment for the problems it is causing to other parents and students. Soon this new disease could invade all the institutions in the City. It is like an edict coming down from the Emperor. The President Scholars will not be announced. Classified Top Secret. Cannot tell. Universities and Polytechnics will no longer award Gold Medals and what not to their top students. But the average students will be celebrated as the model students, as role models for all the students. All the students will now be very happy that being average they will be recognized and become celebrities in their own right.

Oh, who is the Prime Minister? Dunno leh. They are not telling now. The newspaper will not carry news on the Prime Minister anymore. Too stressful to know.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moderation is the way to go.
Oops, I mean take the middle path.

No fame and glory for the talented.
No look down, thumb down and cold
shoulder for the less endowed slow
learners.

No need to glorify a young child who
may turn out to be a clever rascal when grown up.

Let us confirm the calibre, respectability
and propriety of a person at the end or
near end of his/her life.

No more kowtow and reverrence to one
showing brilliance young and early only
to swear, curse and lament many years
later down the road. Sycophant and blind
adulator are as deplorable as despot and
brilliant rascal.

Anonymous said...

Man should be appraised like the art works of artists and old wines.
They are more worthy and precious proven
over time.

Anonymous said...

Having lived long enough, I'd suggest that Sinkies learn to work & live for themselves and their loved ones.
Celebrate in your own achievements.
Your loyalty should be to yourself and your own work.
If it's not appreciated by the Singapore elites, emigrate or vote Opposition.

Every time I smile, I say fark you Harry. I intend to outlive you. Wearing adult diapers yet?

Anonymous said...

Redbean, you're funny, really funny.
I luv the way you tell it.

But seriously what's wrong with celebrating mediocrity? If we could bring more happiness to a bigger group of people why not!

And don't forget the bottom rungs too. They need some cause to be happy about right? I luv it that Ministers are now taking care of the hoi polloi crowd.

One more vote for you come GE2016.

Anonymous said...

A good leader INSPIRES the people he REPRESENTS.
That's why Barrack Obama is so appealing to me.

The Pro Alien Traitors seems to represent only the rich and powerful people.
They don't inspire me.
Instead they put me down. Make me feel small.

Why any Sinkie would vote for such people I don't know.
I guess Sinkies enjoy feeling inferior.
But spare a thot for your children.
Do you also want them to grow up feeling worthless?
Thanks to all these Pro Alien Traitors and their Pro Alien policies?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Celebrating the achievements of kids is fair game. And for the hoi polloi, the only way to come near to the elite is to score well in the examinations. That is the only thing they can do better, albeit on the average the richer have more resources and more will do better.

For the average, and many are born average in academics, today there are many avenues to do well and better. Celebrate all the achievers in all fields but don't step on those who find things a bit challenging. Don't them with the uncaring elitist face.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

There is nothing wrong with allowing children to experience the "pain" of defeat. It prepares them for the real world, where losses are more common than wins, which is the reason why winning requires passion, effort, persistence, flexibility; and why it is valued.

Under the right guidance from the responsible adults in-charge, the experience of losing is a great way to mentally insulate the child from future negative experiences and encourage them to think rationally, to stay on track and to adopt flexibility such that they can learn from error and adjust their actions.

Ok, here;s the down and dirty about what is WRONG with S'pore's edu.

1. Meritocracy is not evil

2. What is bad -- really bad, is the idea that losing or not making the grade is a "lau qui" or "lose face" situation.

That SHIT, cultural BULLSHIT has got to stop.

3. Mistakes, losses etc should not be treated as something to be ASHAMED about. Doing so just makes kids kiasu, unnecessarily combative and uncooperative.

4. Meritocracy is grossly misunderstood. It is seen as a toe-to-toe competition, and that fellow students are "adversaries". This is not the case. If people don't cooperate with each other, on the basis of SELF INTEREST applied to COMMON INTEREST, then you are going to get: kiasu-kiasi scared of mistakes scared to lose face nasty petulant neurotic assholes as your next generation.

Look at the "quality' of folks at the MoE. You you seriously believe that these cunts should be determining the development of your child's brain, and his/ her subsequent level of "happiness", self-esteem and healthy outlook?

Bringing up kids is the SOLE RESPONSIBILITY of the parents.

Be very careful what powers over your kids you hand over to The State. Don't be too quick to invite the influence of the state (government) into your family life. I assure you, you will live to regret it.

Anonymous said...

"Bringing up kids is the SOLE RESPONSIBILITY of the parents."

MS
This is one of the rare moments I fully agree with you. Can't believe the number of daft Sinkie parents destroying the relationship with their kids to support the latest MOE policies.
What childhood development qualifications do any of our Education Ministers have?

Anonymous said...

once in a while matilah talks sense. great piece. quite inspiring.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

I agree. Matilah is suffering from bipolar disease. One side of the pole is brilliance and the other side is shit.

Now we are seeing the betterer side of him: )

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Oh you make fun of bi-polar sufferers? How very "understanding" of you (not!)

It's not a "disease" BTW, it's a disorder, and the people who have it for the most part cannot help themselves.

If you personally knew someone who is bi-polar, perhaps you wouldn't be so flippant.

I might be nuts, but at least I know it ;-) ...and am aware of my actions and their consequences.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

"Emotionless" Singaporeans

I think although the observation is correct, the conclusion is not.

Singaporeans may not show or admit to emotion, but I do suspect that they (Singaporeans) suppress or have repressed emotions. Mainly because they're too "kiasu" to express their emotions, or have been ridiculed instead of supported when doing so...or its a sick, unhealthy cultural thing that causes people to push their pain down deeper and deeper until they cannot feel ANYTHING anymore.

Very bad scene.

Don't trust anyone you cannot get an emotional reading from. Look at the Singapore govt ministers: no fucking emotion at all. Cold like dead fish. DON'T TRUST THEM!


You know darn well "life is suffering"...but rational adult know that it is how you deal with your shit that makes all the difference. No emotion = the person is HIDING something, alot of things.

Even a fake emotion is beer than no emotion/ narrow range of emotion. At least a fake emotion can still be "calibrated".

Got scream?

patriot said...

"Cold like dead fish. DON'T TRUST THEM." Courtesy of Matilah Singapura.
If Shakespeare is around, he would call them stones and woods. Indeed, someone was famous as a piece of wood to his superior. However, the Junior of the One who called the Other wood, is even more emotionless. An ocassional burst of laughter from him would make one wonders what the laugh was all about. But, the sycophants will act along to laugh and clap as if on cue.

"DON'T TRUST THEM.", unquote.
Not that bad lah, just avoid getting brainwashed or conned will do. As Matilah Singapura had warned, because it is difficult to read an emotionless person, it is quite difficult to avoid getting conned. So beware.

There is one tool that has been used to propagate the ideas of these emotionless leaders. The Freesheets(Shits) that are distributed widely throughout the Land at MRT Stations, shops, hospitals and many other places. On top of that, there are the Town Council Periodicals and Union Newsletters. Most carry propaganda materials and the people are mostly very tired of their bombardments.

Are the Leaders aware of the inages they are giving to the People?

patriot

patriot said...

My apology.

The Concluding Sentence of my Comment Above should read; Are the Leaders aware of the 'images' they are giving to the People?

patriot

Anonymous said...

My school so lucky. The principal read out the names of our top students because they are not the top students in the country.