2/08/2021

Are high risk activities essential to character building?

I have been bombarded with this very serious question, high risk activities essential to character building. I am not talented to answer that. First thing that came to mind is that weak, specky, bookworm nerds, with very little physical exercises and activities, physically unfit, should not be made to perform monkey tricks that required physical muscles and strength.  Just like climbing Mount Everest, the climbers need many months of gruelling physical training before making the assault on the mountain.

But I do know of one high risk activities that are worth attempting. Cheating. Cheating in exams, buying paper degrees, cheap and good, printed in good quality paper, and present them to get a good paying jobs. And know how silly the people doing the vettings are, or how lazy they are to do due diligence, the chances of getting through and landing a good paying jobs is very high.

Why risk limbs and lives trying to be better than monkeys with monkey skills that are worth nothing. What character building when one eventually lost out to the cheats with fake degrees and probably become delivery boys or security guards, or if parents got money, become Grab drivers.  These jobs do not need character building. What is character building worth if a degree is just a piece of paper, cannot be eaten?

What do you think? Waste more money learning to become monkeys, performing monkey tricks? The street smarts would not waste time or a dime on such useless skills. They would be buying their degrees and honing their skills to get through that interview or bribing their way to a good job, through their connections. No need character building, no need monkey tricks.

PS.  Maybe they are preparing them to be soldiers, or commandos....or to clean high rise buildings.  People that took unnecessary risks that they did not have to, speak a lot about their characters.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe the quality is in the price of the course. If very expensive, means very good quality. Add in a few wildlife instructors, lagi bagus.

Anonymous said...

Got certificate to prove character improved after the course.

Anonymous said...

What character building? It is all hogwash. Nowadays, a little setback and they run to the Government begging for help. And the Government knows that pampering them drives them into the net when it is time to go to the ballot box.

In the old days, CCA's in schools were few, but we still produced people with backbones to weather crisis and setbacks without depending on aid from the Government. Mention asking for help from the then Social Welfare Department, and people associate them with handicapped people, unable to stand on their own feet. Those were really proud people with character, built up from experiencing adversity, who tackled problems themselves and benefiting from it.

Too much pampering and nannying will not build a robust and resilient society. Are school exchange programs of a few weeks really going to make a difference to those students participating? The only difference is making a big dent in the pockets of their parents, with cases of schools threatening students with demerit points if they do not participate or even withholding graduation certificates. What can parent's do?

Anonymous said...

My two kids had piles of CCA certificates, but of what use? It was a blatant waste of time, interfered with their schoolwork. My younger son even had to skip classes, sometimes for a week, to help to organise school camps for other schools and his schoolwork suffered. It happened all over the years in Secondary School. It was a traumatic experience for me and my wife to see his grades falling. Thankfully, he managed to survive.

Clear eyed said...

In my condo every evening from about 5.30 to 8, 50 to 60 kids from the Indian sub-continent run wild in the common areas. They are like wild monkeys - running, climbing, jumping in packs of 10 or more. Their shouting and screaming disturb the peace of the whole neighbourhood. It was not like this before the invasion by the CECA Indians 4-5 years ago. Now I hardly see any local kids playing in the common areas. These CECA kids, including the girls, do not need to be taught or trained to be tough, brash and self-seeking. They can survive in any jungle, including the concrete one. This could be one of the reasons why our people, with their superior degrees and experience, lose out to the CECA fake talents in the job market.