5/12/2015

Key skill for graduates – adaptability


My gosh, what, adaptability is going to be a key skill to be taught to the undergrads? After teaching them how to get all the As not enough and must teach them how to be adaptable? When one is growing up, is there a need to teach anyone how to eat, how to sleep, how to make babies? Isn’t adaptability the oldest life skill that allowed man to survive the millennium and the trials and tribulations of life? Adaptability is instinctive.
 

Now to think of it, it is necessary. Our brilliant jokers just cannot think other than aceing their exams. You even have to teach them how to find a boy friend or a girl friend or they would not know how and would not make babies. This is expected when you have a production line producing machine, aka robots. Unthinking but very efficiently programmed to do what they are made to do. Anything else, they are blur like sotong. They may not know how to eat and drink too.
 

Why is adaptability so important today and must be taught at university level? Oh while teaching this skill, make sure it is graded so that they can get an A for it or they would not bother to mug for it.
 

I can only think of one reason for teaching adaptability. In the past our graduates were only competing with the same people coming out from the same degree mill, all honest, straight thinking, no bullshitting, no cheating, no copying or buying their degrees. A CV submitted is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
 

In today’s context, life is much more complicated with the influx of foreigners with their queer degrees and CVs. Our graduates are to compete with these clever specimens from all corners of the world and apparently these newcomers have a string of scintillating degrees and CVs to match, much better than the straight As of our best graduates. Of course the strings of degrees of our graduates are nothing when the foreigners can buy as many as they want, of their own choosing, to be better than our locals. You just can’t beat them on papers.
 

Now what is this adaptability thing? Come on, don’t be stupid. If you want to teach our graduates life skills, survival skills, you much tell them the truth. It is not adaptability skill that is needed. It is called cheating, dishonesty, bluffology or whatever better words, but not adaptability. When everyone is cheating their way through and our naïve and innocent graduates still thinking going straight would get them the job they want despite not even being called up for interviews, you are telling them they need to be adaptable?
 

Please, the Singapore of honesty, integrity, accountability is long gone. The Singapore of today is all about cheating and fakes. To survive, you need to cheat your way through. Cheating is the new virtue, and stop calling it adaptability. You are cheating our graduates by telling them to be adaptable when others are cheating their way through. When cheating is fair game, our graduates, steep in honesty or simplicity and ignorant of the new realities, cannot compete fairly if they did not know others are cheating and do not know how to cheat. It is very unfair to them to think that being adaptable is the solution.
 

Get real.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

When all our graduates are straight and honest, it means they are all goons; no iniatives and not street smart.
But some are super smart and became military generals. Iron rice bowls and get anointed to high offices. No need anything except the Ability to scheme and bully. However, most of them were sent abroad to acquire their skills in schemings.

Anonymous said...

The only people who need adaptability skills are PAPigs.
They need to adapt to life in Singapore after the passing of PAP's Founding Father.

Anonymous said...


新加坡是不是天堂? 新加坡是不是天堂?

如果第一世界新加坡不是天堂, 哪里是天堂?

Hahaha............

clarinet2concerto said...

Adaptability Skill for everyone,from Primary School, Working Adult and Retirees.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Actually don't have to tell them ANYTHING. They're not kids. They don't need us to hold their hands.

They want freedom. Let them have it! Personal responsibility? Up to them. Adaptability? Up to them.

People older than age 30 should STOP trying to design the future, predict the future, or interfere in anyway with the future because they are CLUELESS about what will happen or what the future of human kind will look like.

Let's all get out of the way and let the youngsters be free to EXPERIMENT with all the new new stuff and the stuff they themselves are creating.

Apek brigade, Fall.....OUT!

agongkia said...

Not everyone are born with adaptability skill and you need it so that you will not lose out if paper can no longer be of use.
My friend told me long long time ago her grand ah kong , a fishermen in Tainan faced hardship when the moon is small as there were no fishes or less fishes to catch.
As such they sold noodle for a living and this noodle is a pupular brand today.
Sinkies must learn to adapt.When become jobless how many can adapt to the life of a cabby or screwty guard.
Adaptability skill benefits those with entitlement mentality.But being a botartcheh I do not need such skill becos I can adapt well.Not so for our under graduate.
However there are still hope becos we have NS.NS can help them to adapt.
Support NS.

Anonymous said...

"Adaptability skill benefits those with entitlement mentality."
May 12, 2015 12:13 p.m.

Are you saying PAP Ministers need to have adaptability skills because they have an entitlement mentality regarding their high salaries?

b said...

of cos, they will support cheating. politicians also 'cheat' their way up. do u think they play just, right and independent? dirty politics!

Anonymous said...

No need for that.

Sinkies are already adapted to autocratic rule for decades. They are born to be adaptable, schooled in adaptablity, coerce into adapting to obedience, and punished if they do not do so.

b said...

everywhere is the same, gov worked with bankers to con their own hardworking people.